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Ainsley Costello
1.1k Plays2 years ago
In a world dominated by overnight internet sensations and one-hit-wonders, emerging artist Ainsley Costello has her eyes set on creating a legacy that stands the test of time. A power house voice in the vain of Haley Williams or Pink, Ainsley's lyrics can also be delicately delivered. Costello's heartfelt and personal approach to lyricism translates into an easily digestible and heartwarming listening experience.
At only 15, the Seattle native (now based in Nashville) released a strikingly diverse debut album titled ‘You Know I Am’ – on the surface, a collection of country pop songs, but dig deeper and you’ll unravel a multitude of diverse musical influences and lyrics that speak to all of the insecurities of today’s teenage girls.
In February 2020, Ainsley and her family relocated to Nashville, just as the world and the music industry shut down due to the Pandemic. But that didn't stop Ainsley, throughout quarantine she used her time to write new material and connect with dozens of Nashville "row writers" to hone and perfect her craft. Creating a body of work that speaks volumes for her young age Ainsley already has a catalogue of nearly 200 unreleased, and 24 published works. In 2021 Ainsley released a song each month, the equivalent of her second studio album and in 2022 she has released 5 more songs.
Ironically, after moving to Nashville (the country music capital of the world), Ainsley began to pivot away from the country music that had originally inspired her. Realizing that Nashville was more than just country music her creativity cracked open. Her newest songs clearly have a more pop-rock leaning vibe. While many reviewers still hear elements of country tones in her voice, paired with the edgier music, some have started to describe her music as "country-punk" or "pretty pop." Inspired by Paramore, Kings of Leon and Caitlyn Smith (all hailing from Nashville) you clearly hear a unique sound emerging in her 2022 works. With a strong sense for live instrumentation others have described her music as a strain of LA/POP from the 90's and early 2000's. Another reviewer described it as acoustic college rock with a modern twist. With a dedicated and growing following it is clear that Ainsley is set on creating a career that stands the test of time.
Ainsley began performing in school talent shows and musical theater productions at the age of 7. She has since gone on to study piano, guitar, vocal performance, and songwriting. She attended Tacoma School of the Arts as a freshman in high-school and shortly thereafter began traveling and touring the West Coast full-time. At just 15 Ainsley moved to online high-school (so she could tour) and simultaneously began taking classes at the prestigious Berklee College of Music Online. She graduated from high school at 16 and was formally accepted to the Berklee College of Music's Business Degree program shortly after. At just 19 years old, in May 2023 Ainsley graduated from Berklee College of Music with a Bachelors of Art in Music Business.
Ainsley began performing live shows with a full band of adult professional-level musicians at just 13 years old. By the time she was 14 she could regularly hold down a 3-hour cover set. At 13 & 14 she was involved with unaired episodes of "The Voice" and "American Idol." At 14, Ainsley became one of Breedlove Guitars youngest endorsed artists and has since been endorsed by Mackie Sound and has strategic partnerships with Taylor Guitars and Sennheiser Microphones. To date she has performed over 200 shows in 20 states on festival, fair, and bar states alike.
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Transcript
Introduction of Ainsley Castello
00:00:01
Speaker
You are listening to something rather than nothing. Creator and host Ken Volante. Editor and producer Peter Bauer.
00:00:17
Speaker
This is Ken Vellante with the Something Rather Than Nothing podcast, and I'm very excited to have Ainsley Castello, musician, singer, performer on the show. Before going on about you, Ainsley, welcome to Something Rather Than Nothing.
00:00:32
Speaker
Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here and to just chat and hang out. Yeah. Podcasts are fun. They're so much fun. I love doing podcasts. Whenever I get the opportunity to come on one, I'm like, yes, yes, yes. Like, let me come. I'm so excited. It's a really cool thing as a host and to be able to connect. Now, I wanted to mention to the listeners how I came in contact with Ainslie's
Wave Lake Platform Introduction
00:00:58
Speaker
music. So one,
00:01:01
Speaker
As a bit of a background, there's a new platform called Wave Lake. And on Wave Lake, it's a platform where artists can put up their music and it's put out, akin to the podcast file format.
00:01:20
Speaker
So musicians like Ainslie put those songs up there. And the big piece about it, which is very different than other types of platforms of music support, is that there's a way to directly support you, Ainslie. If I like a track, I'll send you a portion of a Bitcoin, which is called a Satoshi.
00:01:44
Speaker
people can reward or gift or what they like in that format. And you have the number one song and number one two song on Wave Lake right here, which is just started and we can get more into the details of
Ainsley's Musical Background and Challenges
00:02:05
Speaker
it. But a lot of people are hearing your music
00:02:09
Speaker
and you've been making music for a long time, I wanted to ask you Ainsley, and we'll get into all the other stuff later, when did you see yourself as an artist, as a performer? When did you in your head know that?
00:02:24
Speaker
I mean, I always knew it from a very young age because my dad's a musician. He went to LA in the nineties to do the same thing that I'm doing here in Nashville right now. So music is just kind of in my blood. I like to say that I knew it from around the time that I was like three or four years old, but there have been some people who've been like, no, come on, like actually tell me like, when'd you know? And so I say that like, I kind of knew my whole life, but I really started getting serious about writing and performing when I was about 12, 12, 13. Yeah.
00:02:54
Speaker
And, but you've been to some different areas around the country as well, based in Nashville now, but I know we have a connection. I'm here in Oregon, but you, some time in Seattle and Pacific Northwest, but what type of places have you toured? And I know you've done a lot of shows. So tell us a little bit about that.
00:03:13
Speaker
Yeah, so yeah, I love that we have that Pacific Northwest connection. So I live in Nashville now. I moved here with my parents in March of 2020. So like really just great timing. March 2020, yes. March of 2020. It was like the week that the whole world like kind of turned into a dumpster fire. It was like the Nashville tornado hit and then it was the pandemic and then like all this like really bad like social stuff started happening. And it was also the week that I dropped my first record too. I saw that.
00:03:43
Speaker
I don't know what to do here guys so uh I'll just I'll just put this out with like little to no fanfare and then we'll try again next time. Well I wanted to ask you about that because I was just kind of noticed like I looked at you know
00:03:59
Speaker
You had a podcast come around that time and I read somewhere I'd noticed the date on the release and you know You get the songs out now and people listening to the music but going back to there What the I mean, you're a young artist as well. What that that must have been Just so difficult. I mean you're ready to pop and I talked to another couple artists right around that time where like the conversations have it's like, you know when somebody's like getting stuff out there and ready to pop and then
00:04:29
Speaker
boom, everything happened. What was that like for you? Yeah. I mean, I think at the time it was kind of just like a, Hey, let's wait it out kind of thing. But now I was, I was 15 when that happened. I'm 19 now. Um, so now looking back at my 15 year old self, when that whole thing happened, like, I think there was a lot of like,
00:04:50
Speaker
Oh my god, what did I just do? This feeling of I just moved to Music City, but there's no music. It's like everything is shut down. Like did I potentially just make a huge mistake by moving to Nashville? Because like just unfortunately the timing was just so not right and you really can't chalk it up to anything other than like
00:05:10
Speaker
right place at the wrong time, that kind of thing. So yeah, looking back on it now that whole time, like I look back at that time and I have a lot of grace and empathy for my 15 year old self who was so excited to be in Nashville and who was so excited to put out a record and put out an album. And that whole thing, like the rug was just kind of pulled out from underneath her and just, it's not even me, everyone, like everyone from like tiny, tiny artists like me to like major artists who are on,
00:05:39
Speaker
record who have label deals and who have been on massive tours, like everybody had a hard time when that was happening, not just like the tiny little guys like us. Yeah.
Success on Wave Lake vs Traditional Platforms
00:05:49
Speaker
Yeah hey um so tell me you know I was starting to talk about the the the wave like thing and um new new program boost the grand ball uh done by Adam Curry uh who I remember Ainsley as the VJ of Headbangers Ball that I used to watch late at night and Saturday night so I remember Adam from that but
00:06:10
Speaker
On this program, it's a fantastic little thing. The songs are there and a couple of your songs have been on there. And as you listen, and again, listeners can support send you small or larger amounts of sats to support a sport song and sport you. It's a radio program. I'm listening to it. So fantastic. I grew up at a time, you know, the top 40 and all that type of stuff where radio is still
00:06:40
Speaker
kind of came with music, you know, maybe 80s or so. But here you go from song to song and some of that, when that song is playing, the support that goes to Boost the Grand Ball and go directly to the artist. I've been talking about a little bit about Wavelength and about Boost the Grand Ball. You're the number one, number two song on it. Tell us about your experience and what it means to you,
00:07:10
Speaker
with your success in this room.
00:07:16
Speaker
I think it's so cool that, you know, like you, you grow up kind of on the outskirts of the music industry and you kind of have an idea of like what your path is going to look like. But then something like wave Lake or like boost a grand ball comes around and it's like completely out of left field. And you're like, whoa, this isn't kind of what I thought like would, would be happening. But like,
00:07:40
Speaker
Either way, that's so cool. So yeah, I mean, it was just so kind of random how it all happened. So with Wave Lake, a couple of weeks ago, so there's this place in Nashville called Bitcoin Park. I really didn't even know that it was a thing that existed. But my dad over the last couple of months, he's kind of become like a big crypto enthusiast. He's gotten like really into it, really has just wanted to study up on everything.
00:08:07
Speaker
And he's been telling my mom about it, and they've been talking about it. And they said, hey, Ainsley, there's this demo for this new platform called Wave Lake at Bitcoin Park. Would you want to go with us? And I'm like, sure. It's a Friday morning. I've got nothing else to do than go to therapy. So yeah, why not? So I went with them to Bitcoin Park, and we went and we checked out the demo of Wave Lake.
00:08:27
Speaker
And there we met Sam Means who's like the main guy over at Wave Lake and he's just been so wonderful but um yeah Wave Lake is just this like really cool I would even say like revolutionary platform that's allowing artists to um to really be appreciated seen and paid for for the work that they're kind of giving
00:08:48
Speaker
to society because I think the greater entertainment industry has had a big habit of not really kind of allowing artists to live off of the music and the art that they create. And it's not about the money, but the money is great. It's so cool. It's not about the money, but it's just so cool to be on a platform where you're being seen and heard and appreciated because
00:09:16
Speaker
It's so hard, I think, with independent artists today because, you know, just as easy as it is to get our music out there, it's just as hard to be heard because there's somewhere between 40, I don't remember what the exact statistic is, but there's somewhere around 40 to 60,000 songs being uploaded to the traditional DSPs every single day. So just because of like, there's so much access for independent artists nowadays, and that's so great, but just as much
00:09:45
Speaker
access as there is, there's just as much challenge that comes with that of wanting to break through the barriers and wanting to be like, hi, I'm here. I've got some music that you might want to listen to. So yeah, I just think Wave Like is just so cool for a bunch of reasons. We're being seen and appreciated, and then we're also being paid for our work. And the traditional DSPs and the greater music industry is kind of notorious for not really
00:10:14
Speaker
allowing artists to live off of their work. And so, one of the cool things about Wave Lake was that when Cheri on top, which is my song over there, that's number one right now, which is like, whoa, how can I even say that? That's so cool. It's a great song. It's a banger. It'd be number one any place that people can see it.
00:10:35
Speaker
Oh, thank you. That means so much to me. I really love that song and I'm really proud of it. So I'm glad that people are hearing it. But yeah, so when I put Cherry on top over there, it was really kind of just taking a chance. And now it's like, number one, apparently it's like the first song on the platform to hit over a million sats. And it's just like, one of the other cool things about it was
00:11:01
Speaker
kind of when cherry on top kind of started to kind of explode over there. And people were like giving me like little pieces of lightning, which is like the sass, the Satoshi is a little pieces of Bitcoin. It translates in real time to like real money. And so like I compared the amount that I was getting on Wave Lake to my distributor, my distributor statement from the month of April.
00:11:26
Speaker
In the month of April, I only made $22 across all of the entire streaming platforms, Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, whatever. And then with a million sats, I got like three, $400. And it's like, what? And again, it's not about the money, but at the same time, it's like, whoa, this might actually allow artists to live off of what they're creating. Well, yeah. And one of the pieces that I thought was pretty cool, and you could tell me if you agree with this, is that
00:11:56
Speaker
There's this, you know, just deep, deep tension, particularly within our system of, you know, competition versus collaboration. Right. And maybe because the platform's new wave like, but like my instincts in my head and.
00:12:12
Speaker
in thinking about is that I see artists or see myself or appreciators kind of going in there and saying, oh, this is on this platform here, you know, like it's in a different spot. And this feel it feels like more of a direct possibility to sport, boost somebody else, chat with them or whatever it seems to be at least at its inception or maybe within the ideas.
00:12:34
Speaker
early on, it seems to be more inculcated towards like collaborating and of course there's competition and everything, but I don't know, I like that feel about it. Do you feel like a component? Oh, absolutely. Yeah, a component of it. Yeah. I mean, one of the other things that kind of came out of left field the other day was there was an artist on Wave Like who does primarily
00:12:57
Speaker
dance and electro remixes. And he reached out to me and he said, hey, could I possibly do a remix of Cherry on top? And I was like, what? Yes, absolutely. There we go. No, it makes a ton of sense. And everybody, Wave Lake is www.wavlake.com. And the show's not sponsored by it or anything, but I tell you.
00:13:26
Speaker
Check out the music there. Check out Ainslie. Check out the platform in the format. I think it's really exciting for artists and music listeners.
Art as Personal Expression
00:13:37
Speaker
Bandcamp has done some great things as far as direct, you know, merchandising, selling tracks with artists. So, you know, there's other pieces out there that are more
00:13:51
Speaker
artist appreciative, I guess. Artist friendly. Artist friendly. Artist friendly. So great to hear about the potential remix and heck, it's exciting. It's exciting. Let's tap into the excitement of the moment. Got a conceptual question for you as an artist, Ainsley. Yes, totally. What is art? What do you think art is? I love that. I love these kinds of questions. I think
00:14:20
Speaker
Well, first, I think art is going to be relative to every artist who you talk to. I think everyone's going to have a different definition of what that means for them personally. But I think for me, and I listened to some of your other podcasts, so I heard you ask this question. So I was like, cool, I have some time to think about this. But for me, I think
00:14:42
Speaker
art is, or at least the art that I create, is being able to be the best version of myself and put my best foot forward. I think so much of the art that I create is about me wanting to articulate my feelings and kind of articulate a feeling that I felt like I didn't really say the right way in the moment that inspired a song or in a situation that inspired a song. So
00:15:08
Speaker
For me, it's being able to say, hey, this is what my brain looks like. This is how I am kind of just experiencing the world. And yeah, it's just kind of, I think for every artist, the art that we create is also just our way of processing the world that we see and that's happening around us.
00:15:30
Speaker
Yeah, so, well, the follow-up question is the role of art. And I heard you saying the process and the world around us. Would you say that that's really, you know, like a primary role of art is to help us process art? Definitely. I think it's kind of just, I think art is a way for
00:15:51
Speaker
even if you're not an artist, if you're just like an everyday music lover, if you're a music appreciator, I think the art that we all listen to is just a collective way of kind of just getting through it, just chugging along, you know?
Education and Family Support
00:16:05
Speaker
Yeah, yeah.
00:16:08
Speaker
You've been making songs for a while, Ainsley, and I saw you had graduated at a younger age in Berkeley College of Music. Sometimes I read circumstances of people's biography and I'm like, I just gotta ask you, what's that experience like? It's noticeably atypical, and maybe it's connection to your development as an artist.
00:16:36
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, well, noticeably atypical, I think, is a big personality trait of mine. That's something that I kind of try to always be. I think, yeah, so I was really fortunate enough to graduate from Berkeley College of Music this May. So I just finished.
00:16:53
Speaker
Thank you. Literally just the other day, like my actual degree just showed up after like months of me waiting for it. So, woohoo. Good on you. I officially have a degree now. But yeah, I mean, so I had a very noticeably atypical high school situation that allowed me to kind of, I graduated high school early too. I graduated high school when I was 16. And that was a big reason why I was able to start Berkeley so young. I started with Berkeley when I was 15 and I just graduated a couple of months ago after I turned 19.
00:17:23
Speaker
And that's definitely a big part of my kind of
00:17:28
Speaker
artistic journey. Um, I think I'm always just, I'm a bit, another big personality trait of mine is I have big overachiever. I'm always kind of just, um, I'm trying to kind of take everything on because like, Hey, I just want to experience the world and I want to do as much as I can and create as much as I can. But yeah, I feel like so much of, of my personality is kind of just taking everything on. Um, so I have a, I have a, I have a life that's worth writing about and worth creating about.
00:17:58
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. And you've got great supportive parents who are very interested. I mean, I've been hearing about your dad and the background research. He's just running around checking and be like, what's all this thing about? Because it's new, right? And figure all that out.
00:18:18
Speaker
that's that's great I heard ukulele and I think it's cherry on top have the I'm sorry I mean I'm gonna geek out here now like I uh I admit like there's certain so
00:18:32
Speaker
something about me. You cannot hand me any instrument and have me play you a song at present. Whether it's training or otherwise, I haven't shown a particular aptitude. That doesn't mean I haven't picked up instruments, but the instruments I pick up tend to be strange. So my first one that I adored and I might start playing again someday is the accordion, right? Oh my gosh, I think that's so awesome.
00:18:59
Speaker
I don't know how, I was like 12 that my parents supported. There was an accordion teacher or something like that. And I loved it. And I wish I kept up with it because later on in my life, I lived in Wisconsin and they polka over there. So it would have been useful to keep it up.
Songwriting and New Projects
00:19:13
Speaker
And the other instrument I tried to play, and I played for a little while, I would play mostly pure songs on the ukulele.
00:19:22
Speaker
Oh, that's so awesome. And so on, when I hear a ukulele in a song, I get
00:19:31
Speaker
unreasonably excited about it. So yeah, I love that. I think that's so cool. No, I mean, the ukulele is definitely a big part of cherry on tops DNA. I actually wrote that song. One day when I was home alone by myself, I had just kind of gone through a like a nasty falling out with a friend and some people would listen to cherry on top and say like, Oh, that's a breakup song and
00:19:55
Speaker
Of sorts. It's a breakup song like because there are different kinds of breakups that you can have in your life like you don't just have to have a romantic breakup like you can break up with friends and you can break up with family members and so for me cherry on top was a song about breaking up with a friend and I am
00:20:10
Speaker
what one day kind of after that whole like rough falling out happened i was home alone by myself and i was like i haven't written anything on the ukulele in a while like let's just pick it up and so the entirety of cherry on top was just like written on a ukulele and then i was like well but i also kind of hear this going from like if it's at like a two right now on the ukulele like i hear it going to like 11 um but i really wanted to to keep um
00:20:34
Speaker
In the recorded version, I really wanted to keep the ukulele in there because it really is a huge part of how Cherry On Top kind of came to be. Well, Ainsley, I see how there's different versions. You were talking about a remix. I think everybody's head starts getting peppered with the ideas of the strict ukulele version and all that stuff. So it's nice to have that. I always enjoyed that.
00:20:58
Speaker
with songs and remixes and stuff. And I think a lot of it, like, you know, kind of some of the older new wave I listened to like the pesh mode and like when you really love like a song and that artist would like drop it into all these different versions and dance versions.
00:21:14
Speaker
It's just so fun. Just keep the good, the DNA, keep that DNA going out. Absolutely. So what's going on now and next, Ainsley? So it's great to hear. Everybody support Ainsley on the Wave Lake. Check out the songs. We have a song. We'll play Cherry on Top at the end, folks. You have to wait a little bit. But what's the what now? What's going on now?
00:21:41
Speaker
Yeah, it's funny that you asked this because I've kind of been talking to a lot of the people in my life about this. One of the things that I think artists do is we kind of live our life in phases. So from, I'd say like January to June of this year, all I was doing was writing, writing, writing, writing, writing, like trying to get the next
00:22:00
Speaker
like kind of generation of whatever Ainsley is ready and some so now over like the past month or two ish all I've kind of been doing is recording those songs and getting those songs that I've been writing since the beginning of the year ready so yeah right now I'm kind of just in planning mode because I've been a little bit more quiet this year than I than I normally am last year cherry on top was the last song I put out of the year the cherry on top of the year if you will
00:22:25
Speaker
Um, but normally like I, I release music a lot more frequently. And in this year I kind of wanted to take a little bit of a step back and say like, okay, let me kind of just regroup, reevaluate. Like I know what I want to do. Let me kind of just like really put my head down, finish my degree. That was a big, another big part of the reason why you didn't really hear anything, um, from me from the beginning of this year. Um, but yeah, so now I'm just, I'm recording these new songs that I'm getting really excited about and I'm planning and, um,
Live Performances and Artistic Purpose
00:22:56
Speaker
potentially planning music videos and maybe talking about remixes of old songs like Cherry on Top. There's a couple more shows on the calendar for this year. Just a couple of weeks ago, I did two shows up in New York and that was just a ton of fun. Normally, I'm also touring a lot too. I think there's a couple more shows in New York in the middle of September, in the middle of next month, so I'm excited about that too.
00:23:21
Speaker
Oh, that's really super. And I have to ask you one of the bigger conceptual questions. Because I'm going to bounce and talk about another couple of things. But you're listening. No, I throw out the ridiculous, but important or absurd. Why is there something rather than nothing, Ainsley?
00:23:43
Speaker
whoa, that is a big one. Let me think about that for a second. Something rather than nothing. I thought that was such a cool title for a podcast. When I, when I saw like you come into my email, I was like, absolutely. Like I'm already just hooked on something rather than nothing. Hmm. I mean, I don't know. Like we could, we could go like really minuscule or we could go like big as in like, why is the universe something? And why do is there just nothing at all? I think
00:24:11
Speaker
Simply put, I think there's something rather than nothing so that we have purpose, so that there's just something that we can strive for, that there's life worth living, and that, yeah, I think that we just have purpose, because if there was nothing, if rather, if you, like, if you
00:24:28
Speaker
on either end of the scale, if you wanna go big as if like, why is the universe here? Or why is there, why do we have, we each have something in our lives that like gives us purpose? Yeah, I just, I think that we all have something that's our purpose and that's our mission in life and that we know that we're meant to do. And even if you don't know what your purpose is right now, that's cool. Like you'll find it eventually, you'll keep chugging along, but I think to have purpose, that's my final answer.
00:24:57
Speaker
No, I really enjoy that. And when I asked the question, too, a lot of times it's, yeah, it's this idea that, which is very powerful, that if there's nothingness, there's kind of like this absurdity or aimlessness. And I think I ask it in the context of art, too, because I always think as a deep enthusiast of art, I think
00:25:25
Speaker
let me put it in exactly i think like art is like that we do as humans is like god-like or something it's very inexact what i'm trying to say but it's like it's very spiritual it's a very spiritual thing yeah it's it's it's uh it's it's profound uh jumping back over to nashville yeah um now i've i've heard and this is how useful is that no but i've heard
Nashville's Dual Nature in Music
00:25:52
Speaker
or read, that part of Nashville that's difficult for artists is the Nashville machine. And tell me if I'm wrong, but folks have described that whether it's the polished product or fitting yourself within that industry in Nashville,
00:26:17
Speaker
But I also know Nashville is a place to go. I've had artist Michael Conley, great artist, performs in Nashville. He's awesome. I actually listened to his episode. He's so cool. He reminds me so much of Jason Isbell, and I love Jason Isbell.
00:26:32
Speaker
Well, with that, and thank you for listening, we, as a friend of Peter Bauer, the editor and producer of the show, and Peter has a studio at his house. And so he was coming through, we were able to do the show that way, which was just fantastic.
00:26:51
Speaker
Um, so like there's this duality I've heard maybe about Nashville of like this machine of like, oh, if I, you know, like I go in there and I'll get churned out maybe, but also an attraction to Nashville is the place where shit's happening, where things are happening and like getting the scene and doing it. So what's the experience like for you in a place like Nashville, which is very different than other places?
00:27:13
Speaker
Yeah, I've definitely felt both ends of those spectrum. I think with the the machine aspect of Nashville, I think that's a really apt way of putting it. And it's not really that like I just want to preface that just because some people might look at Nashville as a machine doesn't mean that it's a bad thing. Like I think some people can listen to that connotation and be like, oh, like it's lifeless and dead or whatever. Yeah.
00:27:36
Speaker
One of the things that I have experienced with that is so when I moved to Nashville when I was 15 and the first album that I put out when I was here was very country because that's like the music that I was very originally inspired by and I still love parts of country music like a lot of my favorite artists are female country artists and songwriters.
00:27:56
Speaker
um but yeah so I get here and I'm kind of like oh I look around and I'm like hmm maybe I don't want to be a country artist because you know you come to Nashville and you kind of have this um this preconceived notion that yes Nashville is music city but I think a lot of people think of it solely as country music city
00:28:15
Speaker
And while that is true, like there are other like really great like pop and rock scenes bubbling up. And then I think like, I wouldn't be surprised if in five, 10 years, there's a great R&B scene here in Nashville. But when I started writing and really kind of trying to figure out who I was outside of the artistically, who I was outside of the original people who had inspired me who came out of Nashville, I was kind of like, oh, I am feeling a little bit claustrophobic in this kind of
00:28:45
Speaker
machine-like way of Nashville where, especially on the songwriting end of it, and I'm so glad that I had this experience of like a couple years, all I did was kind of write with Nashville row writers and I learned how to write the Nashville way, quote unquote, Nashville way. And I'm so glad that I did that because it taught me a lot about songwriting, it taught me a lot about process and about myself as a songwriter, but I started writing with
00:29:08
Speaker
with a lot of the row writers. And it was kind of just the same thing every time. And it was just, you come in with an idea, you sit down for three hours and you don't get up until the song is finished. And that's, that's cool. That's great. If that works for you, that's awesome. But after that was all I did for like two or three years, I was like, I'm feeling kind of claustrophobic in this. Like there has to be another way for me to sustainably kind of create and for me to
00:29:36
Speaker
feel a little bit more.
00:29:39
Speaker
Fulfilled isn't the right word because like you do definitely feel fulfilled when you are learning to song write when you're in those kinds of rooms. But yeah, I think after just kind of doing the same thing process-wise for a while, it definitely felt a little kind of like conveyor belt-ish like just popping one out, popping one out, just put an idea in, you get something out and it might not always be what you want. My mom used to joke whenever I would come out of a write at like 15, 16 years old.
00:30:08
Speaker
she was like, I don't know how many more like wine, whiskey and working women songs like a 16 year old can write because you go into Nashville and it is a big country music machine. And so when you sit down with some of these row writers, they're like, okay, how can we write a song and pitch it to top 40 country? Well, beer, trucks, wine, whiskey, working women. And I'm like, I'm glad to write this song with you guys, but like, I don't think I can release this for another solid five or six years.
00:30:38
Speaker
Yeah, so I mean, there definitely is that kind of conveyor belt-ish process that I think after a while you can feel a little bit trapped by in Nashville. But then again, I do want to say that I'm so grateful that I had that experience and that I'd met the people that I did. I got a lot of great songs out of writing like that, and I'm so grateful for that process. But I do definitely understand when people say, oh, I felt a little bit like
00:31:03
Speaker
This was more of like a machine that I kind of just put myself in and that I popped out and it was really all that I thought it was. But then yeah, like Nashville, it is music city. Like it isn't just country music city anymore. Like there are so many great people who I've met here.
00:31:21
Speaker
who kind of had the same experience as me like they kind of started writing in that typical Nashville fashion. And then they kind of realized that that wasn't for them and that they wanted to kind of start finding other people, you know, who kind of who wrote in a different way and who kind of just wrote.
00:31:39
Speaker
in a style of just writing to write instead of writing an idea just to see how clever you can make it and how top 40 radio you can make it. And so now 19, four, five years, three, four years into Nashville, I'm definitely sometimes feel myself caught in the middle of like, oh, but this process is amazing. And like this Nashville way is awesome. Like I can definitely get some good songs out of this.
00:32:08
Speaker
It really is great for getting clever ideas and those kind of fun, dancey songs. But then also, when I'm just trying to write for Ainsley the person, not necessarily Ainsley the artist, to process something, I feel torn between, oh, I want to write a deep emotion, but then I also have to make it so that it's palatable.
00:32:29
Speaker
And that was a big, that was a big, uh, long, long rant, but no, no, I'm just, this is, this is a talkie show. You know what I mean? So, um, no, no,
Ken's Music Interests and Upcoming Episodes
00:32:40
Speaker
definitely. I, I found it, uh, it is, it is complicated because I would say like, I've been around.
00:32:47
Speaker
Machines or ways of doing things and they instill such incredible skills that when absolutely when they become like wrapped in you and you can just do that That's a skill people can't do but also on the other side. Here's here's what I would say for me because I think it's a complicated thing like I'm not Yeah, I'm not gonna say I'm into country music but I'm gonna tell you how I am and
00:33:13
Speaker
I love, here's what I love within country music, I would say Western even is kind of like that that kind of rugged testimonial like almost like like murder ballad like journey type of thing like I love that and that's in the tradition you know and um I love that stuff and uh
00:33:34
Speaker
So those grittier elements sometimes like I don't get like I listen. I listen to country music station. Sometimes I find a good one and I'll listen to it because I get particularly in the mood I enjoy it. But what I'm looking for is something that's always kind of out of that territory. It's a little bit darker. It's a little bit more rooted in.
00:33:54
Speaker
Something different so you gotta you gotta you gotta search a bit. I also like country a pop country I listened to a Gorgeous version of Luke Holmes did of Tracy Chapman song a fast car. Yeah last car I don't know how I ran into it. I'm running around everybody thinks I'm mad. Hey listen listen listen. It's just a beautiful
00:34:14
Speaker
a beautiful song and I'm a Swifty as well so there was some of course who isn't from early on I gotta tell you on the Taylor Swift a bit um I will have an episode with
00:34:29
Speaker
The female the writer Amy long female writer Amy long and she does Taylor Taylor Swift as books Instagram which peers Taylor Swift outfits with book covers and is quite popular. So That's gonna be cool Taylor Swift is books. Um so
Where to Find Ainsley's Music
00:34:50
Speaker
Where do folks, people know to find you on Wave Lake. I want folks to find out, how do we encounter you? What do folks look for to get you? Yeah. I mean, on just like the traditional social media platforms on like Instagram, I'm Ainsley Costello underscore official on TikTok, I'm Ainsley Costello. But yeah, on Wave Lake for sure, if you want to go check that out because it's just such a cool platform.
00:35:19
Speaker
I'm just Ainsley Costello over there. And Wave Lake is really cool because it has like a top 40 almost playlist looking section of the website where you can go and you can look at the top 40 most popular songs on the site. And so right now like if you want to like I'm kind of
00:35:40
Speaker
at the top of that list, which I think is kind of cool. One million sats. You're at the top of the list. Don't sugarcoat it. You're at the top of the list. Easy to find. Go to wavelength number one, number two. But what's also what's also called not to interrupt, we get to make sure we get everything, but.
00:35:56
Speaker
Live on Something Rather Than Nothing is on there with tracks from the lovely Blair Borax, singer-songwriter from the Pacific Northwest, and My Child Aiden with Polybius with some moody, dark metal. Yeah, I listened to Polybius earlier, like it's so cool, very vibey, very moody.
00:36:17
Speaker
Do you know what the Polybius name that the background comes from? I should tell you this. No, I don't. It reminded me of like there's kind of like a like a math rock band like called Polyphia, which it kind of reminded me of. But no, I don't I don't know the the meaning behind the term. So please, I'm just going to I'm just going to give you the quick snapshot that Aiden gave to me. And there's a whole mythology behind this. So any folks say. But
00:36:43
Speaker
At some point in Portland, Oregon there was a machine a video game machine Polybius, which was this particular game and supposedly people got really into it really addicted to it. It was independent. It wasn't like video game machines anywhere else So it's shrouded in this mystery because there were a few of these games and then they disappeared So it's all tied up in this mythology of this game. So it's a Portland
00:37:12
Speaker
Portland mythology.
00:37:15
Speaker
game that exists and people talk about. So that's really cool. Yeah. One of my friends, Jojo Scott, she's another singer songwriter who lives here in Nashville now, but she's originally from Portland. So I'll need to ask her about that. I wonder if she knows the lore. She might believe me. People who are from Portland will know, you know, but no. So but plenty of music to find on Wave Like. But we're talking about Wave Like. I want to make sure people know. Sorry to interrupt all the rest, all the rest of the places where you want people to go.
00:37:45
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. I'm on Wave Lake. I've been lucky enough to chat with a lot of cool podcasters. I'm talking with you right now. And then a week or so ago, I talked with Colt McCormick. And then Adam Curry has talked about me a bunch on his podcast, which has been really freaking cool. But yeah, then also, if you're not really on the Bitcoin-y side of things yet, all good. Just on all the traditional streaming platforms, Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, whichever one you want. Just Ainsley Costello.
00:38:14
Speaker
Yeah, that's, that's great. I am. I gotta tell you, it's really, it's really good that we have the shared energy around. I love you, your music and the ability to kind of, I'm just super interested in the questions I asked you like I'm interested in how you're, you're, you're viewing them and what's going on with you. And I want to tell you while.
00:38:32
Speaker
Be able to directly support you on wave Lake and through other means invite all listeners to Check out these great songs from Ainsley and I'm sure there'll be a lot more great great stuff and and so to if For you Ainsley some folks singer-songwriters that you bump around with they want to get onto something rather than nothing Maybe we can increase a little bit more of that
00:38:56
Speaker
the Nashville component of the show. The show is worldwide and I love digging into, and I've said it on the show before, I love when I'm able to move a little bit into a music scene, like whether it's Pacific Northwest or there's a metal scene down someplace in California or talking about Nashville. It's just fun because it's a little bit about traveling and being able to follow the music, I guess, right? Totally.
00:39:22
Speaker
All right, so folks, listen, Cherry on Top is gonna, we're gonna have that in just a moment. Ainsley, any further comments you talked about how you created on Ukulele, which is a version I like to hear someday, and tell us any more details about Cherry on Top before we pop into it.
00:39:39
Speaker
Yeah, Cherry on Top is a song that this song came out in December of last, during December of 2022. I wrote this song by myself and my friend Christian Harger produced it. We'd written a couple of songs together before and I was like, Christian, I think is the man for this job. So I showed him this song. He was like, yeah, like, would you want me to produce this? I'm like, absolutely. So my friend Christian Harger produced it.
00:40:03
Speaker
And yeah, we just had a great time making this song. And this song is, it's very cathartic for me because like I talked about a minute ago, this is a song I wrote about a falling out that I had with a friend. And it's also like I said, some people are gonna think about it as a breakup song, but it's a different kind of breakup for me because I think friendships with, or breakups with friends can hurt just as much as romantic ones do.
00:40:29
Speaker
Yeah, I just I remember kind of a funny thing about this song is that kind of in the middle of the whole like rough falling out situation that inspired this song. I remember like kind of like sitting on the couch talking with my parents about it, like kind of just talking through it, like, I don't know, what should I do? What should I say next? Like, I don't know. And I was kind of just like we were talking through the situation. I was like, oh, well, that's just the cherry on top of the mess made. And I was like,
00:40:56
Speaker
Pulled out my phone, put it into the notes app. Okay, back to the task at hand. Yup. Yup. It's that, it's, it's that feeling you're like chair on top. There you go. All right, everybody. Ainsley Costello and Sherry on top.
00:41:30
Speaker
As dense as you think I am I know that you didn't know That I knew about your little plan But you had to go and tell everyone About my attention that you hadn't won But I bet you're wondering why cute little knife doesn't hurt my back like you thought it would Well thankfully you did the hard part for me And I just think it's good
00:41:59
Speaker
You put the tear yourself for the mess you made, but I'll leave it out, you're all alone. Once I say hello, I won't give you the reaction that you want.
00:42:17
Speaker
It's cereal dough Cause I knew that if I did Your eyes would sneak away to the corner of the room Cause I knew that you weren't used to having it all given back to you And though it might be tempting to see your face rattling And cry like a little boy You might deserve it but it don't serve a purpose
00:42:53
Speaker
Will the reaction that you want deter your thoughts? Deter your thoughts? Well honey, I hope you know that I wish you well Or maybe I don't, but you know that I never felt
00:43:23
Speaker
See the way you can't say you didn't handle it with grace Cause at the end of the day I'm not the one to put the cherry on top of the mess you made But I'll leave it out to rot Won't say a lot, won't give you the reaction that you want You put the cherry on top of the mess you made But I'll leave it out to rot
00:44:15
Speaker
This is something rather than nothing.