Take yourself less seriously: The Keyboard Dog philosophy

Graphic by Anya Perel-Arkin

By Julia Norkus

Boston is well known for its colleges and universities designed for the musically inclined—Berklee and the New England Conservatory being two of the most prominent— but recently Northeastern has emerged nurturing the future of indie—enter Steve Kurz (he/him), also known as Keyboard Dog.

Amidst the rumblings of Tremont Street and the loud interior of the Boylston Tatte, Kurz smiled as he shared the bits and pieces of his life that made him the musician he is today, along with the experiences that continue to influence his work.

Beginning his journey growing up in upstate New York, Kurz grew up playing the piano through lessons, but found in high school that working on his own style—heavy emphasis on instrumentals and stripped down sounds, translating as something you might hear sitting around a campfire—and focusing on what felt good taking precedent.

From high school jazz band to playing with friends, Kurz believes working in different styles and settings heavily influenced who he is as a musician. It allowed him to try everything, assisting Kurz in later narrowing down what he wanted his own sound to, well, sound like.

In Rochester, Kurz and his former bandmates were frequent performers at local venues, maintaining short residencies at all three over the course of their high school careers.

“We knew a lot of the bands that were around us and it was a small enough scene that you could start to pick people out, but this was also the point where I realized, ‘Oh, this is what a music scene is like,’” Kurz explained. “‘There’s three venues and half the people are your friends.’”

Arriving in Boston, Northeastern’s curriculum began to change the artist’s perspective on what music actually is, and, in the same breath, what it can be. Kurz mentioned being interested in colleges like Berklee and Ithaca, but feeling as though the programs would create musical tunnel vision with little room to pursue other interests. Not only that, but the artist mentioned the appeal of the co-op program at Northeastern, allowing students to gain more industry experience.

The artist also described the idea of working in the music industry, that it felt daunting at eighteen to think about the future. However, Kurz finds more to love about the industry every day, discussing all he’s learned on how to run a venue and the nitty gritty business aspects of the musical world.

“Things felt simpler before I learned about the music industry and before I kept seeing more of the music industry, and I think there is a part of me that does miss when I didn’t know things and it all felt simple,” said Kurz. “But, there’s also stuff that I found out that makes me love it even more.”

Now enter the Boston basement scene, a world that Kurz began to experience as a spectator in 2019. During the fall of 2020, Kurz said that he began to put more energy into writing his own music, leading to his first house show performance just last year.

After that experience, writing music came more naturally, resulting from a combination of personal journaling and class requirements. 
“I kinda just started writing as half journaling, half writing stuff that could maybe become a song…Every now and then, I would write a song, and think, ‘Oh, this feels like something I’ve listened to, or something that I’d like,’” said Kurz. “And then [in the] fall [of] 2020, I was in a songwriting class… I had a new song every week and they were all in one place. And a lot of that stuff ended up being my EP.”

Keyboard Dog’s first EP, throw your soul, came out in June of 2022. With released work that accurately reflects Kurz and his innermost thoughts, he slowly started to gain traction to becoming a lovable staple in the local scene around Boston. 

The humility of playing in a basement, he said, reminds him of where he stands in the universe at the present moment—the whole point is to not take it so seriously. The local scene has heavily influenced his work and performance style for this reason, in learning to not take life or oneself so seriously and do more of what feels right. 

“It’s fun, it should just stay fun,” said Kurz.

As a soon-to-be graduate of Northeastern University, he feels everything that has happened up to this point has been great, but there’s no need to rush things that aren’t going to be meaningful.

Artists like Keyboard Dog—ones that emphasize being honest with themselves about who they are and what they do—continue to make the rest of the world feel heard. Everyone is afraid to grow up, everyone is afraid of doing things perfectly the first time, but Kurz’s philosophy is applicable to all areas of being a human—there’s no need to be so serious at a time when that’s all that happens in the world around us.

So maybe we can all learn from Steve Kurz and prioritize the fun, to continue to dance in basements that just might be rotting from asbestos; we’re young, we’re foolish and trying to be anything but would be criminal.