William Ryan Key Band • Page 6

Easily the best so far.

Still absolutely can’t stand how far “back” in the mix the vocals sound. It’s so grating to me.

 

Drip drip (actually looks like this has been dripping for two weeks)

 

No More, No Less is AWESOME.

That is the different vibe I was looking to hear from him. Totally different, full band atmospheric type vibe with vocal distortion to boot.

You can see clear as day that he’s gradually expanding to more full, big sound. Step by step.

 

I haven't been keeping up at all, there's a new EP?

 

Yeah, 'Virtue', out this Friday.

 

great! glad I don't have to wait long

 

I listen to songs like this and it really stands out to me how buried the vocals are in the new songs. Ryan has such a good, unique voice so it’s dissappointing to me that it gets kind of buried. Here’s an older acoustic example where the vocals are much more prominent:

 

Full EP is out.

And it’s very good.

 

Old acoustic Yellowcard stuff are still some of my favorites. One for the Kids still gets my attention from time to time and that's some of the first stuff I heard way back when from YC.

I like the soft echo of the vocals, it's obviously a stylistic choice but I guess it depends on preference. For me, it makes the songs very intimate and casts an interesting juxtaposition when the music starts to build.

 

very good.

 

Listening to this now and I'm really enjoying it. Definitely an EP to chill out to. Would love to take it on a night drive if I'm ever out in the burbs with nothing to do.

 

This is good, quite a bit better than the last one. Love hearing more instruments and a bigger sound. As good as he is at quiet tunes, his ability to make huge soundscapes is what really draws me to his music. Hope he keeps pushing in this direction.

 

Agreed. The more he pushes back towards a larger soundscape and more instruments the better it will be IMO. I do like the open acoustic stuff but I think theres a lot more to be explored as well

 

I went back to this and saw it now has over 30,000 views on YouTube. Which is actually pretty impressive. I'd assume it would be much more if he had a label or stronger marketing push, too.

 

That’s great. I think touring probably helped too

 

Was really hoping this EP would click for me more than the last one but I think I'm just not a fan of his solo music which is really sad, Yellowcard was such an important band for me when I was young

I do like Virtue and the last track though

 

"Virtue" and "No More, No Less" are the standouts to me here, and I think it has something to do with them being the most instrumentally impressive, they actually seem to dip into post-rock styles which work really well for him

 

Ryan sings in this song, and it absolutely shreds

 

I wonder how this collaboration came about?

edit: nevermind. didn't know they were touring with him lol.

 

Saw Ryan last night in Atlanta for the first show on his tour... I had no idea what to expect but was really impressed, it was extremely good. The new songs sounded great (especially the ones with a bit heavier instrumentals from the Virtue EP) and he pulled out some Yellowcard rarities that really blew me away. (and, to my surprise, actually made me cry at one point. But hey, Fields and Fences will do that to you)

Chatted with him a bit after the show and he's just a super genuine dude who you can tell still wants it, and wants it to be something of his own identity, not just Yellowcard Pt. 2.

Ocean Avenue wasn't the last song and after they played it he said "that doesn't have to be the last song anymore... freedom!" and some dude in the audience kept yelling for Empty Apartment and he said "sorry dude, not gonna happen. I'm not a jukebox". I hope he finds success going this route because it was really enjoyable, obviously totally different than a normal YC show but still tons of fun.

Was also good to see Josh up there on guitar, too.

 

What other YC songs did he play? Saw an IG post where he said he was playing some they never played live and it piqued my interest.

 

Holy cow, the live version of MSK sounds absolutely incredible

 

I'm going to this tour on Friday in Brooklyn. Watched a few videos on YouTube and I decided I can't miss it.