5 Questions
with...
1. If I knew absolutely nothing about John Paul,
how would you describe your music to me?
-- I would describe my music as multi-faceted and
inspired from different walks of life and of course, different styles of
music. Every track has its own vibe, feel, and inspiration. For example
some songs on the disc have an extreme drive and craze to them that embodies
youthful abandon while others have a ruinous vibe that is haunting and
leaning towards feelings of despair or deception. Overall though, I feel
that this record leans most towards the aforementioned songs of youthful
abandon or “young and restless” vibe as that is the period
in which I am going through in my life.
2. If I were to buy your new album Belmont Boulevard,
what songs should I pay particular attention to and why?
-- You’d
definitely want to pay attention to songs such as “21”, “Chameleon”,
and “Way Too Soon”. “21” because that song
defines how I felt while writing the record, it has been tagged by
others and myself as my “quarter-life” crisis song. “Chameleon” is
a track that deserves a good listen because there is so much going
on in it-- I believe it captures that “youthful abandon” I
have mentioned and is without a doubt, the top toe-tapper on the record.
I really stepped out of my element and experiences when I wrote “Way
Too Soon” and I think the song is a song of what is to come for
me in my future as a Singer-Songwriter. I love stepping outside of
myself when writing and I feel like this song really showed how well
someone can become someone else when writing a song. I have never really
lost someone to a premature death, but the topic is so haunting and
heavy that I had to push myself to feel like I had and write about
it.
3. When did you decide a career in music was for
you and is music paying the bills yet?
-- Since I went to college I just kept playing
and pursuing music as hard as possible. I had to keep grades up in school and
keep my other employers obviously in mind when pursuing all of my other recording
and touring endeavors. So now that I have just graduated and plan to move on
to Los Angeles in about 6 weeks, I can really pursue music even further. My
music doesn’t pay the bills yet, but it sure does give me some extra
money after a good show. I’ll still have a job and other career to support
myself because I want as much money as possible to fuel and finance my passion.
4.
What was your worst on stage experience? What was your
best?
-- Man, everyone has a lot of BAD experiences on
stage, especially when you’re younger and getting going. I can
think of a time when the house PA came on while I was in the middle of
a song and the whole room was dead quiet and invested in the song. It
was funny at the time and I made it humorous and less “awkward”,
but inside I was fuming because I had really had the crowd locked in
and know I had to start all over to get them back in to the set. Once
something like that happens, everyone starts laughing and talking about
it and just makes the performance that much harder to get back to good.
My best stage experience was hands down my former Boston-based rock outfit, The
Black Tie Affair’s CD Release Party. That effort was essentially my solo
rock record, though I wanted to market it as a “band” with friends/players
from the area. Our CD Release Party was the best for a few reasons. Firstly,
and most importantly, my older brother flew all the way from Denver to see the
show. My brother and I used to play music all the time together and I give him
credit for getting me so interested in the first place, therefore, I hold a very
special connection and bond to him with music.
I don’t think I have ever
been more nervous for a performance in the respect that I just wanted to impress
him and make the show worth it. The second reason this show was the best experience
was because we sold out the venue and it was one of the few times I have had
multiple hundreds of people with all their attention on the performance and invested
in it. Anyone I could of thought of in the area was at the show and supporting
the CD.
5. Do you think that the Internet (whether it be Internet
radio, legal downloading, MySpace, streaming audio, etc.) is a good tool
for musicians or is it a bad thing because it hinders profits?
-- I think the internet is a good tool and way to market
your music as you can reach people you would never really be able to without
it. However, I think Myspace has become over saturated with spamming, constant
friend adding, etc. Some acts have 20,000 friends—do they really bring
those 20,000 people to shows? No, but it looks kind of cool and makes them
seem bigger than they are. On the other hand those 20,000 people have at
least probably sampled a song off the page when the friend request is accepted
so there’s no real harm in it.
I also think with songs being playable
on myspace, people tend to not care as much about an artists’ whole
record. We live in a singles age, with iPods that are giving the entire
population musical ADD. Sure, I have a lot of people come to my page, comment,
message,
maybe even come out to a show if they are in the area. But, it is on the
rare side they buy the album. They hear 4 or 5 songs and think they know
what it’s all about or they don’t want to take the time to
discover all the artist has to offer. |
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