Today we’d like to introduce you to Brandon Keaton.
Hi Brandon, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
When I was a teenager I had been a huge fan of music. My brother Chase and I had an ongoing competition to name the artist and song title of songs on the radio. We grew up on dad’s 70’s and 80’s rock music, so we were well aware of the genre and artists.
In our mid teens, an older friend had asked me if I like Metallica, and from what little I had heard, at that point, I thought it was too heavy and aggressive for my taste, so I told him just that, and shocked, he asked me if I’d ever heard “Fade to Black”, Metallica’s epic metal ballad. He played me the song and it literally changed my life: the soft acoustic guitar intro with the smooth intro guitar solo was simply whimsical to my ears. The song shifts into the verse where the acoustic guitar plays an epic arppegiation and then the whole band joins. It was awesome. The song then goes from acoustic verse into a heavier distorted wordless chorus, followed by a guitar solo section, then back to the verse. To my surprise, there is a buildup increased-tempo bridge/verse that shifts into an epic guitar solo outro. I had never heard such an arrangement at that point in my life, and it was very inspiring. It was so different than your typical 3 minute radio song!
My brother and I began taking guitar lessons and soon I had discovered that my passion for music was something besides myself: it was like a gift given to me!
In my latter teens, I had joined a rock band in high school and began acquiring the means to record music at home.
By my early 20’s I had a home recording studio and was multitrack recording original songs.
Eventually I had recorded a full-length home studio album “Soul Fire” with my band A Thirsting Soul, when I met drummer Marshall Mack, who joined my band.
Years later, Marshall moved to Dallas and for several years urged me to move to Dallas to pursue music with him.
In 2018 I moved to Dallas and Marshall and I began recording new original songs.
We had established our new band name “CALADIUM” and were ready to play live shows, complete with original and cover songs, when the plandemic fiasco ruined our momentum. Our first live show was cancelled in 2020 because of the “shutdown”.
Our vocalist moved out of state and we were left needing a vocalist, and that is when I met Randall May, vocalist bassist, who was recording his debut album and in need of a drummer… CALADIUM was born again,
…Long story short: CALADIUM recorded and released our debut album “Third Moon” in October 2023 (available wherever you stream music) and our sophomore album “Fall of Babylon” was released July 2025.
CALADIUM has played shows around DFW and we are currently writing our third album and focusing efforts to garner fan support before we begin gigging again.
Hear CALADIUM’s music wherever you stream.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
This has been a very rough road, complete with band drama and betrayal, not to mention government interference during the pandemic fiasco.
After losing our first vocalist to the government shutdowns, my band merged with Randall’s, which made us a 5 piece band. But the early stages of the 5-piece band had ego problems between some band members and, against my will, Randall was kicked out of the band. CALADIUM then became a cover band, without our songwriter.
After a while, we discovered a malicious character in our midsts and decided to discontinue our project with 2 of the final 4 members. When Randall found out, he insisted that he still wanted to make music with Marshall and myself, and amends were made, so in 2022, when the dust settled from all of the toxicity and drama, CALADIUM was a rock trio (myself on guitar, Marshall Mack on drums and backing vocals, and Randall May, bass and lead vocals).
We then started anew, even after losing a good year or more, and by summer 2023, were ready to release our debut album.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I was very fortunate that Marshall was teaching drums at a private North Dallas music studio, called Matt Burk Music Studios, when a guitar teacher position opened up; Marshall encouraged me and insisted I should be teaching music.
I’ve been teaching guitar at Matt Burk Music Studios for over 3 years now and frankly it is the best job I’ve ever had. I love it! I couldn’t think of doing anything else, of course until CALADIUM’s music takes us to the next level of creating and performing music for a living 🙌 God willing 🙏
Apart from all of our efforts in CALADIUM, I have also released my own solo albums, recorded in my own home studio: my albums “Foundations of an Empire” and “Dreamer” are also available wherever you stream music. I’m very proud of all of the musical things I’ve accomplished and believe that both of my solo albums contain significant elements of my ongoing musical education and application thereof.
What matters most to you?
In 2009, I experienced a life-changing encounter with the Holy Spirit of the alleged “resurrected Savior Jesus” and frankly, it changed my whole life trajectory and world-view. If my faith in God almighty had not been ignited, I would have never formed A Thirsting Soul, nor have met Marshall Mack, much less move to Dallas from Northern California to meet Randall May and complete the works we have done as CALADIUM. So my God-given faith is the most important thing to me, and it sustains me and compels me to keep going, especially in our increasingly bleak world. We all need Jesus so much.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.caladiumbandofficial.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caladiumbandofficial?igsh=M3NtMXBsazI4ZGt6&utm_source=qr
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/14P96YeAZao/?mibextid=wwXIfr
- Twitter: https://x.com/caladium_1984?s=21
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCWjZWSYHdTN_V5Gc_mEnDFQ?si=lK6nGWdKvzf6NZBz
- Other: https://linktr.ee/caladiumband
Image Credits
Still Photographing Studios, Sebastian Raphael Photography
