Exclusive Interview: MEEK IS MURDER’s Mike Keller

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Meek Is Murder is a Brooklyn, New York three-piece who play a spazzy, sometimes grindy, hardcore that defies all things that your mind can comprehend (and sometimes gravity). The band released a killer album called “Algorithms” last year and now have released a new, themed EP called “Into The Sun Where It Falls Off The Sky.” I caught up with vocalist and guitarist Mike Keller to get the scoop on the new EP, touring, stabbings and Back To The Future. Check it out.
How’s it going, man? Hope all is well.
I just ate some pizza. Things are going very well, I’d say.

You guys have toured very extensively over the last few years. Is it still as exciting now as it was when you started?
I’m probably more excited about touring now more than ever. You really couldn’t ask for better dudes to eat Waffle House and waste a bunch of time with.

Speaking of touring, I remember hearing a story from Frank about a prank that was pulled on you guys by the fellows in Tiger Flowers. I believe it involved a fake stabbing on a camping site?
We were camping on an off day in the middle of West Virginia last summer. Long story short, I remember waking up to our drummer Frank, in a total panic, bursting into the tent in the middle of the night yelling “GUYS, WAKE UP, GRAB WEAPONS, WE GOTTA GO RIGHT NOW.” There we were, running around the woods in our underpants holding pocketknives and we see a guy in a mask run up to Jesse (singer of Tiger Flowers) and stab him in the gut. The whole thing was just so elaborately well-timed and executed they had us totally fooled. It went on for a good while too, and it wasn’t until we drove around in the van to warn the other guys and then go back to check Jesse’s body that they broke off the joke. Anyway, Tiger Flowers are assholes.

Now I’d like to talk about Meek Is Murder’s music. Last year you guys released one of the gnarliest albums of the year in the form of “Algorithms.” Can you tell me a little about that album, writing and recording, from your point of view?
Thanks a lot! It was actually a really long time in the making. A couple of the riffs I had written even before Mosquito Eater (the first EP), so that dates maybe 2004? I wrote “Hope Springs” while I was on tour with The Red Chord. It’s the only song I demoed with programmed drums, which is why the drum parts are so weird. At one point or another I demoed all the songs myself, playing all the instruments in the same kind of way I recorded Mosquito Eater, though Sam wrote a few of my favorite riffs on the record including the intro to Algorithms, about half of “Garbage Collector” and most of “Foo.” We had the advantage of playing almost all of the songs live for a good while before going to record, which helped too. The songs changed quite a bit over time, especially since Frank has a pretty different (read: better) drumming style than I do.

Obviously recording was awesome. Kurt Ballou is a mastermind and I’ve looked up to him as an engineer and guitarist for a long time. When we recorded, it was the middle of winter in Salem so we were literally digging our van out of the snow and driving through a blizzard every morning to get to Godcity. I was sick when started recording and I started losing my voice right before doing vocals so I had to go on “vocal rest” one day. That meant for an entire day I couldn’t say anything and just wrote notes. That sucked, but the first thing that came out of my mouth after my day of silence was the vocal track for “Hello, World” so that was kind of funny. We all worked really hard and ate a ton of soup and it went by super quick- we booked 10 days with Kurt but ended up finishing the whole thing in 6. It was also my birthday one of the days, which I’m not normally big on, but working on a record I’m really proud of was probably the best birthday I’ve ever had.

And you guys recently released “Into The Sun Where It Falls Off The Sky,” which is incredible. Can you tell us a bit about the concept behind this release? Big Back To The Future fans, I take it?
We had written two songs (“Doc” and “Marty”) for a little tour cassette we made called 88mph. It was a fun idea, so the original plan was to make a series of cassettes each with two songs about some of our favorite sci-fi franchises. Well, we scrapped that idea in favor of getting an EP out before the end of the year, but some of the songs had already been written, so Into The Sun… was realized. Two songs about Back To The Future, two about Aliens, and one about Firefly (which was originally two songs as well). All the songs share a common lyrical thread of facing fears and venturing into the unknown.

And you also filmed a fantastic music video for “Marty McFly (88mph).” Can you explain that for those who haven’t seen it yet?
It’s the scene from Back to the Future when Marty plays Johnny B. Goode at the school dance and ends it with a righteous Van Halen-esque guitar shred. Needless to say, the kids just weren’t ready for that in good old 1955. Sam once told me that scene was what got him interested in playing music in the first place. Plus we already had a song called “Marty McFly” so we just had to do it. Some people might be interested to know that the video cost about $10 to make.

Back to touring, do you guys have anything coming up soon?
We have a big tour coming up in February but I don’t think I’m allowed to announce it yet. If any New Yorkers are reading this, we’re playing the infamous ABC No Rio on Saturday 12/8 and Lit Lounge on 12/17 with the aforementioned Tiger Flowers.

With relentless touring and recording the new EP, did you have a chance to check out any new records this year?
This year ruled! The Chariot and Gaza put out their best records yet, and I’m never ever disappointed by new Converge jams.

Final question: Doc Brown runs up to you, tells you that you have to travel into the past and recreate the scene from your music video. What classic song would you preform to blow away the crowd?
I love this question… Ok, yea it’s played out now, but remember the first time you heard “Smells Like Teen Spirit?” Minds: blown.

Thanks for the interview, Keller. Have a good one!
You too, thanks for not asking if we’re big Morrissey fans.

Be sure to pick up Meek Is Murder’s albums on Bandcamp!