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 in Seattle and grew up in a pretty religious family. We weren’t really allowed to watch much TV or anything like that, so my siblings and I were outside a ton. Lots of bikes and skating, you get the idea. Luckily for me, I hit middle school in the Pacific Northwest around the late 80’s/early 90’s and had an older brother who was way into the college-rock of the day. All that music just kinda seeped into me. R.E.M., The Replacements, The Stone Roses, U2 – all that rad stuff. I saw some of those early Seattle bands play up close and personal and, trust me, picking up a guitar after seeing Soundgraden at The Central in Seattle just makes complete and total sense.
Q: Did you have any formal training, or are you self-taught?
A: I’m completely self-taught actually. I took piano lessons in first grade for a bit, but besides that, I was just mimicking chord structures I saw other people making until it started to sound right.
Q: Who were your first and strongest musical influences?
A: For me, it’s kind of interesting when you create a distinction between fan and artist, mostly because there seems to be such a divergence there. While my tastes as a music fan lean far more into heavy rock and punk, my own music that I’ve made has always lived in more of a soul, americana, place. Part of that came down to what came out of my mouth when I first started singing, I didn’t sound like Eddie Vedder or Liam Gallagher. So I started looking around for music that felt more akin to my voice, early on that meant connecting with the likes of Counting Crows, Marc Cohn, Indigo Girls, Otis Redding, John Mellencamp – artists like that. I also moved to Oakland and organically became involved with the melting pot of music that comes out of that scene.
Q: You have just released your new EP, ‘The Rain Parade’. Is there a story behind it?
A: The whole thing came out of pure friendship really. Rafa Lima is an old friend and he’d been lovingly bugging me about getting back into music. I’d been out of the game for about 10 years and Rafa just wasn’t having it. He had this magical way of coaxing me back into writing, which turned into jamming, which turned into a full blown recording project. Myself, Grecco Buratto and Rafa – we were making music for ourselves and all these other hugely talented people just kept jumping on board with what we were doing.
Q: Can we expect a new album from you in the near future?
A: We haven’t quite decided on that just yet. The EP is still brand new, so it will be fun to get out there and play a bunch of shows to share it. I’ve been writing new songs and Grecco and I have been talking through what we’re going to do with them. My guess would be some more singles for sure, but we’ll have to see how it comes together.
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: Admittedly, it’s always been kinda tough to nail down my sound or genera in general. I think “The Rain Parade” is as close to americana as I’ve ever been, but there are still some big rock moments in there too, so who knows?! I do know that I always try to keep my songwriting super honest, so I’m always excited to hear when folks really connect to the heart of the songs.
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: It’s an interesting question. I think when I was younger and everything around music felt like a serious life or death situation, I probably would answer that question really differently. That said, making “The Rain Parade” just for the sake of making it, really taught me a good lesson around making art and where the good stuff really comes from. We weren’t making a record until we finally realized we were, but that wasn’t our intention at all. We were just having fun creating.
Q: Could you describe your creative processes? How do you usually start, and go about shaping ideas into a completed song?
A: For me, music and lyrics actually start out on totally separate tracks. I’m always tinkering around on the guitar trying to come up with fun melodies and chord progressions. Separately I keep a running series of notes going, where I just keep track of raw lyrical ideas, thoughts, and rhythms. When I have enough ideas on both tracks, I’ll start working on combining some melodies with lyric ideas and see what starts to happen. The vast majority of my songs start out that way and then the song develops from there.
Q: What has been the most difficult thing you’ve had to endure in your life or music career so far?
A: In staying with music, I think walking away in 2012 was a real low point. I’d just had my heart broken by the industry side too many times and needed to move on into a new chapter, which ended up being writing songs for other artists. It was tough though, I’d been slogging away on the road and in the studio for a long time but in the end, it just wasn’t working.
Q: On the contrary, what would you consider a successful, proud or significant point in your life or music career so far?
A: When I really think about it, I’m really proud and grateful for the whole experience making and now releasing “The Rain Parade”. It was so awesome just to get back to making music purley because it felt good. With It being out now and people discovering the songs, that is extra special, but that’s not why we made it, which makes the whole thing feel really honest – which I love. I really have to thank Rafa for that, his friendship was really the rocket sauce for this whole damn thing.
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