Keywest

For city in Florida, see Key West, Florida.

Keywest is an Irish pop folk band formed in Dublin, comprised by Andrew Kavanagh (lead vocals, harmonica), Andrew Glover (acoustic guitar, piano, backing vocals), Luke Murphy (electric guitar, backing vocals), and Conor Ray (drums, percussion).^[1][2] They are known for their rise from the street busking scene to the mainstream music industry. However, they have recently returned to street performing after leaving their record, publishing, management and agency deals behind.

History

Andrew Kavanagh and Andrew Glover are childhood friends who grew up in Artane, Dublin. Having started off playing pub gigs around Dublin in their late teens, they quickly switched to busking on the streets of Galway, Ireland, as it was a better way to cut their teeth singing cover songs in their own style whilst writing their own material.

They soon had amassed enough original songs and enough street experience to start busking in Grafton Street, Dublin. This was where they forged their reputation in Ireland, where their music was played on the radio and they managed to sell out theatre shows, whilst the band still regularly busked on the street.

After breaking into mainstream media in Ireland, Keywest took their show on the road and busked on streets around the UK, Europe, and America, quickly building a modest but enthusiastic fan base.

Having achieved over 100 million streams online, the band caught the attention of numerous record labels. They signed multiple contracts in the mainstream music industry (publishing, management, agency and record deals) but ultimately decided to change direction of their careers and got out of their previously signed deals after some difficulty.

The band became fully independent once again in 2022 and decided to return to busking on the streets of Dublin performing their original songs in an effort to simplify their lives and take back control of their careers. Keywest is now funded by direct purchases of their music so that they may continue writing songs, releasing albums, and going on tour around the world to visit in concert the very people who supported them.

2012: The Message

The band released their debut album The Message through the Irish indie label Alphastar Records in 2012. The album peaked at No.15 on the Irish charts and No.2 on the iTunes chart in Ireland. It was self-produced and engineered by Mark Needham, who also contributed to music by The Killers, Katy Perry, Fleetwood Mac, Neon Trees, and Dan Frampton (The Script).

The album was a double CD debut release for the band, with CD1 being the main album and CD2 being the Undelivered EP, which showcases the band's acoustic side.

The Message featured the singles "Back Into Your Arms", "Feels So Cruel", "In the Fight for Love" and "Straight Through My Heart". The singles did well on Irish radio and earned Keywest the title of Ireland's most played Irish independent artist of 2012.

The Message is now a triple-platinum selling album in Ireland.

In 2012 Keywest was Nominated for Best New Act at the Meteor Music Awards and The Message was nominated for Best Debut Album in the Hot Press Hotties Awards.

The band also signed a worldwide publishing deal in Los Angeles with publishing giants Peermusic in 2012.

2013: Electric Love EP

The band followed up their debut album with the Electric Love EP, which featured the title track and single "Electric Love".

Electric Love went straight to number one in the Irish charts and was released independently through the band's own label "Sonic Realm" records.

2015: Joyland

Keywest released their second album Joyland on 25 September 2015 which went straight in at number 2 on the Official Irish Chart. It climbed to the top spot the following week, going to Number 1. This was the same week that they appeared on the front cover of Ireland's biggest music magazine, Hot Press.

Joyland was very popular in Ireland, containing the singles "All My Mistakes", "Carousel", "This Is Heartbreak" and "Apple Tree Hill".

2014 and 2015 saw the band win the 98 FM award for Dublin's best street artist and in 2015 the band won the Hot Press Hotties award for Ireland's most promising artist.

2018: True North

The band's third album, titled True North, was released on 30 March 2018. It entered the Irish charts as number 3, reaching number 1 on the Independent Music Chart.

Keywest earned three nominations at the 2018 Irish Post Music Awards for Best Song, Best Album, and Best Band.

2019: Ordinary Superhero

This album proved to be the band's most popular release in the UK, where the single "C'est La Vie" received good radio airplay and became a fan favourite.

The song "I'm Not Me Without You" featured Irish singer Una Healy and most notably the title track "Ordinary Superhero" was released at the start of the Covid 19 pandemic in conjunction with Irish and UK charities supplying PPE to frontline workers. The music video for the song depicted frontline workers going to work during the pandemic.

Current members

• Andrew Kavanagh – lead vocals
• Andrew Glover – rhythm guitar, piano, backing vocals
• Luke Murphy – lead guitar, backing vocals
• Conor Ray – drums, percussion

Awards and nominations

• Best New Act – Meteor Awards 2012 (Nominated)
• Best Debut Album – Hot Press Hotties Awards, 2012 (Nominated)
• Best Street Act – 98 FM Best Of Dublin Awards 2014 (Winner)
• Best Street Act – 98 FM Best Of Dublin Awards 2015 (Winner)
• Most Promising Artist – Hot Press Hotties Awards 2015 (Winner)
• Best Song – Irish Post Music Awards 2018 (Nominated)
• Best Album – Irish Post Music Awards 2018 (Nominated)
• Best Act – Irish Post Music Awards 2018 (Nominated)

Discography

Keywest discography
Studio albums	4

Studio albums

Year	Album Details	Peak chart positions
		IRL [3]	UK
2012	The Message Released: 24 February 2012 Formats: CD, download	15	—
2015	Joyland Released: 25 September 2015 Formats: CD, download	1	—
2018	True North Released: 30 March 2018 Formats: CD, download	3 [4]	—
2019	Ordinary Superhero Released: 11 October 2019 Formats: CD, download	8 [5]	—
"—" denotes a title that did not chart.

Singles

Year	Title	Peak chart positions		Album
		IRL [3]	UK
2009	"Miss You Most"	6	—
2011	"Back into Your Arms"	25	—	The Message
2012	"Feels So Cruel"	—	—
	"In The Fight For Love"	—	—
2013	"Electric Love"	55	—
2015	"All My Mistakes"	—	—	Joyland
		84	—
	"This Is Heartbreak"	–	–
2016	"This Summer"			True North
2017	"The Little Things"
	"Cold Hands"
2018	"Something Beautiful"
"—" denotes a title that did not chart.

See also

• Music of Ireland

References

1. "KEYWEST". breakingtunes.com. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
2. "Band | Keywestofficial". keywest-officialsite. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
3. Steffen Hung. "Discography Keywest". irishcharts.com. Retrieved 16 August 2022.
4. "Irish Albums Chart: 6 April 2018". Irish Recorded Music Association. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
5. "Irish Albums Chart: 6 April 2018". Irish Recorded Music Association. Retrieved 19 October 2019.

External links

• Official website