Music

Keyboard Dog balances studies at Northeastern with musical success

"A couple years into writing music, I think I hit a point where I'm like, OK, this is something I would listen to."

Steve Kurz at his home and studio in Boston. Gwen Egan/Boston.com

May 31, 2022

1 minute to read

Keyboard Dog’s song “Amsterdam” received 160,000 streams as of Tuesday. How does this emerging artist work on his music while still being a college student?

This folk-indie artist, also known as Steve Kurz, is expected to graduate from Northeastern University next spring with a degree in music industry. But he isn’t just using his time to study up. He’s building a career in music.

The bulk of the writing for his upcoming EP happened in two months last summer when he had nothing to do and nowhere to be. He would find himself passing the time by working on recording.

“My parents stuck me and my siblings in piano lessons when I was 5. … I was the only one who stuck with it. I was happy I was good at it and getting better than them, you know, younger sibling leverage,” he said about his start in music.

As he grew older, he joined his high school’s jazz band, then an independent band, and finally began playing piano just for himself. The more he played what felt right the more he invested in writing, instrumental and otherwise.

“When I started, I was bad,” he said. “That’s the natural thing. You start somewhere. … A couple years into writing music, I think I hit a point where I’m like, OK, this is something I would listen to.”

Kurz promoted his breakout song “Amsterdam” himself by submitting it to distribution services and pitching it to curated playlists. “Amsterdam” currently resides on Spotify’s Ultimate Indie playlist.

Kurz said his experience in classes for his major as well as from his work in the music industry informed a lot of the ways he promoted and marketed himself as well. But above all else, he said he leads with a sense of humor and humanity.

“I try and put as much (of) the personality of the music into it (promotion) as possible. I try to be as kind and approachable as possible … I want people to listen to it and if they like it, great,” he said.

Keyboard Dog’s EP will be coming out in June. “Amsterdam” can be listened to here: