Useless Keys are an American

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

band from

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

composed of Michael Regilio (guitar, keyboards) and Michael Bauer (guitar, vocals). The band formed in May 2008 and their first show was on June 19, 2008 at

Spaceland Spaceland was an alternative rock/indie rock nightclub in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, that existed between 1995 and 2011. The club was formerly a popular disco to young locals called Dreams of LA. Spaceland's owner a ...

Silver Lake Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...

Biography

Useless Keys recorded 6 songs at The Carriage House in

with grammy winning producer Sheldon Gomberg over the winter of 2009. Two songs, "Down Threw" and "White Noise" were mixed by Rick Parker who has also worked with

The Von Bondies The Von Bondies are an American alternative rock band formed in 1997. The original line-up formed at the 1997 Cramps/ Guitar Wolf show by Jason Stollsteimer and Marcie Bolen. They went through a variety of member changes and band names, incl ...

and

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (sometimes abbreviated to BRMC) is an American rock band from San Francisco, California. The group originally consisted of Peter Hayes (vocals, guitar, harmonica), Robert Levon Been (vocals, bass, guitar), and Ni ...

. "Down Threw" has received strong support from Los Angeles major rock radio station

KROQ-FM KROQ-FM (106.7 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to Pasadena, California, serving Greater Los Angeles. Owned by Audacy, Inc., it broadcasts an alternative rock format known as "The World Famous KROQ" (pronounced "kay-rock"). The stat ...

with multiple spins over the summer of 2009. The recordings have also earned the band praise from various Los Angeles publications including

LA Record ''L.A. Record'' is an independent music magazine originally published weekly as a broadsheet poster. The poster usually depicts a local Los Angeles musicians and according to the magazine editors is meant to recreate an iconic album cover. In Ma ...

LA Weekly ''LA Weekly'' is a free weekly alternative newspaper in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin, who served as president and editor until 1991. Voice Media Group sold the paper in late 2017 to Semanal Media LLC, whose paren ...

, and several popular LA based blogs including Buzzbands, LA Underground, and Radio Free Silverlake. "White Noise" is featured on Dead Bees records' Label Sampler No. 8 which was released on May 28, 2009 at Barcelona's

Primavera Sound Festival Primavera Sound (commonly referred to as simply Primavera) is an annual music festival held in Parc del Fòrum in Barcelona, Spain that takes place between the end of May and beginning of June. The first edition took place in 2001 in Poble Espan ...

. Dead Bees has also released music from popular bands such as

Brian Jonestown Massacre The Brian Jonestown Massacre is an American musical project and band led and started by Anton Newcombe. It was formed in San Francisco in 1990. The group was the subject of the 2004 documentary film called '' Dig!'', and have gained media not ...

and

Blitzen Trapper Blitzen Trapper is a Portland, Oregon-based experimental country music, country/Folk music, folk/Rock and roll, rock band associated with Sub Pop Records, Vagrant Records and Lojinx. Formed in 2000, the band currently operates as a quintet, with ...

. "White Noise" and "Down Threw" were featured on the nationwide syndicated "Undiscovered Radio Network" show that airs on

KBRE KBRE (1660 AM) is a commercial radio station in Merced, California. It is owned by the Stephens Media Group, through licensee SMG-Merced, LLC. It plays a mix of active rock and alternative rock, calling itself "105.7 The Bear." Programming ...

in Merced, California; WHBR in Parkersburg, West Virginia;

WAMX WAMX (106.3 FM, "106.3 The Brew") is a classic rock radio station licensed to Milton, West Virginia, serving the Huntington metro area. Owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. The WAMX studios are located in Huntington, while the station transmitter res ...

in Huntington/Ashland, West Virginia; WAQX in Syracuse, New York;and WTFX in Louisville, Kentucky. They have been featured on the show several times in 2009. Useless Keys' debut EP was released in January 2010 and is entitled ''Is the Painting Changing''. Useless Keys travelled to New York in September 2009 to play 3 shows in NYC/Brooklyn including one date opening for

The Rifles The Rifles is an infantry regiment of the British Army. Formed in 2007, it consists of four Regular battalions and three Reserve battalions, plus a number of companies in other Army Reserve battalions. Each battalion of The Rifles was formerly ...

Mercury Lounge The Mercury Lounge is a live music venue in the Lower East Side of New York City. Like its brother venue The Bowery Ballroom, The Mercury Lounge is celebrated as an iconic indie venue due to its acoustics, its fostering and even launching of up ...

. The band played a four-show Monday night residency at The Echo in Los Angeles in February 2010. Useless Keys' single, "White Noise", charted nationally on Alternative Specialty Radio in 2010 with heavy support from

KROQ KROQ-FM (106.7 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to Pasadena, California, serving Greater Los Angeles. Owned by Audacy, Inc., it broadcasts an alternative rock format known as "The World Famous KROQ" (pronounced "kay-rock"). The st ...

106.7 FM in Los Angeles and strong support from

KNDD KNDD (107.7 FM, "107-7 The End") is a commercial radio station in Seattle, Washington. It is owned by Audacy, Inc. and airs an alternative rock radio format. Its studios are located on Fifth Avenue in Downtown Seattle. The station broadcast ...

107.7 The End in Seattle,

KROX-FM KROX-FM (101.5 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to Buda, Texas, and serving the Austin-Round Rock metropolitan area. It is owned by Sinclair Telecable Inc. (not related to television broadcaster Sinclair Broadcast Group, who owns CBS s ...

in Austin,

KINB KINB (105.3 FM) is a sports radio station serving the Oklahoma City area. History This station officially signed on July 6, 2000 as Contemporary Christian as "The Light 105-Dot-3 FM" with call letters KLGH. On April 1, 2002 at midnight, the for ...

in Oklahoma City,

KFMA KFMA (102.1 FM) is commercial radio station located in Tucson, Arizona, broadcasting to the Tucson, Arizona area. KFMA airs an active rock music format. It runs the week day jumpstart with Riley week mornings. KFMA has an ERP of 100,000 watts. ...

in Tucson,

KBZT KBZT (94.9 FM, "Alt 94-9") is a commercial radio station licensed to San Diego, California. Owned by Audacy, Inc., the station broadcasts an alternative rock format. Its studios are located in San Diego's Stonecrest area, and the transmitter ...

94.9 FM in San Diego, and several other major markets. The band spent 2010 and 2011 touring up and down the West Coast and Southwest with multiple dates in Seattle, Portland, San Diego and Phoenix while playing numerous shows in their hometown of Los Angeles. Useless Keys has played shows with Warpaint,

Band of Skulls Band of Skulls are an English rock band from Southampton, consisting of Russell Marsden (guitar, vocals) and Emma Richardson (bass, vocals); Matt Hayward (drums; 2002–2016) was previously a member. The group formed after meeting in college, ...

, Free Energy,

Light Pollution Light pollution is the presence of unwanted, inappropriate, or excessive use of artificial Visible spectrum, lighting. In a descriptive sense, the term ''light pollution'' refers to the effects of any poorly implemented lighting, during the day ...

Crystal Antlers __NOTOC__ Crystal Antlers is an American band from Long Beach, California. History Origins The band started in late 2006 in Long Beach, California, as a 3-piece, Kevin Stuart (drums), Errol Davis (guitar) and Jonny Bell (bass/vocals). The three ...

, and

And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead (often abbreviated as Trail of Dead, or T.o.D., which reads as "death" in German) are an American alternative rock band from Austin, Texas, formed in 1994. The chief members of the band are Jason Ree ...

. Useless Keys opened for A Place to Bury Strangers in late June and played a two night stand with

Dax Riggs Dax David Riggs (born October 15, 1973) is an American musician, best known for fronting the sludge metal band Acid Bath in the 1990s. He has been a part of many projects since then, including Agents of Oblivion and Deadboy & the Elephantmen ...

at Spaceland in early September. Currently, Useless Keys are writing material for their debut album and will begin recording by the end of the year.

Discography

Album/EPs/Singles

''Is the Painting Changing'' EP (January 19, 2010) Label: Planned Obsolescence Records (self released)

Compilations

''White Noise'' Dead Bees Label Sampler No. 8 CD (May 28, 2009) Label: Dead Bees records

References

{{Reflist

External links

Useless Keys BlogUseless Keys Live Review at concertconfessions.com
Alternative rock groups from California