Tag: Q&A

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Q&A

Blast From the Past: Interview with the All-American Rejects

Last night’s free All-American Rejects concert at Hammerstein Ballroom reminded me of my on the fly interview with frontman Tyson Ritter back in college. It was one of those situations that I look back at and laugh because sometimes I can’t believe half the things I’ve done to score an interview with some of my favorite bands. (Please, no groupie remarks I’m a journalist not a bandaid!) Anyway, last night’s show was pretty intimate as they were filming it for Wal-mart and it looked as if only a hundred or so fans gained access to the event. I’ll let you know when I find out the full details of when the concert will air. In the meantime, read below for this week’s “Blast From the Past” with the All-American Rejects.

When my friend invited me along to help cover a concert at the Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton two summers ago, naturally I went. She was working on a piece for the Trenton Times about the venue and how it was trying to attract a younger crowd. Hence, the concert “Popfest” was put on by local radio station WPST 94.5 attracting many of its younger listeners. In addition to the All-American Rejects, performers included Nick Lachey, The Fray, Bo Bice, and The Click Five.

My friend was promised a press pass to interview some of the bands, but for some reason it fell through. This is where my ingenious Plan B came in. “Let’s just go find their tour buses,” I remember telling her matter-of-factly. And so we did. After waiting 10 minutes or so she was discouraged and wanted to leave, but I persisted. A few minutes later, drummer Chris came out of the venue but was short on time, so he told us to wait for the rest of the guys. Shortly after Tyson approached the bus where we were able to ask him a few questions about the event. It was probably less than a five-minute impromptu interview, but I’ll take what I can get!

How is it for you playing a show like Popfest at a smaller venue vs. your bigger arena shows?
Our first time to step out in an arena was with Fall Out Boy two months ago and we just got off that tour. So I guess coming off that tour this might seem smaller, but this is still a large show to us. Definitely a different energy though. At a pop show, people don’t move as much.

Do you enjoy playing shows like Bamboozle more?
Oh yeah. That’s like the voice of a generation all in one spot at the same time. They’re the future leaders of America. Even though they may listen to music that’s not contemporary or run of the mill, those people are a lot different when they go to Bamboozle. The people who go to Bamboozle are definitely . . . I don’t know, more cerebral than normal people, I find. Whereas at these shows people scream and go crazy like five seconds after they see us. At Bamboozle a kid will be like “What’s up Tyson?” and try to talk to you, as opposed to try to bombard you or scream until you give into some weird wish that they want. But it’s all fun.

Would you consider coming back to Trenton?
Oh yeah. It was great, the kids were loud, girls were giggly. The next time we come here we’d like to come and play a proper show. We had the option to headline but we wanted to make The Click Five look bad. We don’t like bands that don’t rock their instruments. There’s a difference between playing your instrument and rocking it. I don’t play my instrument. It’s really kind of, I like to call it ho-hum music because after one song you kind of go ‘ahhhh’ [referring to bands who don’t rock their instruments].

Gotta love the honesty. Be sure to pick up a copy of AAR’s new album when it hits stores, December 16.

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Q&A

Blast From the Past: Interview with Sugarcult

A few weeks ago I posted my first interview with Ace Enders featured on Jane Magazine‘s music section of their Web site when I interned there. This week’s edition of “Blast From the Past” is another Jane feature.

Fellow Jane intern Monica Perry and I (check out her amazing blog here — cleverly titled Our Jane) got tickets to see Sugarcult in concert a few years back. I knew some of their radio hits but had no idea what the guys looked like to approach them for an interview (should have done my research!) so when we noticed a bunch of girls talking to a tall man by the backstage area we assumed it had to be one of the guys from the band. We walked over and asked a fan who it was and she told us it was Sugarcult guitarist Marko DeSantis. I was doing a write-up for the school paper of the show so I approached him, asking if they did interviews. He then took my notebook and pen right out of my hands and wrote down his email address adding, “Just don’t go out giving this to everyone.”

That was my very first impromptu venture of going up to a band and getting an interview and it was so invigorating! Little did I know a few years later I’d be doing this all the time and I must say, it never gets old. If I could interview a new band every day of the week I’d be content! Read my Jane feature below and for the full transcription of my interview with Marko click here.

Interview with Sugarcult’s Marko DeSantis

Sugarcult’s latest album “Lights Out” is all about “escapism and the guilty pleasures people indulge in that bring temporary happiness but are ultimately self destructive; casual sex, drugs, pop-culture,” says lead guitarist Marko DeSantis. Intern Annie talks to him to find out what he actually means by all that.

On the track “Explode” you sing, “The radio is here to stay, turn it off and walk away.” Have you been burned by commercial radio?
The music business is all so political, but at the same time we can be happy that some good music is getting a fair shake with bands like the White Stripes and the Killers. It’s just sad when places like Philadelphia and New York City don’t even have a rock station anymore.

If the radio is too commercialized for you, where do you find out about new bands?
I’ve never really listened to commercial radio; growing up it was all about going to shows, word of mouth, mix-tapes, magazines, digging through the racks in indie record shops. Today it’s not much different, but iTunes, websites and file sharing just make it easier to get turned on to stuff. My favorite way to discover a band is to see them play live and unexpectedly be blown away.

So who are you into now?
Lately I’ve been listening to The Adored, TV on the Radio, The Strays, Maxeen, Against Me. I’m always diggin’ old jams by Tom Petty, Smashing Pumpkins, The Clash, Superdrag, and The Cars.

What inspires your music and this album?
There’s an old quote attributed to John Lennon, “Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.” I think the same thing can be said about creating music; you set out to document your experiences and what’s in your head and then it becomes something bigger than the sum of its parts.

—Annie
October 27, 2006
Annie | Music | Permalink | Comments (1)

I love the honesty! Read more of my interview with Marko here and be sure to check out Sugarcult on MySpace if you haven’t yet.

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Interviews

Brett Dennen

I first stumbled upon Brett Dennen after reading about him in Rolling Stone back in 2007 as he was named an “Artist to Watch.” Of Dennen, Rolling Stone writer Kevin O’Donnell says, “[Dennen] turns out relaxed roots-rock jams about walking through the trees and watching desert sunsets. He’s also got some serious guitar-playing chops — his finger-picked, jazz-influenced chord structures could be mistaken for Dave Matthews or early John Mayer tunes.”

Since then, Dennen has had quite the journey. Traveling continuously the past year, supporting his most recent album Hope for the Hopeless as well as opening for Australian singer-songwriter Pete Murray and being handpicked by John Mayer for his summer tour, Dennen has kept himself busy. In fact, even John Mayer is one of Dennen’s most avid fans, saying of his last album So Much More, “A beautiful and spirited record, instantly likeable.”

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Brett the week before the release of his third album, Hope for the Hopeless. He talked to me about the album, including the stories behind some of his songs as well as his songwriting process and current tour. I’ll be catching his show tonight at the Canal Room, so be on the look out for a review in the upcoming week. If you haven’t yet, watch the video below for his latest song, “Make You Crazy” featuring Mandy Moore.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F58TfYHqLak]

Rolling Stone named you an artist to watch last year and John Mayer is a huge supporter. Did you ever imagine all of this success would happen for you?
No. I think if you have faith and if you do what you believe in and you do what you know how to do good and you stay real and true to yourself, that eventually you’re going to get recognition for it. But I don’t think you visualize too much specifically what that recognition is going to be. I had always thought that if I continue to work hard and do what I do, I would get some sort of recognition but I didn’t think it would come in this form.

Tell me about Hope for the Hopeless. This is the third album you’ve put out; did you go into the studio with a specific concept for it? And how is it different from your previous two?
I went into the studio with the songs that I wanted to do on the album. I knew that I wanted the music and the production and everything to be a step up from the last record I did. Not to say that it’s better, but it’s a little bit more groomed, [I wanted] the production to be bigger sounding. I think that’s kind of clear if you listen to So Much More and my first record and you listen to Hope for the Hopeless — you can see that progression. The songwriting is a little more focused and crafted. I think as far as the messages and the things that I’ve seen and I write about, it’s all still pretty much the same kind of things that I’ve been singing all along.

I love “Make You Crazy.” Femi Kuti is featured on that song as well, how did that come about?
We have a business connection to my record label and there was a possibility that he might put music out on my label, which is Downtown Records. So the connection was made between he and I by my record label. Beyond that connection, I’ve been wanting to work with him for a while. I’m a big fan of his. A lot of my music was inspired by his music and other artists in the Afro-beat world.

Do you have a favorite song on the album?
No. I mean, I love them all equally and I love them all for different reasons too. I think each one of them has the ability to articulate different things I believe in and they also sum up different parts of my personality and different sides of me.

What is your typical writing process like, do you carry a pen and paper everywhere you go? Where do you find your inspiration?
Sometimes you can prepare yourself to write and to be inspired and sort of clear the air and clear your schedule and make plans to work on stuff. Other times inspiration just hits you and you’re forced to just sit down and write or write something down because if you don’t, you might lose it forever. I used to carry pens and pencils around, but now a days if I get really inspired I’ll just type something into my phone.

A lot of things, like “Make You Crazy” is the perfect example. I was sitting in a theater. I had performed at an awards ceremony for people in the film industry who were writing about mental illnesses and I had performed a song. Then I was sitting in the audience and someone was giving a talk about all the pressures in society and how that alone is enough to make people insane. Not to mention the overwhelming stresses that are out there that have an actual physical effect on people and so I jotted that into my phone and thought about it and those were some ideas from the song and then I wrote it.

I really love your song “Heaven.” The lyrics are so deep and meaningful. What was going on through your head when writing it?
I just wanted to write about the ultimate expression of people’s faith, [which is] a lot of times, I think, people’s ideas of the afterlife of heaven. I’m not specifically writing about the afterlife or people who believe in heaven. I’m writing about this idea that it doesn’t matter how people believe or how sinful we are on earth, as long as we believe in this idea of heaven or this dream — whatever you want to call it — that is going to save us in the end. I’m sort of questioning about that, posing questions about it because I see a lot of contradiction between people and their actions and their morals. I just wanted to write about that.

Tell me about your current tour. What can fans expect?
This intimate tour is more of an acoustic tour, it’s just me and my friend Andrew who also plays guitar, and we’re playing small clubs. There are not going to be openers. It’s going to be an entire evening of just acoustic performances of new songs and old songs, cover songs and songs that people may have never heard before. It’s just something that, as the bigger my shows get and the farther that I need to travel and grow, I always want to be able to come back to the intimate setting. When you take away all of the production of the band and everything, you still have these quality songs that can come across to more of a folk music setting.

Is there a certain tour stop you’re looking forward to?< br />I’m always looking for
ward to playing in San Francisco. I’m really excited to play Philly because we get to play this tiny, little place called the Tin Angel which is ridiculously small. I played there once a while back and I had a great time. Since I played there, I’ve played bigger venues in Philly and I’m excited to go back to that one.

You worked with producer John Alagia on Hope for the Hopeless. How was that experience?
It was great. He and I have became really good friends. He’s actually coming over my house later on this afternoon and I’m going to help him write some songs for another artist that he’s working with right now. I’ve learned a lot from him and I think he’s learned from me as well. It’s just been a really inspiring process and I hope it continues.

I just saw the song on your MySpace with Jason Mraz that you both wrote for Survival International, how did that come about?
Both he and I were approached at different times by people that were putting together the album. I think what happened was that they asked too many artists to be a part of it and they had more artists than they needed. So they asked us if we wanted to work together so we both said, “Yeah.” I actually had most of the song already written so when we got together at Jason’s studio in his house in San Diego I had given him a copy of the song and showed him where I was going with it and we worked together on it. He wrote a part for it and then we recorded it that afternoon, all the parts except for the strings which we added later. All the rest of it we recorded at his house in his home studio and it was done in a matter of a couple of hours.

Have you always wanted to be a singer-songwriter growing up?
No, not really. I had always wanted to be a teacher, but after I graduated college I was playing gigs in a band and I really fell in love with it and I started doing my own gigs and it took.

I read that you were a camp counselor at Yosemite National Park and you’ve been touring the world the past few years. You have led such an interesting life so far. If your life was a book, what would you title it?
[Laughs] I don’t know. That’s a great question. I don’t know. It would have to be something to do with being weird and different . . . it would have something to do with growing stuff in the garden. Homegrown veggies or something, I don’t know. Homegrown groove.

Be sure to listen to Brett on MySpace and check out his Web site for all his latest information!

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Festivals Interviews

Theresa Andersson

I spoke with Theresa Andersson during CMJ week right before her amazing live performance where she played multiple instruments with the help of two loop pedals, all while dancing throughout her set — truly a sight to see. Theresa spoke to me about her writing process, recording her album in her kitchen, as well as her inspiration which draws upon living in New Orleans combined with her Swedish roots.

If that isn’t interesting enough for you, when listening closely to tracks on her latest album, Hummingbird, Go! you can hear birds chirping outside her kitchen window while sirens are blaring in the background. Not your average recording, Hummingbird, Go! is full of depth and if you listen closely you can pick up much of the surrounding environment. While Theresa is pretty certain her next album won’t be recorded in her kitchen, she does plan on continuing her demos there. And after watching the video below, I can’t wait to hear what she comes up with next.

Watch the video for “Birds Fly Away” recorded live in Theresa’s kitchen below to get a feel for her music and be sure to read the complete interview below.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMXqn42AykM]

What can people who come to see you perform expect? I’ve heard your live show is amazing and you use two loop pedals while performing.
I have a pretty interesting setup. It really starts with a big, white shag rug on the floor since I play barefoot so I can turn knobs with my toes and operate the pedals. I have two loop pedals on a big board that sort of looks like a boomerang shaped in front of me. It’s two-layered and there are pedals on either side of the board on the ends of it and in between there’s a whole bunch of pedals for switching pedals and for effects. Then, I have drums to my left, just three drums and some chimes and various percussion stuff. In front of me are two microphones, one I use for looping and one for vocal and then I have a violin and dulcimer and record player onstage. All these things I use to create the songs and build them up and I loop and record everything live.

It’s a very interesting format of playing because the pedals are definitely limiting and in the beginning when I started using them, it was really difficult. I had to spend many, many hours just figuring things out. I would spend 8 to 10 hours a day for weeks and weeks. It takes about three weeks to four weeks to really get a song in my body. I can rehearse them quicker then that, but to really feel like they’re me. I actually ended up having to break everything down to the beat. I had to figure out what to do with each beat. On some songs, especially when I set them up, between the first and second instrument I might do nine or ten different things. I have to switch things, turn things on and off and I do all that all with my toes while I’m playing it so I had to really think everything through. It became this dance with the pedals that I had to work out. After a while I started thinking of it as a dance, that’s when it really became fun. I actually ended up falling a lot in the beginning. I’ll be standing on one leg and I’ll stretch the other one out, skip steps or jump. At one point I have to stand on my heels and hit two pedals at the same time, so I couldn’t keep my balance at first. I had to take dance lessons from a friend of mine, just to figure out how to do it, how ballet dancers do it. Sometimes when I’m here in the city I’ll see shows. Recently I saw the New York City Ballet. When I saw them, I was like, “Okay, they can do all that, I should have no problem learning to hold my balance.”

So much concentration goes into every performance. Are you ever scared you’re going to mess something up or push the wrong button?
If I push the wrong button, what I’ve learned to do is to keep playing without making a mistake. I’m so comfortable with it now that the loop pedals are more of an instrument to me now since I’ve done it for a while. I play it like it’s an instrument so if I make a mistake it’s not such a big deal. It’s impossible to make it perfect at all times, but that’s what gives it a charm and that’s what gives each performance its uniqueness. The two pedals don’t synchronize with each other, so I have to do all the synchronizing. I think the loop pedal itself, there’s nothing new about it. It’s been around for a really long time and many people have used it. It’s perhaps the way I use it that’s a little bit different.

Tell me about recording your album. You recorded it all in your kitchen?
Yeah, that’s right. It wasn’t really planned. I wrote the record in New Orleans, most of it, and I ended up downloading everything in my kitchen. I have a laptop and I used Garage Band. It has its limitations too, so I would just use it to make the sounds and make it feel good when recording the demo. When the producer heard it, he really liked the way it sounded and he asked me, “Where did you record this?” and I said, “In my kitchen!” and he said, “Well, let’s make the record in your kitchen.” So we made the record in the kitchen.

I also had played all the instruments on the demo, but I didn’t really think that we were going to keep me as the only musician on the record. I thought, for sure we’re going to have a drummer and a bass player and all these things. Tobias Froberg, who produced it, he had seen me play the solo show when it was in its infancy and he really wanted to capture that vibe of one person doing something and he encouraged me to play everything so we went that route. I’m really glad we did because it has been a wonderful experience so far.

Do you have a favorite song that you enjoy playing live?
I love “Birds Fly Away.” Actually, each song is unique and they all have a specific role in the set. I really wanted to bring the listener on a journey when they listen to the set. I always think its best when you hear it from beginning to end because it goes into different spectrums of the musical language I use. “Birds Fly Away” is a really good song. I like playing “Hi-Low” a lot too, that’s probably the most complicated song I play, it’s a fun song to play too.

How long did it take to put together your live show?
I completed my rig after the record was mixed, so that was in March and then I really went into rehearsing a lot and then I hit the road. I spent maybe a month completing the show, but then it took a long time of playing to really get in my body. I would make a lot of mistakes in the beginning, I would be really nervous, but maybe those mistakes were something that I recognized. To me, I’ve reached the point where it’s really a musical instrument to me. It’s just another way of playing songs and playing music. I want the audience to really feel like they’re in the music and not worry so much about, “Oh my God is she going to fall or step on the wrong pedal?”

What is your typical songwriting process?
Well, I found a new way of writing on this record. I thi
nk because I started with thi
s looping thing, I started thinking of music in different ways. It sort of broke me out of my habits a little bit. So I decided to do the same thing for my writing. I started collecting ideas for a long time and I would spend a lot of time just working on melodies first and singing little snippets of stuff and not be so judgmental with myself and just collect ideas and go back and listen to them again. And not try to finish stuff and just be playful and have fun with it.

I would really be inspired by different textures of things. I see music in colors and textures a lot. So, I might sit and look at this board behind us here and try to sing that or I would draw something and try to sing it and make a melody out of something I was drawing, just to break my mind out of its normal habits. And I found that it was a really enjoyable process and it took the pressure off somehow. It was really playful and in the end, I think I gave myself more freedom and the end result is a lot more pleasing to me. It also felt like definitely my most personal songs on this record as a whole, the fact that I wrote all the music and I explored all these different ideas. It was very exciting.

I love your song “Japanese Art.”
Tobias actually wrote the lyrics to that song. He sat in my kitchen and I have a book about Japanese Art and he looked at it and he just started flowing. We’re both from Gotland, so we had to put Gotland in there and we both travel a lot. It was a little bit of a whimsical song, but it definitely plays up the joyfulness of that song. That’s what I was trying to do, I was trying to write music that would say something and then the lyrics would fall in place. I didn’t write any of the lyrics on this record. Tobias wrote a few of the lyrics and then I worked with a female poet from New Orleans, Jessica Faust. She’s phenomenal. She’s actually a professor at UNO. And I had asked her to help me find some female poets and she gave me some of her own poetry and I was floored. I cried when I read it and it moved me so much. I asked her if she’d be interested in trying to do something like this. I gave her finished melodies and asked her to write words to fit my melodies. It couldn’t have been easy, but she did a great job. I feel like it came out of me, she did such a great job.

Do you have a favorite city to play?
I love playing in New York. I love it! It’s always fun here. Sometimes you just stumble on places and you have a magical night. It depends on all the circumstances too. I played in Milwaukee opening for Mason Jennings and it was a wonderful show, I really loved the audience there. The other night I went to Knoxville, Tennessee, to play a radio show and ended up playing a benefit that night and that was a great experience too. I like New York because it’s a very diverse crowd; it changes every time I come.

What can fans expect from your next album?
I feel like I’ve really found myself and really arrived here with this album. I really think that all the time that I’ve lived in New Orleans combined with me letting all my Swedish influences and my Swedish roots come back out is something that I really enjoy and I’m going to keep working on that. I’m very influenced by New Orleans rhythms as you can hear on “Birds Fly Away,” I’ve even sample Smokey Johnson on there. I’m going to keep working on that. I’m also going to keep working on my textures. I have some big ideas in my head and I’m going to play around with it around Christmas time.

Is your showcase at CMJ different than the typical concert?
My show is so intense that unfortunately, for me to put something new in the show, it’s hard to do unless I have some serious rehearsal time. In the past, I could just get together with the band and do a two-hour rehearsal and then be able to play that. I actually have to get into rehearsal space with all my gear, do a couple days of rehearsing and I haven’t had the luxury of that. My show is pretty much worked out. Of course no one knows how tonight’s going to happen. I am excited because I know there are a lot of special guests in the audience that are invited by my publicists so that’s going to be nice but of course I’m a little bit nervous. I want to make a good impression. In New Orleans you don’t get so much of that, you don’t get so much industry and you don’t have high pressure situations all the time. It’s been challenging to be in those situations to really have to bring my super A-game every time I perform. But, I love challenges and I love to step up. I’m just hoping to make the audience feel like they’re able to step into my world tonight with everything else that’s been going on.

You’ve been getting some great press. Rolling Stone featured you recently.
Yes! I know, I’m so excited! When I started this record, I really erased any kind of ideas of wanting to fit into a format or trying to be something or have a specific sound, any of that stuff, just out of my mind. None of that. I really tried to just make a record that I could be proud of and a record that was personal and real from the heart.

And, I think when you listen to Hummingbird, Go! you’ll agree. For more on Theresa, be sure to check out her MySpace and see when she’s playing a tour nearby. It will surely be a unique performance you will never forget.

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Q&A

Blast From the Past: Q&A with Ace Enders

The best part of working at my college newspaper was that I knew everything that was going on around campus. So, whenever a band was performing, you bet I was there. Below is my blog post from Jane Magazine‘s music blog portion of the Web site of my interview with Ace Enders, formerly of The Early November.

I’m always excited to find out about good bands from New Jersey, being a Jersey girl myself. This past Friday I saw emo/indie rock band The Early November from Hammonton, put on a show at Rutgers and they really blew me away. After the concert I chatted with lead singer Ace Enders about the concept of the band’s new three-disc album and how fans should listen to it with headphones on because “it takes you to a different place.”

Where do you get inspiration for your music?
I try and reach just from everyday normal life; from watching people and how they react to different things.

You played at Rutgers before right?
Yeah. We played in a classroom one time. It was a little weird. We had a chalk board behind us.

How did you feel seeing your video on MTV the first time?
It was definitely a weird feeling the first time. But it faded pretty quickly when we heard that they were taking it off MTV.

How did you get the idea for the story line on your current album?
It didn’t come out exactly how I wanted it to come out. It was supposed to be not just songs, but more for your imagination. It would follow a whole story. It’s not perfect, but it came out a bit.

—Annie

November 20, 2006

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Q&A

Listen to My Audio Interview with Strive

It’s taken a few weeks, but I finally finished editing my interview with frontman Derick Thompson of Strive. It’s broken up into two segments; approximately 10 minutes each. Listen to them below and let me know what you think! You can also read the full interview here.

To listen to Derick talk about the history of the band, their music and latest album, Fire, click here.

To learn more about the music writing process, being ranked No. 14 as CCM’s top 100 artists and a very personal, in-depth description of his favorite song on the album, listen here.

Check back in the upcoming weeks for the audio interview with Matthew Perryman Jones as well as Joshua Radin and Brett Dennen!

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Interviews

Matthew Perryman Jones

A few weeks before his New York performance at the Living Room, I spoke at length with Matthew Perryman Jones about his latest album, Swallow the Sea. Jones filled me in on his writing process, which he describes as “a stream of consciousness exercise,” as well as the current Nashville music scene and the inspiration behind many of his songs on the album.

Be sure to check out his MySpace, and if you like what you hear, find the widget on his page for a free download of his last album, Punches In the Dark. Read below for the in-depth interview and check back in a few days for the full MP3 of my interview with Matthew.

Swallow the Sea is your third full-length album. Did you go into the studio having a certain concept for the album?
About six months prior to the full recording of this record, me and the producer Neilson Hubbard had gone into the studio and recorded some stuff. We don’t really do demos anymore, it’s more do a recording of how you want it to sound. We did some recordings a while ago, like “Save You,” “Without a Clue” and “Don’t Fall in Love” that are on the record that we actually recorded a while before we started the full-on record. I think those were just recordings that started the idea to do a record.

Eventually, in March this year, we came back in and we did a live recording. What made it different for the rest of the record is that we came in and we recorded live. We got the whole band together and rented out a different studio where we could do a live recording. Our vision was to make a bigger sounding record, so the studio we used and doing it live gave it that bigger sound and also gave it a little more energy in the performance. That was kind of the vision in terms of finishing the record, which was really to go with something that has a bigger sound and a little more energetic than what we have done before.

“Without a Clue” is one of my favorite tracks on the album. I was just curious to the inspiration behind it.
I wrote that song with Kate York. I had the song idea coming in, I just wanted to have her come in and hash out some lyrics with me. We just came onto this theme of a nostalgic love song. Something that was good at a certain point in time and ended at some point. We fell on that theme as we were writing; it kept coming up a lot. A lot of times when I write, I don’t really come with an idea; usually the melody and there are words that start coming out with that melody. That one in particular ended up having that nostalgic feel to it. We just hashed out these lyrics and the idea of this old love story that was good when it was there. That’s the general idea of the song and we just worked it out.

This album you’ve co-written a lot. How is writing a song vs. co-writing a song different for you?
I used to always write on my own and after a while, especially when I moved to Nashville, I started doing some co-writing with people. At first I didn’t like it a whole lot, it felt too invasive. Then, I started getting to know certain people that became friends of mine that weren’t just songwriting partners; we knew each other, we had similar perspectives. I started writing with folks that I knew and I trusted and it actually became enjoyable to me because I’d have ideas; I’d come with a melody idea or song structure and lyrical fragments. It’s been really cool to bounce back ideas creatively and to see how other people approach an idea or a song. So, in a lot of ways it’s been a real growth experience for me, writing with other people and being able to be challenged creatively.

The way I do it, especially when Neilson and I write, I’ll come in with . . . I usually keep recordings of melodies and song ideas, structures, with little lyric ideas. I’ll come in and start singing these melodies and he’ll have a pad and pen and just start writing down everything. I’ll just start singing and I won’t think about what I’m singing at all, even if it’s complete nonsense. Kind of a stream of consciousness exercise. I just start singing and my main goal is not to think about it, just go and start singing out words even if they make no sense. He’ll write down things that he’s hearing; certain words that come out a lot or themes. Then we find the theme of the song, which is exploring it through the stream of consciousness way and he’s just transcribing words. And then we come on to the feelings of a song, or what I like to call it, the guts of the song. At a certain point, we have to start giving it some shape and really start putting some meat on it.

The process is mostly to try and find the guts and the feeling of the song so the song has an emotion to it; something from a deeper level. I used to think, is that writing approach less honest because you’re just not thinking about it? I think it’s the opposite. I think it’s more honest to do it that way because you’re not thinking about it, you’re not imposing any ideals or any ideas on a song that don’t need to be there. You just let the song do what it’s supposed to do. It’s just been a fun way to discover a new way to write songs.

On the surface you’re just aware of your daily life and the stuff you have to do here and there. But, on a deeper level and a subconscious level, there’s way more going on. It’s funny because after I’ve finished a song, even after I’ve recorded it and put out a record, I’ll listen to a song months afterward and go, “Oh, that song makes perfect sense now. I know what that’s about now because I’ve processed certain things and I’m more into my conscious life.”

Tell me about working with Neilson Hubbard. I know you worked with him on your last album, so obviously things have to be going well.
Yeah. I love working with Neilson. I knew some of his work before the first time we worked together and I really, really liked it. I loved his approach. As I got to know him, we’re both about the same age so we come from the same school of music which is the late 80s. Bands like Pixies, old U2, Echo and the Bunnymen, all those late 80’s mod-rock bands. It’s where both of us developed our musical tastes so we connect really well there. We both love the in motive, moody, vibey, yet edgy rock kind of stuff that’s really reminiscent of that era. We just connected really well. He’s definitely more of a minimalist in his production; he likes to be really sparse. I like that about him, but I tend to lean more towards the grandiose and a little overboard, so I think when we work together there’s a balance that happens and I think it’s a really cool balance of how we both approach stuff.

Your song “Save You” has been getting a lot of play on television shows like “Private Practice” and “Kyle XY.” How did that come about? Do you feel it’s helped your career in getting your name out there?
It came about a while ago. A guy in Birmingham who works at a radio show, Scott Register has a show called “Reg’s Coffee H
ouse.” Wh
en [last record] Throwing Punches came out, he really championed that record and really pushed my stuff to a lot of people. We recorded “Save You” because some people had heard it live and they were interested in the song, so we decided to record it a while ago. Actually, the version on the CD is the first recording we did. He gave it to a licensing agent in L.A., who heard it. According to what she told me, she said it wasn’t even done with the first verse and she wanted to work with me and work that song. Literally, within two weeks she had the placement on “Kyle XY.” It was really cool to see how that had an immediate connection with people. It’s gotten my music into a different audience because my music has never really found a way into a younger audience; the later teens, early 20s mind span. Mostly college-aged to mid-30s tend to be the typical audience. It’s gotten to a younger audience and it’s been cool to see how it’s connected with people of that age group and it’s definitely helped get my music out into a lot more people, so it’s been a great thing.

How do you feel the Nashville music scene is different from other parts of the country?
I guess, in a way it’s [just] different from other cities. I was in Atlanta before I moved to Nashville, and there was actually a really good music scene going on in Atlanta. But, it’s a much bigger city, and the music scene was not really part of the city as much as it is in Nashville. You think of Nashville and you think of Music City. Most people just think of country music. When I first moved here, there was this really cool, underground group of artists and songwriters that were amazing and inspiring. This town, even in the last three years, has just beefed up its artist roster.

People are moving here from other cities, even from New York and L.A. because the music scene definitely has more of a communal sense to it, people really support each other. In a way, I guess it’s different from other cities in that there’s definitely more of a concentration of artists here and the community is definitely really big and supportive. Not to say it doesn’t exist in other cities, I’m sure it does, but I think it’s a little more prevalent here. I think it’s helped me too, in a sense, because it’s a really inspiring city to live in. Especially right now, we just had a festival last week called “Next Big Nashville.” It’s just all Nashville artists — hundreds of bands and singer-songwriters and artists from Nashville. It’s amazing. I went to a bunch of shows and every show I went to I was blown away. I was just blown away by living in Nashville. This is just a great city to live in right now because there’s so much great music coming out of Nashville. It’s just inspiring I think.

Tell me about your “10 out of Tenn” showcase.
Trent Dabbs, a singer-songwriter in town, he and his wife went on vacation together, just to give you a bit of the story. They put their travel compilation disc together and as they were driving down, Trent turns to his wife and goes, “This is amazing, because our compilation disc is all our friends. We just put all our friends on this compilation disc.” So he got the idea, “Why don’t we put an official compilation recording together of all these artists and do a tour and bring it around the country?” Really, in a sense, bring a part of what’s happening in Nashville around the country in different parts and different cities. We did a tour about a month ago, went up to the north and southeast, played with Butterfly Boucher, Griffin House, Katie Herzig and Tyler James and a bunch of folks from the neighborhood here. We’re all friends and we all see each other and we just kind of hopped on the bus and did a show together, which was pretty awesome. We took Willie Nelson’s old touring bus from the 80s. It was pretty amazing, actually. It was really cool, but really bumpy and really hard to sleep in, but it was still really cool.

You’re an independent artist and a huge help is MySpace and the Internet on getting your music out. Do you feel it’s easier to be an independent artist nowadays or are you eventually looking for that record contract?
It’s definitely easier to be an independent artist today. One, with MySpace and a lot of mediums that exist out there for people to get their music in front of people and be heard and also collect a fan base and know where people are and know how to find people and play in certain towns. Its way easier now, because even 10 years ago when I was playing, we were doing hard mail outs to people to addresses. To put shows together we were literally physically mailing stuff to people and snail mail. That’s unheard of now. It was lot harder to get word out to people back in the day, especially before the Internet really developed a lot of these sites. Yes, it’s way easier to be independent now.

It’s actually more desirable. Even with TV placements these supervisors are looking specifically for independent artists, artists that don’t have the red tape of a big record deal and publishing. It’s a lot easier for them to work with independent artists so they’re looking for independent artists specifically. It works out best for both worlds, because they don’t have to deal with as much read tape and the independent artist is able to have this medium to get their music out to a broader audience. It’s a really great time to be independent. It’s not to say I wouldn’t sign a record label deal because there are definitely advantages to what they can do to sustain your career in a lot of ways. There’s another side to where they can completely ruin your career, so there is no hard way to go about it, it depends what’s right. I’m not apposed to it, if it ever happens, if it’s the right deal.

You’ve been getting amazing reviews, being compared to John Lennon and Leonard Cohen. How would you describe your music to someone who has never heard it before?
It’s funny, because I’ve read those reviews with those comparisons which blow me away. Because, if I’m honest with myself, I don’t think I’m anywhere . . . the whole, it just doesn’t even compare to me. Leonard Cohen and John Lennon are these freaking icons. I think what they’re saying by citing those artists is that there is more of a poetic element to my writing. I think that’s why they get the Leonard Cohen comparison, because a lot of his writing was more poetic. Even John Lennon had that element to his writing, more impressionistic, more poetic. Lyrically, I think I lean more that way; more impressionistic, more poetic. All music to some extent is poetry, but in the sense of singing it as poetry, if that makes any sense.

I would describe my music as mood-rock. It’s got a little rock in it, but it’s got more mood to it. If I were to sum it up in a way to describe it, it would be mood-rock. Because it’s not emo by any means, but it does have an emotional element to it, it’s driven by that. I know that sounds weird, because all music has an emotional element to some extent, but I think some music has more of an achy, mood to it, that I think I go for in my music.

Your song, “Motherless Child” is strikingly different then the rest of the album. You definitely feel the mood with that. What’s the story behind that song?
That song is an, old, old spiritual, from hundreds of years ago, so I can’t take the credit for writing that song. I improved a couple lines in the song. I reinterpreted that song. I did it live a few times and it had this real achy mood thing to it, but it also had this aggression to it, which is how I interpreted the song a little bit. And I wanted it to have some aggression to it. We created that song in a way that
it had both elements, where it had this haunted feeling to it and at the same time, this anger to it. That’s one of my favorite tracks on the record. A lot of people say it’s so different from the rest of the record, and I know that it is and that’s why we put it in the middle because it sort of peaks the record a little bit. I was able to sing out more of an emotional, what was going on in me emotionally at the time. In the record, I feel like that really captured at least me, where I was at, at the time. I really liked how it turned out.

You can watch a live performance of “Motherless Child” below. Be sure to check back in a few days for the full audio of this interview.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5B9NT-LFzhs]

For more on Matthew, visit his MySpace.

Categories
Interviews

Strive

Strive has been compared to that of U2 and Switchfoot with their inspirational lyrics and The Fray with their piano pop-rock sound. You can hear a bit of Josh Groban in singer Derick Thompson’s vocals as well. Fire, Strive’s first global release, is a solid album, both lyrically and musically. First single “Smallest Things,” has already been gaining much attention globally while four additional songs from the album have been licensed for various MTV and E! shows.

Derick was nice enough to chat with me just a week after the release of Fire. He filled me in on how the band began, their global efforts on teaching AIDS awareness through rock concerts throughout Russia as well as the meaning behind many of their songs. While they won’t be touring for some time, they welcome fans to check out their songs and chat with them on their Website.

To listen to Derick talk about the history of the band, their music and latest album, Fire, click here. To learn more about the music writing process, being ranked No. 14 on CCM’s top 100 artists and a very personal, in-depth description of his favorite song on the album, listen here and feel free to read the full Q&A; below.

How did Strive get started?
Strive started back in 2000. It originated from a few bands I’d been in high school and wanted to carry on into my college experience. So I showed up at Wheaton College in 2000, met some other musicians and decided that we should form a band and called is Strive. That was the initiation. We played a lot of shows around the Chicago area where Wheaton is during our years there. During our junior year we took Strive to Russia on a tour to do AIDS awareness rock concerts where we went into clubs and schools and festivals and talked about AIDS education, basically the facts about the disease, HIV and AIDS.

That stemmed out of Bono visiting Wheaton College on his “Heart of America” tour talking about Africa. That spurred us to want to get involved in the crisis globally. I grew up in Russia and had contacts there so we decided to go to Russia instead of Africa to get in before it turned into the situation that’s happened in Africa. That was pretty monumental for the band; as far as just gelling it together and making us feel like this is something that we feel really called to and that we can have an impact, not just with the music, but with what we were able to do with people who love God and love giving back, and trying to make the world a better place for everybody.

It’s definitely something that forms who we are as a group, just the way I approach songwriting and the band in general, because we’ve had the experience of going through a great education and developing a global perspective. For me specifically, I grew up overseas, I spent five years in Russia as a kid in my teen years, which definitely formed who I was. To bring more of an immigrated faith and learning perspective to that, and then to meet like minded people was a huge opportunity and definitely was the basis for where Strive has developed and gone.

You said your international experience had a big impact on your writing; did this influence your latest album Fire?
It did. [Fire] has this general, more social minded [impact] than some of the stuff we’ve done in the past. We’ve done five full-length records and a few EP’s. Then we went through this phase where we did this rock opera on life of Christ and geared everything around Christ and spiritual stuff and realized we were limiting ourselves. We wrote that project to bring Christ to people who hadn’t heard about him and we realized we were pigeonholing ourselves from reaching that demographic because it was so overtly Christian that it wasn’t even given a chance. We were reaching the church, which was great, but it wasn’t what we felt called to do. That transition happened in 2005, when we went to Brazil on tour with that project. We realized we were having a much larger impact playing other songs than just being an American rock band in this non-profit that was doing a project on the life of Christ.

The stuff that spun out of that was this desire to write an album like Fire, that talked of things like, what does it mean to live a life in the knowledge that God saved you or that he created the world for us? And that he gave us things like sunrises and coffee with friends. The concepts like that spun out the song, “Smallest Things,” which is our first single off the record. That is just reminding ourselves that we have so many great things in our lives and ultimately we’re called to, because of that, share it with others and love other people and serve them. That is a set theme throughout the record. After eight years of being together and writing a lot of songs and seeing a lot of things, I really feel like this album best articulates where I’ve been personally, by God and the circumstances. It definitely has that gear to it.

I know you’ve been compared to Switchfoot and The Fray with your piano playing and U2 with the positive messages. How would you describe your music?
I would say its melodic, piano, pop-rock. In general, it’s just authentic music that to us, is what we like to listen to and hear. The lyrical content and the melodies we choose are very positive and bright for the most part. So when people listen to us I think they’ll walk away feeling uplifted or positive about something or they’ll take away a thought, like, “I really hadn’t looked at life that way before.” But, in that, whether it’s somebody who has a spiritual background in the church or an atheist, they can communicate on that level. There are some simple truths that run through the world and just the way things work. I think everyone can feel love and appreciate nature and beauty and grace and salvation, regardless of where they find it.

We hope that the music speaks, that it’s evident to people that there is something more to who we are. I feel like as people search and discover more who Strive is and get to know myself and the other people that are involved with us that Christ’s name will be great through what we’ve done, even though it’s not worship music. It’s not like, “God saved you.” We definitely get, “Why isn’t there more spiritual, overt lyrics about Christ saves you?” my response is that Christ came and he told stories; he didn’t beat people over the head with a stick. He was more eloquent and graceful; he was an artist, he was a poet, he was a storyteller. When I embody Christ the best in my music, that’s when I’m reflecting in the songs that I’m writing, seeing the world through his eyes and through the relationship I have with him.

Your lyrics are very positive and uplifting and the music industry today doesn’t always embrace that. How are you hoping to stick around and make that impact into the music industry?

Well, because we
decided on the front end of this disc with our partnership with GoDigital Records that we were going to, right from the start, be in both spheres — CCM and mainstream — we’ve been able to do that pretty effectively. We’re getting spun on Christian stations and mainstream stations. There really isn’t going to be a crossover for Strive, I feel like we already are a crossover. It helps that we never had huge success in either realm; it was more on the indie plane with our previous discs so there’s not as much, “This is who Strive is, now they’re reinventing themselves.” It’s more like, this is the first entry into the more commercialized realm of the music industry.

Your current single, “Smallest Things,” has been downloaded all over the world. Did you ever imagine it having so much success?
We worked really, really hard to develop indie marketing tools, so that was one of the reasons we were identified by GoDigital Records, because we were doing it all ourselves. I had been working for a company that does Internet marketing and that kind of built a platform to market Strive on this Internet platform and it worked really well to deliver the music to radio stations and other media around the world. Basically, we added some extra momentum to that with GoDigital and then pushed out the new single through the strategy that I developed before for Strive and it came back five times as successful thus far, and that’s just the beginning. I thought it was going to work really well. It’s not a surprise, as to what’s happening initially because we’re doing it very intentionally, as far as getting it out at the grassroots level of radio and media instead of just taking it to only the main watering hole. We’re bringing it to the door via email and other Internet communication tools.

Do you have a favorite song that you’ve written, or one that’s stuck out as being more meaningful to you?
Well, I feel like the title track for the album, “Fire,” is a pretty strong song conceptually and lyrically for the disc. It’s kind of the under theme of love for the whole album. There are a lot of songs that deal with love, specifically for this disc, a lot of those songs come out of the relationship that I have with my wife who I met when we were on tour for the first time in Brazil. A lot of emotion comes out when you first get married and in your relationship. There are some different concepts and perspectives about what I’ve learned about love and I felt like this album is a great way to communicate that. I think for society in general, what better way to connect with people then talking about relationships? Because everybody has them in one way or another.

When I wrote this song, which basically talks about the way sex should be in marriage — the way I feel like God as the creator intended it to be — there was some initial reaction from my circle of friends and family saying, “I don’t know if you should be singing about that.” There’s nothing overtly sexual about the song. It talks about having intimacy and creating the mood to experience the joy of sex. To me, this song is my effort to paint a picture for culture in general and we wrote it so that it would be pushed into the mainstream. It’s our fourth single, so to say, “It’s cool and its right and sex is better in the context of marriage where it was created to be shared.” Instead of the cultural thing, which says, “Good sex is meeting a stranger and having sex with them or premarital sex with boyfriends or girlfriends.” I think for the church, people that are married and agree with that sentiment, it’s kind of a reminder to them that sex is what makes a marriage strong. And that we have to place importance and speak honestly about things like, “Yeah, you should love your wife and your husband and you should share your gift of sex with them.”

I think the other angle that the song talks about is, not to promote abstinence, but to reinforce the concept for kids and people who are looking at sex. That even rock bands and people that are maybe capable of misusing and abusing sex that it is actually cooler and more right to wait for marriage and find somebody that you want to spend your life with to share that with because it’s going to be better. I can speak honestly; I had sex before marriage so I’m not this naïve kid that is like, “Well sex is so much better when you’re married.” I had it in both spheres. So, I understand both sides of it and I can honestly say, not being on a soap box trying to push an agenda, it’s just better. I feel like, as a believer, I need to use the life experiences that I have in every area to communicate truth. I hope this album, and that song in particular talks to that.

A lot of songs you get to know the songwriter. Do you ever hold back because it’s too personal?
My songwriting process is, normally I’ll sit down and the music will spill out of me. Usually it only takes a half an hour to hour to write the music for a song. I feel it’s an inspired act for me. Normally I have an idea about what I want to write about. I’ll record the music and then just start writing lyrics. In general, it comes together authentically. To me, there needs to be some rhyme and good form for the track, but I don’t really think through, “Is this going to be too personal for me,” or “Is this going to share something” or even try to be overtly, “I want them to take this away from song.” Instead, I try to be a conduit to my experience and to show the gift that God has given to me. It’s not me manufacturing, but more me communicating the truth. That’s the way I write, not thinking it through too much.

I find a lot of inspiration in reading, literature, stories, and things like that. If you look at the song, “Fire” that’s kind of a painting of Adam and Eve’s first night together. There’s a lyric in there, “I was taken, you were taken,” conceptualizing in the biblical story, he was taken out of man. I think people who have read the same things I have, especially scripture, they’ll see a lot of, maybe it’s not overtly Christian stuff, but the concepts that are there and some of the nuances of lyrics, I’m falling back on a lot of theological and spiritual truth that I have from my upbringing and studying and life experience.

Your song “On Our Way” seems like there is so much meaning behind it. I know you said it was sparked by a conversation you had with a friend. What were you thinking when writing it?
I have a really close friend, Rich from Zimbabwe, and he went to Wheaton and was actually part of the band at different points as the bassist. He and I, originally when Bono came to Wheaton’s campus, we talked about going to Zimbabwe and then it transpired for us to go to Russia instead. The thought has always been, in the band, that we should keep it close to our hearts that we need to be doing something in Africa, at least use it as an example to keep us accountable for compassion and realizing that the world goes far beyond our little suburbs here in Chicago. “On Our Way” was the peak of the conversation where he’s considering going back to Africa to be part of some social issues. His father works for USAID over there so we have a lot of information coming in. We were talking about how sometimes the Western world approaches countries that needs assistance as a benevolent dictator almost. As a rich person that says, “I can help you, but here are the strings you have to jump through and then pay it back.” Sometimes we’ll come along as brothers and sisters that say, “We’re not so different. You’re facing things that are difficult, we are too. It might look different, but ultimately we are the same.”

“On Our Way” talks about that second approach, which says, “Together we can do something

.” The change that happens with that interaction is much more lasting and impactful because both sides have a big buy in and both sides benefit from it tremendously. That’s what Strive has committed to as a band and that’s what we did in Russia. We have some plans, once Rich gets over there, to do a long-term partnership with him in Zimbabwe, hopefully if the political situation settles down a little bit, if he can even get into his country. At this point he can’t even go back. That’s what that song is about for Africa, but really for the whole world.

You’ve accomplished so much as an independent band. You were ranked No. 14 on CCM’s top 100 artists. How did that come about?
I don’t know honestly about that ranking. I feel like we had a pretty strong presence on their MyCCM site, when it first started and they featured us and some of the editors really liked us, I guess. That was right when we had recorded the EP that got us signed to GoDigital. We had started some Internet marketing. I feel like Strive, because it hasn’t been a big name, we’re kind of like that guy in the back room that has a lot of potential, but hasn’t been in the spotlight yet. A few people in the industry still look for those kinds of bands. I think that’s probably how we made it on that list. GoDigital is definitely a visionary as far as identifying some unique artists and strategies to sell music. Our publicist, Rick Hoganson, he is too, just being willing to jump on our project and be part of what we do. We just have a great team and it’s awesome that that’s happening and will continue to happen I think.

What’s your advice to upcoming independent bands? What have you learned?
If you look at most of the successful bands that are out there, it could take, easy 10 years to get into the main core of your career. So you better have some other things that you’re doing, while you’re doing your music because it’s not like it’s easy to be an independent artist or a major artist for that matter at the moment. There is not as much money coming in through record sales, but there are other revenue streams, marketing, advertising, things like that that bands can tap into.

For me, right now, even with what we’re doing, I’m part of church plant that’s happening in the Chicago area as the creative arts pastor. I’m doing that full time alongside with what I’m doing with Strive. To me, I have new inspiration for songs; I’m more creative when I am doing the stuff for Strive, I have more relationships and connections, there’s more depth to just seeing things and understanding. And then there’s accountability. I think all those elements are really important for independent artists and new artists, just to continually live life. Don’t fit into a bubble, that “This is all that matters to me. If I only focus on this, then I’ll be successful” because that’s not normally how it happens. If you’re anything like me, it’ll drive you insane just to have that to focus on. We love to be doing our art and if you’re not making any money doing it and you’re working a dead-end job, life can just stand still and it’ll pass you by if it never happens big time for you.

Do you have a favorite place you’ve played?
Brazil is definitely the best place to play. Just in general, I’m in love with Brazil as a country; it’s beautiful, the people are authentic and friendly and loving and interesting as a culture and a society, it’s progressing extremely fast. Their taste for music is constantly expanding. We just found when we were there, they resonated with us and we resonated with them. I’ve been able to learn Brazilian Portuguese fairly well. I think long-term; Brazil is a place that Strive will tour a ton in because we see the opportunity for a major impact, not just socially but spiritually as well. It’s just an opportunity to live an authentic, Christ-like life down there.

What do you feel makes Strive different from other bands out there?
I think the unique aspect of Strive is who I am, what my life experience is, how I’m able to communicate that through the medium of music and songwriting and performance and art in general. That is what makes every band unique, the people that make it up. Will Puth is the lead guitarist for Strive. He is just a really dynamic, spiritual and mature guy. He has an interaction of our music and what he’s able to bring, he’s the other main creative element to our sound. I feel like when that happens between individuals, specifically in Strive, makes us who we are. It’s not so much that we’re not better than this other band or not. I feel that we’re unique and people will either resonate with that and resonate with the lyrics and the melodies that come from my heart and my mouth or they won’t. That’s how I like to look at things and encourage people to give us a chance. You’ll either love it or not love it and either is fine, but we appreciate having the opportunity to reach listeners.

For more on Strive, be sure to check out their Website.

Categories
Interviews

Sam Sparro

Though he just released his debut album, Black & Gold in the U.S., Sam Sparro is becoming quite the musical sensation. With many of his singles topping the charts throughout Europe and much of the rest of the world, it’s only time until the U.S. catches on. When listening to his music, comparisons to Prince abound and you can’t help but dance along. His album encompasses much versatility, with hints of electrofunk, house, dance and soul. Hard to pin down into one genre, and a music lover himself, Sam’s distinct tastes can be heard throughout the catchy tracks on Black & Gold.

The Australian singer-songwriter grew up singing gospel music in church. While he spends most of his time in between LA and London, he will be touring throughout Europe and Australia within the next few months. In a phone interview, Sam talked to me about his album, singing for Chaka Khan when he was younger and his upcoming plans, which includes collaborating with Lindsay Lohan on her next album. Be sure to watch his latest video for single, “21st Century Life” — a video Sam describes as being “really nutty and eccentric.” (You can see that here.) And if you like that, check out his hilarious video for “Cottonmouth” below. Make sure you watch until the end! You’ll get a good laugh, I promise.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxVq4y-n-0Y]

To listen to the audio version of my interview with Sam, click here. Feel free to read it below and check him out on MySpace if you haven’t yet!

Congratulations with all the success of your album. Is it overwhelming yet or are you still taking it a day at a time?
It’s nice to have a moment to collect my thoughts. I’ve been traveling so much. I’m back in LA now and it’s nice to be home to have a minute to take in all the crazy things that have happened this year. It’s been amazing.

Tell me about your album. Each song sounds entirely different from the previous one. Did you go into the studio having a concept for the album or an idea for what you wanted to come across?
Well, I listen to so many different types of music and I’m influenced by so much different stuff. I wanted the first album, at least, to really reflect that. I think it’s an album for the iPod generation where you don’t really listen to the whole album, you just kind of shuffle around. It definitely has that feeling to it, where all the songs are different and the influences are so far and wide.

What were your influences for the album?
I’m very interested in and influenced by late 70s to mid 80s electro and funk and disco and soul, electro-soul. And then I’m really interested in early 90s dance music and house. I’m into new wave, modern dance music and stuff like that. But, all with a very soulful twist.

What is your usual writing process like?
I don’t really have a formula for writing. Sometimes the music will come first if you’re working on a piece of music. Sometimes I’ll have something I want to write about and I’ll start writing lyrics. It doesn’t really ever happen in the same way, it’s always very different.

I read your song “Black & Gold” was written at a low-point in your life. Did you ever imagine that you’d make it to this point, have your album out?
I did. I always felt like I was meant to be really successful in music. So, I wrote that song when I was feeling like, “How come I’m not doing anything?” and “Why isn’t anything working out?” And ironically, that was the song that kind of propelled me and my career.

I love your song “Recycle It.” It’s such a fun song, how did it come to you?
That was just really back into dance and Parliament-Funkadelic. They could sing an eight-minute song about a hamburger and make it sound cool. It just seemed very time appropriate. We’re living in a time where we are questioning the way we live and trying to look for solutions to save the planet. I just thought it’d be fun to do a silly little ditty about recycling.

I really like your song “Pocket.” What were you thinking about when you wrote it?
My life had started to change already because I was recording the album, but “Black & Gold” had already become a big hit in Europe. I noticed people’s attitudes started to change and a lot of vampires started coming out of the woodwork. It’s a song about having people in your life that you can trust and also being a trustworthy and loyal friend.

You already have so much success in the UK, your singles are on the charts. What are your hopes for America?
I’ve always felt like my music would do really well in Europe. Success in America is not something that I’m expecting necessarily. For me, it’s just really nice to be here and be appreciated for the music. In England it’s gotten a bit distracted. People are more interested in who I’m hanging out with. Because it’s a bit more underground here, people are more interested in the music. People are writing about me in their blogs and people in LA know who I am and people in New York know who I am. I’m quite happy with that actually.

I read that you started a speakeasy night in LA — an underground music night with Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine. Can you tell me a little about that?
Well, my dad was renting a studio space in a friend’s loft downtown. It was this massive 5,000 square foot loft. David J, who is the bass player in Love and Rockets and Bauhaus, lived there as well. They wanted to start a night where people could come and play their music. It was free to get in, you could bring your own alcohol, and it was very low-key. And then it became [this] really thriving, really cool night. That was where I met Jesse Rogg who I collaborate with musically. It was just a really cool time of meeting new people and playing music without any kind of pressure.

Do you feel pressure now to fit into a specific genre?
I don’t feel any pressure to fit into any certain musical genre or stereotype. There is definitely a lot more pressure involved with my schedule [being] very hectic. I have a lot of things to deliver and to do all the time. It has definitely changed. That’s what happens when you become successful.

I read that Chaka Khan is quite at admirer of you. Have you worked with her at all?
Well, that’s a slight exaggeration. I met her, a couple of times when I was quite young and I sang for her. She s
aid, “Wow, you really have
a good voice.” Recently she did an interview in the UK and someone said, “I hear you’re a big fan of Sam Sparro” and she’s like, “Who’s Sam Sparro?” So we don’t know each other, I met her casually about 15 years ago.

You’re working with Lindsay Lohan on her next album?
Yeah. We haven’t started working together yet, but we’re hoping to do some stuff together. It’ll be quite danceable, electronically produced, it should be quite exciting. I’m really looking forward to it actually.

What are your plans for the rest of the year?
I’m doing a headlining tour of Europe and the UK. I’m going back to Australia to do some things, going to Japan, doing some writing and producing with other artists on some of my side projects and then I’m going to start working on the next album.

Do you have any ideas for your next album?
Yeah, it’s going to be quite electro with influences from gospel to classic rock. There’s going to be a lot more guitars on it.

Do you play all the instruments heard on your record?
Most of time I do. There are a couple of collaborations I did with other producers where they played a lot of the music, but most of the time I play and arrange everything. Sometimes they bring in live horns or bass or guitar, stuff like that.

What would you be doing right now if it wasn’t for the music?
Probably still waiting tables. [Laughs]. Yeah, not much.

Categories
Festivals Interviews

The Duke Spirit

Gracing Rolling Stone‘s Breaking Artists blog as well as being part of many summer festival line-ups, U.K. band the Duke Spirit is getting quite some attention as of late. With catchy choruses provided by singer Liela Moss and solid musical accompaniment backed by the rest of the band, the Duke Spirit is definitely a band to check out. Their MySpace is worth a listen and to watch two music videos from their latest album, click here. Read below for my email interview with bassist Toby Butler, who talked about their sophomore album, Neptune, their writing process and why you should give the Duke Spirit a listen.

How do you keep your songs sounding new and fun from track to track?
Our producer Chris Goss was really instrumental in helping us give each song a personality. I think it’s important not to get stuck in a regimented way of approaching things. It’s good to try new things as much as you can, to spread your wings. We’d use lots of weird instruments and sounds on each song to give them a less formal ‘rock’ sound. Guild the lily.

Did you go into the studio with a certain concept for this album?
Not really. We went into the studio with a bunch of songs, and we chose the album with Goss from them. I guess the concept was more the sound we wanted. We went to Goss because we love the way the records he makes sound. Heavy yet delicate.

Having already had the experience of recording your debut album, do you feel the process went more smoothly or was entirely different?
It was a whole lot different. We are now much more confident and open minded about making music. We were pretty inexperienced when we made that first album. I love the way it sounds, but in retrospect there are things I would have been more conscious of and things I would have done differently. Making Neptune was a much more fun and creative process, that was more a product of what is in our heads.

I love the song “Dog Roses.” Does that have timpani in the background? It just has such a deep, dark feel to the song. What was the inspiration behind the song?
We recorded that song back to front. It was probably the most fun and openly approached song to record. We laid down an acoustic guitar track and just weaved everything else into it. Just four mics on the drum kit. I don’t think it was a timpani, I think it’s a de-tuned floor tom with loads of reverb on it.

What’s the typical writing process for you like?
We demo whilst we write. If one of us has an idea for a song, then we record it in our little studio in London. Melodies and lyrics generally come after we have some kind of musical structure, or verse and chorus at least.

When I first heard “I Do Believe” the intro to Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” came to mind. Did that occur to you at all when you were recording the song?
Ha ha. Well we’re all fans of Queen! It wasn’t the inspiration for it, no. It was something Liela came up with that we thought would be great as an intro for the album.

Do you have a favorite track on the album? If so, why that track?
“This Ship Was Built to Last” is a favourite. I love the big rolling sound it has. I wanted it to have sound like a huge ship pounding through massive waves. That’s how it makes me feel. I love playing it live.

What makes the Duke Spirit stand out as a band? Why should people check you out as opposed to other bands out there?
We make interesting, intelligent, psychedelic, heavy, delicate, rock and roll music that makes you wanna bang your head and shake your ass!

If that wasn’t enough of the Duke Spirit for you, be sure to check out Rolling Stone‘s feature on them, with two live performances and a brief interview and if you like what you hear, catch a show when they’re in town!