The Live Show:
"There were numerous bands that played in the hours before Winger took stage, but it was Quinn's guitar playing that gave his band the edge and really captured everyone's attention."

"The next act was Quinn Keon...a self proclaimed Nugent disciple and an absolute guitar master. Quinn has great stage presence and assaults your senses with a constant array of hard driving rock music! Speaking as a guitarist myself, watching Quinn play was like getting a free (well, $7 at the door would have been a bargain at twice the price) guitar lesson."

"Quinn called his music style 'attitude rock', and boy...he wasn't lying. Quinn Keon is the band to see in the near future at Rubbles."

"Top performances that I saw...Quinn burned the house down, STF raised it back up."

The Last CD:
This cd rocks! Old school Ted Nugent style guitar playing with down to earth vocals. No gimmick hard rock. Heads down and party on! - Reviewer: fisherman

The songs sound like they should be performed in arenas..."Becky" hints at his capability to create something a bit fresh and different. - Matt Shimmer, Indieville.com

I like the guitar sound...They play balls to the wall rock n roll and I liked the disc. - MetalCore Fanzine

We were then greeted with aggressive metal riffs, but Lemmy-like caterwauling...we're fairly sure there's a great deal of ass-shaking happening at the live show. From what we can see, Quinn's got a nice torso under that shirt and that's always good for some female swooning. - Kimmie & Cristy, Score! Music Magazine

Biography
Okay, let's get personal. I'll give you the honest truth about the inspiration, direction, influences, obstacles, and vision that have shaped my pursuit of capturing these sounds that are in my head.

I've always had music in my head. I wake up at night with these sounds playing over and over and they pull me out of dreams into an awakened reality. I did an interview in 1990 where I talked about sleeping with a guitar because it gave me the ability to immediately react to these dream sounds and capture them before they were gone.

I never made a decision to pursue music. It's just how I'm wired. I hear things...I hear everything. I struggle to carry on a conversation in a crowded room because I hear and process every conversation within earshot around me and I lose focus. If you are talking to me and there's a song playing...I can't hear you.

There was music in my house when I was a child. Weekends were work days for life projects such as canning and freezing from the garden, butchering chickens, processing other meats, home renovations, and so on. Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, The Beach Boys, Jan and Dean, and Bob Seger were some of my favorites that were played.

When I was in the 3rd grade I was involved in my first musical and the local playhouse. That was the first of many throughout my school years and just beyond. My favorite role I ever got to play was Audrey II...the plant in Little Shop of Horrors. Feed me Seymour...

I was involved in concert band, jazz band and choir in school and those are some of my favorite musical memories. My music director Kevin Smith instilled a love of performance within me. He worked hard to make sure we had performance opportunities around the community outside of the scheduled school performance curriculum. Some of my favorites were jazz band competitions where we had to deliver and had one opportunity to do it right. I appreciate those experiences and learned a lot from them. I played trumpet all through school and a bit beyond school as well sitting in a few times with local jazz ensembles that were organized by Kevin. I got my first guitar at age 15 and played that my senior year in jazz band as well.

Like many other 80's kids, I had an interest in learning to play the guitar. That interest multiplied one summer when a friend picked me up to go to the local carnival in town. He said, "Bring some tapes" and I did. I brought Twisted Sister - Stay Hungry and Billy Idol - Rebel Yell along for the ride. I loved the raw defiance of Twisted Sister and the guitar voicings of Steve Stevens in the Billy Idol songs. My friend said, "Have you ever listened to any Ted Nugent?" I hadn't really and when he opened up his tape case he had at least a dozen Ted tapes in there! He pulled out Scream Dream and had me listen to Wango Tango. Whoa! I was hit in the ears with this attitude, raw energy and great guitar playing. I bought the 'record' that same day and just a couple months later my parents helped me purchase my first guitar...a Yamaha SBG200. The first song that I set out to learn was Cat Scratch Fever and that started my guitar journey.

Some of my strongest guitar influences hit me shortly after I started playing. Those included Ted Nugent - Double Live Gonzo, Kiss - Alive II, Van Halen II, Jimi Hendrix - Jimi Plays Monterey, and Metallica - Ride the Lightning. You'll notice a "live record" theme here. I love the live recordings because they are a moment in time captured and preserved. They are a performance where you have one opportunity to do it right.

In high school I had a few opportunities to perform within rock bands that were assembled for the purpose of a talent show or a senior assembly. Shortly after high school I began forming my first serious band project that I called Quinn Keon and the Lockouts. Bill Beach, Jerry Leonard, and Jeremy Johnson were all helping me get these sounds in my head into songs that we performed locally at concerts that we organized and promoted. One notably unique thing that we did twice was we went into the local prison and performed a rock show for the inmates.

We started an annual concert in Alma, Michigan as part of the Evening in the Park series. Rockin' in Wright Park was the event and we invited other bands to join us. The idea was that we would all take turns playing 3 songs at a time to give the audience a taste of each act. We did this for 4 years until I had an accident that left me unable to play the guitar.

We recorded demos and did our best to have a "professional package". I shopped those around New York City and Los Angeles as best as I could. More doors opened for me in New York than L.A. and I gained some good information. In hindsight, it's remarkable that a few 'important' people within the industry took the time to talk with me.

In 1995 I had an accident and was badly injured. I appreciated the direct honesty that Dr. Haverbush laid before me when he said, "You'll probably lose the use of your left hand and you'll never walk right again." Those are life-changing words and when you're lying in a hospital bed hearing that you do a quick evaluation of what your future might look like. I said, "Can you please do everything possible to save my hand and keep my ability to play the guitar?". He did a good job. Even specialists that I speak with now in the modern day remark at how well Dr. Haverbush put me back together. Unfortunately, I'm having those conversations because my wrist is on the decline. I love playing the guitar. I lost my ability to play for about 2 years after my accident and haven't been able to play the same since. I lost movement in my wrist and hand as well as strength. I cannot play without pain but I do so anyway because I do not want to stop. It's a battle.

So here I am with an unknown timeline before I'm unable to play. My goal is to get these songs recorded and released to the world. When I can no longer play, I don't want to regret not recording the sounds in my head.

History
When Quinn Keon was fifteen, he got his first guitar and quickly became addicted. He had always known that he wanted to pursue music, but now he knew for sure with what instrument. Already being an accomplished trumpet player, Quinn began to incorporate his guitar style into his high school jazz band when it was appropriate. By the end of his high school years, he had earned every music award that the school provided.

The years following have found him playing guitar and singing both on his own and with a band. Quinn Keon and the Lockouts was formed in 1990. Quinn had written several rock songs such as Better Off Dead, Too Much to Drink, and Up to Me, Walk Through Me that this group performed. The members were Quinn Keon (Guitar & Vocals), Bill Beach (Drums), Jerry Leonard (Guitar), and Jeremy Johnson(Bass).


Quinn Keon and the Lockouts evolved into the name First Amendment in 1991. Quinn began to write some heavier material for First Amendment to perform. Some of Quinn's better known songs are from this period such as Second Attempt...Failure, Sands of Time, and Playing the Game. The members of First Amendment shifted a bit in 1991 and by 1992 Quinn and Jeremy joined with drummer Tom Vernon to continue on.

Quinn had worked hard playing, recording, and marketing the band's sound. However, after visits to both New York and Los Angeles, the band broke up. "I often wish that we had stayed together because we had such a great sound. But as I look back, I see it as an inevitable event. Three guys in their early twenties all looking to explore life; we all just went our separate ways."

The following two years found Quinn writing and playing with a different sound. He was playing a 12-string acoustic guitar and his music had a much lighter feel. There seemed to be a lot of honesty present in the music at this time. A few of these song titles were Forever, Falling, and Lonely Days Passin'.

In 1995, Quinn had an accident that left him with a crushed left wrist and right ankle, as well as a broken right knee and right elbow. The injury to his wrist was severe, and it was doubtful that he would regain use of his hand or ever play the guitar again. It took Quinn two years of painful determination to finally be able to play again. "I had to learn to play all over again. Many movements that my hand could perform before were no longer available to me. It was very difficult to work around my new limitations."

In 1997 Quinn re-formed First Amendment with Tom Vernon. He had been experimenting writing some jazz material prior to his injury and some of this material was completed during this time. Quinn and Tom came up with a new instrumental sound and performed as a two-piece. They began to experiment playing more jazz/fusion and jazz/rock. This experimentation led to songs such as Cold Fusion, Six, and Aces High. "By digging deep into my jazz roots, I was able to create a surprisingly full sound from just one instrument." In late 1997 Jeremy joined Quinn and Tom to do some recording of their old material. In this session they recorded Sands of Time, Playing the Game, and Return to Me. Quinn and Tom played after this for another year or so before it became intermittent. In early 2000, Quinn had Jeremy and Tom help record some additional songs to complete his album Second Attempt...Failure. This album contains songs from both earlier and current Quinn Keon eras. "This is a neat collection of songs...mostly rock with a little bit of jazz."

Second Attempt...Failure was released in 2002 on Quinn's own Bad Kitty Records. From there Quinn headed back into the studio to finish writing and recording his acoustic album entitled Lonely Days Passin'.

2007 and 2008 saw Quinn hitting the Michigan rock scene with full force. Headlining all over the state, Quinn's band(Jerry Leonard, Chris Charnes) rocked the house with a full assault of greasy, gritty, guitar licks. Opening for national acts like Winger and Too Slim and the Taildraggers, Quinn showed that his sound has enough modern edge to stand apart from some of the best rock and blues sounds to date. Quinn is currently recording a new 12-track CD he calls a "high energy rock album with lots of attitide."