Dead Quiet Frontman Kevin Keegan Discusses His Band’s New Album, ‘Truth and Ruin’

It’s time to turn the volume upwards and make things Dead Quiet. If that statement doesn’t make sense to you then you had better get ready to hop on the Dead Quiet bandwagon; this group just released their latest LP, Truth and Ruin, on September 11th via Artoffact Records.

Led by the mighty Kevin Keegan, who was previously a part of Metal Blade Records band Barn Burner, Dead Quiet specialize in arena rock mayhem that harkens back to the golden age of heavy metal and hard rock, when Deep Purple and Judas Priest ruled the roost. Joining Keegan within the ranks of Dead Quiet is a stellar lineup of polished musicians, including guitarist Brock MacInnes who’s also a member of Anciients, bassist Mike Grossnickle, drummer Jason Dana, and their most recent addition, keyboardist Mike Rosen.

Very recently, we had the pleasure of speaking with Keegan to discuss Dead Quiet in more detail. We chatted with the charismatic frontman about Truth and Ruin, its writing process, and how the group’s plans have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

Before getting into the new album, I wanted to ask about the rather quirky video for “Partial Darkness.” Considering the circumstances and our current situation, I thought it was a really creative video. Who developed the premise for it?

Kevin Keegan: “It was developed by our friend and filmmaker, Rob Zawistowski.”

I imagine putting the video together presented some real challenges. Was it particularly difficult to put together?

“No, actually it was pretty painless. Each of us just used our phones to film our individual shower parts and then Rob cut it together.”

Truth and Ruin has now been out a short time. How are you feeling about it now that it’s out there for consumption?

“It’s great but it’s also frustrating because performing these songs would have been the best way to represent them. The album is being received really well though so we can’t complain too much.”

I’m sure releasing an album can feel daunting considering the various reactions that listeners have towards new music. Did you have any nerves about releasing the album?

“This particular album is so energetic that we were fairly confident that most people would at least give it a shot. Not so much nerves but excitement.”

Artwork for ‘Truth & Ruin’ by Dead Quiet

When did you write and record Truth and Ruin? Was the record written in-studio or did you have at least some of the songs composed to some extent beforehand?

“We always have everything written many months before going into the studio. Writing songs takes a long time and a lot of work so we make sure we are prepared to lay them down in the studio. We play around with details when we are in there but everything is pretty carefully laid out before we go in. We recorded it in November of 2019 and had been writing it for about a year up until that point.”

Truth and Ruin is now your third studio record and the follow-up to Grand Rites. What did you do differently in writing and recording Truth and Ruin as compared to Grand Rites or your self-titled debut?

“Not a lot of difference in approach. Truth and Ruin was definitely more of a team effort as far as arranging the songs went. Everyone was really comfortable sharing ideas and really digging into the songs to make them the best they could be.”

This may be a difficult question to answer, but if you had to pick something, what would you say is your favourite aspect of Truth and Ruin? What really stands out about these songs to you?

“I think it’s the energy of the record, it doesn’t really give you much of a break, which could be a bad thing, but I think its indicative of how we were feeling when we wrote it. We were all fired up about a bunch of things at the time so we wrote a pretty fierce record.”

Did the whole quarantine present any problems with finishing the album? How did you go about navigating that situation in order to finish the record?

“The album was actually recorded in November of 2019 so we didn’t have any issues. We definitely waited until September to release it because of COVID-19, in hopes that September might be more realistic for touring. Boy, were we wrong.”

Prior to this quarantine, we’re currently stuck in, I’m sure you probably had some pretty elaborate plans to support the new album. What did you originally have in store for the fall?

“We had a Canadian tour planned but that was about it so far. We were looking at the spring for a European run too.”

With no touring on the horizon, I imagine it’s difficult to have just released a new album and you’re not able to connect with your audience. Are you finding this a challenging time for yourself and the band?

“It’s different now for sure. We still like playing and hanging out with each other so we jam every week. We have just begun writing new stuff for the next album too.”