Southeast Missouri State University junior Brandon McCadney was given his name "Mad Keys" by a high school friend. McCadney recalled the experience fondly.
"Funny story. We were in high school and they had a dance team. I wasn't in dance team because I can't dance. I did the music, so I worked on the songs and DJed them and blended them together and everything. I made a song one day for the dance team to see if they wanted to dance to it," McCadney said. "He was like 'Man, the way you play the piano,' it was kind of a weird style. It was kind of a weird, more jazz influenced kind of thing. So he just came up with the name 'Mad Keys' and I was like 'I don't like that name. That's stupid.'"
As McCadney began playing piano more often the name began to grow on him. McCadney said it was a better name than any of the names he could come up with, and he's become comfortable with using "Mad Keys" as his stage name.
McCadney released his first full-length album in January, titled "Con(temporary)."
"The project was supposed to exemplify where I am as a creator and where I am as an artist," McCadney said. "I really put a lot of time into this album because the purpose of it was to give it to people and hopefully inspire them with what I do in my music by using different styles and incorporating different textures and different instruments."
McCadney expressed the importance of the word temporary being in parentheses for the title of his album.
"The word temporary is in parentheses. The reason why is because I'm temporarily here until I make my next project," McCadney said. "Let's say you're writing pieces. You know you're going to make something better than the first one. You're going to make stuff like, 'Man, this is the best thing I've ever done.' You just feel like that until you make something new. This signifies where you are temporarily with your growth, you know? This is where I am temporarily. It's art, and it's modern art, which is contemporary."
McCadney said that "Con(temporary)" draws from multiple genres of music. The album contains instances of soul, hip hop, jazz, rhythm and blues, electro and electronic pop.
"It has a real jazzy, soulful presence to it," McCadney said about his album.
McCadney's musical background dates back to when he was in fourth grade and took up playing violin for his school's orchestra. He began making digital music on his computer in seventh grade, upgraded to new and better music programs when he was in high school and taught himself to play piano his sophomore year.
"I didn't really know how to feel about violin at first," McCadney said. "I wanted to play saxophone and then wanted to play drums. Mom was like 'I don't want you blowing your lungs out,' and then 'I don't want you practicing in the house and being too loud with the drums.' So I did violin. As the years went on I got better."
"Con(temporary)" is a strictly instrumental album, but McCadney said that he does look forward to one day incorporating vocals in his upcoming work.
McCadney's album is free for download, but he does accept donations. The album is available for download at soundcloud.com/itsmadkeys, madkeys.bandcamp.com, mtv.com/artists/mad-keys and on the MTV artist app.
McCadney will be performing at 7 p.m. on May 9 at Cup N' Cork in downtown Cape Girardeau. There is no entry fee for the show.
