Raised On TV began where every rock band should: in the garage. In 2015, brothers Keaton Rogers and Kacey Greenwood started banging out melodic, fuzzed-out tunes with high school buddy Ryan Weiss. They soon realized they had some seriously good songs, so it was time to get serious.
Please list all of your band members and their roles in the band.
Keaton Rogers - Guitar, lead vocals
Kacey Greenwood - Drums
Ryan Weiss - Bass, BG Vocals
For starters, what bands were you guys a part of prior to Raised On TV? How long has the band been around?
Raised on TV has been around for about three and a half years now, and we all were in bands prior to Raised on TV. Kacey and Ryan were in a rock band together called “The Lifted” that broke up for various reasons, and Keaton was (still is) in a comedy, country act called Travis Creeps and the Mighty Swooners. He was also in a rock band called Birds thru Blinds that also broke up for various reasons. The break up of our rock bands all coincided and that’s when we formed Raised on TV.
What’s the origin of that name and have you changed the band’s name before?
The name comes from all of us trying to come up with something that we could all relate to in one way or another. We kept coming up with names where one, or maybe two of us, would like the name, and then somebody else would hate it, so we’d scrap it. We went through hundreds, perhaps thousands of names, before we settled on Raised on TV. I still have all the lists somewhere. Some of the scrapped names: “Electric Treehouse” “Juicebox Revolt” “The Fold-ins” “Paper Spaceship” and “Victory Kid” which ended up becoming the name for a friend’s band. Raised on TV has some layers of meaning for us in the sense that we all grew up in Los Angeles and did some child acting. We grew up in and around show business, so that’s part of the meaning. We also just found the name to be kind of fun and memorable, which was something we were trying to convey with our name.
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?
Mostly Keaton writes the songs, but we’ve been writing more collectively through jam sessions recently. Many of the themes have been about growing up and not losing touch with the kid that is within all of us. That was largely the theme of our first album, Season 1, and I guess it had a lot to do with what we were experiencing at the time. Keaton writes a lot about friendships and relationships in his life, trying to understand why they did or didn’t work out. Many of the songs have a philosophical approach in the lyrics, about points of view, perception, different ways of seeing the world, trying not to lose focus of what really matters in life. Many have been about the hustle and grind of trying to make it as a rock musician in this day and age, working multiple jobs, day and night. Our song Smog city is about the craziness of driving for Lyft in LA.
A lot of the recent songs have had that theme of grinding through the day and hustling through the night. Some of the songs are more light hearted, about things like dirty college apartments, or about how writing love songs rarely helps get the one you love. We definitely try to mix it up and not limit ourselves to any one theme or style. We do think topics will change over time since so much of the writing comes from whatever we’re going through at that particular time in our lives, and that’s part of the fun, tracking the journey we’re on.
What bands are currently inspiring the music that you’re making?
There are definitely many. Currently, Band of Horses, Deathcab for Cutie, Queens of the Stone Age, Foo fighters, Built to Spill, Interpol, Guster, Smashing Pumpkins, Jimmy Eat World, to name some.
Was there a particular band/artist or concert that inspired you to start a band?
There were many concerts early on that were definitely very inspirational, life changing even. Seeing Blink 182 and Green Day together for the Pop Disaster tour when I (Keaton) was a kid was amazing and definitely made me want to have my own band. Also saw a Foo Fighters concert at the Wiltern and a Who concert at The Hollywood Bowl that were both insanely influential at a young age. I got backstage at The Who concert and someone gave me a beer, which was a big deal in high school. It felt like a world I wanted to join. I also went to the warped tour, and that was amazing as a kid.
A lot of the bands of the 90s, Blink, Green Day, Weezer, Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, the Offspring, to name some, had a strong impact on me and my motivation to start a band. Seeing Blink made me want to get a guitar. Those bands all conveyed something fun and cool about the band lifestyle. And then of course classic rock bands like the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Hendrix, etc. all had a major impact as well. Those bands motivated me to learn different styles of rock guitar playing and also song writing. John Lennon was a huge source of inspiration as well.
What do you do to prepare for a show?
Getting into a great headspace is always ideal. I try to meditate, or go to a relaxing spot if possible on the day of a show. A little bit of whisky never hurts. Spending time with my cat the day of the show is nice. Kacey likes to stretch. As a group, we practice like crazy, and try to simulate a show atmosphere as much as possible in the garage, using dim lighting, a fog machine even at times, etc.
What has been the biggest highlight of the band’s career so far?
Opening for some bigger bands has been pretty awesome, like Marcy Playground and Jefferson Starship. Playing some bigger festivals, like Topanga days and the Whole Earth Festival. All the tours we’ve been able to do so far. Having one of our songs get featured on some big Spotify playlists recently was awesome.
If you could tour with any bands, past or present, who would they be and why?
It would be awesome to tour with the Foo Fighters. They seem like really cool guys that could show you a good time, and also teach you a lot about being in a band and touring. It would also be fun to tour with an 80s rock band like Motley Crue or Van Halen, but not for too long because it would get way too insane and one of us would probably die.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
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