Kyd the Band (aka Devin Guisande) announces his Season 2 EP due out May 29, 2020 and teams up with gnash on new single “Heartbreak Anthem” out now – LISTEN HERE.
The collaboration comes naturally, following a co-writing session which resulted in track 7 on gnash’s debut album in 2019 (aka “pajamas”).
Guisande elaborates, “I love sad music. I’m just fascinated with how people respond to it, and I’m even more intrigued with how strongly heartbreak unites people together in a live concert setting. There’s something about being with thousands of other people singing a song together about your shared pain that’s pretty cathartic.” gnash adds, “’Heartbreak anthem’ is a song about a song you don’t want to hear anymore about someone you no longer want to think about… Ironically based on my past releases, this is a protest song about society’s obsession with breakup anthems, which is why I love it so much.”
Touring with artists like Lennon Stella and NF in addition to his own sold out hometown show in 2020, Kyd the Band hopes that his music creates an intimate connection with his audience.
“With everything I write, I try to write directly from my life and what’s in my heart,” says Guisande.
“I’d love for my music to reach all the kids like me, who are maybe questioning what they were raised to believe or feel like they haven’t found where they belong just yet. I hope those kinds of people hear what I have to say, and see a bit of their own story in my songs.”
At the top of the year Kyd the Band released intensely-charged single “Go There,” a track that draws equal inspiration from classic gospel and ’80s synth-pop but still holds true to Guisande’s signature alternative R&B meets pop sound. Made with producer Aaron Chafin (ROZES, Chaz Cardigan), the piano-laced slow-burner offers a soulful reflection on emotional risk, as Guisande invites the listener to accompany him into “all those places where it’s not always beautiful.”
On the video directed by Patrick Tohill, Guisande explains “I think of my music in ‘seasons’ where the videos all tie together and are meant to be watched as one complete story. I’m in Season 2 right now and you’ll notice the character I’ve brought back in ‘Go There’ is from my previous two videos – that character is my mother… Just make sure you watch till the end. The end is the best part, or my personal favorite part at least.”
Previous releases in Season 2 include: “Dark Thoughts,” “This Time Last Year,” “Easy (feat. Elley Duhé)” and “Human.”
The music of Nashville-based artist Kyd the Band is an ideal soundtrack to finding your place in an often-chaotic world. With his warm yet powerful vocal presence, the Northern California-bred musician otherwise known as Devin Guisande elevates every song with his unpredictable sonic palette and fearlessly honest storytelling – a factor informed by his journey in following his passion and forging his own unique path through life. Along with showcasing his incredible songwriting skills – a gift he’s revealed in penning tracks for artists as eclectic as hip-hop legends Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and German DJ Robin Schulz as well as gnash, NF, and ROZES – Kyd the Band’s music radiates a hard-won positivity that inspires anyone to live more boldly.
Born into a family closely involved with the Pentecostal Church, Guisande got his start playing drums at the age of ten and later took up piano and guitar. At age 16 he co-founded a band with his guitar-playing brother Kyle and began writing songs of his own, relying almost entirely on instinct rather than mining influence from other artists (“I didn’t even know who Kanye West was till I was 18,” notes Guisande, who was forbidden to watch movies or listen to secular music). Over the next few years, Guisande experienced a life-changing transformation as he left the church he was raised in and moved away from home. “I’d thought I was going to be a preacher when I got older, but I started questioning everything and just completely changed the whole trajectory of my life,” he says.
With a batch of self-recorded songs under his belt, Guisande headed to Los Angeles at age 19 and fully devoted himself to pushing forward with his music career. But while his non-stop hustle scored him meetings with a number of industry heavyweights, he felt increasingly disillusioned by the L.A. scene and decamped to Nashville in 2013. When his brother followed him to Tennessee a year later, the two resumed the musical partnership they’d formed as teenagers. Too broke to afford beds, the siblings shared an apartment and slept on the floor, working full-time jobs all day and spending every night writing songs. Against the odds, the multi-instrumentalist, producer, and songwriter clocked in +40 hours a week while working on music each hour he had left to spare.
After suffering a series of false starts, the duo linked up with DJ/producer and frequent Scott Storch collaborator Avedon, who enlisted their songwriting talents for the 2017 comeback album from Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. It was his time in the studio as a songwriter that shaped his now solo career and gave way for his first support slot on tour with NF under the Kyd the Band moniker. Fast forward 2 years, Kyd the Band’s debut single “American Dreamer” has amassed over 3 million streams independently while his slew of major label releases (sans Kyle who left the band amicably in 2017) landed him on playlists like Apple Music’s ‘Best of the Week’ and ‘The A-List: Pop’ numerous times. Racking up over 11 million collective streams, the 2019 single “Easy” was one of the most played tracks on German radio that year and landed Kyd the Band on the cover of Spotify’s official ‘Swag’ playlist.
Kyd the Band isn’t tied to one genre – the message behind his lyrics is what he hopes fans can learn from or relate to. It’s no surprise his collection thus far has fans drawing comparisons to Twenty One Pilots or The Neighborhood. “This next wave of music is definitely less indie leaning, but I’d argue that no matter what Kyd the Band song comes out you’re always going to hear a consistent thread in the lyrics and in the grittiness of the music. I think artists should have the right to evolve, and that they shouldn’t pass up the opportunity to evolve.” Offering a sound that is fresh, unique, and compelling, Kyd the Band is guaranteed to elicit excitement and enthusiasm across a diverse array of audiences.
FOLLOW KYD THE BAND ONLINE:
https://www.instagram.com/kydtheband
https://www.facebook.com/kydtheband
