Based in Adelaide, KEYAN quickly made a name for himself in the guitar community through in-depth YouTube, Instagram and TikTok videos. Ranging from brain stuttering riffs, to emotional solos and vocal-like lead work, his niche guitar content has broadly amassed over 5 million views and 150 thousand followers across all social platforms.

Please list all of your band members and their roles in the band.

Keyan Houshmand - Guitarist / Independent Artist

Steven Mathews - Live Drummer

Kynan Mallia - Live Bassist

For starters, were you a part of any other bands prior to KEYAN?

I was not in any bands or acts prior to KEYAN. Playing under the artist name KEYAN is my first serious venture into music as a performing artist, followed by years of pursuing social media and content creation.

How long have you been playing music? 

I’ve been playing guitar since the age of 5. I’m still playing guitar 17 years later, although it’s a little different now.

What’s the origin of the name?

KEYAN is simply taken from my first name, which originates from my Persian Heritage on my dad’s side. In basic terms, ‘Keyan’ simply translates to “king”.

Who writes your songs? What are the main themes or topics for most of your songs and do you think these topics will change over time?

Being a solo instrumental artist, I write all of the songs and everything in between. I also self record, produce, mix and master all the music. Being an instrumental artist, I don’t have the luxury of having lyrical context to extrapolate on certains themes I want to push across in the music. This was very much the same for the YouTube and Instagram demo songs over the years, with the focus now being on legitimate releases.

However, I love relating my songs back to a certain emotion or mood, and I try my best to convey that emotion across the entirety of a song. One example being the newest single ‘Pulse’, which was written to have a triumphant and nostalgic character behind it. I’m sure as time goes on, I will take more inspiration from the subjective aspects of human emotion.

Who is currently inspiring the music that you’re making?

The latest release ‘Pulse’ was heavily inspired by other instrumental guitarists such as Plini, Aaron Marshall (Intervals) and Jakub Zytechi. However, the broader inspirations over time have come from bands like Periphery, ERRA and Northlane. Combining the heavier aspects of these metalcore type bands with the virtuosic tendencies of the instrumental guitarists is something I strive to do in everything I write.

Was there a particular band/artist or concert that inspired you to start playing music?

I can’t exactly remember what my inspirations were at the time of just starting out on guitar. However, I was a huge fan of Michael Jackson in my toddler/early years. My biggest inspiration in my guitar playing is Periphery. Mark, Misha and Jake were the biggest catalysts in progressing both my guitar playing and aspirations to become a musician.

What do you do to prepare for a show? Any flexing, exercises, ect …

Most of the practice before a show comes from the studio practices before the actual day. I don’t find myself doing exercises or running scales before I go on stage. I just make sure my hands are warm, play through a couple tricky licks/bits in the set and then just go out there and play the show.

Everything is very much ‘to-the-grid’ when I play on stage, so if I’m confident about it in band practice, I feel great before I step on stage as I know it’s going to be exactly the same.

What has been the biggest highlight of your career so far?

It’s hard to say as there have been a lot of stand out moments, especially in the past 12 months. As a musician, my biggest highlight would be earlier this year when I was selected to play BIGSOUND, which is the biggest new music festival in the southern hemisphere.

Across the 180 acts that got selected from thousands of entries amongst the country, I was amongst one of the few heavy acts that were selected. Being able to represent heavy music on a national scale was very cool.

If you could tour with any bands, past or present, who would they be and why?

If I had to make a 4 band lineup to tour with, I would love to play with the bands and artists that have both inspired me, and the bands that inspired them. That way if people come to the show, they would be able to both hear and see the natural progression of music and all the influences across the different acts that play. Periphery, Meshuggah and Plini would be a dream bill, playing with any of those acts at any point of my music career would be a dream come true.