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. 

CD Release !! Whaaat??

Dear Klay friends!

We are absolutely excited to bring you some wonderful news today (on Friday the 13th, our lucky day :D) !!!

It’s been five years since we first went online with Klay, which started out as a solo project and became a dynamic, creative, self-expressive and passionate band project. We write, we live, we breathe our music and put a lot of effort, realness and joy into it. Personally, we are on the path of finding out WHO WE ARE and WHAT DEFINES US. Is it what we do? What we accomplish in life and what others see as desirable? Or is it that we know, we are worthy of love no matter what and invest in who we are, rather than what we do? Very often we know what we want, but the way to get there is a whole different story.

Working on our EP design with Elias Sonnek (who is behind the camera).

Klay is a work in progress, as much as the individual lives of each of us, Klara, Ben and Martin are. We fall, we fail, we get up, we fall again, realize stuff, get back up again and this process repeats itself – but all the while we are writing music. 

And that is the reason why it has taken us some time to write songs we are so proud of and touched by ourselves, that we want to share them with you.

So, what’s the NEWS? 

  • Our first EP Reflected is coming soon!
    Finally, we get to share some new music with you! Our first EP (short album), called Reflected, will come out at the end of April. It contains four songs that we have written in the past year, and that we are really proud of.
  • April 24th – Release Show // p.p.c. Graz // 19:30
    The first opportunity to get our new EP will be at our release show on April 24th at p.p.c. Graz. We’re super excited to play our songs live for you, and trust us: it will be a good show 😀 You can get tickets from us or buy them online from p.p.c. Check out the Facebook event for more details.
  • More news is coming over the next few weeks, so stay tuned!

Each of the four songs on our upcoming EP tells a part of our personal story. The story of the struggle to find a place in this world as a human being. The story of being vulnerable and real with each other and our surroundings. The story of embracing failure and imperfection, rather than fighting it. The story of listening: listening to the world – listening to what is inside of us. The story of letting go and embracing the unknown.

photo by Elias Sonnek

We hope to encourage some people to walk their own path and not be afraid to fail, to find joy in walking outside of their comfort zone – even if that just means to put down your phone for a while and listen to some nice tunes. :)

Cheers, KLAY.


Hier kommt die deutsche Übersetzung des obigen Texts.

Klay sits down on a Little Brown Couch

Little Brown Couch, a really cool video project supporting local artists, just published a video they made with us last week. It's a brand new song called Come to Rest that none of you have heard yet, so we hope you enjoy it!

Many thanks to the Little Brown Couch team, we had a great time shooting this video and are really pleased with how it turned out. Click here for more information as well as some pics from the shoot.

Article about Klay on Music News

Many thanks to Faraz, who wrote a glowing review of Klay for the Austrian online magazine Music News. The article is in German, of course, so English speakers will have to wait for the forthcoming video interview – which will also be in German, but at least there will be something to see :)

A crazy Lendwirbel weekend

What a crazy, crazy weekend. We had three open-air concerts planned, two of which had to be canceled. But we still ended up playing two shows!! :D

Lendwirbel is just the coolest street festival there is in Graz. Every year, tons of artists and people hang out in the streets and participate in a lot of different projects. The atmosphere is a huge inspiration to be active yourself. So this year we planned a whole weekend of Klay music. First we played on an acoustic stage, organized by some local musicians (Feel, g.u.l.i.s., Circus, Chris Magerl, Bender-Musik) in collaboration with a great little Italian restaurant called „Santa Lucia“ on Lendplatz in Graz. We got lucky, cause even though the clouds looked a bit scary and it started to drizzle once, we were able to play our concert (with cajon, no drums) and the crowd was crazy cool! We had so much fun and from the first song on people were dancing and enjoying themselves.

We also had the honor of being on stage together with Chris Magerl, and accompanying him on one of his songs! Chris has been an important part of the music scene in Graz and an inspiration to us for years, and it was great to collaborate with him. Thanks Chris! Even though we never got around to actually rehearsing together, the song turned out fine, as you can see in the video above.

Playing in the pouring rain, just before the power blew out…

Our second open-air concert on Saturday evening got hit by a storm and was the shortest set we've played so far... not even a minute. But in those 45 or so seconds we got so energized that we absolutely HAD TO play that evening. Three bands played inside Club Wakuum that same evening and after they were done at about 2:30 a.m., we got our instruments and hit the stage. With no expectations that anyone would actually stay that late at night, we saw it as a gig for ourselves and anyone who wanted to join. Ben even posted it on Facebook and to our great surprise three people showed up because of the post!!! :D Thank you guys!! —> Alex, this goes out to you and your friends. :)

When we started playing at 3 a.m. there were probably still 50 to 70 people at the club. We started our set in front of some people standing, sitting, and listening, but we ended up dancing with them and even playing an encore, cause the energy was up and all the lovely guys and girls wanted more. And Klara was totally excited to start her 27th birthday with a concert. Happy Birthday, Klara!

We gave our all and it really couldn't have been any better. We were all wet like we had taken a shower, as shown by Martin's soaked shirt in the gallery below. :D

Thanks to Michi, who did our sound and did wonderful job (du bist a wahnsinn!), thanks to Christian, Elias, Nina, Ron, Hubert, Con, Flo, Manu and many more who helped out in one way or another and made it possible for us to play on that stage in such a wonderful atmosphere. :)

On Sunday (Mother's Day and also Klara's birthday) it poured rain all day and the clouds got darker by the hour. So no concert in the park for us. But after playing from 3 to 4 a.m. the night before, we weren’t toooo sad about it. ;) Maybe we can still do the show at the parkhouse some time this summer, or otherwise next year at the very latest.

Since Martin joined the band as our new drummer, we've started working on some new material and it almost feels surreal, because we can’t seem to stop coming up with new jams and ideas that we love and wanna work with. We already have three new songs that we played in our first sets. The most beautiful moments in a concert are when we don’t really know what is gonna happen, and we keep playing and the crowd starts singing what we sing and the energy flows back and forth. :D You really can’t recreate moments like that, and that is the beauty of it. :)

All you can do is play another show and let things happen. To that end, our next concert on Friday, June 13th, is coming up soon! :D See you there and thanks for all your support!

Klara, Ben and Martin

We have a new… *drumroll*

Walter, we'll miss you!

Hey everyone,

Thanks for tuning in again. :) It’s been a while. We know. But we're back with some awesome and some sad news. Well, we don't want to keep you waiting any longer, so: 

Walter, our dear friend and drummer, decided to leave the band just a few weeks ago. At first it was a shock for all three of us (Walter, Ben, I), but we talked a lot during that time, and we have all come to accept the change. We noticed that our goals for the band and for life have really grown apart, and Klay is a huge and important part of my life, and it isn’t for Walter anymore. So, sadly we have to say goodbye to Walter as the drummer in our band, but NOT as our friend. ;) And I’m sure he’ll be seen at some of our upcoming concerts. :)

Right after Walter quit the band, Ben and I needed some time to let it sink in and figure out what comes next.  We thought of letting you guys know right away, but I wanted to tell the news when we also had some good news. So, a good month later, here we are with some good news too.

*drum rolllll* WE HAVE A NEW DRUMMER! 

His name is Martin and we've actually known him for a long long time. A few weeks ago I called him up out of the blue and just asked him if he would be interested in playing the drums in a band again! I thought of him cause we basically grew up together… and used to play music together back in the day. We even played in a band together in school (I think it was 2005 or so) with one of our school friends. For one live concert we also needed a bass player, so I asked Ben to play the bass. ;) 

So several years down the road, Martin, Ben and I are making music again together, and we're loving it. He's a really great guy and an awesome drummer at that, and we're so excited that he’s now a part of Klay. We already started rehearsing and preparing for some live shows that are coming up in April and May (aaaah!!! :D). If you wanna know more about that, check out our upcoming shows.

Crazy times! Well, change sometimes hurts and doesn’t feel good at the time. But change also means opportunity for growth and a chance for something new!
So here we are. Klay. Working harder than ever and with a new member on board. :D 

Lots of love,

Klara

First band photo with Martin… :)

P.S. Hey and if you have questions, or anything: send me a message, or write a comment down below… I’m eager to hear what you have to say. :)