The world has never felt so different than it has in the past year. Every part of everyday life was dramatically changed due to the pandemic. Every industry, every city, every walk of life felt it. The music industry and the entertainment industry as a whole took a huge hit. Musicians couldn’t tour, venues couldn’t host shows and fans couldn’t see their favorite artists.
Even amid all this hardship, some artists decided to make the most of a bad situation. Kyd the Band is one of these artists. He took the extra time at home by the reigns and made something beautiful. Season 1: The Intro, Kyd the Band’s debut EP, was the start of many beautiful things. Devin Guisande, the man behind Kyd the Band, gave just a quick glance at his brilliant songwriting in that first EP.
Thankfully, he didn’t stop there. After Season 1: The Intro came three more EPs that would carry through 2020 and into 2021: Season 2: Character Development, Season 3: The Realization and Season 4: Series Finale, which dropped today.
He says the reasoning for releasing four EPs instead of a full-length release is because “Each EP represents a different part of my life. If I were to put them all into a full-length release, it would’ve needed to be divided or at least earmarked into four different parts. I think the way music consumption has changed has allowed me to maximize the attention span of my listeners so far. Part of me would’ve loved just to do an album first, but then the other part of me was worried people would listen for two seconds and move on.”
Even though he always had a plan of releasing four EPs in the same collection, he didn’t write and record them all at once. Each EP had its own designated writing and recording time which helped make each a unique piece to the overall project.
Guisande says, “I wrote and recorded for each EP as I went. I’m glad I did it that way because when each of these EP’s have come out, I’ve felt more connected to the concept of the EP and very much still in the moment of when I wrote the songs. It helps me when I’m talking about music.” This writing process allowed him to tap into different inspirations for each EP and showcase growth, both personally and musically, as each one came out.
Each one shows development in Guisande’s life. “Every EP has just been what I was dealing with and going through at the moment. Season 1 talked about my childhood and the way I was raised. Season 2 was about going out on my own for the first time and beginning to navigate adulthood. Season 3 was about to start to accept who I am. And Season 4 is about some of the conclusions I’ve started to make about all of that stuff,” says Guisande.
Naming a piece of work can feel pretty daunting. With Kyd the Band releasing four EPs Guisande had to nail down four great names in less than a year. Thankfully, he did. He says of his naming process, “I thought about how TV shows happen, and that felt like how I should release my music. Season 1 was my upbringing and the introduction of my music, so “The Intro” felt like the correct name. Season 2 was me leaving home and trying to become my own person. It was all about those experiences that began to shape me. Season 3 was me looking at Season 1 and 2 and having enough time and space to understand and perspective.”
Talking about influences for names had us wondering whether if Kyd the Band has worked in any of his Filipino and Spanish heritage into his music. He hasn’t yet — not that he knows of, at least. “I haven’t had the opportunity to dive into the musical aspects of my heritage yet. Growing up, the only music I was around was gospel music… but when I start to dive into the sounds of my heritage, I’m going to listen back through my music so far and see if anything just came out subconsciously influenced. I bet I’ll be surprised.”
Digging a little deeper into the writing process of the four EPs, Guisande shares which was the easiest to write and which is the hardest. Of the four, “the most challenging EP was Season 2 because it was the first time I made music without my brother. I never knew I could make music without him or that I even wanted to.” On the flip side, he says that “the easiest to write was probably Season 3. The songs just happened almost effortlessly. Nice when that happens.” It’s evident that Guisande did some serious growing throughout the entire process. It’s clear the journey he embarked on helped him craft four killer EPs.
With these four great EPs, picking up a favorite must be pretty difficult. However, Guisande quickly says Season 2 is his favorite. In regards to a favorite track, he says, “I used to say my song ‘Human’ was my favorite — it was the first song that I wrote for my project that made me have an emotional response every time I listened to it. The last song coming on this Season 4: Series Finale EP is my favorite right now. It’s called ‘Real Problems.’ The honesty and the song’s weight come through while still being hopeful and as an artist, I am really proud of that. I’m most excited to play it live whenever I get the chance to do that. There are some songs on it that I think will take on a completely different life when that happens.”
Season 4: Series Finale dropped today so listeners can hear exactly what Guisande’s talking about. The EP brings the entire story to a magnificent close. Everything that he has learned in the past year, has found a way into Kyd the Band’s music and it showcases his best work yet. Now with all this music, one can hope for a tour! With shows starting to come back slowly, we can only imagine what these excellent tracks will be like live.
Throughout the past year, it’s been a significant change for everyone. Guisande took that year and made some excellent EPs and managed to grow both personally and musically through them. With so much on the horizon for him, we can’t wait to see what Kyd the Band does next.
Stream Season 4: Series Finale by Kyd the Band on Spotify below.
Want more Kyd the Band? Keep up with him on Instagram.
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