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JOON GLOOM (AKA JACQUI GABALL)
45 Plays1 year ago
Jacqui Gaball, who releases music and performs as Joon Gloom, is a talented singer-songwriter born and raised in a small town just outside of Los Angeles. Renowned for her raw, honest, and emotionally charged songwriting style, Jacqui created the alias Joon Gloom to embody her unique musical persona.
Since her debut as Joon Gloom in 2017, she has released five singles, captivating audiences with her heartfelt lyrics and evocative melodies. In 2023, she unveiled her latest work, the Wildfire EP, further solidifying her presence in the music scene.
Beyond her recorded works, Joon Gloom is an active performer. She hosts a popular weekly open stage in Thousand Oaks, providing a platform for local talent to shine. Additionally, she is a regular participant in Nabu Wines' Sunday Night Live monthly tribute series, where she continues to connect with audiences through her compelling performances of some classic songs.
She was also gracious enough to share her time and talent on my latest release. She sang some beautiful background vocals on Until The Sun Comes Up. Please welcome to Wils Bach’s Song Pod…Jacqui Gaball also known as Joon Gloom.
Joon Gloom
The Artists' Way by Julia Cameron
https://juliacameronlive.com/the-artists-way/
For more on Wils Bach:
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Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast
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. My guest
Meet June Gloom: Artist Introduction
00:00:18
Speaker
today releases music and performs as June Gloom. She's a talented singer-songwriter, born and raised in a small town just outside of Los Angeles.
00:00:27
Speaker
Known for her raw, honest, and emotionally charged songwriting style, she created the alias June Gloom to embody her unique musical persona.
Early Works and Performances
00:00:36
Speaker
Since her debut as June Gloom in 2017, she has released five singles, captivating audiences with her heartfelt lyrics and evocative melodies. In 2023, she unveiled her latest work, The Wildfire EP, further solidifying her presence in the music scene. Beyond her recorded works, June Gloom is an active performer. She hosts a popular weekly open stage in Thousand Oaks, providing a platform for local talent to shine.
00:00:59
Speaker
Additionally, she's a regular participant in Naboo Wine's Sunday Night Live monthly tribute series, where she continues to connect with audiences through her compelling performances of some classic songs.
Collaboration with Tim Willsbach
00:01:10
Speaker
She was also gracious enough to share her time and talent on my latest release. She sang some beautiful background vocals on Until the Sun Comes Up. Please welcome to Willsbox song pod Jackie Gable, also known as June Gloom.
00:01:23
Speaker
Thank you for having me. Yeah. That was so nice. We've been playing back and forth on scheduling, trying to get you on here. So I'm glad to finally nail you down. Yes, yes. Happy to be here. Yeah. Where does this podcast find you today? I'm actually in my bedroom at home. All right. Nice. And you live in Thousand Oaks? Is that right? I'm close by. I'm in Oak Park. Oak Park. Gotcha. Really small. A lot of people don't know where that is. But close to Thousand Oaks. So I don't know if.
00:01:53
Speaker
You've
Songwriting Process
00:01:54
Speaker
listened to any of these so far, but basically what we're trying to do here on this pod, we're asking the question, how do you write a song? Yeah. Do you want me to just start? Yeah. So that's a question for you. You can either answer that in a big grand way or a very specific way, or you can say, too hard, next question, whatever. But that's the first question I like to throw people off with is, how do you write a song?
00:02:21
Speaker
Yeah, I mean I think it's a good question because everyone has a different process. For me, I'm one of those writers that doesn't write super often. I kind of wait for inspiration to come to me. I'm not like trying to force a song. So some years I'll write more music than other years, but pretty much it's like usually
00:02:42
Speaker
Some type of lyric or melody or both at the same time will come to me and then from there I'm like, oh my god, and then I just start like jotting down like like I don't know why but it just like starts flowing and Then I'll usually write a song like within the same hour like just a full song just like kind of pours out of me That's usually how it's been. I've had like a couple songs Song ideas like come to me when I was sleeping kind of that was really cool and
00:03:11
Speaker
And in those situations, I didn't always do this, but sometimes I would force myself to get up and hum on my voice memo app. And then in the morning, I would go back to it. But you have to be disciplined to do that, because if you're half asleep, you don't want to get up and do it, but sometimes you do. And I've definitely woken up and listened to him and like, what the heck is that?
00:03:38
Speaker
Cause I'm like in my sleep voice and I have no idea what I was trying to do. But yeah, most of the time I would say I just kind of, I'm feeling inspired. Usually it's, you know, I'm going through a breakup or I'm like, I'm heartbroken over someone. That's usually what causes the inspiration. And then I just really need to pour it out. It's like my therapy.
00:04:02
Speaker
Yeah, gotcha. So you're kind of almost like an antenna just out in the world listening for whatever signals catch your particular psyche and make you vibrate a little bit enough to get you to sing that melody for the first time or jot down a lyric? Yeah, yeah, I would say so.
00:04:20
Speaker
Um, a lot of times it's in those moments where you have like a clear mind, like, you know, in the showers a lot, like a lot of times, like I'll be like in the shower and be like, Oh my God, like I'm getting so many ideas right now. And then I have to like jump out and like, you know, do my voice message memo or whatever. Um, and then sometimes I have like writers blocks, like more recently.
00:04:45
Speaker
I haven't really been writing that much. It was just kind of sad. I just haven't been feeling it as much.
Testing Songs and Audience Feedback
00:04:51
Speaker
And I recently wrote a song, but then you go through that, is this even a good song phase where I tested it out at my open mic and I was kind of like, I don't know about this. And then you go through the whole part where you're like, do the people like it? Do they not like it? The feedback that you get from other people is important.
00:05:14
Speaker
Yeah, there's creative expression is part of it. But as a performing songwriter, you also want it to connect on a certain level. So yeah, having that platform to take a song that is just in the infancy or you're not sure about and send it out into the world and have it bounce back at you in the crowd's reaction. It can be an important part of the process for sure. I know I've done that.
00:05:41
Speaker
several times. Well, one of the releases on my latest record, Tiger, it was like, this is the best song I've ever written. And then I played it the first time out and I was like, oh, but that just completely fell flat. Nobody responded to that. I don't really know why. So yeah, sometimes it's just how it works with those songs.
00:06:00
Speaker
Yeah, I have some songs that I've been really more self-conscious about, because maybe they're more repetitive. I only have two chords or something in the song. But then I've had a couple friends be like, please play that song. It's my favorite song of yours. And that's what keeps me playing, because I'm like, OK, as long as there's some people out there that enjoy it, I'm going to keep playing it. You basically play with the same three guys when you're playing out, yeah?
00:06:22
Speaker
So I have my like OG band that like I would like record with and stuff, but they're all kind of like they have a bunch of other projects and they're like pretty professional. Like one of them goes on tours and stuff a lot. Um, and most of their other stuff is paid. So this is kind of like their passion project with me. That core group that you're mentioning, they played on your wildfire track, right? It's Daniel and.
00:06:47
Speaker
Yeah, so Daniel, who's on that? Yeah, Daniel Bermudez and Michael Cole. He's my lead guitarist. Yeah. And then I also have a bass player named Kevin Kim. I don't think he played on that track though. Gotcha. But I think I actually hired a bassist for that one. Your Wildfire track. I know I've told you this several times, but I really just love everything about that. It's so hooky.
00:08:04
Speaker
We are.
00:08:08
Speaker
I can't really tell if this is interesting. So what part do you call the chorus in that song? Okay, gotcha. So then what would you call the time changes?
00:08:21
Speaker
because that's super hooky too. And that you almost hear, I don't know if you don't hear it twice before the chorus, do you? Yeah, I think, yeah, you do. Yeah, you do. It's a pre-chorus. Pre-chorus, okay. But yeah, you've got, I mean, Hooks, all over the place, the guitar is hooky, the bassline's doing some cool stuff. Daniel is amazing on the drums so much that I stole him for many of the songs on my latest record.
00:08:47
Speaker
I'm so glad. Yeah. So thanks for that. Of course. Incredible. But talk about that song. What's the inspiration for that song? How did you write that one? Yeah.
Inspiration Behind 'Wildfire'
00:08:58
Speaker
So funny enough, I don't remember writing that song, which is funny. Oh, that's interesting. But it was so long ago. I wrote this song. I think I wrote it when I was probably 20.
00:09:11
Speaker
And I'm almost 29. So this is like almost 10 years ago that I wrote that song. But I totally know what it was about, like what I wrote it about. So I was in this relationship that like started out, like in my eyes at least, like really amazing. And then over time the guy just sort of changed and he sort of became like a monster. And I could have written something like way worse than this, but this was just kind of like,
00:09:41
Speaker
Like time does change everything. Like you never know how people are going to change and you know what relationships are going to fall to the wayside. Like you really don't know. And so that's kind of what it was about. I was thinking about like, you know, you were the one I always wanted and you were the one that set me free. Like I, it's weird because I did initially write this as a duet.
00:10:07
Speaker
And yeah, and I was supposed to record it with someone, a vocalist that I really, really loved. And he actually has a pretty big following. But then it just, he was going to have to like record it like out of state. And I think his life just got really hectic. And me and the band were kind of sort of waiting to like finish the song. And we had everything else done other than his vocal.
00:10:34
Speaker
So we kind of all just decided like, okay, let's just make this not a duet. Like it sounds good with just your voice. That's what they were telling me. So I was like, okay. What part, what, what would have been the male part, which who, what was he singing? So sometimes I do like have friends like sing the duet with me. Um, so I do have that. So it's kind of like a call and response type thing. So like you were the one I always wanted. And then the guys started being like, well, you were the one that set me free.
00:11:04
Speaker
Gotcha. So you trade in lines back and forth. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And then they're kind of like, you were the one I disappointed. And then I'm like, well, you were the one I never wanted to leave. Yeah. You know what I mean? It's like, that song is kind of about like, I wanted to be with you. Yeah. That's so interesting. That gives it a whole new flavor. Like, I kind of love that.
00:11:29
Speaker
Thank you. I think it would be cool to rerecord it as it was originally supposed to be. I love that we're talking about it because I almost forgot that that's what it was meant to be. That's the way I was writing it. I think it also makes a bit more sense listening to the lyrics when you think of it that way. It works with one voice, but that's not the way that it was meant to be.
00:11:57
Speaker
And yeah, it's just when you've got that good chorus, you've got that great pre-chorus, super hooky. And then when you get to like, I guess we're calling it the third verse, you're kind of changing up the melody a little bit and just you kind of, you're kind of keeping it fresh and interesting. It's just, it's a really well done song. The production is amazing. Your band is...
00:12:18
Speaker
killer like I mentioned. How much of that, did you bring that to the studio kind of fully formed or did you find that in the studio with the players? Like how did you have the production of that song work out?
00:12:32
Speaker
Yeah, so Wildfire was definitely one of those songs that flowed out of me very easily. That's kind of like my golden child, that song. So a lot of times, I would take my songs, like me and my acoustic guitar, to Michael, my guitarist. And he would sort of give me advice on how we should take it to the next level. With Wildfire, it was cool because he was just like, wow, this is already great. Let's just add music to it now.
00:13:01
Speaker
I think we all have those, as songwriters, have those songs that are just like, I don't know where it came from. It just kind of fell on my lap. And, you know, I've done all the work up to this point on how to write a song and how to shape it and work the craft of it. And this one just kind of.
00:13:17
Speaker
is kind of just working in the background. And then your brain finally went, boom, hey, here it is, until the sun comes up. It was like that for me. I have no idea where that song came from. It's not about anybody I know, but it's a story song, and it was just there. It was just there one day.
00:13:36
Speaker
All right. And that's one of my favorites that I've written in the past handful of years. I think a lot of that has to do with the work that you've put in up to that point, right? It's not like it literally just... There's no non-songwriter in the world that they're like, hey, I wrote this song and here it is. You have to have done the work up to that point before you get that gift. You've got
00:14:00
Speaker
the hooky music and melody, and then you've tied it to a lyric that's a universal thing that everyone can understand and relate to really well. So it's just when all that comes together to work, it's pretty cool. I'm definitely proud of it. What inspired you to write your first song? What made you pick up the guitar and go, I have something I want to say, and here it is?
00:14:25
Speaker
There'll be, I guess I kind of started out more doing like poetry because I didn't play an instrument yet. So you could see them more as poetry. And then as I got older, I started writing poems back and forth to my grandma. She lived in Oregon.
00:14:40
Speaker
And her and I, she was a writer too. So we both write poetry back and forth. And then eventually when I was 15, I finally learned, started learning guitar. And then so of course I was just like, finally I have something to like.
00:14:56
Speaker
put all that I have to say out. You know what I mean? So yeah, right. And then honestly, since I was in high school, I mostly wrote about like relationship stuff or like someone I had a crush on or like, so I would say I mostly write about love. That's just like the easiest form to me. Sure. So I think one of my first songs I actually wrote about was actually like a happier kind of like
00:15:23
Speaker
Like just saying like, I really liked someone rather than being like, you broke my heart. Yeah. The happy songs are harder to write. They are harder. Because when you're sad, you just like pour stuff out of you. It's like flowing out when you're happy. It's kind of like, I feel like you think about it more like, what are the exact words that I should say?
00:15:43
Speaker
I feel like I'm being too corny sometimes when I'm doing the upbeat shiny happy songs or almost like, well, I don't want to point to it because then it'll go away. I can't look at a thing because then it'll vanish kind of thing. Yeah. And you make a good point about not being too corny. I think that's a really hard part about a happy song, is not making it the same corny song that everyone writes.
00:16:08
Speaker
I mean, that's a trick for pretty much anything, right? It's fallen into those, you know, cliche patterns and, you know, it's saying the same old thing that 700 other people have said just this, probably just this morning on Spotify, right? Yes. But they say that's always a struggle is finding a new way to say the thing that's been said thousands of other times. Exactly.
00:16:29
Speaker
When you started playing out, you didn't play as your name. You're like me. You have a fancy stage name. How did you pick June Gloom? And why did you want to not be your name? Yeah. So I used to go out as Jackie Giovanna because Giovanna is my middle name. But it just felt like
00:16:49
Speaker
I needed to change my name because I spell my first name very unique. I spell it J-A-C-Q-U-I. Anyone who wears Jackie, they're not going to think, oh, that's how you spell it. So I was just like, I'm setting myself up for failure. If I were to verbally tell someone, look me up. And then on top of it, my middle name is Italian.
00:17:11
Speaker
I know a lot of people probably don't know how to spell that either so i was like no no no i need to simplify my name and so i'm a really big playlister i make playlists on spotify like all day every day and usually i'll make like a monthly one of just like all the music that i find in like that month so i think like
00:17:31
Speaker
probably back in 2017, which is when I decided to change my name.
Origin of Stage Name
00:17:37
Speaker
In June, I had made a playlist called June Gloom and I spelled it all weird. And then I thought, wait a second, JG, Jackie Gable. Oh, you're right. Yeah. June Gloom. So that was already one reason. Second of all, I really liked the term June Gloom because like, and I know that that's like a California thing and I'm from California. So, and then also like,
00:18:01
Speaker
I always felt almost a little self-conscious that most of the music I wrote was when I was sad. My music is very emo and I just felt like sometimes it wasn't playable at bars and stuff because I'm like, I'm just going to be a downer. Nobody's going to want to listen to this.
00:18:21
Speaker
So, but I was like, but that really encapsulates like what, what my sound is. Like I'm gloomy. Like my music is gloomy. Um, and I think that over time I've kind of gotten out of that, like super depressing sound, like, especially because I started adding like production and a band and I, I didn't want to write like only songs that brought people down.
00:18:45
Speaker
So over time, that's kind of changed. So a lot of people are like, why are you June, June gloom? Like, you're like, you're not gloomy. Like, what the heck? Like, I don't get it. And I'm just like, well, if you listen to most of the lyrics of my songs, like they are not like sunshine and rainbows. Like they are. Right. Yeah. That segues us into the other song. Nightmares. That was just a single. Yeah. Oh, it's playing right now. It is.
00:19:15
Speaker
It just fucking hit you. All right. And you put out a video for that, too, that you directed that video, yeah? Yeah. So I had kind of a vision that I wanted to just do just one steady walking. And I wanted to do something more Halloween themed because the song was called Nightmares. Yeah, Nightmares, right? And I was releasing it around Halloween.
00:19:41
Speaker
So then I thought, oh my God, if I'm just like walking down the street singing this and I have someone behind me that I don't even realize until like the biggest part of the song, I just thought that would be epic.
00:20:48
Speaker
One thing I have to note, the recording process for that song was so intense. So it was Kevin Kim, my bassist, he engineered that song for me. And basically it was during COVID. So it was like, I call that song my COVID baby. It's probably my favorite recording I have yet. Because Kevin and Michael and I, not only did we do some in-person sessions,
00:21:15
Speaker
We then went ahead and did Zoom sessions, literally like piecing everything together and Michael was doing a bunch of like soloing and then we'd be like, ooh, I really like that part. We're keeping that snippet and we're putting that in there. So even some of the soloing is not like a one take. We're like putting in like the best of the best of the best. Oh yeah. Every lead on my record, same. I'm like, that's...
00:21:38
Speaker
Play it through and we'll go, oh, that sounded awful. Let's replace that. Yeah, it's like, piece it together. And then when you go to play it live, it's always tricky. Like, oh, now I have to play this solo that I couldn't play at home. Well, luckily, Michael is like the best. So he just memorized. Luckily, when you have that in a recording, you can listen to it and then memorize the new. And I know I've listened to it so many times because I love that guitar solo.
00:22:06
Speaker
so much, that's like the best part of the song in my opinion. But that took us two years, two whole years of doing that. So that's why I believe that it came out better than any of my other songs because the other ones were more so like a normal process where you go in the studio for like a couple days and you're like laying down the tracks and then everything comes out at the same time. But this was like, we were just working on one dang song for two years. Yeah, now I feel ya.
00:22:36
Speaker
We were perfectionists with it. The CD that I just released is my fifth one, total. So I've done two as a solo artist. I had two as my first band, Page Agreement. And then my third one was with a band called Peel. And we named it Beautiful Baby Elephant for that similar reason. We worked on it so long, it was like, we felt like it was gestating this giant, you know, animal. It just took forever. Yeah, that's beautiful. A beautiful baby elephant. Yeah.
00:23:05
Speaker
Um, who are you listening to these days? Who's on your turntable? I literally, so I jumped from like decade to decade to genre to genre. Like I always listened to everything. So I take inspiration from so many different things, but lately, like I was, oh my God, I'm obsessing over.
00:23:25
Speaker
like Journey, Send Her My Love. I love that. I just discovered Bruce Holmstein. I don't think I know that song. Okay, yeah. Send Her My Love. You never heard that one?
00:23:36
Speaker
probably know what you're saying. Yeah. It's so good. It's so good. Nice. The verses are even better. I'm like, I love when I, cause I feel like we all focus so much on having like a catchy chorus. Yeah. Sometimes the verses just aren't as good, but I'm such a verse person. Like I love, like I don't care if the chorus isn't that good as long as like the verses carry me through, you know? Yeah.
00:24:03
Speaker
Do you know who Dan Wilson is? Do you know that name? So Dan Wilson became known as the singer-songwriter for Semisonic, closing time, right? That's their big hit. But now he's a songwriter just kind of in the industry. He's written songs with Adele, her big hit. I can't remember the name of the song at the moment. He's written with the Dixie Chicks. He's written with Chris Staple. The list of people he's written with is
00:24:29
Speaker
But he has a thing I've heard him say several times speaking about your verse chorus thing where he goes, all right, you've written your chorus and it's hooky and it's great and fantastic. Now what you do is you slide that and now that's your verse and now go write a new chorus. Cause like you said, people are focusing on the chorus to be the hooky part that people want to sing along with. And now you have that and now have your verse be the hooky interesting, you know, catchy part.
00:24:57
Speaker
And then write another another chorus that's going to be even more catchy, hooky than that. So I've never actually done that because I tend to kind of get stuck. Like this is my chorus and I like it. And that's how it came out. And, you know, you have to kind of fight through that and work, continue to work through, you know, to build. But one of these days I'm actually going to try that and see, see what that does. That's really interesting. I like like thinking about that concept.
00:25:24
Speaker
But I've never, I've always just written in a way that was like flowing out. So anytime there's like advice on like structure and stuff, I'm like, how do I do that? Like I'm just like, it's such like creative process to me. And I feel like if I was, like if I was doing the, like if my career was like a commercial songwriter or something,
00:25:47
Speaker
then that would be so helpful. Like if you're like constantly writing music, I feel like having more of a structure way to do things because you're kind of forced to sit down and write, that would be so helpful. You mean structure, like not necessarily song structure, but like just kind of like a process that you do kind of every day kind of thing. Like a guideline, like guideline advice. And like to me that sounded more like structure because he's like,
00:26:15
Speaker
write a course, move on and out, write another course, move on. You know what I mean? It's not like something that's just like flowing out. You ever heard of this book called The Artist's Way? No, I don't think so. I don't remember her name. Julia, I want to say Julia Carmichael, but I don't know if that's right. Anyway, it's a book called The Artist's Way. I'll put it in the show notes.
00:26:40
Speaker
You were mentioning a lot of times you kind of go through spaces where you're not writing a lot or you run into writer's block. She's written this book 20, 25 years ago or something. Anyway, it's called The Artist's Way. And she kind of walks you through a process of kind of how to really build that
00:27:02
Speaker
creative muscle kind of in a way or kind of just shake the, shake the writer's block loose. But a lot of it, you know, I can, you know, give her, I could, I could leave a lot of it that a lot of it doesn't connect with me. The one thing that she does that I love is called morning pages. And basically what it is, is the first thing you do in the morning when you wake up before anything else has happened and, you know, the day has taken you any place. You just sit down.
00:27:31
Speaker
pen, paper, and you write three pages, just of whatever. Stream of consciousness, it can be whatever it's gonna be. It doesn't have to be a cohesive story. It doesn't have to be about anything. It could be like, I really slept like crap last night. My shoulder hurts. I said this thing to my friend yesterday that I hate. I heard this song and will I write a good song again? I'm super happy. I'm super, it can be whatever. It could be a memory from 20 years ago.
00:27:56
Speaker
It's whatever it is, it's just to kind of get like, just get whatever is on your mind and your subconscious just out into the world. And it kind of, for me at least it has this effect of just like kind of clearing my head and also focusing what I really want to write about. So again, I'm kind of out of the habit of doing that, but that's a really cool thing that I found that really kind of stokes my creative fire and kind of really just focuses
00:28:23
Speaker
me to like, let me know, like, what do you really want to talk about lately? So yeah, that makes sense. Cause they always say like journaling is so good for you. So, and I always felt like songwriting was my journaling kind of thing. But I mean, if I'm not able to like be spewing songs out, then yeah, maybe journaling is something that should be going, going into, for sure. It's worth checking out. Okay.
00:28:50
Speaker
And then you mentioned when we were talking before the interview, there's a song that you're about to record that's alive on, you did some live sessions. Is that, where is that? Is that Daniel's place or where'd you record those?
00:29:02
Speaker
Yeah, so I really wanted to do a live series with my band, and then we also wanted to do that for our band's sake, so that because we don't practice super often, we wanted to also have these recordings for everyone to be able to listen to, to be able to just jump right back in for a gig. So it was like a win-win.
00:29:24
Speaker
Yes, that was the Daniels place. He has a cute recording studio like in his house. Yeah. And yeah, so the in between is one of the first ones I released. I still have like probably a good like six of them to release. We recorded I think like eight or nine songs that day.
00:29:43
Speaker
It was a long day and I was like recovering from strep throat too. I don't know how I did that.
Upcoming Song: 'The In-Between'
00:29:51
Speaker
But anyways, so the in-between was the first one I released and that we're all gonna get together in July and record the studio version of that.
00:30:02
Speaker
But that's one of my newest songs that I feel like has resonated with a lot of people. It feels like wildfire, like the next 2.0, just because I feel like with wildfire, I was getting really positive feedback right away. And in between, I immediately started getting good feedback too. And I think it's the same kind of thing where I was able to write
00:30:27
Speaker
a pretty well-structured pop song, if you will, that people understand, and it's just easy for them to listen to. Yeah. What's the first line in that song? You were the one I always wanted. Oh, wait. Sorry. I'm thinking Wildfire. That's Wildfire.
00:30:46
Speaker
Oh my god, wait, let me go to my lyrics. I'm literally making it up. I know, it's tough to access that when you're not in the moment. I know. This feels embarrassing, but I'm literally like, what are my lyrics? Total different part of your brain. I forget my lyrics all the time. Especially because I haven't been playing lately. I feel like I don't know my own music. Yeah, so I start with, I'm in a hotel lobby waiting to come home.
00:31:12
Speaker
I'm big on opening lines. I think they're super cool. That's a good way to get into a song. And when you set the scene like that, that's a nice way to get that open. Are you gonna do the same kind of production when you take it to the studio as you've done in the live sessions for that song? It's definitely your stuff, but it feels a little more
00:31:39
Speaker
you know, rootsy kind of Americana-y almost, which I love. I love that. I'm just curious if you're going to keep that or you're going to like do a little more slicker production or what's, what's your, how are you going to do that song? Production is so tough because I feel like you could take songs so many different directions. Oh, absolutely. And I'm very thankful to have a group of guys that have very like strong, passionate visions for my music.
00:32:06
Speaker
because I'm kind of like the first step and then I like show them songs and they're like, Oh, I already know what to do on my part. Like, I already know, like, you know what I mean? And I think that they, I think that we are going to keep it somewhat similar to that.
00:32:20
Speaker
Sometimes when we're in production mode we kind of like think of things and we come up with new things. I know I think they were talking about maybe wanting to do some like steel guitar in there. So it's probably gonna be like I know people have been saying it sounds a bit more country.
00:32:36
Speaker
And I've also had people tell me I could be a country artist and like my uncle's saying, you need to make some country music. I think that's going to be more American. That's all production though, like you're mentioning. Like genre to me is just production. It is. If you write a good song, it doesn't matter how you produce it. You could turn it into a pop song or a country song or Americana song or
00:32:59
Speaker
You know, whatever it is, that's all in the production, that the actual meat of the message of the lyric and the melody, that's what I focus on at least. And I mean, I definitely have a certain style that I typically always produce, but it doesn't mean it can't be.
00:33:19
Speaker
shaped differently. But I wouldn't call that song country. It's definitely, or at least the version that I heard. Yeah. It's a bit more like bluesy, like you said, Americana, maybe a little bit of funky. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're safe and way too different. You're just not good out for it. I wish that you could see what I see. But we're in the in-between.
00:34:11
Speaker
But I do really struggle with knowing what I want my sound to be.
00:34:19
Speaker
I think that what's most fitting for me is something in that realm, like almost like maybe like Sheryl Crow kind of sounding music. Like growing up, I was really inspired by all those female singer songwriters, like Jewel, like Vanessa Carlton, Michelle Grant, like all those kind of people. I feel like that's probably my genre.
00:34:40
Speaker
Yeah, but Paula Cole, are you into her at all? You know that person? Paula Cole? No. Yeah. Interesting. Okay, I'll have to look her up. Yeah, you have to check her out. I think I think you would. That might be in your wheelhouse. Okay. But then actually, you probably you probably know one of her songs. Did you ever watch
00:35:00
Speaker
What the hell is that? I think Dawson's Creek, the theme song from Dawson's Creek. Oh, I don't wanna wait. Yeah, yeah, that's colorful. Okay, yeah, oh yeah, she fits that for sure. But I also have a really deep love for 80s music and like synthy, synthy music is my favorite. So it's hard for me to like, like I would love to make like a total like synth wave pop album. Yeah.
00:35:26
Speaker
Uh-huh. And so it's almost like I could. You don't have a ton of synthy stuff that I've heard, I don't think, though. Do you? No, because I think one of the things. That's just the next chapter. Yeah, I write on acoustic guitar. So it just like automatically starts sounding like singer-songwriter, and then we end up producing it that way. And it's like,
00:35:45
Speaker
I feel like if I was more of like an at home producer, I could just start writing songs like immediately on like my midi synth or something. And then it would immediately become a pop song. But it's like, I feel like it just naturally always goes to that. And I also think that because I have more of a voice probably for like bluesy
00:36:06
Speaker
soul Americana songwriter, it also doesn't go that direction. Yeah, you've got a little smoke, a little gravel in your voice, just a little hint. So yeah, you definitely have that going for you. I feel like Taylor Swift is a good example of someone though who changed it up over time. And I definitely respect her for that, like going from country to pop.
00:36:28
Speaker
Because it didn't make everyone happy. But look at her now. She's doing great. I mean, country and pop, we're talking about like, I want to say radio, but that's not really.
00:36:40
Speaker
relevant so much anymore, but there's such a very thin line between pop music and country, excuse me, country these days. Are you a Swifty? I wouldn't say I'm like a Swifty per se, but there's definitely like, she has a bunch of songs that I like, but I would say when she first came out as an artist and she was like super young and she was in country,
00:37:05
Speaker
I was a fan and then kind of as she changed, I started being like, okay, what is this? I started getting a little annoyed. And then now over time, I've kind of like come to like her again. And yeah, there's a lot of songs I like and I definitely respect her as a songwriter because she actually writes music. She's not just one of those artists that just like gets music thrown at her. You know, she writes, right?
00:37:30
Speaker
I mean, she's bringing in some heavy hitters to help her out. Yeah, oh yeah, she has a lot. Yeah, she's definitely doing the work as well. And that's something that really fascinates me about, like, famous artists nowadays. You go to look who wrote the song, and there's like five writers. Yeah. And I'm like, what? How is that possible? I've never co-written, I don't really know how to do that, so. Yeah. I haven't done much co-writing either, but the saying is, or the whatever,
00:37:59
Speaker
If you were in the room when the song was getting ready, you're getting a credit. The guy bringing a coffee in, put me on the list. I don't know. That's probably not true. But yeah, there's so much that goes into writing those simple pop songs that turn into big hits. Everybody thinks they can do it because they sound so simple, but it's not as simple as it seems.
00:38:25
Speaker
Yeah, and I think the producers get a lot of credit for that too because some songs would not be as good without the production that they have, especially if the lyrics aren't good. There are a lot of songs that just like the instruments and the music are kind of clouding, but it doesn't really matter what they're saying because the music is so good.
00:38:48
Speaker
If they didn't have that, it wouldn't be. It wouldn't get hit. That's the age old question too, what's more important, the music or the lyric? There's so many people that don't listen to the lyric. It gets lost on so many people. It's more about what kind of mood, what kind of vibe
00:39:10
Speaker
do I get when I'm listening to this song? Well, I always say that if you have one or the other, it's a good song. If you have both, it's a great song. Yeah. Oh, yeah. There's this like kind of up and coming singer songwriter, Holly Humberstone. I really like her obsessed with her album. I think she might have been the one that was inspiring me to write was Holly Humberstone. Okay. Nice. Her newest album is like the kind of music I would love to make.
00:39:40
Speaker
So she's kind of more in the pop realm, but she has like rock elements. So I would call her like indie pop. And then more recently I saw Maggie Rogers in concert. She just released a new album and I hadn't heard any of it yet. So it was kind of cool to just like hear it live first. Most of the songs she played I would say were from the new album.
00:40:07
Speaker
And it blew me away. That concert, I was tearing up. I was feeling so inspired by her. And it just made me feel like, oh my god, I do really want to do this. Her performance was a dream. And I was just like, wow, I would really love to do this. And my mom was saying, you could do this. You're just as good as everyone else. You've got to love moms. I love that, yeah. But I was just like,
00:40:37
Speaker
It was making me feel really inspired and it's tough to then come home and be like, well, I still have writer's block. I still have this life, like very far away from playing.
00:40:49
Speaker
venues like that and I struggle with vocal nodes so I feel like I'm often very discouraged when it comes to singing and performing and I recently haven't been really performing much at all because often it feels like I have to choose between like a social life or singing and that's tough because I'm a social person I like to go out I like to have fun and sometimes it feels like
00:41:17
Speaker
I can't do that if I wanna play gigs. So it's rough having like a sensitive system. It doesn't really allow me to do both.
Vocal Health and Advice
00:41:29
Speaker
Yeah. So I know you and I have talked a little bit about your vocal notes in the past. Like how is that? I know you've been to, you know, some medical professionals to kind of help you through that. Is there any kind of wide advice you can share with anyone to kind of avoid that or help?
00:41:46
Speaker
I know a lot of people kind of run into that. Is there advice that you would give someone to kind of help? Yeah, for sure. So first of all, I used to think that it was like something I was doing wrong. I went to many doctors and I even went to a gastro doctor because
00:42:05
Speaker
There is something to be said about if you have acid reflux, it can affect your vocal cords. But with that to the side, I would say the main thing of advice is rest. Like if you have to sing.
00:42:19
Speaker
you want to try to rest your voice as much as you can before you sing and after for recovery. And another thing is, is warming your voice up properly. The vocal therapist I went to recently, he has me doing something on a daily basis, which is just like vibrating the vocal cords. So like you could choose like a V sound, a Z sound, um,
00:42:47
Speaker
Those are like the two that I remember, but so you would go you take a deep breath in you would make an F and it would turn into a V so it'd be And that kind of like makes your vocal cords like vibrate in a healthy way Yeah, so I would just say at rest as much as you can but I know that that can be hard in like the music industry because you're always in loud places like I love to go to live music and
00:43:17
Speaker
outside of performing.
Concert Solo Experiences
00:43:19
Speaker
And then when you're in a loud environment, you end up, if you're with people, you end up yelling. That's why I actually like going to concerts by myself. Like I used to when I was younger in my early twenties, I used to go, I had a phase where I would go to LA to see a concert at least once a week, sometimes twice, almost always by myself.
00:43:39
Speaker
And it was so nice because I could just listen to the music. I wasn't screaming all night and I would leave with my voice. Yeah. Nice. It was nice. Well, hey, it's been great talking to you. I know you have to be somewhere so I won't keep you. I feel like we could talk for another two hours. Yeah, we could. It's been great having you on. Thanks for spending some time chatting nerdy song content with me. Thank you for having me. This was so fun.
00:44:05
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.