Tell us a bit about your music journey. How has it shaped you?
Maybe it’s a music journey, but I think it’s mostly just life. I started playing music as a kid, I’m in my thirties now. Maybe the reasons I’m still doing it have changed. I’m making the music I want to, recording the albums myself and with the help of some friends. No one is telling me what to do, I just make what I like. Being from the midwest, the winters can be long. When it’s time to get out, you get out. That’s when I want to play the shows, that’s the presentation portion. You get to show off everything you made while you were stuck inside last winter. Then you go back into hibernation and make the next album.
How would you describe your sound to someone unfamiliar with it?
That’s always the hard thing, but you know these are songwriter records. No particular boundaries on instruments or vibe. Indie (whatever that means) in the sense that I’m making them independently at my home studio in the basement. Not too shiny but not too lo-fi either.
What drew you to the genre /instruments you’re playing right now?
I’ve always been a guitar player like my Dad, before I played a bit of other instruments. But there’s stepping stones. When you’re a young teenager you hear all the classic rock and go, oh yeah I wanna do that. That’s a stepping stone. Then you hear some deeper stuff on Youtube rabbit holes. Maybe some punk, 80’s synth stuff, alternative bands, jazz fusion. You take all that in while you’re hearing the stuff that was coming out in your teens, the 2000’s New York alternative bands, Daft Punk, The Killers, you roll it all into one. That’s your vocabulary.
What inspires you to write music?
Just the process of making something from nothing, a lot of the time I’m writing while I’m recording. A song takes shape while it’s happening. You just let it go and see what it is. And then you see where it goes, what its purpose is.
Would you tell us about your current project, album/EP, or song you’re promoting?
My latest project is my second full-length album called It’s Only Fair. I’m really proud of it. I think it’s got a few different vibes on the record, that’s the kind of stuff I like. When I play shows I’ve got a band, and there’s some help from them on the album. My friend Adrian Choate played drums on a bunch of tracks, Chad Fey played on several too. Like I said before, I record my albums at my house. I think I’ve gotten better at getting the sounds I want as an engineer, that usually happens as you keep going along (hopefully). You get to a point where you start to know how to make your albums, it probably wouldn’t work for anyone else’s, but it’s your thing. There’s a collab with a UK artist called Grassmell on the record (Calment’s Lament), which turned out really cool. I did some co-writes with friends on a couple too. Forget About Today (Oliver Qiu), and Cool Moon (Sam Bennie).
What do you want listeners to take away from listening to your music?
I like songs that to an extent are fill-in-the-blank. With the way they approach writing songs, whatever it’s about. Not so specific you can’t put yourself in those shoes, of the character or the story. Everyone should find their own meanings in a song, that’s what I do. Overall I hope people like it, but if they don’t that’s cool. I’m gonna be making these things whether people hear it or not. But if you want to get on the train, the more the merrier.
Who are your top three artists right now? If that’s not a fair question, what’s your favorite song right now?
That’s always changing, I’ve never had a top 3 list really. Lately I’ve been listening to Happy Mondays, Baxter Dury, The Voidz, and the new album from Mac Demarco. I listen to stuff from different decades depending on the week, 70’s/80’s Japanese fusion has been cool lately. Stuff like Yellow Magic Orchestra and Takanaka.
What’s the easiest way for fans to connect with you?
Probably at a show, we’re getting out on the road a bit for the first time here soon. In April we’re gonna do Chicago (4/3) and Kansas City (4/11). So if you’re around come say hey, I’m an open book.
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What’s next for you?
Once we get through playing shows for the current album, I’ll start looking at album three. I like to do simple demos on my four-track cassette. Once I’ve got a pile of ideas to look at, I can start to sift through it and maybe see the start of an album.
Anything else you’d like to add or let us know about?
Hope to see ya at a show, and thanks for having me. It was a nice chat. Later!
