The Story Of Spartakeith

He's locquacious and flirtacious, he's inventive and attentive, he's ferocious and precocious.

He's Spartakeith.

Spartakeith spent his formative years in a musically devoid household-- Sinatra at the Sands was the only album available until he started buying his own music.

And he started buying his own music early and often, beginning with rap pioneers like RunDMC and Boogie Down Productions and eventually moving over to his beloved Rock 'n' Roll, expanding his collection constantly with the likes of the Beatles and Beach Boys, Aerosmith and Kiss, Curtis Mayfield and Prince, Louis Prima and all sorts of others who don't fit into the "rock" category.

His first musical endeavor was a cover of the Chicago Bears' "Super Bowl Shuffle," which showed the second grader performing on the 6 o'clock news on ABC.  Next up was his junior high rap group, NLA (Not of Legal Age), followed by a string of bands in which he sang and played harmonica.  Later groups would also include him playing bass and keyboards, until founding Peter & The Lost Boys while still in high school.

While in P&TLB, Spartakeith taught himself to play guitar, owing much of his style to groups like the Animals and Zombies, but mostly to the early Rolling Stones and Beatles.  The Lost Boys quickly became the most popular local group, winning contests, charging outrageous fees ("$300 and a box of malted milk balls, or we don't go on!," they'd joke, only to get paid $300 and cake or some other sweets).  After graduation, the band splintered, and Keith started the first of a series of bands with Nicko, currently of the Its!  Bouncing off of each other, the pair began writing and playing in earnest, dipping into any style they fancied, from Sabbath style retro-metal to reggae to bossa, but concentrating mostly on R&B and R&R.

During one of their drummer-less periods (of which they had many!) they played a coffeehouse show that also featured Erica Corleone on the bill.  Sensing an instant bond, Spartakeith and Erica became fast friends.

But almost as quickly, Keith left town for New York, and later for Florida.  While he was living in Florida, Erica and Nicko came down for visits, and through 4 track tapes and the post office, the three of them formed The Envoys, yet another group heavily influenced by 60's R&B and soul.

When Keith moved back to Chicago, the three of them split songwriting, arranging, and vocal duties fairly evenly, honing old songs, polishing new ones, and writing future ones. The partnership worked--after all, where would "Love By Numbers" be without Erica's harmonies?  And Spartakeith shows wouldn't end with "The Time" if Nicko hadn't brought in a first verse begging for completion.

But, as all bands do, The Envoys broke up. So Spartakeith now had a chance to indulge his folkie tendencies, but he wanted to avoid the thing he hated the most about folk music--wimpy performances.  That's not to say all folk singers are wimpy, nor that Keith doesn't like folk music; a quick glance through his CD collection will disprove both ideas.

Instead, he began playing solo acoustic shows, using a rare hybrid picking technique, multiple capos and a long string of effect pedals to simulate a full band.  The years have chiseled his playing into a sweaty and muscular style, perfect for accompanying his four octave voice.  Whether writing or performing, Spartakeith is unpredictable and energetic, (Truth be told, he's unpredictable and energetic when he's not writing or performing, as well.) often goading audiences into requests, only to ignore them and play something even he didn't expect.  Perhaps a song he hasn't played since he wrote it, or a cover of a song by one of "his girlfriends," Shirley Manson, Fiona Apple, Macy Grey, Beyonce, Chrissie Hynde, or Kelis.

But by the time you realise who's written the song, you also realise you don't care, because you're having so much fun listening to him play and watching him bounce around the stage, off the stage and into people's laps.

Hey, why am I telling you what he's like?  Your best way to know is to go see him play.