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Mike Scully
38 Plays1 year ago
Mike Scully is a singer-songwriter from Southern California although his sound evokes Music Row in Nashville more than Sunset Strip in LA. Mike doesn't hold back on the emotion he plants into his songs and before you even take note of the lyric you'll be taken in by his beautiful singing voice. We discuss inspiration and process for a handful of the songs on his most recent release Somewhere Through The Trees. We also discuss on earlier song he wrote for his late-uncle called Basketball in Heaven that was co-opted by some Kobe fans after his passing.
You can find Mike's music anywhere you stream and at Mikesullymusic.com
If you enjoy the conversations we have here, please consider joining my Patreon. http://www.patreon.com/wilsbach
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Transcript
Introduction to SongPod
00:00:01
Speaker
Welcome to Willsbach's SongPod, a show where we dig deep into the songs and artists that move us and how we're moved to craft the songs we write. I'm Tim Willsbach, and I write, release, and perform music as Willsbach, and you can find me anywhere you stream music. Let's dig in.
00:00:17
Speaker
Just a quick program note for this week, normally these are video episodes as well as audio and you can find them on YouTube, my YouTube page, or you can just see them, you know, Apple podcasts or wherever you see video podcasts, but a little technical issue this week. So no video this week, just audio and we'll be back with picture when we come back for next week's and beyond.
Meet Mike Scully
00:00:39
Speaker
My guest today is a singer-songwriter from Southern California, but his sound is much more music-row than Sunset Strip. Whether you call it Americana, alt-country, or singer-songwriter, his music and lyrics hold nothing back and are asking you to think a little deeper and want to stir your emotions.
00:00:56
Speaker
Throughout his career, he's opened for legendary musicians like John Waite, Don McLean, and The Temptations. His debut EP debuted at number seven on iTunes, and in June of 24, he released a full-length album titled Somewhere Through the Trees. Welcome to Will's Box Songpod, Mike Scully. How are you doing? I'm good, man. Thank you for having me.
00:01:16
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. thanks for Thanks for coming on and chatting with me. That was a really nice intro, man. I basically just kind of stole most of it from your from your
The Rise of Mike's Debut EP
00:01:24
Speaker
website. but um I'm intrigued by the the number seven iTunes thing what ah for your EP. Tell me about that. You know, it was this was 2019, so five years ago, and and back then it was like we got the pre-save link right away.
00:01:39
Speaker
And so I got the pre-save link when I uploaded it on to, you know, the distributor, TuneCore, Districubator I was using back then. And I just mass-marked it, sent it out to every single human I've ever come into contact with ever. I said, hey, pre-order this, it's my debut EP, you know, and I was just relentless with it. And then I didn't even realize iTunes had a chart. I didn't i didn't know that until the day it was released.
00:02:03
Speaker
and A buddy of mine said, hey, you're number like 83 on singer songwriters on iTunes. I was like, really? And so I pulled it up and I was and then it just kept going up and kept going up and kept going up. And then I use that to kind of push it more and told everybody on the social medias. I said, hey, I'm, I'm charting on iTunes. I can't believe it, but I'm number 51 or 42. Like keep buying the record, tell your friends, tell everybody. And then just, you know, a big group of people through the abyss and of the internet, they just all kind of bought the record and I ended up getting all the way to number seven. but That's amazing. Who knew, man? That's very cool. yeah People buying records in 2019, that's amazing. yeah Yeah. That's something in and in and of itself. so um and i saw you You actually had CDs at your CD release party. yeah I did. its yeah told I sold a lot of them too. That's amazing. I love that. I love to hear that.
00:02:57
Speaker
um I didn't do any for this for this run. i did a run um I also released a record in 2019 and I did a bunch of CDs where 20 years ago I would have sold a ton at shows. you know yeah um But i i'm i must have a I have a different audience than you clearly that's really not interested in the CD anymore.
00:03:16
Speaker
They're probably like me. I don't even have a place to play a CD anymore. Like in my car, like no nowhere in the house. I guess I have a CD-ROM drive that I would have to like dig out of a drawer and connect it to the so the iMac. but That was the running joke at the release party.
00:03:32
Speaker
is that we were selling so many CDs and I just, I don't know where you guys are going to play these things, but I appreciate you buying them. Yeah. Right. Regardless. Yeah. It's almost just like they just want, they just want to support you and you know, their fans and they just want to have something to take home and you probably had to sign it and stuff like that. But that's, that's fun. That's, that's great. I'm glad to hear that.
00:03:51
Speaker
Yeah, it was cool. So nice. So talk about that. I'm it' like, I listened to your recent release, um but I didn't I didn't get a chance to listen to anything
Recording in San Francisco
00:04:01
Speaker
on the EP. So tell me, tell me about what, you know, maybe maybe pick one of the one of your favorite songs from that EP and and and talk about that.
00:04:10
Speaker
Oh, man. So the the EP was ah it was a four it was just a four song, ah pretty basic EP. It was one of the first times we did anything like that. Me and my drummer at the time, Rick Swigert, he's a good friend of mine. ah We decided we would go up to San Francisco where my ah cousin is actually a producer up there and hit a studio for the weekend and just see kind of what happened. And we got through these four songs.
00:04:34
Speaker
um And I released it as an EP called Only the Beginning. um So one of those songs, though, is called is titled Basketball in Heaven. So my cousin, Donald Scully, who's featured on the track, as a matter of fact, his father, my uncle Donald, was a big basketball fan, huge basketball fan. And he loved Golden State. And he got diagnosed with adrenal cancer um a while back.
00:05:00
Speaker
and He was a real big guy. He was an Irish guy. He's a drinker and a lot he's like the kind of guy that laughs real loud and inappropriate times and things like that. And one day when he was going through a surgery kind of near the end of his life, everyone in the family kind of thought he was about to pass away. and We kind of all said our goodbyes. And so I sat in the garage after saying my goodbyes to my uncle um and I just started plucking around on the guitar. and and I wanted to write him a a song of of like you know how much I loved him and how much I would miss him and all that, but he would make fun of me a lot if he if I did that. So I made it more of a rock and roll song. and The next day, he ah he passed away. oh and I didn't tell Donald that I had written this song for his dad. I played it for him. He loved it. and Then he ended up not only producing it, but singing back up on it.
00:05:57
Speaker
And it was a really great moment for kind of both of us, just as a as an honor to with the patriarch of our family. He was the oldest living member of our family at the time, um and just an all over really great guy. And he's very dearly missing our family.
00:06:22
Speaker
more cracking jokes and laughing
00:06:46
Speaker
Since then, we had the passing of Kobe, unfortunately. that That happened a little after that. So we kind of double dedicated every night because we're from l LA. We play in LA a lot. And even this last year at at the anniversary, there's a place called 818 Brewing.
00:07:03
Speaker
um in Kenoga Park. and they They had a Kobe statue come out and they had this whole thing for Kobe on on the anniversary of his passing. They played the song and it's it's become kind of its own thing.
Therapeutic Songwriting
00:07:13
Speaker
That's the beautiful thing about songs. For me, it's one thing, but to everyone that was there that night, it was all about Kobe. you know That's what I love about writing songs and performing them.
00:07:23
Speaker
Well, that that's amazing. It's a testament to you as a songwriter too that you you wrote this song you know with your uncle in mind, but it's a universal enough message that it can be repurposed by and you know someone else that listens to it and you know plug it into another situation like you know of superstar Kobe.
00:07:41
Speaker
passing. So that's I mean, that's the mark of a good song when it's when it's got that universal appeal. So that's right. That's really great. Thanks, man. you So you mentioned that four song EP that you went up to San Francisco to record and with with your cousin, you said? ah Yeah. um Yeah. much So did you ah yeah and you brought that song along with you? Yes, I did. Yeah. Did you have the other three songs? Or did you find those together with him in the studio? Like, how how did that work? ah Okay, so Two of them I brought along with the full intention of recording them that day. um One of them was about my daughter. and It's called Don't Worry, Pretty Girl. and
00:08:18
Speaker
And i I wanted to have that as ah as a, you know, for me, it's it's like songs are like placeholders in time and I can look back on them because I've yeah i've written, I don't know, 500 to 1000 songs. I don't really even know. and And most of them are just on my phone on my notepad, right? I just hit record and play and then I have them just kind of for me. um And very few of them actually get released at this point, I think. Well, with the record now, I guess I have 14 songs out, but, you know,
00:08:43
Speaker
I have thousands of them. so That was one that was about a very specific time in her life and a very specific ah situation in her life that I was learning how to be emotionally present for a little girl in the way I grew up. and ah And I was a very young father. That was very difficult for me. And I i struggled learning that. um But I was determined. And that's what this song was all about. And and the big crescendo at the end is, you know I'm going to be there. Your love is in my blood no matter what you ever do. I'm going to be there no matter what. And it's like my promise to her. So I definitely wanted to time stamp that song. um There's another one called The Alternative.
00:09:27
Speaker
And that's a song I, it's the only song I ever co-wrote with somebody. um And he's an amazing, he's a poet, but he's he's incredible. His name is Jason Atherton. And we, he had this idea of this situation of a woman in a tent um not really wanting to be there, but being there because the drugs were there. And um I kind of took that a different direction, but we co-wrote this idea of the alternative. and when I'm here because it's better than the alternative. and um
00:09:58
Speaker
And it just meant a lot to me. And and it has ah aspects of my childhood in it that that I just thought, why not get it out, right? um So those were the two I brought. um And then the other one, there was a few other options. And as we kind of like were sitting near the drum set plucking around, one of the ones I call it while I played was called the Old Portrait, which is kind of a more, deals with like depression and and things of that nature. um And that's the one we decided to record. So that's how we got those four.
00:10:27
Speaker
Nice. Okay, so it sounds it sounds like the way you approach songwriting is more kind of, you know, you have a story or an idea first. So you are you most of the time coming with the lyric first? Yeah, it it kind of depends. so So songwriting to me is very therapeutic. It's a way of like getting things from my head onto a piece of paper and then onto sound waves that kind of reverberate but metaphorically and literally away from myself. And then they're kind of Then if I, it's kind of hard to explain, but the alternative has a lot of ah things about abuse from my childhood, right? And now when I struggle with that, if I'm triggered by something, I can literally tell myself, I dealt with that and that's out in the world now. It doesn't have to stay inside me, it's here.
Evolving Songwriting Process
00:11:12
Speaker
How I actually go about writing a song, oftentimes it starts with like a a phrase or an idea and I'll just sit down with the guitar and see if the music that I'm playing with my hands matches the words that I'm saying with my mouth.
00:11:23
Speaker
And when it does, I feel like I'm not gonna, I'll stop everything. I'll go out of work sick. i if it When I get like that magic moment where you know, like okay, something's happening right now, I won't do anything else and I'll obsess on it until it's completed. to kind of just when them use grabs ahold of you, you just, yeah, you clear you clear your schedule and everything and just got ah got to indulge that ah creative force, wherever whatever that is. um when you get When you get songs like that, is it kind of, you you know, whenever that fugue state or whatever you call it is is finished, are you calling the song done? Or do you go back and edit after that? Or how how to you know how do how do you do how do you approach that?
00:12:05
Speaker
ah I don't know that I really believe in the idea of a completed song. I mean, even songs that are on the record now. Yeah, I hear that. like There's certain words and phrases that I realized are so much better after I already recorded it. yeah So when I play it live, there are times that i'll I'll sing it the other way because I just like it better. yeah um Anyone can hear it how it was the day that I recorded it. um and you know that's just kind of To me, it's just me. So I change with the world, and sometimes the song can change too. I get a little anxious when I think about it. It's like a snapshot, maybe. Yeah. Yeah. I get anxious with the idea of a completed song, which is why it takes me so long to release them. We've been working on this record for like three years, so it's been a long endeavor. Yeah.
00:12:58
Speaker
Yeah, gotcha. All right. Yeah, I'm i'm the same way. at There's a song that I i put out on my 2019 release. um And yeah, like after I recorded it and got it all out in the world.
00:13:10
Speaker
and it was playing it out and realized, no, i think I got the chorus wrong on this. The lyric should be this way instead. So now I sing it that way. yeah And it's better, but yeah, it's like, now and I kind of want to go back and rerecord it and put it out again. And maybe I will someday, but you know. Yeah, it's just, yeah. Maybe like a 10 year anniversary CD. Yeah, right, exactly. Yeah, but yeah, just because you've hit record and and you've you know released it into the world doesn't mean, um you know, that creative,
00:13:36
Speaker
piece of art doesn't continue to evolve. It's not like a painting where the when the paint dries, you know, that's what it is. And even then, you know, if put it in the right space or in a different frame or maybe you hang it upside down, who knows? It still can change a little bit. So yeah, it's kind of a fun thing about about what we do. I do edit the lyrics a lot. So when I actually sit down to write, when when I'm actually putting paper to pen and I'm actually writing it out,
00:14:04
Speaker
um that's when i'll That's when I'll edit it. But when i'm when I'm sitting and actually playing it and kind of figuring it out in my head, the arrangement and what it is that I want to say, I try really hard to stay out of my way. yeah Just don't worry about the rhyming or the structure or all that. Just get the points across that I want to get across. And then I'll end up with like sometimes it could be two or three sheets of just stuff.
00:14:30
Speaker
Then I'll take it and say like go syllable by syllable almost and ask myself, can I say this better? Or can I say this in a more creative way that's never been said that way before? I don't want to necessarily be cliche. um The old portrait, is there's a lot of that in there. There's a lot of cliche ideas, but I'm trying to say it in a new way. that was kind of the i in and off rymes you know And that was kind of the idea I was writing that song, just kind of experimenting. but Yeah, so I do edit. and i try to It's like a puzzle. I try to get every syllable exactly right and I'm kind of obsessed about it. Yeah. Where did you learn your craft? I mean, are you just all self-taught or you do you have any training or do you do look you you have a Bob Dylan you know that in your life that you kind of are have been chasing? or that like where Where have you learned your craft is the question, I guess.
00:15:21
Speaker
and Just by listening to songwriters, um Dylan, definitely being one of them. Ray LaMontagne, I'm a big Ray LaMontagne fan. I love Jason Hizball. I love Sturgill Simpson. um We play them a lot at our our shows in between the original songs. and um Even more mainstream guys like Chris Stapleton. I just went to the Luke Combs concert in SoFi.
00:15:42
Speaker
That boy can write songs. Yeah, he's he's got that i lie down. I didn't realize. Yeah, for sure. there's a I don't know his whole catalog, but there's there was a time a few years ago where I'm like, I'm going to write a country hit. you know and i So yeah I did a lot of studying and like listened to a lot of stuff. And yeah, he's got that. just that pop hit country vibe down and he can write a lyric and tell a story and it's fun and it's got the sing-along vibe to it. yeah he's i like like I'm impressed with him. i get i i get I'm not one of these people that like and know i don't I don't hate on modern country but
00:16:19
Speaker
I can only listen to it so much before I get to my like satiation point and then I have to move on to something else. but yeah Yeah, I'm not a huge modern country fan. My fiancé is very much a modern country fan, so we listen to a lot of modern country in the car at home. I'm a bit more, I guess, I don't know, American alternative country for whatever people want to call it.
00:16:42
Speaker
Right. Yeah, a little something just with a little more lyrical depth, you know, you're, you're yeah for Stableton's you're obviously youre Jason Isbell's like, um yeah he's got some some amazing, amazing song Cast Iron Skillet, like, Come on, get out of here. Yeah, just over an hour. So let's talk about, um let's talk about the new the new record.
Behind the Song 'Multiverse'
00:17:00
Speaker
It's called Somewhere Through the Trees. You've released what three singles?
00:17:04
Speaker
multiverse golden road and exit sign before the I know the whole record is out but um So i'm i'm assuming those those three are are kind of special To a degree on the record. So ah the first one was multiverse well, so multiverse was um, it was me I like astronomy a lot and i and I love I love like brian cox and neil degrasse tyson and all and um all these like astrophysicists, and and I love learning about that sort of stuff, and I'm very interested in it. And I was listening to a ah a talk, and I always get his name wrong, but his name is Michio Something. He's a Japanese astrophysicist, and he's really awesome. I love the guy. But he was talking about multiverses and all that kind of stuff, and I was going through kind of a breakup, and I'm ah
00:17:57
Speaker
I'm dramatic, so I was outside looking up at the stars, you know, thinking about my life and all that, and just strumming my guitar. And the idea kind of came to me that the the idea of the multiverse is that anything that could happen ever, any infinite amount of combinations that could happen with all the atoms in this universe,
00:18:17
Speaker
is happening somewhere in some multiverse theres there's an infinite amount of multiverses where every choice is made and now they're even talking about if you make a choice you're basically splitting off another universe which is all too complicated for me to understand but the basics of it i got so the idea was that at that moment.
00:18:38
Speaker
all I really wanted was to be with the woman I loved, right? And I wasn't, I was alone. And ah the idea kind of struck me that maybe somewhere out there in the multiverse, I am in this moment, laying with the woman that I love. And so i i I wrote from that perspective, and that's how multiverse came to be. And that tends to be that the crowd favorite from my you know, perspective on the stage. People tend to like that one a lot. And so I released that one first because I just wanted to lead with my best foot. Yeah. See how it went. Nice. Yeah. OK. That reminds me there's there's a one of my I have a um i their favorite poem that I one of my favorite poems. It's called I Go Back to the House for a Book by Billy Collins. um And he yeah, it's I'll send you a copy. I'm not going to read it in here, but it's basically it's basically kind of
00:19:34
Speaker
a story about about that, like this this guy leaves his house. to go to a doctor's appointment. And then he's like, oh, but wait, I forgot to bring something to read. So he goes back to the house to grab a ah you know ah ah book to read in the doctor's office. And the whole rest of it is is him kind of pontificating, like, will I ever catch up to that person that's just perpetually three minutes ahead of ahead of me? I don't know. There's just something beautiful about that. But it's it's kind of that same it same basic idea that you're saying and in multiverse.
00:20:30
Speaker
A lot of these songs are five years old. yeah right you know they're They're old songs and they're kind of all from different points. and and But I wanted to write something that none of the people that come to my shows has ever heard for the record. And I wanted to close the record out with where I'm at now. I kind of struggled with, and I know it probably sounds pretentious and I hope it doesn't, but I struggle with feeling inauthentic releasing these songs now because I don't i don't feel that way. i'm I'm engaged to the most beautiful one I've ever met. I'm so excited about marrying her. I don't i don't feel like there's love out there for me. i i'm I'm here now. Gimme a Train has a lot of fear about the ah about the music industry you know and I've kind of passed that. I did the whole signing and
00:21:14
Speaker
In having a management and all that I kind of moved on from that and so there's a lot of like things that I just don't feel Relevant in my life anymore. So exit sign was a specific song that I sat down to write to close out the record um And I also used to play solo a lot. And for like two or three years, it was just me and a guitar on a stage. And I also wanted to kind of give an ode to that. So we decided to record it live with any mistake I make. We did it in, I think we did two to two or three takes maybe, because we had some pops, we had to redo it. But whatever mistake happened, I was just gonna leave it. I was gonna practice the art of not being a perfectionist, which I'm very bad at. yeah and And that's what we did. And Exit Sign, it's more of where I'm at now.
00:21:59
Speaker
than any other song. it's It's the last few lines are like, um I've strengthened my shoulders and I've grown a lot older and I can carry you now. yeah But if you don't need me to carry you, ah let me just go with you. Let me just be with you. As a teenager and as a young man, I struggle with feeling responsible for other people in my life. And it brought a lot of burden and struggles for me. And this song is more of Hey, i don't i don't I don't need to do that anymore, but i would I can go on my own, but I'd love it if you
00:22:58
Speaker
And if you don't require help with getting this thing done, can I walk with you to the then your next single was ah Golden Road. And if I remember correctly, I i think i've seen I'm assuming that's your daughter that's singing on that with you. Sure is. That's super cool. Yeah, so tell me about that one.
Creating 'Golden Road' with Family
00:23:21
Speaker
So Golden Road, yeah first yeah, it's Emily Scully. She's my daughter, and she sings back up on it. and How old is your daughter? 17. OK, gotcha. All right. she's She's awesome. I mean, I heard recently from some TED Talkers. I forget exactly. I kind of put stuff on and drive my car. But I heard recently someone say that if you raise your children right, they're going to be your best friends in the world. You're never going to want them to leave, right?
00:23:47
Speaker
um And I just so feel that way about my daughter. She's just so cool. She plays guitar. She sings. and But besides that, she's just shes just a ah fun hank. She's just awesome to hang out with. and But this this particular song, Golden Road, um is actually the idea of the entire record.
00:24:06
Speaker
So Somewhere Through the Trees is the paraphrased version of the second line of that song. So the the song is, there's a golden road somewhere through the trees. And the song is somewhere through these trees. But I felt like for a record, Somewhere Through the Trees sounded better. But her mother and I, um who were good friends now and good co-parents, but we we are divorced.
00:24:30
Speaker
And at the beginning of that divorce, obviously there was a lot of pain and a lot of struggle and a lot of heartache and a lot of big, big, big emotions that I didn't know what to do with and I was not well equipped for. um But luckily I had really good friends that taught me a lot and kind of walked me through it. And I love to drive and I love to travel and I love to see things that I've never seen before. So a friend of mine, her name's Cambria, also a huge supporter, i was also one of my biggest supporters. she's good people, but she she told me just to drive north. Just to drive north and if I can get all the way to Canby, which is near Portland, we had a mutual friend named Kevin who lived there and I could stay with his house for a couple of days. So that's what I did. I drove as far north as I could. I had like five days off work and I didn't have the kids, which was new to me and I really had a hard time not being around the kids all the time.
00:25:20
Speaker
and I drove up north, I stopped and saw my cousin Donald, who I did the first record with, and then or the ah EP. And then I got all the way up to Canby, we went to Portland, and on the way back, I think I was in a town, I don't think it was actually Oregon, it was either on like, what's it called, Asheville or something like that, and I think it's like Weed, California near there too, like it's like right near the the top, um if I'm remembering correctly, it's been a while.
00:25:50
Speaker
But I i kind of pulled the car over and I was really struggling with this whole you know divorce thing. and I grabbed my guitar and I went into the forest because why not? and i sat and it was It was like 11 AM, but it was dark because the forest is so thick that sunlight doesn't really get through. right so It looks like it's like dusk, um but it's 11 AM m in the morning. and I'm looking around at all the leaves and and I'm thinking in my head that this immense pain that I'm feeling is like right here. And I'm trying to quantify it, right? It's like probably right here in like the pit of my stomach or the top part of my stomach below my chest. And if I could just pull it out, it's probably like this big. And then I saw this to the relative size of one of those frickin' redwood leaves, right? yeah One of those leaves is like four times that size.
00:26:42
Speaker
And then I looked around at this huge forest I was in with so many of those leaves and a little perspective kind of crept into my brain was that ah was that maybe maybe I can deal with this, right? It's not maybe as big as it I'm thinking it is. um Not that it wasn't painful and big, but sometimes those weird,
00:27:10
Speaker
ah you know out of the box dots helped me cope with my life. And so Golden Road, I literally sat on a rock in that forest and I just strummed that ah you know C, D, E minor G and and came up with this idea that I didn't know where I was going. I didn't know what I was looking for. I knew that I wanted what I had. I wish I could go back to where I was, but I knew at this point that wasn't a possibility. So I had to forge my own path.
00:27:42
Speaker
going forward. And if I did it right, and I kept people like Cambria, who I mentioned, or Brian, and I kept them close to me in my life, um I knew I could repave that golden road um with my own two hands. And maybe I didn't need someone else to have that. So that's kind of the idea, is is you know searching for searching for the point of searching and realizing that you're right here. You don't you don't need to look anymore.
00:28:11
Speaker
I mean, it's like the metaphor that you were talking about is, you know, not everybody can see the video, but you were kind of, you know, doing a circle through your test and you kind of pulled out this little, you know, your pain and you can almost feel it. And you kind of took that as a piece of clay and molded it into the song and kind of just, you know, that's part of letting it go and figuring out how to take that first step and the next step and the next step. And then when did you decide to bring your daughter into the production of that?
00:28:39
Speaker
You know, we always wanted to do a song together because she's such a great singer and we we we play guitar and sing a lot and we tried Golden Road and it just worked out perfect. That's great. It was a really cool experience.
00:29:16
Speaker
Yeah, what a fun, you know, record of a, you know, you have that moment in time that you've shared with your dad. That's super fun. Right. My 15 year old is a drummer and I'm going to get him on a track one of these days. We haven't done it yet. But and then my my daughter is is she's only nine, but she's not quite ready yet. But um she will she'll definitely be there at at some point. So, yeah, that's what ah what a special thing to be able to bring your kids into the into the fold. That's that's super cool.
00:29:45
Speaker
Yeah, I'm gonna get my son a drum kit. That's that's the next thing. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I maybe I maybe pushed that a little bit when he was little because i I'm kind of like my I used to play with a guy back in the in the day. And he always told me I had back at the stage and because I always you know, any chance I got I would sit, but you know, behind the drums and right, I'm not a good drummer, but I i can keep a beat.
00:30:08
Speaker
I'm about the same way. I think all my drummers would say. I like to play around with it and just try because it's fun. I remember in fifth like when I grew up in in fifth grade was when you when you got to pick ah wait when you broke out for bands. You go to this big assembly and in the auditorium and they've got all the stuff and they test it and and you get to pick. but You don't really get to pick because your parents are there.
00:30:33
Speaker
well you know i It's so funny, you say that, because this last year was my son's first year in band, and I told him, I'm like, percussion, just do percussion, just trust me, do percussion. He's like, okay, I'm gonna do percussion, I'm gonna do drums, it's gonna be great, blah, blah, blah. And he comes home and he and he's like, oh yeah, I'm gonna do percussion, but the instructor said, not a lot of people like trombone, and and we need a trombone. And I'm like, I don't care what the instructor said, do percussion, right? And the next day he came home with a trombone.
00:31:00
Speaker
So he really made a trombone, but the instructor tricked him into it. uhu yeah they can spend He loves it. Yeah. Yeah. my i was but It was similar, only the opposite. I wanted to play the drums and my parents were like,
00:31:14
Speaker
ah No. How about the clarinet? I'm like, I'm not playing the clarinet. So we we just we decided on the saxophone. That was the compromise. Oh, that's a good one. Yeah. So I haven't i i played the saxophone until I was 14 when I picked up the guitar. And where we had another contract with my folks. OK, you can get the guitar, but you have to play your saxophone for an hour a day. And I did that for maybe a week.
00:31:39
Speaker
and And then i I regret it now. I would love to still play the saxophone, but yeah, that kind of go by the wayside. Yeah, well, ah the guitar is a hard thing to compete against, man. it's It's a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful instrument.
00:31:55
Speaker
All right, so you just you just finished the record. um Are we in a period of creative pause? Are you recharging? Or you've got something that you're working on next? like what's what's ah What's filling you up lately? Yeah, so right now we just released the record. So our plan is to perform it as much as humanly possible in front of as many people as we possibly can for the next little while. We've got shows lined up the next few weekends, some solo, some acoustic, some full band.
00:32:22
Speaker
kind of a good mix of all those things um as much as I can with having the kids and the job and all that. yeah right um But I have, ah I believe I've kind of narrowed it down to these next 10 songs.
00:32:36
Speaker
um One song that didn't make it onto the record, which really bummed me out, it's called Tomorrow. We play it live all the time. um So it bummed me out that it didn't make the record, unfortunately. the The recording that we did on our own in the garage didn't work out. A lot of this record was recorded in Nashville at an actual studio, but a couple of them we wanted to add on afterwards.
00:32:56
Speaker
and So we kind of tried it ourselves and this one just didn't work out that sound wise so That will be released um And these I believe what I'm what we're going to do is record that as a single send it out um Do one more single and then I have an idea for an EP um Which is more of a concept EP um that ah that's That's the next thing I'm really focusing on, which will be a a five-song EP with um all of all every song connecting, every song the same story, different melodically, and also with a little bit of ah an Irish sound. and It looks like you're ah yeah the record you just released is getting some spins.
Reception of the New Record
00:33:40
Speaker
I think I saw some ah some social media posts about 5,000 and up. That's that's amazing. Yeah. I'm super glad to hear that.
00:33:47
Speaker
Yeah, thank you. and Since the release party, it's only it's only increased, which which which is really cool. you know It's not about really making money. You don't get a whole lot of money from the streams. and right I actually split it with the band, so I think we've made like $10 or something. but yeah it's ah it's just It's cool to that it's part of other people's lives now. you know I get messages from all over of people saying,
00:34:11
Speaker
you know This song, was but you you knew me. How did you know when you wrote the song? right that's just like you know it's It makes me feel less alone, like I said in the beginning. Yeah, absolutely. yeah like Like you've said, you've kind of you've dialed into you know this authentic piece and you're telling authentic stories and that's that's always going to connect and that's always the trick. right It's like yeah you know figuring out how to be as authentic as you can without you know It's as authentic as you can, basically. Yeah. Sometimes you can't, or at least I can't. Sometimes you can't go there, but when you can get there, there's yeah there's you you're usually not alone. there's There's other people out there, and that's what connects with... You know what I've been playing with a little bit is the idea of being as genuine and honest as you can in a song is is always where I'm at in my head. I'm always trying to be honest, and I'll i'll take things out if if they're not honest.
00:35:05
Speaker
um But Jason, Isabel, he talks about the idea that if if it's honest, it has to go into a song.
00:35:17
Speaker
So he he will not remove things if even if it makes him look bad yeah because it's it's true and it's real and it's and that's how he approaches his art. So I've been playing around with that idea quite a bit um and not not not that most of my songs paint me in a great light. i mean a lot of Some of them are pretty dark, you know suicide ideation and stuff like that um and prior addictions and things. But ah you know there are some things that that I can definitely write about and I definitely do that I would probably never admit to and I I
Vocal Training and Techniques
00:35:50
Speaker
so respect his um Commitment to his craft, you know, and I feel like that's kind of like my next thing that I'm trying to convince myself to be Brave enough to go down that road. Yeah, and that's what it is too. It's it's it's being brave. It's having that yeah You're finding that's that second level of like, okay I'm gonna I'm gonna let go of this this fear of this insecurity and yeah and just
00:36:17
Speaker
You know, cut cut it to the bone and here it is. Here I am. Yes, sir. All right. Well, it's been about a pleasure talking to you. I've enjoyed listening to the record. Your voice sounds amazing, which I don't think we've talked about yet. You're a fantastic stinger. Thank you. Yeah.
00:36:32
Speaker
Thank you. I work really hard at it. Yeah. Have you done any like training or are you just kind of naturally gifted or how does how does that work? I was in choir in the middle school and high school, so I understand the actual aspects of yeah using your, you know not seeing it from your throat, using your chest and all that and your stomach. and um My acquired teacher used to say, Gut in butt. Gut in butt, yeah yeah. Yeah, we got that a lot. Breathing techniques and all that kind of stuff. um So i I have an app though that Arnold McCuller, I believe, is his name. He was the backup singer for James Taylor. and he's a he i mean He can sing, man. He's he's phenomenal. and he He has an app called Vocal Ease and I use it quite often, especially before every gig I do is warm-ups.
00:37:20
Speaker
it's it's you know if That's kind of how I keep my, but I drink a lot of water. I drink a lot of water. I try to to limit really hot things or really cold things. I try to do room temperature, just you know things like that. yeah Right now, I have to be sick. My chest is really congested, but normally, my voice is pretty baritone. Yeah. Excellent. Yeah. All
Podcast Closure
00:37:41
Speaker
right. Well, again, thanks for coming on. Much appreciated. and yeah this is This has been a pleasure. Yeah. Thank you for having me, man.
00:37:50
Speaker
Thanks for listening to Wilsbox Songpod. You've made it this far. Please rate, review, like, love, add, subscribe, do all the things on whatever app it is that you're hearing in my voice. That lets the almighty algorithm know that interesting people like you like this show and will serve it up to other cool and interesting people. Wilsbox Songpod is produced by Wilsbox Entertainment LLC. Mixed, mastered, and edited by me, Tim Wilsbox. See you next time.