With their sophomore self titled release, which serves as a follow up to their critically acclaimed ISR Records debut release “This Is Where It Ends;" Hollister, California's Keeping Distance returns to the top of independent music. But it certainly wasn’t an easy ride to get to this point. Far from it as a matter of fact as the band composed of vocalist Derek Bishop, guitarists David Warner and Jed Howell, bassist Anthony Martinez, and drummer Mike Durham endured countless shows and van problems alongside artists such as label mates Blessed With Embers, Novice, A Life In Vain, Chiodos, Between The Buried And Me, The Warriors, Calico System, Premonitions Of War, Over It, The Red Chord, The Acacia Strain, Maida, Arsonists Get All The Girls, Ride From A Stranger, and As Cities Burn. "Every time we get in the van we say "well, hope she starts," says guitarist David Warner. Has their hard work paid off however? In a word, yes. Keeping Distance netted over 70,000 plays on their myspace, found themselves as a Smartpunk.com best seller, and participating in Hot Topic’s Neighborhood Noize program which landed their music in the popular retail chain all within a single year.

What was their next move? Take time off to write and hit the studio, naturally. Not even that was easy, though. “I think one of the biggest hardships we've had to deal with is really just finding our sound and fine tuning it. I think with our writing now we really just want to play music that we would listen to,” says vocalist Derek Bishop. Not surprisingly however; Keeping Distance eventually found their way--and eventually penned what would become the tracks that now compose their self titled release. "We just write what comes to us, with no biased opinion on what to put where. We'll try anything and if it works, it works. We're really hittin' roots with the new stuff ...really thinking about the music that brought us to where we all our today," he added. Critics and fans seem to agree with Bishop. Theredseason.com says of Keeping Distance “With such a diverse ability in their music, much is destined ahead for the fairly young group Keeping Distance. This album is positively for fans of every genre including bands like Beloved, Finch, and Bloodjinn.” There is one underlying difference from Keeping Distance that differs from many of today's bands, however. "We just want people to be honest and nice. Derek's not trying to push shit on kids with his lyrics or anything like that, we just like to have fun," explains Warner which is no doubt a refreshing take on the world of independent music.

As critics have prophetically allluded to, much truly is destined ahead for Keeping Distance. "We just want more everything. All we want to do is tour, gain more fans, and hopefully make some more friends along the way. We definitely want to take this band as far as possible," Warner explains and with their upcoming tour plans, this should be no problem as the band plan to hit the road for some extensive touring starting in January in support of their self titled release. "We really put our hearts into our shows. It's always intense and it's always really fun," added Bishop. With that said, Keeping Distance's January 2007 tour is something not to be missed but for those who can't wait for January to roll around; their self titled EP saw a release in June through ISR Records and is available now. In the end though, through all the personal and band related trials and tribulations that the band has endured to get to this point, it has only made them closer and stronger than ever. "We've had some bad shit happen to us but it's really just brought us closer together as brothers," concluded Bishop. That perhaps is the most telling story of this close-knit band and is one that is echoed in the final moments of the band's self titled release (and perhaps is the best way to sum up the band's determination) when Bishop and company shout "When we fall, we fall together. Friends till the end, we'll carry on through thick and thin. No matter what, we'll never break down, we'll keep fighting!" and Keeping Distance has done just that; in the past, in the present, and will most definitely in the future.

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