Latch Key Kid Musician Unlocks Key to Success

Growing up in Manhattan Beach with two working parents, Gavin Heaney carried a house key so that he could let himself in after school. Home alone, he spent many hours watching music videos on TV that later became his inspiration.

"I was a stick-shaped 10-year-old who sucked at sports in school, and I wanted more than anything to be like the arena rockers," Heaney recalled, laughing. "It seemed like what they did on stage was the most important thing in the world."

Now grown up, Heaney makes his living as an artist under the name Latch Key Kid. Heaney's songs have been featured in major movies such as "I Love You, Man," TV shows, the music player on Continental airline flights and commercials, including a 2008 Super Bowl ad that reached 97 million people.

Heaney recently returned from a solo tour in Australia, where he played low-key shows in 10 cities, including Sydney.

"I went by myself with my acoustic guitar, and I crashed on people's couches," said Heaney, Manhattan Beach resident. "Somebody was kind to lend me a van, although it broke down at one point. But it was a fun trip."

Heaney plays guitar, bass, piano, mandolin, drums and harmonica on his mellow pop songs, which sound like Elliot Smith jamming with Jack Johnson and Jerry Garcia on a SoCal beach. A one-man band, he also produces, records and mixes his music at his home studio. His former band couldn't keep up with all the songs he wrote, he said.

"I've put in a lot of work, and I've been at it since I got my first piece of recording gear," Heaney said.

Heaney believes the prime criteria for succeeding in the music industry are to be able to produce and record your own demo really well, so that songs will play properly for music licensing companies and in various online formats.

"If your music is any good and there's a need for it, opportunities will come along for licensing," Heaney said. "That's really the only way I've gotten my music out there, because it's almost never being played on the radio. And as much as I love performing or seeing a great live show, a great record is more important, because it can go farther for you."

Much of his music is influenced by his love of words, he said.

"I've always been a big reader, and poetry really spoke to me," Heaney said. "I liked how you could distill so much meaning into just a few lines. Also, rhyming and the flow of rhythm and meter has always been a favorite thing of mine."

Heaney said that he's open to performing nontraditional venues in order to get his music heard. He'd rather play at a sorority than an empty rock club, he said, and when filmmakers ask him for music, he offers it to them, even if they may not be able to pay him.

"I think it's worth the exposure, whether it's for free or not," Heaney said. "As for the gigs, I think it's more important to bring the gig to the people, instead of having it at a venue and expecting people to get out of their doors to see you."

When Heaney isn't making music, he enjoys riding his bike on the beach path. Being a musician is like surfing, he said.

"You have to have your board and your gear," Heaney said. "You have to paddle out and be in the ocean, and then you have to wait for that perfect wave. And in every good surf spot, you have to expect that there's going to be hundreds of other people in the water, with the right equipment, having the same dream, waiting for that wave."