When did you first know you wanted to make a life in music?
Well, my parents started me in piano lessons when I was five years old. I enjoyed it for a while, but eventually at age eight and nine I was tired of always having to practice, so I complained and threw fits and told my parents I wanted to quit. But my dad wouldn’t let me. I guess he saw something in me, and insisted that I continue. Then at age ten during summer piano lessons, my teacher let me take a break from the classical pieces to learn some more popular songs, ones that I was familiar with. As hilarious as it is now to think back on, it was learning to play the 60’s hit “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” by The Tokens that turned a corner for me, and I fell in love with music—at ten years old, I decided I wanted music to be my life & career, though I didn’t yet know exactly in what capacity or along which musical avenue. At 13, one of my cousins introduced me to bands like Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, and Blind Melon, and I quickly bought my first guitar. Already having a solid base of musical understanding from piano lessons, teaching myself to play the guitar without guitar lessons wasn’t a giant leap and I learned pretty fast. A few years later at age 15, I started writing my own songs, and that was when I got it all sorted out in my mind: I want to write songs, I want to record those songs, and I want to share them with and perform them for as many people as I can. It’s funny that decades later, nothing has changed for me. I literally have the exact same life goal now as I did when I was finishing the eighth grade.
How would you describe your music to someone who had never heard it before?
Good question. I’ve been working on this, my elevator pitch. And it’s really tough because musical genre descriptions mean different things to different people. But currently, when people ask me that, I say “It’s kinda like full-band singer/songerwriter stuff with a lot of added violins and cellos.” But I’m not really married to that description and I’m not sure the “singer/songwriter” label really encompasses what I do. So maybe I should re-work my elevator pitch/description of my music, and if any readers of this interview want to help, I’m open to ideas. I want to be able to convey a few things about my music, within a short simple sentence or two: 1) It’s generally a pretty full production with a lot of instrumentation, fusing both traditional rock band instruments with orchestral instruments. 2) Every sound and instrument you hear in my songs is a real live recorded sound or instrument; I don’t use any samples, synthesizers, or electronic elements. 3) In many of my songs I try to utilize chord progressions that aren’t typically found in pop / rock music, but are more often found in film/cinema. 4) All of my songs are very melody-driven, my aim is to get the hook stuck in your head. So if anyone has any ideas on how to articulate all of that in a short descriptor, please feel free to reach out and share with me.
Who are your top 5 musical influences?
My all-time favorite band is The Beatles, nothing will ever top them for me. I’m really into Ben Folds / Ben Fold Five, I think Ben is one of the most brilliant active musicians out there today. I’m a big fan of film music, and my two favorite film composers are John Williams (Catch Me If You Can, Schindler’s List, Jaws, Star Wars, Hook, Superman, Jurassic Park, Home Alone, E.T.) and Danny Elfman (Edward Scissorhands, Big Fish, Batman, Dick Tracy, The Family Man, Sleepy Hollow, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Men in Black). I think John Mayer is a fantastic guitar player and does an amazing job of fusing blues guitar playing and pop songwriting. Coldplay has written some amazing songs over the years and they put on one of the best lives shows on the arena-scale. Wait, that’s six… oops.
What new music are you listening to at the moment?
A few bands I’ve been enjoying lately are joan, LANY, and Fly By Midnight. Not necessarily the vibe I normally gravitate toward, as you can guess based on my top 5 list. But these have been my recent go-to bands while driving or sitting out on my balcony.
What city is your home base and what is the music scene like there?
I was born and raised in Dallas, but I currently live in the San Diego area, it’s great here! You’ll find a fair amount of solid venues of varying sizes. There’s a real positive musical vibe & spirit around town, and I’ve found that the musicians are all very supportive of each other. Not long ago, a singer/songwriter friend of mine and I went downtown and busked (played on the street corner with an open guitar case for tips) which is always an absolute blast, and the crowd reception was really nice. Then we went to Mission Beach and met up with a few other friends to hang out around a campfire. Three of us had guitars and we played for everyone around the fire pit under the stars next to the ocean waves for hours—cover after cover after cover—one guy would yell out a song title and we’d just go for it. That was the most fun day I’ve had in a while.
Which do you prefer more, performing live, or recording in the studio, and why?
It’s not even a contest—definitely performing live. The way I see it, there are four basic aspects to what we do as musicians: we 1) write songs, 2) arrange and produce those songs, 3) go into the studio to record those songs, and 4) share those songs via performing live and distributing the recordings through the various distribution channels (streaming, album sales, radio, etc). I love writing songs. And I love arranging them and coming up with the all the detailed instrumentation to flesh out the production. And then I absolutely love the energy and experience of performing my songs for a crowd of people, whether it’s 200 people or 2 people… that’s my absolute favorite part of the whole process. Nothing compares to that rush for me, and it’s really why I do this, that’s my big payoff. To be up on stage in front of a group of people, sharing the music you’ve created and ushering everyone in the room onto the same emotional page, while and being exactly, 100% truly yourself, who you were born to be… I don’t think it gets any better than that. But if I’m honest, I don’t love the studio recording process. I’m such a perfectionist that it can be bit overwhelming and stressful trying to capture the exact heart of the song within the context of a sound booth in a recording studio and get it all just right. Of course I enjoy hearing the song come to life, and that is fun, but I tend to torture myself over the details. Somehow when I perform live though, the energy of it all just transcends my perfectionist tendencies and the overall collective experience lends me a ‘get out of jail free card’ from regretting the minor mistakes I may have made. Ask me in ten years and I might feel differently about the recording process. But live performing is, and I believe will always be my favorite of the four aspects of being an original artist.
Is there a song on your album “If All Else Fails” that stands out as your personal favorite, and why?
That’s a tough one. There are sixteen tracks on this album, it’s a lot of material that covers the different varieties of my songwriting style, so it’s hard for me to single out one favorite. But I’d say it would have to be between “Where You Are” and “She Won’t Be Mine”. Those two are probably the most exemplary of where I feel my sound & style are headed. They were also both inspired by very specific experiences in my life that have become somewhat immortalized in my psyche due to these songs that are now attached to them.
What’s the best concert you’ve ever been to?
Coldplay is up there, I went to three of their Head Full of Dreams tour dates. Man their shows are energetic. But the best concert I’ve ever been to in my whole life… I’d have to say Paul McCartney, back in 2009. Witnessing a living legend perform his heart out for almost three hours, in his late-sixties… it was simply mind-blowing.
If you could collaborate with any band or artist (living or dead) who would it be, and why?
I’m tempted to say Paul McCartney, but that just seems like a pipe dream. I would love to collaborate with Ben Folds at some point. I’ve written between 1,000 and 2,000 songs in my life, but the vast majority of those are not yet finished—some have a chorus and half of a verse, or a chorus and a bridge but no verses—and they’re all just sitting in my archives waiting to be nurtured. I really think someone like Ryan Tedder (lead singer of OneRepublic and producer of many top artists) could sit down and help me hammer out a bunch of these and finish them. Maybe someday.
What are your goals for the future?
You know, it’s always been a bit difficult to really replicate on stage the full scope of the production and sound that is on my records. Almost all 16 tracks of “If All Else Fails” have a full orchestral strings section in addition to the band. At this point for me, it’s very logistically and financially difficult to rehearse and perform with that many instrumentalists. But I’m not big on the idea of playing along with pre-recorded tracks on stage, I just don’t think that works aesthetically with a more organic style of music like this. So historically, I always do a more stripped down version of my songs when I perform. But I want to continue to work toward filling out my live band more and more until eventually it’s the full ensemble, complete with eight or more strings players in addition to a drummer, bass player, guitar player and me (on piano or guitar depending on the song). Performing these songs, the way they’re actually recorded on the album, is a very exciting prospect for me.
End of Interview