Q: Hey, can you tell us a bit about where you come from, and what made you want to start a career in music?
A: I was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I’m not sure that there was an exact moment I realized I wanted to start a career in music. I just know that as soon as I began taking guitar lessons, I started writing original music and formed a band with friends. I have never looked back since then. I think I was 12 years old when this happened.
Q: Did you have any formal training, or are you self-taught?
A: A bit of both but mainly formal training. I started taking guitar lessons first and then in high school, I had an incredible music teacher who introduced me to music theory, counterpoint, arranging, orchestration, sequencing and conducting. I also played clarinet in the school band, guitar in the jazz band and drums in the marching band. I studied jazz tenor saxophone for a brief period of time after high school. I went on to study music theory and classical piano at Temple University and later received my music education certification from West Chester University. All my film scoring, mixing, production and recording knowledge came through years of trial and error. So in that sense I am self-taught.
Q: Who were your first and strongest musical influences, and why the name ‘Sonny Boy Sage’?
A: The first music that blew my mind was when I heard Pink Floyd’s The Wall. I was so very young. I didn’t even know what music was but in that moment, time stopped. It was as if I was in a trance. Years went by and for one Christmas I was given an electric guitar which sat collecting dust for a year or two until one night my cousin and I snuck out of his house around 1 am and we went to a friend’s house and they played Ozzy Osbourne/ Randy Rhodes Tribute. I think we were 10 or 11. After hearing that live album, the decision was made. I went home and immediately began studying guitar. I had an unhealthy obsession with Randy Rhodes for quite some time. I have since outgrown that music but it holds a very special place in my heart and is a critical cornerstone that helped build the musician that I am today. From that moment on up to today I continue to actively search out new music that influences me. The list of strong influences is quite long.
My dad passed away last year. He was a musician. He played accordion and composed music. He was always very supportive and curious about what I was doing with my music. I miss our conversations about music. He used to call me Sonny Boy and it would make my mom laugh. So as I was thinking of names I wanted to pay him some homage and decided to use Sonny Boy. I thought Sage was appropriate not only because it’s a great word and herb but also because my music tends to have spiritual undertones. I have been studying and practicing spiritual disciplines for a very long time so it made sense. And last, it was available across all social media platforms and as a URL.
Q: You have just released your new EP, ‘Ecdysis’. Is there a story behind it?
A: In some spiritual disciplines there is this idea of dying before you die. In doing so, we become free from suffering and live every moment filled with endless possibilities. Dying before you die simply means the dying off of the old self; the subjective self; the ego. Sometimes it is referred to as the ego death. How does one die before they die? The story is about a character who undergoes this death. Each song presents a spiritual challenge that the character has to overcome in order to reach enlightenment or as it is referred to in Buddhism “the other shore”. The inspiration of this EP came from my own experience with a debilitating rare illness which floored me back in 2018. In a way, the body I knew and the self that went with it, died and I had to endure and find peace in the pain, and uncertainty. I’m still dealing with the remnants of it today. In 2019, as soon as I was healthy enough to sit and write music, I did and that’s when the music on the EP was born. I wanted to capture in sound the experience, the pain, the confusion and the healing. In the beginning, I could only sit and write for 30 mins. or so. For this reason, I had to write fast and couldn’t overthink anything. As time went on, I could pull longer sessions in the studio but it was a day to day thing because I never knew how my body was going to behave from moment to moment. I go into more details about the illness and the story behind the EP on my website and socials.
Q: Can we expect an album from you in the near future?
A: Maybe. I have 12 songs that I’m working on now. They are just in demo form. I’m still deciding on which ones will make the cut and how I want to release them. I may release them as singles or as an album. I’m not sure. I am leaning towards releasing them as an album as a continuation of Ecdysis but it is still too early to know. Time will tell.
Q: What do you feel are the key elements in your music that should resonate with listeners, and how would you personally describe your sound?
A: I think it is difficult for any musician to describe themselves. I feel that there is a cinematic quality to the songs on Ecdysis. I would describe the textures as colorful, strange but familiar. There is also a mystery to the music and at times it’s quite quirky. I like music that tells a story and has layers; music that on the first listen lets you know that there is more than meets the ear and with each subsequent listen, you can hear more and more of what’s going on. Radiohead is great at this and so is Kendrick Lamar. The more you hear, the more you research and analyze the music and lyrics, the more meaning begins to emerge and the music then becomes vast. It is only then that you can see what the music really is. I guess in some ways I try to write music like this – music with layers. Because of my eclectic background in music, I feel that I pull from all different genres but not necessarily in style as much as in technique, timbre and structure. I feel every genre has something to offer; a specific array of colors and I like to pull from a variety of genres to create something new but vaguely familiar.
Q: Do you feel that your music is giving you back just as much fulfillment as the amount of work you are putting into it, or are you expecting something more?
A: I try to live my life with zero expectations. For me the pleasure, the fulfillment, the feeling of “success” comes from the process of creating the music and finishing it. That is enough for me to be happy. As long as I’m alive, I get to create music. That is a beautiful thing. Whatever happens after I release it is a bonus. I love when people hear my music and comment in a way that I know they really listened to it. It could be a positive or negative comment about the music. It doesn’t matter. I’m just grateful that anyone would give their time to listen and digest something that I created in a room by myself.
Q: Could you describe your creative processes? How do you usually start, and go about shaping ideas into a completed song?
A: I try to think as little as possible when I begin writing. Each song begins differently but usually it starts with being inspired by the sound of an instrument. The sound of a synth, sample or whatever it may be. That usually dictates the harmony, rhythm, melody or overall vibe. The timbre speaks to me and I try to intuitively react to what it’s telling me. It tells me what it wants to be and how it wants to behave. This is the seed. This back and forth continues until the shape of the song becomes clearer. I like to work as instinctively as possible in the beginning. If I find myself overthinking and beginning to make decisions too early in the process, I will get up and leave the studio because I know that it will go nowhere interesting. As the song or piece begins to take shape, I then begin to make more thought based decisions. When it’s finished, I mix it and then send it off to be mastered.
Q: What has been the most difficult thing you’ve had to endure in your life or music career so far?
A: There are a few but I would say that there is a constant mild struggle to maintain a healthy balance between my creative life, family life and work life. As an artist, I can get quite consumed with my ideas and my creative endeavors and shut out the other aspects of my life. I have found out the hard way that this can be counter productive and not healthy. So the difficulty is sustaining focus on my music productivity while being present and productive in all the other areas of my life. It’s about always coming back to center and taking a step back and reassess if I have to and then start again.
Q: On the contrary, what would you consider a successful, proud or significant point in your life or music career so far?
A: I’m proud of anything that I ever finish….hahah. I’m really proud of Ecdysis. The music is deeply personal to me and for a short period of time I just let the songs sit unfinished and wasn’t really sure about releasing them. I finished them, got them mastered and directed and edited a video for Dead Now March which is track 2 on Ecdysis. When I am not writing music under Sonny Boy Sage, most of my creative time is spent composing film scores which I have been doing for the last 12 years or so. I am very proud of those scores and the films to which they belong.
