Napalm Flesh: Keith Merrow Interview

Happy New World Invasion Day to you, darkhearts! (Or if you insist on being traditional, Happy Thanksgiving.) Are we all looking forward to food and family, or the mind-altering substances we’ll be taking to get through the holiday? Terrific! Let’s begin the thankfulness: Napalm Flesh is thankful to be bringing you a glorious interview with studio musician Keith Merrow, and thankful that the merciless hordes at YouTube have propelled this incredible songwriter to the status of metal god that he deserves. Also included this week are exclusive reviews of We’re also hella thankful for live fucking music, so here’s our calendar. Get out there and mosh that pumpkin pie right out of your guts.

WEEKLY CALENDAR
Tonight, go see The Devil Wears Prada, Whitechapel, Enter Shikari, and For Today, but be advised there has been a change of venue for this show. It is now going to be at In The Venue instead of the Great Saltair, but all original tickets will be honored. Tix are $23 at the door, and the show begins at 6 for this all-ages event. (Also be advised that the Testament show originally slated for The Complex tonight has been cancelled.)

Black Friday brings us a visit from VNV Nation at In The Venue. Show starts at 6:30, is all ages and tickets are only $16.

On Saturday, Utah Metal presents the First Annual SLC Extreme Metal Fest with Sacrificial Slaughter, Gutsaw, Dethblo, Gravetown, Winterlore, Dukestorm Thunderclap, Hooga, and Darkblood. Music starts at 6:00, and $15 gets you in.

Sunday at Kilby Court, come see The Chariot, Vanna, Former Thieves, Listener and The Crimson Armada. Show begins at 6pm, tickets are $12 in advance/$14 the day of, and this is an all-ages show.

And don’t forget, next Tuesday, the legendary Mayhem with special guests Abigail Williams, Hate and Keep of Kalessin as well as locals IX Zealot at The Complex. Doors are at 7:30, tickets are $22 in advance/$25 day of.

Before we jump into our interview with Keith Merrow, here's something else to be thankful for: new streaming music.
Neige et Noirceun - "Hymne II - Neige Noire" (from the album Hymnes de la Montagne Noire)
Vildhjarta - måsstaden (full album stream)

INTERVIEW WITH KEITH MERROW
Love or hate it, the Internet has revolutionized the distribution of music, and not only in the pirate-infested waters of the torrents. YouTube has become a platform for many self-made artists to showcase their work for free, garner a fan base and even make a shitload of cash selling their work before any agent or record label has even heard of them. Such is the tale of multi-talented studio musician Keith Merrow, who began posting his live metal compositions in 2009 with metal fans immediately lining up, wanting more of his work. Napalm Flesh got a hold of Merrow to find out more about his unique career and what inspires his self-driven musical vision.
Keith Merrow's Official Website
Demisery on Facebook

SLUG: Tell us how you got started and interested in the technical metal you’re now playing.
Merrow: Well, the music I play isn’t all that technically complicated, but I suppose it does have some technical and progressive elements. I think that I just kind of went down that road as I was exploring my own playing. I like writing songs that are fun, and often challenging to play on guitar. Sometimes writing songs and riffs feels like putting together a puzzle, and that makes things more interesting.

SLUG: Did you have any schooling, or are you a self-taught kind of guy?
Merrow: I’m self-taught. I just recently started picking up some instructional books and videos to find new things to try. That also helps me identify the things I already know, but couldn’t put a name to. You never stop learning, so the more you educate yourself, the better you’ll get.

SLUG: What inspired you to first start putting your music on YouTube? Did the response of viewers help charge you to want to write a full album? 
Merrow: Well, I was cleaning out my closet one day and found my old video camera (that I never really used). I sat down and recorded some riffs so I wouldn’t forget them. Some time later, I was showing them to a good friend of mine, and he said “Dude, you should share this stuff on YouTube.” My initial thought was “I don’t want to be that guy that posts guitar wank videos on YouTube and gets hundreds of hate comments to smash my morale.” YouTube can be a rough audience, but it’s been the single most beneficial move I could have made as a guitar player. After those first few videos I put on there, people started asking if they could download my songs. I threw together a short EP, and made it available to download. The response from that motivated me to actually try a little harder, so I wrote The Arrival album. Looking back on both of those releases, I really wish I would have taken them more seriously and tried harder, overall—The production is pretty horrendous on those first two releases. But, I didn’t have the proper tools to do what I wanted when I recorded those. I actually plan on redoing some of those songs, making them what I originally wanted them to be, and re-releasing one collective album (for free, of course). Long story short, yes, the video viewers and fans of my music definitely motivated me to do this music thing, without a doubt. The support I’ve received is just incredible, and I feel very fortunate for that.

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Comments on this article

Posted on November 23, 2011 by Maxnni

Absolutely loved the arrival! cant wait to hear more

Posted on November 23, 2011 by Holmes

Kieth has been one of my great friends for a long time so I might be a little bias when it come to what I think bout what he does playin physically & creatively. I've been a metal-head for as long as I can remember & have seen hundreds of thousands of guitarist play. When Kieth started posting his shit on youtube I was absolutely fuckin blown away!!! Some of the most impressive shit i've ever seen or heard!!! Gonna be a very very famous man real soon!!! Keep rippin kieth!!!

Posted on November 24, 2011 by Chuck D

I've known Keith since about 93' and from that very day and hearing his style of music it was evident that he would be a metal genius. We have played music together after being roommates, i tried to play bass (with his help of course) lol. But it was the most fun i've ever had, much of the love and respect I have for musician's and their music is because of Keith. Keep up the kick ass riffs man!

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