“Keeping Distance – Straight Outta Hollister!”
Question: what is the one thing everybody on this earth has in common? Whatever you were thinking is wrong. Unless you were thinking that Hollister’s Keeping Distance owns you! For those of you who don’t know who Keeping Distance is shame on you! Actually, it's all right because they've only been around since late December of 2003 but they've quickly gained a sizable fan base within the fickle hardcore community with their intense-beyond-words-live show and excellent song writing. I want to go into detail about just how great they are live. First, you have this tall, rake thin lead singer whose doing these spinning karate kicks that would have Steven Segal chewing his ponytail off in bitter envy while four other guys are flailing away at their instruments in reckless abandon yet not a single note is missed! There should be fatalities but it's all in a nights work for these guys. The enthusiasm and love these boys have for performing is enough to melt even the most jaded hipster heart, crowd participation isn’t just encouraged. It's demanded! If your in the audience at a Keeping Distance show, you will find yourself on one more than one occasion either: A: clapping incessantly B: screaming into the microphone that just knocked your teeth in C: helping lead singer Derek back on stage after diving into the crowd D: all of the above…at the same time! Keeping distance just finished recording an LP at Lovejuice Labs in Riverside, Ca. they are looking to raise funds to press the CD as we speak, so please, please, please, go to there shows and donate a buck or two or thousand because these guys are going to be huge! The songs are amazing and they deserve to be heard by everyone! Give them a shout out online at www.keepingdistance.com and show them some love! -Woody Harper

Article in "Out And About" Magazine – September 2004

Keeping Distance – This Is Where It Ends
Source: www.theredseason.com
Score: 8/10

Hollister, California: America’s number one teenage town. I mean, they have the sweetest clothing line named after them, every hot surfer dude, every mode, and they are fortunate enough for Keeping Distance to call them home. This five piece entourage formed in January of 2004 with the goals of doing something different, and that they’ve done. With their musical tastes ranging far and wide, from the hardest metal to the poppiest punk, I’m still left in shock as to how this album came out as perfect as it did.

A typical, but fitting, intro containing a sample starts off Keeping Distance’s first full length “This Is Where It Ends”. As the album progress into “Pull The Ink From My Skin”, my initial reaction is the diversity of this song. At times it is reminiscent of Beauty To Ashes while also containing slow and sludgy breakdowns. “Words Left Unsaid” reminds me of earlier Boywunder with the style of guitar riffs, harmony used, and the vocal sung. Each song so far has contained an equal mixture of slow parts, bass solos, and excellent drumming.

When most bands attempt a lighter sounding, less distorted song with screaming on top of it, the results are usually, well, bad. Keeping Distance, to the contrary, has managed to successfully pull this objective off in “Closer…” giving their album an excellent interlude. The bands pop influence is witnessed in the following track, “Anna Scott”, where the intro is very melodic and contains harmonic singing. To my surprise, the back up singing is a pleasant addition due to Keeping Distance’s bass player actually having a decent voice. Throughout all of “This Is Where It Ends” the drumming is up to par, the vocals are crisp and on cue, and the guitars wail together in perfect rhythm as shown in the albums last song, “Dead Girls Don’t Lie”.

With such a diverse ability in their music, much is destined ahead for the fairly young group Keeping Distance. This album is positively for fans of every genre including bands like Beloved, Finch, and Bloodjinn. As long as this band keeps the guitars blazing on, the drums are pounding, and the vocals screaming I will certainly be a dedicated fan. If you’re looking for a new band with an awesome sound, be sure to check out their debut full length on ISR Records.

"This Is Where It Ends" starts out with a little snippit from the light romantic comedy "the boondock saints" when before you know your hit with the song "pull the ink from my skin" like a shot gun blast to the face. The opening line of " it was love ,love ,love..."will stick in your head for the end of time and space,you'll frequently find yourself yelling it at random people on the street!! another noteworthy song is the anthemic "closure.."with its trembling chords and a voice that sounds like its been gargling razor blades, it definetly qualifyies as the centerpiece of the album.but this is only a sampler of what is , al in all a very ,very strong album, in a genre as stale and repetive as hardcore, its a breath of fresh airto see a band who is still willing to take chances and strech the boundaries of what we are usually accustomed to. it's equally refreshing to know that this is a band from our own backyard!keeping distance will one day be in the national spotlight because i, for one , know they have the talent, the ambition and the balls to succeed. godspeed my friends.. check out www.keepingdistance.com for juicy gossip and n00dy pics of the band. (jk).

Keeping Distance Interview with Erik Bernier
Source: www.theredseason.com
First off, who are you and what do you do with the band?
Derek: My name’s Derek and I play the vocal chords.
Anthony: My name’s Anthony Martinez and I do backup vocals as well as play bass.

So, hailing from Hollister, California, what do you guys feel about the number one popped-collar clothing brand Hollister?
Derek: (Laughingly) Yeah, a lot of people don’t even realize there’s a town called Hollister. I think David has a pair of those pants…
Anthony: I don’t like it. Every time we say we’re from Hollister people probably think of the stupid clothing company.

When and why did you guys come together to form Keeping Distance?
Derek: We started in January of 2004. Mike, Anthony, and Jed had a band before then, but they lost their singer then I came in. I think like 3 months later we got David on guitar, and then everything came together nicely.

Where did the name Keeping Distance come from?
Derek: Well Pretty much it came from not trying to follow everything in the scene; we all come from different music backgrounds so when we came together we didn’t want to sound like the same stuff in our area.
Anthony: Our singer (Derek) thought of it one day when we were thinking of band names. It’s strong, simple, and sticks in your head.

What type style would you describe your music as?
Anthony: (Laughingly) I guess the post hardcore label works. We have breakdowns and screaming, but we also have a lot of pretty parts with singing.

Are there any influences in your musical style?
Derek: I listen to everything from The Smiths to Dillinger Escape Plan. I have Every Time I Die and Johnny Cash in my CD player, oh, and that new Ace Ender album. I can make a mess, that CD is so good, I listen to pretty much everything.
Anthony: My Favorite band is AFI. I try to stick to that style of bass playing personally. My favorite bass player of all time is Flea though.

What type of sound are you trying to achieve in your music and lyrics?
Derek: As far as lyrics go, it’s pretty much just an outlet for me; what I’m feeling at that moment. A lot of the new stuff I’ve been writing is pretty much about coming to terms with life and self motivation. The music itself is getting a lot more ambient recently. After putting out this album we got to the point where we all know what we want and where we’re going with it, some bands never find that point.
Anthony: We’re trying to achieve a strong sound on both sides, music and lyrics.

Is there any particular message your band conveys?
Derek: Not really, you can take the lyrics into context with your own life. But if I can say anything to kids out there, just be your self, don’t follow anyone. Chances are you a lot cooler than the person you’re trying to follow.
Anthony: We want people that listen to it to get their own meaning from it. We don’t preach or anything.

What past albums have you come out with?
Derek: “This Is Where It Ends” is our first big release.

How has the response to your re-release of “This Is Where It Ends" been so far?
Derek: It’s been pretty good so far, Iron Summit is doing a great job with getting our name out. We’ve had a lot of good response so far.

What upcoming albums do you guys have plans for?
Derek: We want to release an E.P this summer with the new stuff we’ve been writing, so I’m guessing we probably will.

Has your sound changed from the initial start of Keeping Distance?
Anthony: Yeah it has a lot. After we got David in on this, our influences just meshed really well when we write. We’ve all done a lot of growing up in the past year as well.

What past labels have you worked with?
Derek: None, ISR pretty much broke our cherry.

How is it now with ISR and having the weight of being a first release for this label?
Anthony: Oh man, we just hope it does well and that we can make a name for each other. We both know the only way to make it is to put in work, you know? I think that’s why we initially clicked so well with ISR Records; we’re both hard workers and have the same goals.

Are there any future touring plans?
Derek: That’s all we want to do man, play shows everywhere, get on the road and never come home!

Describe one of the greatest shows for you guys to play. Who would be on the stage with you, how would the crowd be, etc.?
Anthony: I think it would be a show with all our friends. We’ve met a lot of really good people this year, and people we’ve known our whole lives. The show would be at the House of Blues or something with us, Novice, Fairwell, Expose the Flaw, A Life In Vain and umm…The Chariot, (laughingly) why not? And every fan we’ve made over the year would have to be there.

As an up-and-coming band who is not able to enjoy the spoils of a larger label, what is the hardest aspect of this band for you?
Derek: Well, money is always the main aspect; everything we’ve accomplished is because we’ve made it happen. Self funded. It’s hard to get stretched out of your area too, without a major label to fund your tours and hook everything up. But I have a feeling we’ll be just fine.


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