Darren Keen

A full-time touring musician, Darren has played just under 900 shows in the U.S., Europe and New Zealand. His three one-man bands — The Show is the Rainbow, Touch People and Bad Speler — are each unique, but they all feature extreme musicianship, a serious lack of pretention, and forward thought using electronics and computers. He eliminates the traditional performer-crowd separation and makes every show through-provoking and memorable. He is also a Hear Nebraska contributor. You can read his controversial column  "Pay the cover" here . Darren Keen has been featured in the Hear Nebraska " Aperture Needle" Series. Aperture Needle exposes what lies beneath artists' skin. Find out about Darren's tattoos and what they mean to him  here. 

Keen will marry Lacey Harre on April 30. They're departing on a 10 month honeymoon tour, featuring his three bands making consecutive world tours! It's good timing. His record label It Are Good Records just scored distribution through Illegal Art Records (home of Girl Talk, Steinski, Junk Culture, People like Us).

Contact Darren Keen at tsitrainbow@gmail.com

Photos by Alex Joachim | Download High-res images here. | Listen to songs here.

Details on the tour and the individual bands below

The Show is the Rainbow

Eight years strong, TSITR is Keen's funk/noise/experimental hip-hop project. Labels: It Are Good, Retard Disco, Yosada.

Listen to two tracks from Keen's upcoming LP, Tickled Pink (It Are Good Records):

"DONT VOTE"

"PAY THE COVER"

Press

"His set was fun and 'in your face,' with just enough edge to be considered subversive. There is an aggression boiling just below the surface, a strange unnerving tension that could erupt at any moment. And though the music is less “dancy” than his earlier material (which may change after he fills it out in the studio), it’s no less engaging. Let’s face it, it’s impossible to be bored at a TSITR show, which is more than I can say for 90 percent of the indie bands that come through town. And for those folks who will stumble onto Darren by accident as he and his girlfriend criss-cross the country over the next eight months, he could be a revelation or at least one helluva conversation piece." — Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Tour

Touch People

This once anonymous project has a new LP ready, which will be released later this fall on Illegal Art Records. Modern classical influenced IDM. Noise for the new age kids. Prog rock for the ravers. Labels: (Illegal Art / Blank.wav)

Live-mixed, breakbeat heavy, experimental, noisy, electronic music. Live sample heavy mixtapes available for pay-what-you-want at Illegal-Art.net. New live LP, EYE PLAY, available soon on It Are Good Records. Labels: It Are Good, Illegal Art.

Listen to a track from Bad Speler's upcoming live LP, Eye Play:

 "9"

"As Bad Speler, Keen delves into a realm of electronica with dense, multi-layered tracks of midi synths, samples and percussion that ebb and flow. Live, he improvises in mixing sounds as they leave his computer, making for wide variance between each show." — Nick French, Lincoln Journal Star

High Art 

Post-Elfman experimental Japanese punk. 

DISHING WITH DULLARD (DEMO)

FAKE FALLS (DEMO)

Press

"It’s spazzy and outrageous; sonically challenging and kind of weird, just like Keen." — Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

FULL TOUR SCHEDULE:

If you can help book any days off or after parties, message Darren here, or email him at tsitrainbow@gmail.com. If your band would like to play a show with him in your town, please let him or the venue know.