Singled Out: King Ludd's Trouble

King Ludd, the brainchild of seasoned producer and engineer Michael Keire, recently unleashed his debut, a post-hardcore anthem called "Trouble," and to celebrate we asked Michael to tell us about the track. Here is the story:

The song Trouble has been in development for a long long time. Roughly 20 years ago when I was in university I got the itch to start playing guitar and potentially start a band. I had no idea what I was doing and thought it might be a good time to get some lessons so I reached out to my old friend Marco Bressette of Dead Tired to show me the ropes. However, to my surprise he did the exact opposite. He didn't think that what I needed was a teacher and instead said to just start experimenting and the rest would come.

So I listened to him and kept exploring riffs and writing my own very simple chordal ideas. I was listening to bands like Devo, The Hives, Fugazi, ATDI and Quicksand and they inspired a great deal of what I do on guitar. The momentum and earnestness of their music inspires me a lot. Its all based in very simple minor chording, very syncopated and angular. When enough songs were written I pulled together a band, we played a few shows and it ultimately disbanded. That incarnation was known as Luddite.

Fast forward a couple decades and Ive since engineered/produced many albums and I got the itch to make my own music. Like before, I phoned up Marco and asked if he could help me out. I needed someone to be a guide or a sort of quality control. Marco came down to my studio, Threshold Recording, and we tracked guitars together and built on my original ideas. And that general model is what I kept doing. I'd have an idea, I would think of a friend that I trusted would "get it" and Id invite them over to do what it was they did. One advantage of making so many records over the years is I know a lot of really talented players and I have completely tapped into that with this project. Working with every person has been different, maybe I suggested something, maybe they just had some ideas, regardless, I then took all of those contributions and brought them into the world that I am most comfortable with and thats production and arrangement. And in that stage, I essentially into my song like like a hip hop producer might do with samples but, in the case of King Ludd, these are real performances. This process is in the spirit of Mike Watts iconic "ball hog and tug boat" where my riffs and ideas are developed with assortment of contributors and I bridge the world of song writing and production in a way that feels intuitive to me. And with that comes the birth of King Ludd.

With the video, I knew I wanted a static shot. Something that was in the vein of American Gothic or a newer Kendrick Lamar video. Lots of emphasis on framing and balance and maximizing simplicity. My recording studio shares a building with several multi-use art spaces and in one of those my friend John Smith works. Johns done work for Danny Elfman to Taylor Swift. Hes a beast. But hes also one of the most down to earth, humble guys that loves DIY stuff. I asked if he was interested in helping out and he told me his ideas to use VHS film and the location he wanted. I then got to work and found a great spot at Andy Richardsons family home in Hamilton, Ontario and we shot the video in a couple hours. Unfortunately the video was shot at 2x speed so it could be slowed down to create this dreamy psychedelic effect and that meant Adam Bentley (lead vocals) had to sing at a wildly fast pace. He did a great job, everyone did, and Im grateful to have all this help to keep this little idea moving forward.

But thats about it. It took a minute to get there but I am very glad with how everything turned out and will be releasing more tunes this year.

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen and watch for yourself below and learn more here

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