Latch Key Kid

Based in Manhattan Beach, CA, Latch Key Kid is something of a side project for singer, guitarist, and songwriter Gavin Heaney of Slackstring. The archetypal West Coast surf kid, Heaney graduated from Mira Costa, earned a teaching degree at UC Santa Barbara, and worked as a substitute teacher for a time before devoting all of his time to music. He has been a fixture on the South Bay scene for years, playing with AWOL in addition to Slackstring (a band that also features guitarist and singer Eric Lyman, drummer Matt Muir, and bassist Brett Thomas). As Latch Key Kid, Heaney released the eponymous Latch Key Kid album, recorded in his home studio, on his own Shadowmind imprint in 2005. Heaney writes all his own material for Latch Key Kid and plays all the instruments as well. Several of his songs have ended up on soundtracks, including material for ABC's Men in Trees and PBS' Roadtrip Nation, Scrubs, One Tree Hill and independent documentaries Sofia and Roam. A second album, Miracle Mile, was released in 2008. His song "Good Times" was spotlighted prominently in a Coca-Cola ad that aired during Super Bowl XLI in 2008 and in promo spots for the popular Australian television show "Packed to the Rafters". Through his affiliation with that show, Latch Key Kid signed a distribution deal with Warner Music Austrlia who released All Becomes One in 2009. ~ Steve Leggett