Keuning is back with three new songs from his forthcoming sophomore solo album, A Mild Case of Everything. The 16-track collection was written throughout 2020 during the pandemic, and it was recorded by Keuning in his home studio in San Diego.
Due to the wealth of material he has written in the last year, he felt it was important to get as much music out as possible and release three new songs to reintroduce himself and his solo efforts. These new tracks are “Ends Of The Earth,” “Bad Instincts,” and “No One Is Calling You A Liar.”
The highly-anticipated full-length album A Mild Case of Everything will be released June 25, 2021, both digitally and on vinyl.
In 2020, during the quarantine, Keuning began writing and recording songs which resulted in the forthcoming 16-track solo album A Mild Case of Everything.
Regarding the song selection process of the new album, he said, “I ended up putting 16 songs on it, and I am proud of all of them. I hope people give this record a chance since they will see that there are no fillers on there. I was very close to doing two records, and saving half for a couple of years but I sat with some of these ideas for a while now, and I was anxious to get it out.”
“I was able to do most of the recording in a couple of weeks, and I ended up having more than enough songs,” he added. “16 songs will be on the album, and 17 will be on the vinyl edition.”
Keuning noted that his favorite song on the album changes each day, and understandably so.
Over 17 years have passed since Keuning placed an ad in the local Las Vegas Weekly looking to form a band, where he mentioned Oasis as one of his favorites. Back then, an eager 20-year-old named Brandon Flowers, who shared Keuning’s love of groups like New Order and the Cure, answered it, only to have Keuning hand him a recorded four-track demo of “Mr. Brightside.”
The result was the formation of The Killers, who have released five consecutive chart-topping albums and toured the world thanks to a songwriting partnership that molded such hits as “Somebody Told Me,” “When You Were Young,” “Read My Mind,” and “Human,” among others.
Keuning released his breakthrough solo album Prismism back in 2019, which was comprised of 14 tracks, where Keuning played all of the instruments himself. In that musical effort, Keuning saw things from all sides, focusing on details without missing the bigger picture.
The new collection is a mix of dynamic guitar riffs and melodic alt-rock, and it displays the natural evolution in his solo songwriting that will please fans of his solo work and longtime fans of The Killers.
On being an artist in the digital age, Keuning said, “It has lots of good and lots of bad. I guess I am old now but I enjoy listening to CDs and vinyl in their entirety. I understand the ease of going to Spotify, Apple Music, and all of the other platforms.”
For young and aspiring bands, he said, “Find one thing and try to be really good at that. If you are a punk band, try to be the best that you can be at that. I’ve seen some local bands and they are good. My album is all over the place because I like to change the style.”
On the key to longevity in the entertainment business, he said, “Hopefully, a hit song doesn’t hurt. Some people will go and see a band for only one or two songs. Do whatever you want but be yourself. If you want to break through, try and write at least one or two songs that could be played on the radio. That doesn’t mean you are selling out, it means that people can remember the song’s chorus after it’s done playing. Then, hopefully, you can focus on what you really want to sound like the rest of the time.”
Regarding the title of the current chapter of his life, Keuning said, “A Mild Case of Everything,” referring to the record’s name. “The last couple of years, the title of my life has been the album’s title,” he admitted. “I have had so many different feelings the last couple of years with the world and everything. Right now, I am consciously optimistic.”
Keuning furnished his definition of the word success. “If you are able to have success doing what you love, hopefully, that is what you want to succeed at,” he said. “When you are able to do what you love and when you sustain that, I guess I would call that a success.”
For fans and listeners, he concluded about the new album, “I hope they give it a chance and I hope they enjoy it. That’s 99 percent of the battle because there are so many bands out there. You just hope that people give your music a listen.”
To learn more about Dave Keuning and his new solo music, check out his official website, and follow him on Facebook and Instagram.
