INTERVIEW BY KNIAL SAUNDERS

PHOTOS BY BRANDON HAMBRIGHT, THROUGH IT ALL PHOTOGRAPHY AND TOM SAUNDERS

Though they are fairly new to the music scene, KEPT AT BAY from Richmond already have an EP under their belt. On October 3, the band released Adjust to the excitement of many pop punk fans across the state. After the dust settled a few months later, vocalist/bassist Patrick Williams, drummer Travis Slack, and guitarist Bryce Marshall were able to speak with us about their history, what this EP means to them, and they even shared a bit about what they are working on releasing next.

Tell me a bit about this band’s history. How did KEPT AT BAY come together?

Travis and Patrick were in a band together for about a year before KEPT AT BAY even started. They formed a really tight connection over that time and decided they wanted to go a different direction, and [they] started their own band. I was a mutual friend, and it just naturally came together. We ended up writing a couple of songs and playing our first show a few weeks after we first got together.

Your sound definitely fits into the punk rock mold. Who were some of your strongest musical influences growing up?

Collectively, we all kinda listened to the same stuff: BLINK-182, GREEN DAY, [and] SUM 41 were some of the more pop punk bands and classic rock influence with LED ZEPPELIN and THE WHO.

Your debut EP Adjust was released late last year to much excitement. What has the overall response from fans both new and old been like at live shows?

We were a little worried about what people would think about it since it’s fairly different from our original single, which everyone that knew of us loved, but the different sound didn’t seem to matter. People are always coming up to us after we play trying to pick up a CD or asking if it’s on iTunes, so overall people have been pretty into it and seem to be looking forward to more.

Different spots on this album seem to be directed at specific people or events. Lyrics like “This is the real world and you’re everything that’s wrong with it” found in “Nashville” which comes across as an edgier track. Also in ”Don’t Let The Door Hit You On The Way Out,” the lyrics go “the nights we spent were great, but now make me mental.” Would you say that this is an album with a message? If so, what are the messages are you communicating?

We didn’t write it with a specific message in mind; we were just writing about things that happened to us at the time. “Nashville” is about Travis’ father, [and] “Doors” is about getting rid of those negative people in your life. This EP was about our lives and what we went through, and we just hope that other people will find something in these songs, relate to it, and understand that they’re not alone. Being a kid sucks, but it gets better.

What has been one of your most memorable experiences as a band thus far?

We played a house show back in the spring, and during one of the band’s sets, a kid went through the wall, Travis’ tom stand got snapped in half, and the cops shut the show down at the end of the night. Overall, [it was] a pretty good night, though.

I imagine that coming up in Richmond’s thriving music scene means always bettering yourselves as musicians. How has the local scene and it’s fans influenced this band to create the way it does?

Being in Richmond, there’s always a new band that’s up and coming. We’ve played with this band called THE CONCUSSION THEORY a few times, and those dudes are crazy good. When we see bands that are like them, we use it as a goal, not to try to sound like them or have their fans, but to be a tight group of friends playing music together and having a good time with it.

Are there any tour plans, venue shows, or house shows in the works to continue promoting the new release?

We actually have something in the works with DROP THE GIRL from Gloucester, Va. for a little run in the spring. As to what we’ll be promoting while were out with them, it’ll probably be our next EP since we’re planning on that to being finished by then.

So you have begun testing out new ideas for the future release?

We’re actually starting to wrap up writing for another EP and getting ready to record it in a couple of weeks, and [we] plan on having it out sometime in the spring.

For more updates on KEPT AT BAY, please be sure to “like” their Facebook page, follow them on Twitter, and check out Adjust on Bandcamp.