Here’s another of our acoustic demos.  We are recording fairly stripped down acoustic versions of new songs which will be on our forthcoming debut album in a more full-band version.  For now we are offering up these bare-boned acoustic recordings as a bit of a sneak peek. 

This one is a new song called, ‘In Photographs’.  It was written by myself and Jon in about an hour.  We then recorded it rather quickly and I through together this crude mix. 

Performers on this version:
Jon is playing all the guitars and singing lead vocals. 
Mark is singing the harmony vocal, the backing vocal “oohs” and playing the shaker.

As a bonus we have made it a free download in high quality WAV format for anyone who wants a free copy.  Download, share and tell your friends.

We hope you enjoy it!
Mark

Source: SoundCloud / keyandthecrook

For those of you who might not be Facebook, though this day I’m sure that’s a rarity, here’s a free song for you guys.

This is an acoustic demo of our new song, “Turn” which will be on our forthcoming full-length album. It’s one of about 8 songs we’ve already written for the album.

Share it, enjoy it!

Source: SoundCloud / keyandthecrook

“Away From The City”, our debut single is released!

August 24th, 2011 - Key and the Crook release their debut single, “Away from the City”!!

You can find the single on iTunes, Spotify, emusic, Amazon and many other popular digital music retailers.

Click here to purchase.

Key and the Crook - Away from the City (single)

Written by M. Strong/J. Burkhart/D. Medley (ASCAP)
Copyright © 2011 From A Room On Beachwood (ASCAP)
All Rights Reserved.

Produced by Mark Strong and Allen Bergendahl
Mixed by Allen Bergendahl

Recorded by Allen Bergendahl at Sound of Music Studios - Richmond, Virginia
Additional recording by Mark Strong at Moonlit Sound Studios - Richmond, Virginia

Mastered by Steve Turnidge at Ars Divina/UltraViolet Studios - Seattle, Washington

Cover art by Jill Palumbo
Design by Mark Strong

Key and the Crook - Debut singles released NEXT WEEK!!

The two debut singles, “Away from the City” and “Fire” were mixed this past Sunday and have just now been sent off to be mastered.  Cover art is being worked on over the weekend.  The two singles will be released next week!!  Stay tuned for Key and the Crook’s debut!!

Practice for the studio

Today, well actually yesterday, the band got together for the first ever full-band practice to run through a few of the songs we will be recording in the studio this coming Saturday, June 18th. 

Practice went quite well considering the fact that we had not played together as a collective group before.

however, given time constraints we were only able to run through two songs today.  The first song, “Away From The City”, went quite well and really came together after three times playing it though. 

We then moved on to working out the second song, “Fire”.  That one took a bit more work just trying to figure out the dynamics and drum parts but by the end of the practice it too was coming along quite well. 

We won’t play these songs again as a group until Saturday in the recording studio.  If time permits we will run through and record one or two other songs in the studio and on-the-spot.  The two main contenders for the other two songs are “Turn” and “Night Driving”.

The next blog we write will be on the day we go into the studio to record.  Be sure to check back then.

Mark

Thursday: 5/26/11: Acoustic Tracks

This Thursday, Jon and I will be getting together to record some acoustic versions of the songs which will be on the up-coming single, Away From The City and Fire.  We may also, if time permits, record some acoustic versions of some other songs of ours which will most likely make it onto a second single, EP or album.

Some potential candidates for acoustic versions are: 

  • Turn
  • Night Driving
  • Starlight
  • Mistreated
  • Panda
  • Going Somewhere

We are full of ideas and excited to get music out to you all as quickly as possible.  More to come after the acoustic recording session on Thursday.  Stay tuned.

“Hello” from Key and the Crook

Welcome to our blog.  We are Key and the Crook.  We are an indie-rock band based out of Richmond, Virginia.

We are new on the music scene in this form, but not new to the music scene as a whole.

All the members of Key and The Crook are part of or have been part of other bands.  We are all passionate about music and especially the music WE create TOGETHER.

The band formed earlier this year and already accumulated some solid demo recordings. We are heading into the recording studio on June 18th, 2011 to record our debut single featuring, “Away From The City” b/w “Fire”. 

We hope you enjoy what we have coming your way very soon and more will follow soon after the release of our debut single.

Stick around and enjoy the music!