Though they only formed a year ago, Brooklyn-based Whale Belly has made a name for themselves.
Still experimenting with their sound, frontman Todd Bogin explained what concertgoers can expect from their live show.
“We craft this soundscape. We think of classical music where you’d see 45 minutes [of music] straight,” he said. “What we’ve been reaching towards is bringing that idea to indie music, that 45 minute musical piece that goes through different movements. Our movements are songs; 10 different movements within the 45 minute piece.”
Hailed as a band that “would make Woody Guthrie proud,” Bogin says part of the group’s success is that they’re all friends.
“We really are best friends. We’re super close and trustworthy of each other and we all value each other’s talents,” he said. “We’re not following any trend that’s going on right now. We’re not doing something because it’s cool or following a sound that will be dated in a few years. There’s something really heartfelt in us.”
Well respected for his honest and heartfelt lyrics, singer-songwriter Griffin House is currently on an East Coast tour with friend and fellow musician Matthew Perryman Jones.
“We’re both going to be playing acoustic sets. That’s kind of rare for both of us because we generally either take a band out or have some kind of accompaniment with us,” House said. “We’re looking forward to stripping it down and having some conversation with the audience just playing solo.”
House moved to Nashville in 2003 to pursue music. Since then, he’s been traveling the country and moving audiences everywhere with his confessional and relatable music. I chatted with him before the start of his current tour to find out more about his songwriting process, the stories behind the songs and what’s next in store for Griffin House.
It’s been a while since your last release, has your songwriting process changed at all?
I think the songwriting process has remained the same. Life affects the subject matter. But in terms about how I go about writing, it’s the same way.
Does a song come out better when it’s based on real life or fantasy?
There’s always a little bit of both. A lot of the true stories that I’ve written have been based on real life and then they’ll take maybe a slight fictional turn for the sake of the song, to make the song work better. That’s usually how I go about it. I think a lot of times when you talk in first person people assume that it’s autobiographical but that’s not necessarily always the case.
Are you ever afraid to reveal too much in a song about your own life?
I’ve never been afraid to do that. I think in the beginning when I was writing, I used that more often. I think it was almost extremely confessional and revealing in a way and I think that’s part of what made the songs stick; their vulnerability. It’s a very tricky thing to do. Anybody can be vulnerable and say, ‘This is how I’m feeling and this is who I am.’ If you don’t do it in the right way it comes across as very trite. It’s something I’ve had to learn to work around but I also think that maybe I don’t hold back as much but I’m more conscious of what I’m doing.
Is there a song that means more to you now than when you first wrote it?
“Better Than Love” is a song that has turned out to be something that I play almost every night. At the time when I wrote it, I didn’t really want to write any songs that dealt with love or relationships and it just came out of me. It wasn’t what I was intentionally trying to go after. I was making a record in California with some of the guys in the Heartbreakers and some other really good musicians and I was trying to make more of a rock & roll record.
I wasn’t really all that excited about recording that song. Even when we w ere recording it, I just wanted to get it over with. It turned out to be one of my best songs for sure and one that I think has meant a lot to a lot of people. It just goes to show you that a lot of times the artist has no idea whether or not what he is creating is good. He or she may think that they’re creating the best thing in the world and it turns out to not be so special and other times they don’t think what they’re doing is anything and it turns out to be something really valuable.
“The Guy That Says Goodbye to You Is Out of His Mind” is one of my favorite tracks on that album. What is the story behind it?
That song was written in a way that was inspired by a girl that I just wanted to take out. We were out on a semi-date together and joked around that she’d marry me if I wrote her a song so I went home and wrote her a song. It was something that started obviously with a sense of humor but it really ended up incorporating a lot of heavier things that were going on under the surface too. It started out as a joke and then it took a multifaceted turn after a while. That song came out of nowhere. That was the same story, I didn’t know what I had until I played it for somebody else later and they said, ‘Oh man, that’s a hit song.’ I had no idea.
I was reading the stories behind some songs on your Website and “Heart of Stone” sounds like it was written subconsciously and after you wrote it you figured out more about your life. Does that happen a lot?
What happens is, a lot of times I see how maybe in my subconscious or underneath the surface I really know what’s going on but I won’t admit it to myself or maybe I’m in denial. So, when I write the answers all come down on the page but I might not see them until after, way after. Maybe a year down the line I’ll look back and go, ‘Oh I really knew what was going on I just wasn’t admitting it to myself in my conscious brain.’
How is the music scene in Nashville different from the rest of the country?
I think there is a sense of community here. First of all, it’s a smaller city so it’s become over the last six or seven years more densely populated with musicians so it’s easier for everyone to know one another. There does seem to be a sense of community. Everybody moved here to make it and a lot of people don’t mind helping each other out along the way and becoming friends and working together. While there’s always probably competition going on, maybe the Southern hospitality thing plays into a little bit where they don’t mind helping out a little bit.
It’s changed a lot since I moved here. When I moved here in 2003 I literally felt like one of the only people doing what I was doing which is an alternative style of music in Nashville, just a songwriter with a guitar. There were a lot of people in the country world and Christian world doing that but I felt there were only a handful of people doing what I was doing. Now, since I’ve been touring over the last five or six years I’ve come back to Nashville and have seen hundreds or thousands of people who have flocked here from all over the country to start doing music and I think it’s really had an influx of a lot of people since I moved here under that demographic.
How do you stand out being one of so many?
I don’t try to at all. First I moved here and tried to play as much as I could and tried to stand out as much as I could. Now I’m not on the scene at all. I’m actually not even that social. I have a routine where I go and I work on my hobbies that I do in my spare time. I’m a dad and I spend time at home with my wife and I do some yoga. When I go out on the road I’m in front of people. I don’t really mix it up in Nashville a whole lot.
What do you wish you knew before perusing music?
I don’t know. I was very green when I got here. I didn’t really know anything about the music business. It’s easy for me to look back and say, ‘If I had this bit of information then I would have done this differently.’ There’s really no telling where that would have taken me. It’s not like you can know what would have happened if you would have made a different choice. You just know it would be different. A lot of the learning I’ve had, I’m thankful I moved down here a long time ago and I’m still playing music and still enjoying it and still making progress. I can’t really ask for anything more than that. It’s been good.
What can fans expect from you in the next few months?
Well, I’ve been doing this for a while now and I’ve been thinking about maybe compiling a “Best of” record that has 10 or 12 songs that are maybe the most popular ones. Putting them on a record and re-releasing that so that other people can hear my music and have a better idea of what I’m about and what I’ve done over the last decade. That might come first before a brand new record. Maybe there will be a new song on that or something. That’s just an idea but that can very well happen.
What’s going through your mind while you’re onstage performing?
Sometimes you’re a million miles away in the middle of the song. You just get lost and forget where you are for a minute. A lot of the songs have been played so many times that you’re really on automatic. I try to think about singing the words and hitting the notes. It’s pretty simple. I try not to think about anything else other than what I’m doing at the moment and not get ahead of myself, what I’m going to say next or what happened a few minutes ago. It’s a good exercise in really being in the present moment and that’s usually when performances are the best, when you can do that well.
For more on Griffin House and his current tour dates, visit his Website.
On any given night in New York you can stumble into a venue that’s hosting a hip-hop dance party, rappers or a live band. But, have you ever seen a tap dancing rapper that combines all three?
Meet Benjamin Ryan Nathan.
He’s a performer that combines all his skills into one performance, and he’ll hit the East Village Thursday night for a performance.
“There’s always that reaction, ‘You tap and you rap? What does that look like?’” Nathan admits. “There’s a lot of intrigue around that because people have had so much exposure to tap as children. And then to see it again as an adult and see it in a different way that’s not in a dance class, in a venue that’s onstage with popular music, it’s interesting.”
Combining rap and tap is a long process for Nathan, which often begins with lyrics.
“I write lyrics whenever it comes to me, a lot of times it’s on the train,” he said. “I create structure of the song first and then once I get together with the rest of the band and they’re writing their musical parts I’ll bring in the beats and see where that fits. It’s an experimentation together starting with the lyrics first.”
As with creating a song, Nathan’s routine is always getting tailored to his surroundings.
“Often I have to bring my own floor with me. It’s about figuring out what the space constraints are, how much I can move around, how it will be audible with musicians. My first question always is, ‘Will they have a wood floor?’”
Nathan didn’t want to audition when the National Dance Institute came to his school in the fourth grade. Today, though, he can’t imagine what his life would be like without dance.
“I definitely wouldn’t have become a dancer or a filmmaker if it wasn’t for this program in particular. It helped me get outside of myself and be able to get onstage in front of a community,” he said.
While Nathan admits there were challenges over the years, one being that it’s never easy being a young boy taking dance classes, he said he has always been an individual.
“I think I’ve learned from a young age that people are going to judge what I do. It’s just a question of really pursuing what matters. To me, I feel like tap is in my blood and I can’t not do it,” he said. “I’m always tapping, whether it’s tapping my fingers, or tapping my feet or tapping in my mind. It’s just how I express myself. I tap because I love it but I also tap because I have to.”
At the end of his first year dancing he performed onstage at Madison Square Garden with 1,000 other kids from New York Public Schools. He loved dancing onstage so much he decided to stick with it and soon discovered tap.
“I would go to jam sessions with older tap dancers at Swing 46. It was encouraging and supportive. Everyone would come and dance,” he said. “The other way I learned tap was by just watching. I would get my hands on any video tape on great tap dancers and just watch it again and again in my room and try to copy the steps.”
As a teen he started rapping and once college came around, Nathan decided to combine his tap and rap skills.
“I started a band in college called Ben Tap Soul and we started to experiment with how we can bring the tap and rap together with musicians. Instead of hip-hop beats behind it, there is actually live music being created with all of these elements.”
Additionally, Nathan has started to loop his tapping into his live band performance, providing an entirely new element into his live show.
“It’s great. I love to push the envelope. It’s important to keep pushing new ideas and surprising people and bringing it to a new audience and level,” he said. “It’s always been important to use the skills I have in a positive way. I call it conscious rap. There’s a Hasidic saying that music is the language of the soul. When you put music out there, it’s speaking people’s language and it’s important to know what you’re putting out.”
Ben Tap Soul performs tonight at Alphabet Lounge at 8 p.m. For additional tour dates in February, visit their Website.
Over the summer, I caught up with Canadian-based rock band The Trews after an intimate performance in Brooklyn. “I find playing in the living room more nerve-racking than playing in front of 30,000 people,” frontman Colin MacDonald admitted after their set. “Playing in front of 25 people in a living room, you can really feel the eyes on you.”
After their set, the band filled me in on their songwriting process, what it’s like performing to American audiences and learning from the bands they tour with like Kid Rock and Robert Plant. Be sure to catch them tomorrow at Mercury Lounge. For complete tour dates, visit their Web site.
Their fourth album, the standout Hope and Ruin, is a departure from previous studio albums as the band wrote and performed everything live. A more organic process, The Trews spent time recording at The Tragically Hip’s Bathouse Recording Studio. Located on the shores of Lake Ontario between Toronto and Montreal, the band lived in and wrote the album at the converted mansion.
“We were just trying to catch lightning in a bottle, just playing until it felt right,” MacDonald said. “Bathouse has a tree house kind of vibe, it’s a good hang. It has a pool table, record collection, woods in the backyard, lake in the front yard. It’s a really cool place to focus for a band, to get out to the country and really focus on the task at hand. It’s really informal. We’ve recorded records at places that have felt a lot more clinical.”
For this record, the band went into the studio for the first time without songs completely finished. “The Dreaming Man” was written over coffee with their producer after jamming on a D riff.
“We had a great little melody and great little jam and I found some lyrics for it from some other song I had. It was done that night and recorded,” MacDonald said.
Songwriting isn’t always that easy though, guitarist John-Angus MacDonald explained.
“Sometimes songs are more fully formed upon delivery than other ones. For the most part, we want to have music that you feel something from,” explained MacDonald ‘s brother, John-Angus. “I don’t think the lyrics have ever come first for us. It’s mostly just a feel, melody, groove or riff and we either shoehorn or Colin comes in with lyrics that are more fully finished than others. Lyrics can be painful. If you don’t get them right away, it could take a while.”
Colin went on to explain that songs often come from what the title dictates.
“A song like ‘Hope and Ruin,’ came from a magazine cover somewhere. I saw hope and ruin and thought it had a nice ring to it, ‘I’m going to sing that over this song. What does hope and ruin mean to me?’ It’s as simple as that. If a song comes in 15 minutes chances are you have a pretty good song on your hands. Sometimes I write from personal experience, sometimes I write from other people’s perspectives and make it sound personal. It’s not always just about me.”
In fact, often the songs fans most relate to are not about him.
“If you can write a song form someone else’s perspective and still feel it, that’s important. You can’t just keep wining about your own situation over again. You have to broaden your emotional pallet,” he said. “Sometimes you write a song that predicts your future, which is weird. Maybe it’s a self fulfilling prophecy. You write this great breakup tune and you’ve broken up four months later. I don’t know what that means, maybe it’s you asking for it. From time to time, a songwriter can tap into something that has yet to happen to him or her.”
Having toured with everyone from the Rolling Stones and Robert Plant to Kid Rock and Nickelback, The Trews say they learn something from each act they perform with.
“As soon as I’ve done my set, I’ll go grab a beer, park myself side stage and watch the entire set of the bands we’re playing with,” MacDonald said. “We just got off tour with Kid Rock and that guy is one of the greatest rock performers out there right now. I watched his set every night and he was incredible. We opened for Robert Plant a few years back. It’s incredible. It’s always a thrill to open for bands you admire.”
Having been called “the greatest rock band of their generation,” The Trews continue to expand their fan base in the United States and Australia. While performing throughout various cities in Canada always feels like home, the band admits there is something special about U.S. audiences
“This is taking nothing away from our Canadian fans, but there is a real sense of diehard devotion that we get from the fans that we gathered here from the States,” MacDonald said. “It’s there in Canada too, but I guess I’m more struck by it because the numbers are generally smaller. To see them follow us from city to city in these small clubs that we’re doing in the States just emphasizes how much they really do believe in it. That’s cool because we’re not as well known down here. Americans, if they decide they like you, they’re lifers.”
With the goal always in mind to make music they want to listen to, The Trews continue to grow their fan base worldwide.
“It’s an ongoing process,” MacDonald explained. “We’re always trying to make the best possible music that we can make. If it’s something that I want to put on when I’m hanging out at home, then I’ve succeeded.”
Catch The Trews at Mercury Lounge Wednesday night. For more, visit their Web site.
Two nights before his legendary free Central Park concert, famed tenor Andrea Bocelli opened up about his life to a packed audience at Walter Reade Theater in Lincoln Center. Part of TimesTalks, New York Times culture reporter Robin Pogrebin interviewed Bocelli while his interpreter assisted with translation.
At times, Bocelli surprised the audience with tales of stage fright and his previous career as a lawyer. Additionally, he hinted at the production of Thursday’s concert and revealed that he will perform four songs in English for the first time.
While Bocelli has played for millions, he admits he’s terrified to sing live. He said concerts are always a terror and “from the stage, an audience is for me like a monster.”
“I’m very nervous always. But, I’m nervous when I have to go on stage to sing, not to speak. I’m nervous because I would like to [always] give my best and that’s impossible because every time something happens. If I listen to my performance after, I’m never content so I decided not to listen to it for this reason,” he said.
Though he states “opera is the paradise of music,” he didn’t always know it was his destiny. Instead, he studied to be a lawyer and worked as a court appointed defense attorney. When Pogrebin asked him why and when he decided to pursue music instead, he joked, “When I realized that I cannot defend anyone without singing, I better not defend anyone.”
Comedy aside, Bocelli thought for a moment before he concluded, “Honestly I don’t know why I did it. Life is a strange adventure. Nobody knows the future. I never tried to know my future and I accepted everything that happened in my life.”
As his popularity ensued, he faced a new challenge: fame.
“Fame is something strange. It begins as an accident. At the beginning it’s something curious, it’s something fun. But then it becomes sort of a habit because it gives but it also takes away. Everything started in a flash. From one day to the next I was no longer the unknown country boy that I actually still am,” he said.
“I have to be honest; nobody can say that they are unhappy to be famous. The most important thing that it takes away is privacy . . . fame and notoriety do not mean happiness. Wealth, fame they do not make you happy. There are other things, way more important things in life.”
Now a household name, it wasn’t always that way. Hard work and optimism are qualities that led Bocelli to where he is today.
“Talent is a rebel. It cannot be kept in prison. My parents, for instance, had to wait quite some time to see my talent recognized. There was a time when people used to say, ‘I guess you have to recognize he’s only going to be singing in a piano bar and some weddings, there’s no more you can do,’” Bocelli recalls. “You need to be optimistic because if the talent is genuine it will come out and it will be recognized. If you are sincere, if you don’t wear any masks, if you don’t try to be what you are not, then you will be successful. Things will work out.”
Andrea Bocelli performs Thursday evening at Central Park with the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Alan Gilbert, with appearances by Celine Dion, Tony Bennett, Nicola Benedetti, Chris Botti, David Foster and more.
You can read this article, originally posted on CBS Local.
I witnessed Matthew Mayfield live for the first time last October during CMJ when I stumbled into Rockwood Music Hall in between a few band interviews. Alone on acoustic guitar, his deep, rustic vocals and emotion-fueled lyrics echoed throughout the silent room and blew me away.
After the show, he said his debut solo album would be released in a few months and I scoured the Web to find out more about this artist who I was certain I heard before. His former band, Moses Mayfield, was signed to Epic Records in 2005, released an album and toured with major acts. A few years later, though, they broke up and Mayfield found himself questioning his next steps.
“When the band broke up there was a six month period where I debated whether or not I was going to keep doing it. You have to pick up the pieces and start all over, write all new songs, a new band, a new everything. It’s been a hell of a lot of work, but if I wasn’t doing it I’d be super unhappy,” Mayfield said.
Mayfield’s solo album, Now You’re Free, was released earlier this year and encompasses 11 tracks of impeccable songwriting, standout musical accompaniment, and impressive collaborations. Singing of love and heartache, the listener can relate to every track. Songs like the powerful “Fire Escape,” written with John Paul White of The Civil Wars, and the poignant “Element” showcase his remarkable talent. A track he originally wrote 10 years ago and has appeared on numerous records, at a recent concert at The Hotel Cafe in Hollywood, Mayfield said, “I put this song out a few times but the best version to date is on this new record.” A longtime fan favorite, the song was received with much excitement at the packed venue.
I chatted with Matthew earlier this month while in California right before his intimate performance at The Hotel Cafe. He filled me in on many of the stories behind his songs as well as the struggles he has faced as a musician and collaborating with friends The Civil Wars and NEEDTOBREATHE. Read the complete interview below and be sure to check him out on tour this August.
Now You’re Free is your first solo LP. Was the recording process any different than with your previous band, Moses Mayfield?
Yeah, it was different. This time around, I think the songs are stronger and the players I was playing with in Nashville were some good friends and also super pro guys. We tried to make it a band thing. We were in a room, in a circle, and we wanted it to feel alive and have that energy that a big, anthemic rock record would have. The process was similar in terms of going through the motions and making a record, but at the same time, we tried so many new things which was cool. I’m excited about people hearing us in a studio where there were bells on a song or there’s cello or weird toy piano. Whatever it is, that kind of stuff is fun for us.
Why did you decide to use Pledge Music to fund your album?
At the time, my manager suggested it to me. It was cool. I looked at it, but I was kind of hesitant because I really didn’t want to ask people for money but then I realized it was a win-win. They get things that they want, whether it was handwritten lyrics or a house party, or we’ll play at the wedding. There were all kinds of weird stuff; microphones and gear. Everybody gets something which is really cool. We raised $14 grand for the record.
“Element” is my favorite track of yours and you wrote it a decade ago. Why did you decide to add it to this album?
We had the album down to 10 songs and I just felt like there was something missing. I feel like it’s one of those songs that I keep wanting to put onto a record because every time you take a step forward, that’s one I want to bring with me. The guy that produced the record and my management said, ‘This song is so strong, I really feel like it should come with you.’ I thought about it for a long time and I thought it was a great idea.
What’s the story behind “Element?”
I wrote that song when I was 18 and I was in this long distance relationship with a girl. I was just a kid. I think it’s very honest. It doesn’t feel particularly young, but it was very honest, from a very honest place. I feel like a song like that, that just comes from the heart, there was nothing about it that was forced. I sat down with a guitar and wrote it. It wasn’t in pieces. It all came at once.
Do you get tired of playing it?
Sometimes. I feel like with anything, sometimes there are songs that are going to be a little bit of a chore to play. It depends. If the crowd is great and they love it and you can see it in their eyes that they’re enjoying you play it, then it’s great.
What is your typical songwriting process like?
It usually starts with a guitar and a melody and I bring the lyrics in when I feel like I got the vibe down. There are times where the lyric is the inspiration. It changes quite a bit. I’d say 90% of the time it’s me and my guitar singing, humming things. It’s a strange thing, chasing songs.
Do you feel a song comes out better when it actually happened to you? Do you always write from firsthand experience?
Pretty much. I think everything on the record is firsthand. There are a couple that are hypothetical I guess, but I certainly can relate to the things that I’m singing about. “Can’t Change My Mind” is hypothetical in a sense to me. I wrote it from the perspective of that person who’s sold. I know that feeling; to be sold. You write it from the perspective of somebody that’s found something that you want to find.
Are you ever nervous to reveal too much in a song, like “Fire Escape?”
Yeah. Honestly, that’s probably the hardest one. I’m never scared because it’s like therapy for me. I need to do it, to get it out. I don’t know. I feel like there’s a release that you get from putting it on paper and singing it in a song that’s healthy. It’s always been an outlet for me since I was a little kid.
Are there nights you don’t want to play a certain song because it’s too personal and brings back a specific relationship or memory?
It can be. It depends on the night and it depends where my head’s at and if I was thinking about it before a show or not. Sometimes it can sting a little more than others. Sometimes you just do it because it feels good to know that you’re helping somebody else out. I think that’s the reason why the sad songs resonate more with people. I’ve noticed that. People love the upbeat stuff, but when it’s real heartache people are like, ‘Yeah, I know what you mean.’ More so than, ‘I’m really happy, everything’s great.’ That’s pretty rare. It’s good to write a song about it when it happens.
Isn’t that depressing though? When everyone’s like, ‘Yeah! That’s real heartbreak. We love that you’re depressed.’
It’s a weird world. I just write it from wherever I can find it. So if it’s sad, it’s sad. If it’s happy, it’s happy. If it’s confusing, it’s confusing.
Is there a song that means more to you now then when you first wrote it?
Yeah, there are a couple. I really like a song called “Her Name Was December.” That song, we don’t play it a lot live, but when I hear it on the record I’m like, ‘Man, we’ve got to get that one back because I love that song.’ I feel like the lyric and the melody, everything about it is special to me and came from a really real place.
You collaborated with NEEDTOBREATHE and The Civil Wars on a few tracks. How did that come about?
I co-wrote “Fire Escape” with John Paul [White] of The Civil Wars. He’s fantastic. And Joy [Williams] sang on “Can’t Change My Mind.” They’re some of the sweetest people in the world and certainly in this business it’s so hard to come by people who are so kind and just easygoing. There are no egos. They’re just great people and I’m super happy for them that all the stuff’s happening. It’s good to see that happen with good friends. Same thing with NEEDTOBREATHE. Those guys are coming to the show tonight, they’re in town. I’m super happy for them. They’re so good. Their live show is killer. It’s good to see good things happen to good people that you’re friends with.
Is co-writing an entirely different process for you than writing by yourself?
Usually with me, if I co-write it’s like I have a chorus that I love or a verse that I love but I just can’t find a chorus or I can’t find another verse. Or I’ll have a melody that I really like. Usually it has to be someone I really trust like John Paul or Paul Moak, the guy that produced the record. There has to be that feeling of trust where you’re like, ‘I can let you in on this secret.’ “Fire Escape” was a touchy subject, but John Paul was so cool about talking to me and hearing me out; kind of getting inside my head. We wrote the song really quickly, in a couple of hours and it’s one of my favorites on the record.
Your music has been featured on “Teen Mom” and “Grey’s Anatomy.” Have you noticed more fans from different music placement?
I have. Those “Grey’s” placements were really big. I feel like I noticed a big spike in sales but also noticed it helped put me on the map which was funny because I made that record for under $1,000 in a basement for myself. I wasn’t doing it in hopes to get a sync or get on TV and it ended up being a huge thing for me. Those little things are special because you have so many slaps in the face as you’re coming up and it’s cool. When you get a win in a world full of losses it’s something to be celebrated.
What has kept you motivated all these years to keep pursuing music?
I don’t know. I think it’s just that underlying passion for writing songs and playing rock & roll. I’ve always just loved it since I was a little kid. When the band broke up there was a six month period where I debated whether or not I was going to keep doing it. You have to pick up the pieces and start all over, write all new songs. A new band, a new everything. It’s been a hell of a lot of work, but if I wasn’t doing it I’d be super unhappy. It isn’t easy. We push ourselves in every aspect so I feel like it’s hard work, but it’s really rewarding. When the rewards come around, which is not that often, they’re sweet when they do.
Do you think a band needs a record label today to survive?
I don’t. There are some labels that are doing some cool things, some indies that are really smart with their money. But no, I don’t think you need the big machine until you are at a certain level. If you can get to a certain level and you need that monster, mainstream push then you get it when the time’s right. Getting a record deal is definitely not what any band’s goal should be, especially with a major. You may be their favorite band one day and literally the next week they don’t remember who you are ’cause they had a change of regime, they fired everybody and brought on new people. I definitely don’t think you need a label in 2011. At the end of the day, you have to do it all yourself.
What’s the best and worst thing about being a musician?
The best thing is seeing people sing your songs at shows, for me. If I see two or three people, or 30 people or 100 people singing the lyrics to a song, that’s as good as it gets. The worst part I think is a lot of times not feeling like your hard work is being rewarded. You really have to keep on even if you’re not getting any affirmation that what you’re doing is working. But, it’s always like that in music. When you do get those placements or whatever it is, your song is on a TV show or commercial, you play a great show and have a big turn out; those little things add up.
Do you have any advice for other singer-songwriters trying to make it in the industry?
One thing I have to say is don’t expect anyone to do anything for you starting out. You have to hustle and do it yourself. I made that record in my basement just because I wanted to for me. I didn’t have a manager or an agent. I just put it up on iTunes and it got a couple lucky moments and placements. It was fresh enough too, where people knew about the band. You just have to be persistent. As lame of a word as it is, you have to persevere. I started doing this when I was 18 and now I’m 28. I’m not some big, famous rock star. You want to play arenas, but you have to start somewhere. Tonight, if I play for 200 people that’s a huge deal. You just can’t expect it to be fast. That would be my advice.
Last month, I received an email from Michael Shoup introducing me to his music. While I receive plenty of band pitches on a daily basis, his words were genuine and his past and current projects peaked my interest. The Nashville based singer-songwriter got his start attending songwriter nights in his hometown of Dayton, Ohio, in his teens before moving to Nashville for college. He soon began designing artist Web sites, including A-listers like Lady Antebellum and Kelly Clarkson, when he noticed bands he toured with were in need of a Web site to promote their music.
When not working his 9-5 job, he has spent his time writing, recording and producing his debut solo release, Learning How to Live. An impressive LP, the 10 tracks (which you can download for free this week here) are relatable and emotion fueled with solid music accompanying Shoup’s soulful vocals.
While in Nashville last month I caught up with Shoup at 12South Taproom, his neighborhood cafe/bar that he described to me as “one of the most unpretentious, chill bars around.” Well recommended as a good place for conversation, we even ran into fellow singer-songwriter Mat Kearney. So, on a hot day in June I escaped the craziness that was the CMA Music Festival downtown for a while as we chatted about his career in music, latest album and the stories behind many of the tracks on Learning How to Live.
This is your first album as a solo artist. How was the recording process?
It took just about as long as I expected because I was doing it in pieces and didn’t want to ask fans for funding. I wanted to be able to do it myself and have it as a gift to people. Like, ‘Hey, I know you’ve been waiting to hear some of this, I want you to hear it.’ Not that I have anything against Kickstarter projects. For a debut I didn’t want people to feel like they owed it. And, what if they didn’t like the record? I wanted to do something they would enjoy.
I had a producer that worked with me on it named Paul Shearer. Paul and I took basically eight months to a year and scheduled how we wanted to do every song. We did it very systematically. ‘What parts do we need on this? Let’s plan it out.’ It came out to a really good process and a really good relationship between he and I. We continued that process throughout the last year. Even new stuff we’re writing. I know what I need to do and I know when I need to send it to him.
You’ve been collaborating with fans for Song-A-Week. How did that concept come together? (Watch one of the videos below and for more click here.)
The Song-A-Week I’m doing, Paul and I have co-written two of those together and those are working out really nicely. It was twofold for me. I released the record in November and I’ve had a Tumblr blog for years so I just said I would focus on that to be a way to talk directly talk to people who were into the music. I was trying to find a good way to do that, how to get some consistent content and also motivate me to keep writing. The record’s already out, what are you gonna do now? The thing with music for me, I always want to have something that’s communicating with people. I don’t want to just write a song and say, ‘This is what I was feeling.’ I want it to be what somebody else is feeling so they can feel like it’s their song. I think Tumblr as a format works really nicely.
I just opened it up and said, ‘If you guys want to submit ideas or stories about something big in your life, send them in and I’m going to start writing songs about it.’ For me, it was partially a challenge but it was also a weight lifted off because there was this giant pallet of things I had to choose from. I think the further it’s gone along, I’ve gotten some really in depth stories and some really personal stories that move me. I don’t think you can put a price on that as a writer. It’s like I just opened this great book and found an awesome story that I have to write a song about.
The week timeline was just to make sure I had a challenge. I wanted to put up consistent content. Having worked in the Web world for a long time, I understood that. But I also know myself and if I don’t put a deadline on it so many things could happen. I wanted to see if I could do it. It’s a perfect testing ground for me. I’ll write a song, stick it out there and I’ll see how much of a response it gets. If I hit close to what people had written in about, then they’d probably like it. If they don’t, that’s cool. It’s another song, I got some practice out of it, somebody probably got connected to it. I’m surprised I don’t see more songwriters doing that back and forth because it’s right there. There’s no reason you can’t do it. You’re getting instant feedback from the people that will hopefully be purchasing your stuff down the road.
One of my favorite tracks on the album is “Dying to Live.” What was the idea behind it?
That was a co-write between Paul and I and I had a basic idea. All my friends are in their late 20s and early 30s. I’m sure you’ve seen it. It happens in New York, it happens in Nashville, it happens everywhere. You get out of college or you get out of high school and you have these giant dreams and all these mountains you’re ready to scale and the world beats you back a little bit. That’s what it’s about. Sometimes it feels like those dreams are unattainable or sometimes it feels like they’re attainable but you don’t know how to get there. I wanted to put all of those stories from my friends around me into a song and say, ‘Hey, we understand you’re trying to get there. Hold out. Everybody else is trying to get there too.’
I was feeling the same thing myself. The whole time we were producing and writing and making this record, I was working 9-5 doing Web design. It was an anthem for myself to keep going to finish the record and to get everything together.
It was a funny turn around for me while we were doing the record. We took enough time to do it that by the time we had written and recorded everything it was sort of like an out of body experience. I didn’t feel like I 100% had written those songs, I could relate to them as a listener instead of a writer, which was the first time I had ever been able to do that. It was a really weird feeling.
Is there a song you’ve written that means more to you now than when you first wrote it?
Sure. There are a couple. I wrote this song called “Last Goodbye” years ago. I think you go through seasons in your life with relationships and a lot of times those seasons return. As I got older, the words that I put into that song made a lot more sense to me. I had written them out of this emotional moment and I never understood why other people related very well to it. As I got older and had other experiences, it made a lot more sense to me than when I first wrote it. There’s a line on “Last Goodbye” that says, “Maybe life’s not right for what this love has got in store.” That made a lot more sense to me as I grew older and realized that even though two people are in love, it can’t be right sometimes.
The other one that was really stuck in my head as we were doing the record and it was why I made it the title of the record, “Learning How to Live.” That’s one for me…I don’t know if it’s ever going to be a single. It’s not your usual pop song. You don’t get to the chorus in 30 seconds. But, for me and I think a lot of people who are in the same life place as me, can really relate to the chorus of it. “All I want to be is right in front of me but all I can see is how to live carelessly.” You understand how to get to where you want to get, but it doesn’t mean it’s always easy to get there.
What keeps you motivated?
Two things. Learning. Honestly, this is something I’ve newly learned about myself. I’m motivated to continue to do stuff when I feel like I’m learning new things from it. For Song-A-Week, when I first took that on I added a video element to it because it’s a totally new field I’ve never tried to do before. I’m going to learn how to shoot and to edit and figure out what 720p is and all that other stuff and it’s going to keep me motivated to want to do it more. The other side of it is the back and forth communication that I can get to people to be able to experience it with me. Whether it’s at a live show that I do or posts on Tumblr, emails that I get. That is the driving force. Anybody that does anything creative has to get that feedback.
What would you be doing if it wasn’t for music?
I really just like doing creative stuff. I think if I wasn’t making money off of music I would be doing something like that. Whether it’s helping other people be creative or doing video work or design. My life goal is to try to communicate to people that way. I just think the way that I’ve been gifted to do that is through songs. If it wasn’t through that, it would be something else.
For more on Michael Shoup, be sure to visit his Web site. You can download his debut album, Learning How to Live for free this week here and watch him live all day until 11PM CDT as he plays some music and gives viewers tutorials on making and editing videos, how to build a Web site and more.
With nearly 270 shows lined up this year, Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real are taking the world by storm with their debut release, ‘Promise of the Real.’ After a jaw-dropping ‘Late Show With David Letterman’ performance last month and stints opening for Willie Nelson [Lukas' dad], B.B. King and Dave Matthews, as well as sharing the stage with Steven Tyler, Neil Young and Bob Dylan, the band have already made a name for themselves.
Made up of singer/songwriter/guitarist Lukas Nelson, drummer Anthony LoGerfo, percussionist Tato Melgar, and bassist Corey McCormick, the band sat down with me to talk about their live show (including Lukas’ playful homage to Jimi Hendrix), their advocacy and just what it was like growing up with the Redheaded Stranger as your father. You can read some of my interview below, and for the complete Q&A visit The Boot.
I love the band name. So, just what is this ‘real’ you’re promising?
Anthony: Promise of the Real came from just wanting to be real with our music. You look at a lot of music today and they have all these special effects, smoke-and-mirrors. We’re just trying to keep it like the old-school guys did.
Lukas: It means that we promise to stay true to who we are. We aren’t going to be perfect, and we aren’t going to try and make it so that every show is the same. It means that we’re going to do the best we can, but we’re not going to Auto-Tune our voices. We’re not going to make sacrifices to our integrity as a band because we don’t have to. We want to support ourselves so we can be able to support a family and then after that, we want to give it all back.
What’s your songwriting process?
Lukas: It changes every time I write a song. Sometimes it’s a hook or chorus, or then it’s a riff and then it’s like chiseling wood. When I was a young kid, I read something that [Bob] Dylan said. He treats his lyrics as if every line could be the title of a song. I thought that was pretty cool. I looked at all his lyrics and took that to heart. I listen to people like Bob and Neil and my dad and Kris Kristofferson and the Beatles, Ray Charles. Those are my heroes, and they influence me, writing-wise.
Anthony: As a band backing up Lukas, when he brings his songs to the table, we try to keep them as pure as we can. Lukas will either write on the road or at home, and we arrange everything the same way — basically on the road. In the back of the bus, we’re arranging music and then we do it in sound check.
Lukas, you’ve adapted Jimi Hendrix’s technique of playing guitar with his teeth. How did that come about?
Lukas: I don’t play all the time with my teeth, but, yeah, it’s a tribute to him and it’s fun to do. It was fun to learn that I could do it. I just tried it one day and I was like, “OK, that’s not too bad. I know where all the strings are and I can pluck them.” I chipped my tooth a couple months ago. People get weird about teeth. They cringe when I do it sometimes. It’s fun to be able to put on a show and not have to rely on special effects. We have enough energy on our own where we don’t need all that stuff.
For more of my interview with Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, visit The Boot.
Singer/songwriter Amos Lee has toured with everyone from Merle Haggard and Bob Dylan to Paul Simon and Elvis Costello. So it comes as no surprise that many country artists respect the Americana/folk artist.
Lady Antebellum’s Hillary Scott is one of Amos’ many country admirers, along with Willie Nelson and Lucinda Williams, who lend their voices on his upcoming album, ‘Mission Bell.’
“Great songwriters don’t come around that often. Amos is an exceptional artist, a true story teller, unique to his generation,” says Willie.
While ‘Mission Bell’ isn’t due for release until January 25 of next year, Amos filled me in on the recording process, his Farm Aid performance and just how he recruited Willie to join him in the studio. For the complete Q&A visit The Boot and be sure to watch his performance tonight on CMT’s “Artists of the Year.”
On Wednesday I shared with you my review of Keith Urban’s impromptu train station performances promoting his new album, ‘Get Closer.’ I was lucky enough to spend the day with him in New York and Philadelphia and covered all the excitement for The Boot. You can read my complete writeup on The Boot and watch the video below!
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