Blog

Klay's blog, where we will post updates about the band, what we're doing, where we're playing and other important news. We'll also be posting pictures and videos of our gigs. You can comment on our posts and share them on social networks if you feel like it.

Klay is an acoustic rock band from Graz, Austria. 

New year, new videos

My "little" brother Elias is a busy bee and always has a lot going on. Somehow he found time to film one of our last concerts and luckily it went pretty well! ;) We played in the Postgarage Graz at an event called Spotting, and friend of ours, Karl Neuhold, took a bunch of great photos.

So we're happy to announce: We just uploaded two new live videos and some photos from that concert. Check out our videos and pics pages for more.

Yeaaaaah!! jippiiiii :D Feel free to share and let us know if you like it. Thank you for your support.

Klara in the name of… the band. 

Invisible // Klay (live)

In Your Eyes // Klay (live)

On the air

Klay in Radio Helsinki's studio

Right before our last concert on December 11th, we had a blast on the radio show β€žclash connectβ€œ on Radio Helsinki. Kati, one of the two hosts, and I had tried to plan this event for quite some time already. :) We met about a year ago at a festival here in Graz and ever since then, we’ve been looking for a good opportunity to play a live session on her show. The radio studio is very very small, as you can see on the pictures below, but we were all (including the technician Christian) pretty sure we could fit our little drum set into the studio and be the first live band with a drummer in the Helsinki studios.
AND WE DID IT! Walter was cuddled up in the corner with his drums, and even though we had some technical challenges, we made the best of it and had a great time. :D

Once during the show, while Kati was talking and we had to be quiet in the background, my nose started running and I didn’t have a tissue! All I had was Ben, who offered me one of his used ones… I was about to bust out laughing when Christian shook his head, smiled and gladly handed me a fresh one. Funny little moments like that make sure we don’t take ourselves too seriously. ;)

During the show I also talked a bit about songwriting and what the song β€žHolding Onβ€œ is all about. Here is a short(ish) clip from the 1 1/2 hour studio session trimmed down to 25 minutes. You’ll hear the songs In Your Eyes, Holding On, Let It Out and Your Way as well as some segments of Kati's interview with me.

Enjoy!

Klay on Clash Connect
Radio Helsinki
 

Summer, dear summer…

Hello fellas! 

Here are some stories about our last few concerts, about playing solo, fighting rainy stormy weather… and so on.

Klay playing solo at LVL4

We got a slot to play on the Red Bull Brandwagen at the Level 4 Festival in Vienna! Unfortunately, 'cause of some inconvenient circumstances, I ended up playing all by myself – without the Band this time!! It's been a long time since I've done that and I forgot how normal it has become to rely on Ben and Walter when we play live. If I make mistakes, hardly anyone notices. If I get lost, I just look at Ben's knowing smile and I can relax again. If I wanna improvise with the crowd and they sing along, I can stop playing, but the music goes on! If I wanna jump around without the guitar, I can just do it. ;) Playing solo… well those things don't really work. At one point I was trying to get the audience to clap with me, so I stopped playing the guitar and started clapping! A short awkward silence and some lost facial expressions in the audience told me to get on with my playing… and so that's what I did. Like nothing ever happened. ;)  hihi… Well, I can't help but smile about it now, because these moments of failing (smaller, or bigger;)) are little steps in the process of getting better at what I do. Taking risks is the whole fun in playing live! You never know what's gonna happen or whether spontaneous ideas will work or not. 50-50 chance. Like in all areas in life, when you try something new. :) But it's not about succeeding or failing. For me it's already a win, if I tried something new and took a risk. Because every risk brings new experience and new experience brings you further in what you do. Ok, enough about that now. ;)

August surprised us with two weddings from dear friends of ours. Ben and I had the pleasure to support both with some of our music. It was fun, 'cause we didn't just play our own songs, but played some covers as well, like "I Will Wait" by Mumford & Sons.

As some of you know, we also played at an open air concert at a public swimming pool in Graz a few weeks ago, that "Die GrΓΌnen" from Ries organize a few times every summer. On the day the gig was supposed to happen, the weather looked kind of unstable. But crazy as we all are, we didn't listen to the weather experts and set all our equipment up. There was a roof over the stage area, but it was still outside. Instead of people coming, the ones who were already there started leaving the swimming pool and went home, because the clouds started looking scary. ;) It didn't take long and when the second band started their soundcheck the storm hit us and all our equipment was wet within five seconds. I'm not kidding… So basically we were stuck with lots of wet cables and instruments, three people that made it to the concert before it was supposed to start, some nice people from the cafΓ© there and the other band. Surrounded by hard rainfall. So for the few people that came for the concert, Wolfgang from G.U.L.I.S (the other band) played two songs and I played two of our songs. Just acoustic, but in a lovely atmosphere, with the rain as percussion in the background. As a pleasant surprise Dan, who's artist name is "Feel", was also there and contributed two of his expressive songs with his Kurt Cobain-like voice. So all in all we had a wonderful evening. Not like it was planned, but maybe that was the beauty of it. :)

This past weekend we played a concert in Knittelfeld and at one the a summer fest of the austrian sculpture park and had lots of fun with the audience! :) Thanks for all of you out there, that keep coming to our concerts and/or share our music with others! That means a lot to me and keeps us going. :)

I'm really looking forward to the 27th of september! We're gonna play at the Open Street Fest (Club Wakuum) in the center Graz again! So for all of you who keep asking me, when we're gonna play in Graz again: on the 27th!! The event starts at 3pm and goes till late at night. You can find more info about that gig right here.

Lots of love,

Klara van Klay ;)

 

Being personal?

klay_blog.jpg

Hello. I don't have lots of money and I only want as much as I can handle, so I can keep doing what I love to do. Writing songs, expressing myself on stage is in my nature. Sounds cheesy, but that's the way it is… basically. Money and fame for the sake of money and fame? No, thanks. 

People, friends, music listeners keep asking me to show more of myself. What's behind the music? Well, I gotta say… it's a lot and I'm trying to put it into words, but besides my songs, I'm not really good with it. Fear of failure, fear of embarrassment, fear of getting rejected. Fear we all struggle with at some point in our lives. So my way to deal with that kind of fear is to not say much at all and to hide behind my lyrics, my music. I express myself through it, but let people draw their own conclusions. 

Today a friend - yes, I call him friend, even though we've just met a couple of times - came up to me and told me, that my website and my social media presence don't reflect my personality. My stage presence is so strong and full of life, but does that come through on my website? Or in the other ways I communicate with the public? You might think, well what more does a musician need, other than letting people see and hear their music!? Isn't that personal enough? I guess, everyone can answer that on her/his own. But I do know from my own experience as a music consumer and music listener, that I search for the deeper meaning behind the music, a song or simply the artist. What does the person mean, when he writes "No more counting dollars | We'll be counting stars"? Where does it come from, what does it say and WHY does he say it the way he does. The coolest thing for me as a listener/consumer is to find something in and behind the music and the artist. 

So here comes my decision. From now on I wanna give you the opportunity to dive into the world of my music and me, Klay. Even now when I write this, my pulse starts rising and it makes me feel uncomfortable. I'm scared, cause I'm opening up to you and don't know what will happens when I do. But what I do know is that I really wanna make music. I wanna pass on the things that I receive, like a song, a melody or a phrase, that shares love, keeps you going or just hugs you in that moment when you're listening to it. 

I know, I have a long way to go… I don't know where it will take me. But I embrace my heart, my being, I embrace what I've been given and I will have to choose to embrace it again and again. But I'm up for it and I'm starting to open up to you about it. 

Who am I? I don't really know. Some days I do, some days I don't. Let's go on a journey to find out who we are and what's in us, so that we can give to others. 

I would love to here what you have to say, so feel free to comment on my posts. :) Welcome to my life. Let the world see yours. 

Klay.

New single: Holding On

We are very excited to announce the release of our very first single! It's called Holding On, and you can buy it on iTunes and on several other online stores.

The waiting is over. After a few years of writing, recording, rewriting… we finally have our first song that you can purchase. :) Holding On is one of our newer songs and is a good representation of where we stand right now as a band. After playing live a lot for over a year and recording lots of demos, we have a pretty clear idea of what we want.

Recording at Tonladen Studios

The timing couldn't have been better when Tonladen Studios offered to record a single with us. They understood what we are about immediately. Crazy ideas, like recording the drums with just one mic, had as hooked right from the start! We want thank all the guys there for their great work. We had a really good time recording in a relaxed atmosphere and with great equipment.
 

We think we did a good job capturing the energy and emotion that happens in our live performances on this recording. We hope you feel the same way. Let us know what you think!

Below are a few pictures from our time in the studio. 

Where to download Holding On