There’s been a resurgence in The Pool’s music thanks to a post I shared showing how one-man synth band The Pool, a.k.a. Patrick S. Keel, inspired LCD Soundsystem’s biggest song.
Patrick passed away in 2017 but his debut album, 333, was made available on CD and digitally thanks to music industry multi-hyphenate, Darren Bergstein. Darren reissued 333 in 2014 for his now-defunct label, Anodize.
In this interview, Darren and I chat about why he had the foresight to reissue The Pool, The Pool’s influence, and the ethics of interpolating and sampling music. Enjoy.
Album art for The Pool’s debut album, 333. Click the image to see how it was made.
Some Patrick Keel facts from former students
His biggest musical influence was reggae. He loved old school reggae and dub. Most of his performing career he was a drummer and that shows in the solo work that you highlighted.
Patrick taught Business of Music I & II, Songwriting, and Electronic Music.
He wasn’t formally educated but was granted an honorary degree in lieu of a lifetime of experience, so that he could teach at the collegiate level. I think Governor Anne Richards (an interesting character in her own right) helped with that.
He had one of the earliest videos played on MTV.
He was a pirate DJ off the coast of England at one point.
He invited students to his home studio to record and flesh out song ideas with his input and array of sweet synths.
We put out two compilation CDs of local music: Eat Yr Vegetables and Son of EYV using a carrot dog toy I found. The name came from a spray painted statement on the bridge pillars as you drove into Deep Ellum back then.
Patrick signed various local bands to his label, Dragonstreet Records. Tripping Daisy, The Nixons, Hagfish, etc and set them on their path to major labels.
