Spike and Mallets is the ongoing project of singer/songwriter Jeff Keeran. For several years now Tony Keats has been playing guitar and Kyle Walsh has been pounding the drums. They are identical twins, born to separate mothers on different days. Brent Rawlings has been spotted playing bass in the band and engineering what might just turn out to be their next record.
Keeran has been performing and writing since the late 80's, embracing the angry pop of Costello, Dylan, and Lennon. He's still angry today,...he just has to keep his voice down or he'll wake the baby.
In the early nineties Keeran was the front man of Celebrity Toast and Jam, a Nashville rock band that caught a good deal of attention from fans and from "the industry". With a major record deal pending, youthful impatience and timeless arrogance caused them to record and release an excellent indepent recording (Large/surefire records) and move to the Bay Area. Youthful impatience then caused them to break up and go their seperate ways. Keeran stayed in California for several years before finally moving back to Tennessee.
Enter Spike and Mallets...
We do play live in and around Nashville though not as much as we used to. As for special moments, we were invited to play the Nashville New Music Conference a couple of years ago. We went on at seven P.M., played six songs to five people. And we still were offered a deal.
Elvis Costello, Tom Waits, Flaming Lips
