Keyside's inner-city jangle pop sparkles on 'Runaway'
Street-smart jangle-indie from Keyside, Liverpool’s sparkling ones to watch, as the band releases…
“Runaway”
“Keyside were absolutely terrific”
– The Spectator
“It feels certain that Keyside are destined for the big time”
– When The Horn Blows
“Keyside’s buoyant pop anthems leave a magnetic, lasting impression”
- God Is In The TV
Keyside – Runaway - OUT NOW
From the band’s forthcoming, second EP
Modern Sky
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Crossover sounds of quintessential jangle-indie from Liverpool’s inner-city streets and the melancholy of modern bedroom pop blend in the latest single from the city’s emergent radio favourites, Keyside. Runaway, an anthem to the art of escape, is the first single from the band’s upcoming, second EP.
Keeping up with the hyped chatter around this year’s new wave/art-pop Nikita single and EP, fast-tracked into daytime airplay on BBC 6 Music and entertaining BBC Radio 1 and Radio X’s night owls, the four-piece sought to bottle that energy in immediate follow-up sessions. Runaway’s under three-minute endorphin release of intricate guitar lines and bashful, quietly aspirational lyricism drives Keyside’s momentum with uncontested echoes of classic songwriting from The La’s and The Smiths locked in.
Frontman, vocalist and guitarist, Dan Parker, says: “’Runaway’ is about how hard it can be for young people growing up in a difficult household. It’s about breaking free from pressures and the liberating effect of discovering life, what the world is really like and who you really are.
With three tracks set to follow and complete their second EP with Modern Sky (The Coral, The Lathums, Micheal Head) in early 2025, Runaway was completed in the company of producer, Chris Taylor (Courteeners, Blossoms) at the city’s newest hit factory, Kempston Street Studios.
No strangers to the difficulties of growing up in a world where nothing’s given or taken for granted, Parker and Keyside – including Ben Cassidy (lead guitar), Max Gibson (bass and backing vocals) and Oisin McAvoy (drums) – channel notions of flight from adversity in their music. Poetic license abounded in Nikita’s brightly-lit tale of helplessness, while songs like Runaway tell truths closer to those lived within the band’s community.
2024’s gig schedule peaked early with SOLD-OUT springtime headline shows at YES Manchester and the Arts Club in Liverpool, adding to festival outings, including Sound City, On The Waterfront and Cosmic Cape, plus exploratory appearances at Manchester’s New Century with Seb Lowe and Liverpool’s O2 Academy with Brooke Combe. With the exciting announcement that Keyside will support Blossoms at their upcoming Liverpool tour date, the current, remaining live dates for Keyside this year are:
Sat 5 Oct – Manchester, Neighborhood Festival
Fri 25 Oct - Liverpool, Mountford Hall - w/ Blossoms
Sun 10 Nov – Liverpool, Favourite Days Festival
Tue 19 – Wed 20 Nov - Liverpool, O2 Academy w/ Royston Club
Keyside’s signing to one of the UK’s most successful independent labels followed a succession of self-released singles. Their first single, Lights Out, found the band their first avid listeners in 2022 with a love story written for creativity and the art of the written word, above and beyond the staid, familiar subject of boy-meet-girl relationships. Quoting influences such as Fontaines DC and Blossoms, Keyside’s unpretentious approach to writing and recording evokes the honest, earnest sum of the band’s four talented parts.
Determined that their visual legacy will match their sonic footprint, taking inspiration from the great sleeve designer/artist relationships like Buzzcocks and Malcolm Garrett and 4AD and Vaughan Oliver, the distinctive artwork for Runaway maintains the band’s emergent, fertile creative partnership with Wirral-born creative studio, Toucan Tango.
For the most up-to-date information on upcoming Keyside releases and live dates, connect with the band online at:
https://www.instagram.com/keysideliverpool
https://twitter.com/keysideliv
https://www.tiktok.com/@keysideliverpool
https://www.facebook.com/keysideliverpool
