Jesse F. Keeler’s biography, net worth, fact, career, awards and life story

Intro	Canadian musician
Is	Musician
From	Canada
Type	Music
Gender	male
Birth	11 November 1976, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Age:	43 years

Jesse Frederick Keeler (born November 11, 1976) is a Canadian musician. He is known as the bassist of Canadian dance-punk duo Death from Above 1979 and one half of the electronic music duo MSTRKRFT. In addition to singing, Keeler plays drums, guitar, bass, keyboards, and saxophone, as well as work as a producer, lending to music of a variety of styles over the course of his career, including punk, hardcore, rock, house, and electro.

Table of Contents

Biography

Keeler started off playing in a number of different Toronto-based pop punk outfits, his best known early project being Black Cat #13. They toured with The Locust and released several, now collectible, 7″ records. Once Black Cat split, he formed his own 7-piece music project, Femme Fatale. Keeler recorded all 3 of the released EPs himself, which were produced by longtime friend Al Puodziukas, with whom he would later go on to form MSTRKRFT.

In 2001, Keeler had recorded three bass and drum instrumental demos which he showed roommate Sebastien Grainger, who then expressed a desire to sing on them. After trying to find a drummer with no luck, Grainger tried singing and drumming at the same time, the result of which became Death from Above 1979.

After touring extensively for 4 years with Death From Above 1979, the band took time off. In this time Keeler finished building MSTRKRFT studios in Moss Park, Toronto, and started MSTRKRFT alongside producer Al-P. On August 4, 2006, Keeler officially announced Death From Above 1979’s breakup via their website, at which point he admitted the breakup had actually happened a year prior. MSTRKRFT as well as solo production and DJing as JFK were Keeler’s full-time occupation until Death From Above 1979 reformed in 2011.

Working with more indie and disco influenced ideas on their first album The Looks, MSTRKRFT gradually introduced more Hip Hop and R&B influence leading to the Fist of God LP. They have performed at many major music festivals around the world, and have amassed a dedicated group of hardcore fans.

On February 5, 2011, it was officially announced via the Death From Above 1979 website that the band would be reforming. Their second album, The Physical World, was released on September 9, 2014.

In 2011, Keeler produced and composed tracks for the Mortal Kombat reboot.

Other bands

Black Cat No. 13 was a band that also featured Jesse F. Keeler, and lasted from 1998 to 2000, when the band split due to musical differences. The band released all vinyl releases which are very hard to find and are considered collector’s items by Death from Above 1979 fans. Unlike Femme Fatale, Grainger had no role in Black Cat No. 13, though Al-P produced many of their releases.

Femme Fatale was a band that featured Jesse F. Keeler before Death from Above 1979. It is considered to have a more hardcore sound than Death from Above. Sebastien Grainger played drums for Femme Fatale in live shows; however, during recordings, Keeler played all the instruments, wrote all the songs, and sang all the vocals. Femme Fatale is no longer in the works, due to the live aspect of it being often too difficult, and other top-priority projects such as MSTRKRFT.

Discography

Femme Fatale

2002 As You Sow, So Shall You Reap
2002 Fire Baptism
2004 From the Abundance of the Heart, the Mouth Speaks

Death from Above 1979

Note: Jesse F. Keeler has performed on all Death from Above 1979 recordings to date. Only studio albums have been listed here, for a more complete list of releases see Death from Above 1979 discography.

2004 You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine
2014 The Physical World

MSTRKRFT

Note: Jesse F. Keeler has performed on all MSTRKRFT recordings to date. Only studio albums have been listed here, for a more complete list of releases see MSTRKRFT discography.