If you haven’t been following Secondhand Serenade since the first album, Awake, in 2007, like surely a good portion of his 3 million fans on Facebook have been, then you’ve most certainly heard his hit single, “Fall For You.” The man behind Secondhand Serenade, John Vesely, took some time to speak with The Berklee Groove about songwriting, the brand new upcoming album, and wearing his heart on his sleeve.

Berklee Groove: How did you get started with writing music?
John Vesely: Music has been in my family for quite some time. My brother is a musician and he went to Berklee and my father was a professional musician for 25 years, with some time spent overseas. It was around me constantly as I was growing up, and when I found it on my own, which happened around the beginning of high school/end of junior high, you know, I definitely was not the ‘put in the time and practice, practice, practice [type],’ I just more, dove right in. I had lots of creative surges and writing came really naturally to me, because I had the strive to make music right out of the gate. I started off playing bass, actually, and it was hard to get any writing in because usually the guitar player in the band did all of the writing, and eventually I switched over to guitar. And eventually I stopped trying to find a band and started doing it myself because I just had too much trouble.

BG: Do you have a specific method or process that you go through when you’re writing?
John Vesely: I guess you would call it organized chaos; it comes naturally, as any musician would know. You can definitely say ‘I’m going to sit down and write a song’ and write it, but it’s not going to be your most inspired work. It’s the kind of thing that happens when you’re least expecting it. I’ve written songs, I’ve started writing songs, I wrote melodies, wrote lyrical lines while I was driving my car, going to the bathroom, in the shower; it’s the kind of thing that happens, you know, whenever. Which is nice to have a phone that I can take voice notes on. It’s frustrating though, because nowadays you can’t talk on your phone when you drive. I looked kind of crazy; I actually had my windows tinted in my car for a long time because I would sing at the top of my lungs in my car. It’s the kind of thing that happens on a whim, and you have to be prepared for it. The most important part is that you never take for granted what you’re doing, you know? When you’re out in public and you have a good idea, you have to jot it down. You constantly have to be doing that and then you put the ideas together at some point. It’s like writers that produce literary work, but we hum things and we look even crazier.

BG: Out of all of your albums so far, do you have a particular song that you’re most proud of or the most connected to?
John Vesely: Yeah, well I had a song called “Never Too Late,” which I think musically is a pretty great song, and lyrically. It’s one of my newest songs that I released on my Weightless EP. I produced it myself and did all of the orchestration, the orchestral arrangements, and everything on my own in my own house. I was really hands-on with that song. I also definitely do think the arrangement and the writing for “Fall For You” was done really well, and I worked with Butch Walker for production with that song and it paid off – the song did really well. In this business, there’s a certain amount to be said about that unknown factor that people tend to latch onto songs for, and I don’t know… that song seemed to have it, and I’m not sure what made it so special, but it’s all about trying to harness that, whatever it may be, and trying to do it again.

BG: You’re pretty well known for “wearing your heart on your sleeve” with your music. Do you think that is part of why your music has become so popular?
John Vesely: Possibly. I think so. I think there are a lot of things that go into making a song, especially songs that people are going to listen to and appreciate on a larger scale. I think a lot of it is definitely being able to connect to the lyrics and being able to connect to what the writer is trying to say and get across. The second thing is making sure that the musicality is matching what you’re trying to say – that’s really important. There are some records that do that really well, that harness what they’re trying to get across with the lyrics and make you feel that with the music before you even hear the lyrics, you know, which is very important. And third, is just writing in a way that is just being catchy melodically – and that’s something that some songs are doing really well right now, obviously, that aren’t saying much at all, but that are obnoxiously catchy, and that you’re, without wanting to or realizing, going to be humming walking down the street. But it’s putting all of those factors together, and that’s very, very important, and it’s a necessity when you’re writing a song that you want to be successful. I’ve been trying to learn how to do that, and I’m still learning and I’ll continue learning until the day that I die, but I will always write very personally and I will always try to get my point across as well as possible, and the easiest way to do that is to be very, very honest and not write too cryptically. I’m not one of those writers who throw in a slew of metaphors, I just write really literally. I don’t want to hide what I’m saying. You can be creative and artistic without making it nonsensical.

BG: You originally started out as just a solo act; what influenced you to start recording and touring with a full band?
John Vesely: You know, I just wanted to keep my options open musically and I really do love to play with a full band. I recently got off of an acoustic tour and then I went with a full band out to Asia shortly thereafter, and the Asia tour was rad. I like the experience of hanging out with a band, and when you choose this as a lifestyle and a career, it’s just you out there. If you have a band with you, it enhances the experience, so that’s a lot of fun. And also just playing on stage, that’s a different dynamic all together. When you’re alone, you can’t put on a big show or extravaganza – it’s just you and a guitar. But touring with a full band is great; it’s really different. As far as recording, I usually record most of the stuff by myself. I’m not a drummer – you will never see me behind a drum set. I may produce some drum parts but I’ll never sit behind a drum set – it’s not my thing and I don’t have the coordination for it. I record it with midi and then send it off to my drummer and he records it and it’s a lot easier that way. My drummer usually puts his own twist on it and I just give him what feel I would like to have, and he turns it into a drummer’s performance.

BG: What has been the most difficult thing you’ve had to overcome throughout your career?
John Vesely: You know, the most difficult thing has been psychological issues. Especially when you do well and you do really well really quickly. I went through a period kind of going down hill as a person for a while, and it affected me musically and it affected me personally and writing became nearly impossible. When I did write in that stage, it didn’t turn out to be what I wanted it to be, or at least what other people wanted it to be. I kind of had this little awakening over the course of this past year and it’s been great. Creatively, I’m in the best place I’ve been in years or possibly ever. Psychologically, if you’re not in the right headspace, you are worthless musically. It’s something you have to pull yourself out of on your own. You know, beyond that, once you have that inspiration, being able to work on something and being able to step away from it for a moment, sometimes you get too close, especially if you’re producing it yourself or if you’re performing with the instruments yourself, you can get so lost within that song or that recording. You need to be able to step away from it and gain some perspective and it’s a very, very difficult thing. I’m still not perfect at it but I’m getting better. Thinking objectively is very important in this industry.

BG: Your next album is being funded through pledgemusic.com and you’ve already exceeded your goal, which is awesome. What has that been like?
John Vesely: We reached the goal in like, a month, which was great and it’s still going. Now it’s just for promotional and financing to be able put out the record, but the budget for the record is done. I got a bunch of gear that I needed and I’m going to work with some producers and produce a bunch of it myself. I’m really, really excited; it reassures me how I’ve changed my own life and proves that everything is going to be okay. After a while with the label situation – not that they weren’t doing great or I wasn’t doing great, we both had our faults… But the fact of the matter is that nothing was particularly getting done in a really, you know, forward fashion. They were so busy and there were so many other bands on the roster and so few people at the label that it was really hard to allocate resources. I was also not on my A-game and I was lost and seeing crap on tour, and I wasn’t taking care of my body, I wasn’t taking care of myself. With my whole change of attitude and lifestyle, I thought it’d be a good time right now, if I wanted to put out a new record, to go somewhere and maybe get a fresh start. And we did and started to do a few songs and we were going to try to sign to a different label right away, but then I said, ‘You know what? I’m going to try to do this record on my own,’ and it started turning out really well – better than most of the stuff I’ve done, in my opinion. So I said I’m going to go about this without any regulations and without anyone checking up on me, I’m just going to make the album I want to make, like I did with Awake. So far, it’s going so great and pledgemusic.com is available for artists to use, where it worked out perfectly for me. Granted, you need to have a fan base and something to offer, but it’s a really, really great way. So many artists are going that route now and I think it’s scaring labels and putting them in awkward positions because they don’t want to do artist development, right? But the paradox lies within that, because artists that are already developed don’t need the label anymore. I feel really confident in my decision. And we can either choose to license the album out to a major or I can just distribute it myself… it’s just a matter of how busy you want to be, and I think me being busy as shit and not having time for anything else is okay, as long as I know work is being done, because when a label is involved, there’s so much time that you are just assuming that work is being done, and you don’t know for sure. I really like being on top of everything. Since I left the label, my online numbers have skyrocketed, my sales numbers have skyrocketed, it’s all been going uphill since I left the label, and I’m not expecting someone else to do it. But in the same token, it goes to show that they weren’t doing as much as I am doing right now.

BG: Well you do have over 3 million fans on Facebook now, which is nuts.
John Vesely: Yeah, I’m really lucky to have people that support me. And some of them may be stagnant and some of them may be really assertive and really active, but the fact of the matter is - they’re there. And once I have this new material and once I start really doing these major video updates – I’m going to do tons of updates as soon as I start working and this next week, I should be starting full-on on this next record with updates constantly and actually tracking – and once I start doing all of that, it’s going to be a community that’s going to be buzzing and I want people to excited about it.

BG: What kind of sound can we expect from the next album?
John Vesely: I’m definitely going to keep off of that hard rock sound that I did a little bit of on this last record, Hear Me Now, and I was definitely going down more of a rock path, and I’m stepping back from that. Awake was a mix of great acoustic music and a kind of rock – but it was acoustic, and then A Twist In My Story was a perfect little median, in between. And then Hear Me Now was a little confused, to be perfectly honest. The songs were all great, in my opinion. I really liked all of the songs, but the album was confused – it didn’t have a lot of identity. This album is going to be a lot more, I guess, cohesive and it’s all going to work together. I’m going back to Awake as far as [being] acoustic goes and moving forward in a different direction. It’s going to be a lot more positive, in sound especially, and in production it’s going to sound more uplifting. Lyrically, it’s going to be the same stuff, a lot more about like, really respecting yourself in positive ways. We have a song called “Back to the Old Days,” which is a really feel-good song, which is about thinking about back to when things were easy – when you didn’t have a dime, but things were so much easier and you could go about your day and you didn’t have to worry about anything, which was a great time. It’s all about thinking positively and allowing yourself to get lost in easier times and letting them inspire you in your current state.

BG: Alright, so last question. Do you have any advice for aspiring songwriters or performers?
John Vesely: Absolutely. A few things. Really, really… well I don’t really have to say this, because if you’re really an aspiring songwriter or musician, then you can’t stop yourself from playing constantly, because it’s like a bug, it’s like a sickness and you can’t get enough of it – so I don’t have to tell people to do that, because it’s obvious. But really, try to focus on what you’re doing not being just for you, because that’s selfish. Music is for everybody to enjoy and you really have to consider that when you’re creating this music. A lot of people when I was growing up would say they didn’t want a big fan base because they wanted to make music that they wanted to do – and that’s cool, you want to make music for yourself, whatever, but there’s no point in making music that people don’t want to listen to. I think it’s important to write about things that people care about and that they can understand, and after so many stories from fans about how my music has affected them in some way, shape, or form positively… every time I hear something like that it’s like, ‘okay – I’m going to be playing music tomorrow.’ And pay attention to your fans – fans are the most important thing in what we do. It allows me to play music as a profession and if I wasn’t playing music as a profession, then I wouldn’t be putting out this music that I’m making, and this music would never exist. So fans are really the most important thing in the equation – for the artist, for the musician, for the record labels… for everyone. You have to rely on them to have your back. Treat them with as much respect as possible. And play all of the time. Make music.

For more Secondhand Serenade, check out these links:
Official Website
Pledgemusic.com Campaign
Facebook
Twitter
Myspace
iTunes

By: Emily Resnevic

Casey Belisle is a drummer in Roz Raskin and the Rice Cakes, a prominent Providence band getting a name for themselves in Boston and other cities around New England. I chatted with him about how the band was going and gathered his thoughts on being in a touring independent band.

Emily Resnevic: Any success you’re particularly proud of with Roz and the Rice Cakes?

Casey Belisle: Well last year we won the Providence Phoenix Best Local Band award, and around here people really read and enjoy the Phoenix so the fact that we’re their favorite local act is pretty cool. Also this year we played at AS220’s Foo Fest, which I’ve been wanting to play for years, and we got this awesome time slot, right in the afternoon, so we had one of the biggest crowd reactions after Andrew W K. So that was a lotta fun. And we toured three times this year! I think that’s pretty impressive.

(AS220 is an art gallery in Providence which also has local and touring bands play shows. FooFest is an all-day event in August where they block off the nearby streets and set up a large outdoor stage with craft and food vendors).

ER: Tell me about your recording process.

CB: Well we’ve been recording our most recent album completely on our own. We recorded, mixed, and made all the album artwork.  It was really hard at first, and it took months to learn everything and get it all right. Justin Foster, who is our bass player, rents out a mill in Central Falls, and we record in that space. So far we haven’t really turned much of a profit from the album yet, but we really learned so much. We paid ourselves in knowledge, you might say. (He chuckles).

ER: Why do you like recording on your own so much more?

CB: Because you have this control over everything, you can make it everything you want to hear. Not that I don’t like hearing other input from an outside perspective…but honestly it was just not within our budget to hire a professional to record our album for us, and in a way this almost seems more genuine. Every single process on this finished product is of our own artistic inclinations. Like, Matt DeCosta recorded an album for us, which was great, and he put his own little flair and input into the mixing, but we really wanted to capture everything ourselves. $5,000 is a lot of money to drop on something like that, especially when we realized we could just do it on our own.

ER: So you’ve been very into the do-it-yourself type of thing.

CB: Yep. There’s no representation backing us, it’s just us and our music. Well, actually we’ve had a few companies helping us out. Narragansett Beer sponsored us, and gave us some beer if we promoted them, which was cool. Another one was Sterlingwear Coats, which is this coat company that’s based in Boston I think? Justin just asked if they’d represent us and they said yes. So they gave us some money to help out and they also gave us three awesome coats. I got this modern day wizard looking coat, it’s awesome. Other than that, we’ve just been selling merch and fundraising to make enough money.

ER: What about the music video that you just recorded, didn’t you do a lot of fundraising for that?

CB: Oh, yeah! That’s another thing we’ve accomplished, the music video. We used Kickstarter which really helped us out. It’s a great website, and anyone in the arts can use it. For us it was really effective. We basically decided that we wanted a visual art representation for one of our songs. So we put up our goal of $5,000 and asked people to donate to us, and we gave gifts to everyone who donated any size note. Like for $1 we’d give a free song out, for $10 we’d give out 2 free albums, and for $50 we’d give a T-shirt, all of our albums, and autographed toilet paper or something like that. People have really creative gifts on that website. We came up with a crazy one for $1,000. We said we’d hire someone to have a seance to bring Jerry Garcia back from the dead to cook them dinner, among other things.

ER: Did anyone donate $1,000?

CB: Nah, but if they did we’d go through with the seance.

ER: So after you made your quota, how did the video turn out?

CB: It was great. The video first of all helped us build our online credentials. If you’re not represented the way you want to be seen on the internet, you have to push through and come up with something memorable. The music video helped with that. It was something that we worked hard on and put a lot of time and money in, and it came out great, so I think that shows in the video. It was a huge group effort, trying to coordinate 60 people to act in it.

ER: What was the general idea?

CB: The idea was we were gonna have a huge monster chasing us through Chase Farm for our song, “Magma.” Our friend Adam knew a puppet designer who agreed to make it for us, and he just asked that we get lots of clothes and PBC pipes. We were unsure what he was gonna do at first, but we got all of our friends to donate old clothing and we would have these dye parties where we would dye them all this muddled purple and skin-toned colors. After that, we spent nights just putting it together and practicing how to run with it. I was the right arm, and our friends Brett and Kyle were the middle and left arm.  We had 60 people in the video just sprinting across the farm from us. It was an all day affair, and it was really hot that day. Thankfully Nice Slice Pizza donated a bunch of pizza to us for the day, and we wore a Nice Slice shirt in the video just to give them that little thank you.

ER: So how has DIY been working for you?

CB: I’ve never understood it more than now. I’ve seen it done in the punk scene, doing it by yourself, which I always thought was awesome. But you have to start somewhere. My entire family all started out working just to live week to week, trying to develop their own ideas and follow their dreams, and they’re all doing really well now. So I saw working hard at the bottom and making your way up from my family, and that was an inspiring influence. Success doesn’t always just come to you, which can be extremely frustrating, especially seeing other bands that become super successful and it seems like they’re not doing nearly as much work as we are. Maybe I’m envious a little, but it’s not easy.

ER: One last question: do you guys still put out rice cakes to eat at shows?

CB: Haha, you remember that! See, that’s great. We still like to give out little gifts and things to spread good feelings and to keep us in everyone’s minds. We give out pins and sometimes even CD’s now. It’s just something extra and nice. But if you get some rice cakes and nutella….mmm, delicious.

*Check out our concert pics here*

*Read our review of Shea Rose’s opening performance here*

Article and Photos By: Lisa Occhino

Sam Sparro’s platinum break-out hit, “Black & Gold,” charted Top 20 in 14 countries, earned him a Grammy Nomination, and was covered by huge acts such as Adele and Katy Perry (read on to find out which version he likes better!). The Australian-born singer/songwriter’s self-titled album debuted Top 5 in the UK and earned Gold certification and further praise from the world’s media. He has collaborated with Basement Jaxx, Mark Ronson, DJ Mason & DMC, remixed Kimbra, OK Go, and Sky Ferriera, and has written songs for the likes of Adam Lambert and Natasha Bedingfield. He has appeared on stage at Glastonbury and Coachella, and has earned prestigious MTV and ARIA nominations in Australia.

On April 19th, Sam Sparro made his first-ever appearance in Boston at the Brighton Music Hall, during which Berklee alum Shea Rose gave an incredible opening performance (read our review of Shea’s performance here). After the show, The Groove got the opportunity to interview Sam about the path his music career took, his advice on songwriting and collaborating, and of course, whether he prefers Katy’s or Adele’s version of “Black & Gold”:

Berklee Groove: How did you get your start in music? Were you a performer or a songwriter first?

Sam Sparro: I started singing in church when I was really little. My dad’s a musician and my grandfather’s a musician. I started writing songs when I was about 14.

BG: Who are your musical influences?

SS: My favorite singer is Chaka Khan. I really love Prince and Aretha Franklin and Erykah Badu.

BG: Tell me about the path your music career took. What were the most important connections or events in your life that got you to where you are today?

SS: The internet, really. I was living in London and I was doing demos in my bedroom, and temping in the mailrooms at Universal and Sony. I was an intern making five pounds an hour. That wasn’t really working, so I moved back to L.A. and I lived with my parents and started recording and gigging. I put my stuff up on MySpace, of all places – the dinosaur days of MySpace – and from there, Radio 1 in England started playing my music. I signed the deal shortly after that. The internet was definitely really helpful.

BG: How would you describe your sound?

SS: I guess it sort of evolved. People called the first album ‘electro-pop.’ Whenever people ask me what kind of music I do, I always just say pop because it’s a way of not having to answer the question [laughs]. But I’m influenced by so much different stuff. This album, [Return to Paradise], is really influenced by 1978-1984 disco.

BG: Your song “Black and Gold” was covered by Katy Perry, Adele, and Ellie Goulding. How did that work out? Did it come as a surprise to you, or was that all part of the plan?

SS: Well, Adele and I are friends and we’ve done a lot of shows together. Both of our first albums came out around the same time. I opened for her in the U.K. Radio 1 has a live lounge where you have to do a current hit song as a cover, and I guess that was around the same time that Katy Perry and Adele did it. Katy and I are friends as well – she actually had my demo before her album came out.

BG: So did they ask if they could cover your song, or did they just do it?

SS: Nope, they just did it.

BG: Whose version do you like the most? Are you allowed to say?

SS: Adele’s.

BG: What’s your songwriting process like?

SS: It’s always different, really. I’m a lot better at collaborating than I used to be, and I enjoy collaborating more. My advice to anyone who wants to collaborate with other artists is to let go of their expectations and their own boundaries that they place on themselves. Be more open to letting things happen, because that’s how you get some amazing songs. I’ve worked with people that I didn’t think were right to work with, and you get an amazing song out of it.

BG: What advice do you have for aspiring songwriters and performers?

SS: Write as much as possible. I think I probably write 10 songs before I write a good one. Just write as much as you can, because then you have way more to choose from. Even for this new album, I wrote about 60 songs before I had an album that I really liked. It took two and a half years.

Want more Sam Sparro? Check out these links:

Official Website
Facebook
Twitter

Milk Carton Kids. Photo Credit: Brendan Pattengale.

By: Jimmy Marino

Acoustic Americana/folk duo the Milk Carton Kids have been taking the music world by storm. In their short year together as a band, they’ve already created a large enough fan base around North America to tour multiple times around the continent, and their albums have received overwhelmingly positive reviews from fans and critics alike. In late February they played a show at Café 939’s Red Room, and I got a chance to sit down with the band before the gig to discuss their songwriting and their take on musical style.

Berklee Groove: Alright, well just for starters, it seems like everything’s been going well leading up to this tour so far. This is the first night of the tour, correct?

Joey Ryan: This is the first night of a little tour; just five dates down the East Coast.

Kenneth Pattengale: But it’s all part of a larger tour that’s lasted nearly a year.

BG: Where has that one been, primarily?

Joey: Two and a half times around North America, basically.

BG: It’s great that you guys have a big enough fan base to do that. How long exactly have you guys been playing together?

Joey: Well we have two “demarcation points.” We met about two years ago, and then pretty quickly started playing together informally. Then a year ago we announced the band, and then decided that this is what we were going to do.

BG: That’s great that everything fell together so quickly. What’s your songwriting process like? Do you two generally write separately or together?

Kenneth: Well, it comes every sort of way. You find yourself sometimes with this song that’s been completely delivered to you, and so then you’ve got to take that and say, “Well this thing showed up here, and now we’ve got to wrangle with it.” Sometimes, you’ve got to push your shoulder into the wheel a little harder, but it really happens every way. But hey, no matter how it shows up, we’ve taken care to share it with one another as soon as we can, so that we can both get our hands on the thing, check each other’s work, and both contribute as much as we can.

BG: And who are some musicians you would say that you draw influence from?

Kenneth: Trevor Menear.

BG: He’s the opener on this tour, right?

Kenneth: He’s a great example, and it’s not in jest; we spent half of the last year opening for bands that we admire, and I guess if a band we didn’t admire asked us to open, we’d have to think long and hard about that. Luckily, we didn’t have to think about that. These were people who were very inspiring to us. Similarly though, I’d like to think that when we get the chance to take people on the road to put in front of our audience, we’re equally as inspired by those people as the others. I don’t think it would be worth anyone’s time if we didn’t choose someone who fit that bill.

BG: Absolutely. And have there been any tough times since the band formed? Any bumps along the road?

Joey: I think I know the question that you’re asking, and I want to say no. The year that we’ve had all happened more quickly than we thought it would. Whatever small amount of success we’ve started to achieve happened so enthusiastically… the other question though would be, ‘Was it hard work?’ and honestly, it was the hardest thing we’ve ever done in terms of just the amount of work that it’s involved and the amount of hard decisions that we’ve had to make.

Kenneth: Well additionally, I’ll extract the question a bit; if you’d asked me that two years ago in regards to the nine years before that of my own experience, I’d say the hardest part would be the idea of being lost without any sort of direction. Either that, or maybe having some sort of direction and watching it fall flat on its face, and understanding that maybe that direction wasn’t strong enough.

BG: That’s completely understandable. On another note, your music seems to have reached a lot of people really deeply; for example, there are a lot of covers of your songs on YouTube and Soundcloud. How does it feel knowing that your music has inspired people to do that and take it into their own hands?

Kenneth: The feeling’s terrific! I mean it’s not weird or anything. It’s like if someone showed up with a picture of you that they drew and said, “Here, have this!” What better thing could you get? I love it.

Joey: The best cover is actually done by some Berklee kids, so I’ve been a little bit nervous to play the song here, cause I know that they know it well enough to have played it themselves. So we’ll have to put on a nice show for them.

BG: Absolutely. Reviews of your music seem to note just how human and honest your songs are. Actually, a few reviews of your albums have said that you guys are “not just another folk-duo-clone” and that your album Prologue “possessed all the right X factors.” What would you say are the things that set you apart as songwriters, and as musicians?

Kenneth: I’m not aware of an “X factor.” I think Joey and I just take this stuff as it comes and we give it our best shot, so I won’t even venture a guess on that. I’ve never heard the Milk Carton Kids as a folk duo though, really. I see it as more of a band. It’s got a band name, it’s got four instruments, and Joey and I are doing a bit of a juggling act, but there’s nothing meant to be too strong or overbearing about our personalities or “our thing”; it’s about writing and performing a good song.

Joey: And you started to zero-in on something I agree with: this doesn’t play as a duo, it plays as though there’s some sort of a separate presence that’s created when we play together or write together. When you strip one of us away from any of those processes, whether it’s the writing or the guitar playing or the singing, it really is an incomplete thing. So what I’m trying to say is that it doesn’t play like a duo because it plays as a separate point of view. It’s different from either of our points of view separately, and it’s different from both put together. It’s something else entirely.

BG: That’s absolutely fair. Would you have any advice for people who want to do what you guys are doing?

Kenneth: Just do it. Everybody thinks it’s so precious. It’s really not. It’s like making an album. You don’t need to call every friend from around the world to come play a little piece on it; you just go in and do what sounds good to you. Do the thing that you do every day, and then just go do it for people. They’ll tell you if they like it! The nice thing about this day in age is that there’s this great big stage that everyone gets some time on. It maybe wasn’t that way 30 years ago. If you think that you can’t find a stage to play on, that’s wrong, because you can; it’s all over the place. You’ve just got to step on the stage and think that you belong there.

Joey: That’s the thing; there are no barriers. There’s nobody stopping you from taking every single step towards having whatever success you want to have. You just have to take the first step, and then look around and see where you are. See what the options for the next step are. Then, take that one. The thing that both of us have learned is that you can take a lot of wrong steps, and it doesn’t matter. You always get another chance to see how what you do is going to affect people, to see what you have that’s going to reach somebody; the chance to keep refining what it is and keep trying to put it out in front of people. You’re always just one right decision away from landing exactly where you need to.

That night, they played an incredible 11-song set followed by another three-song encore to the crowd. To find out more about the Milk Carton Kids, keep up with them on their tour, or even download their albums for free, visit their website at themilkcartonkids.com.

Photo by Blair Clark

If you’ve ever had the nearly impossible dream of spending your life making music and sharing it around the world, then you have something in common with the deeply-engaging and soulful songwriter, Ron Pope. The Georgia native has not only taken the failing music industry by storm and given it a new (and refreshing) light, but has given those who dream about finding success through heartfelt and genuinely good music a revitalized sense of hope. Ron sat down with The Berklee Groove before his sold out show at Middle East in Cambridge, MA, to talk about how he did just that, what he thinks about the industry today and about his brand new (and ridiculously good) album, Atlanta.

“Just a drop in the ocean, a change in the weather. I was praying that you and me might end up together. It’s like wishing for rain as I stand in the desert, but I’m holding you closer than most, ’cause you are my heaven.” It’s the song that has had over a million downloads, over 17 million views on YouTube, and has been featured on hit television shows such as The Vampire Diaries, 90210, and covered by the original winner of The Voice, Javier Colon. “A Drop in the Ocean,” which Ron says was a “monster” and a “grassroots phenomenon” with over a million downloads before it even hit any of the television shows, might be his most well-known song and may have played a major role in fueling his career as an international touring and recording artist; however, the key factor in his success has been his own drive and passion for music and the desire to do things without the red tape of a major label.

Photo by Shervin Lainez

After “A Drop in the Ocean” became nearly an overnight sensation, Ron signed with Universal Music. Universal Music, not surprisingly with a new artist, put Ron on the back burner until the already sensational single continued to sell another 100,000 copies. However, Universal wasn’t what Ron wanted, or needed, as major labels almost always end up being for artists like Ron Pope – artists who want to create music and not simply be another developing brand passed around in the music industry. He soon left Universal and began doing things on his own, just as he did before he even became the incredible songwriter that he is today. “I wanted to do a lot of things. I wanted to play guitar, so I played guitar. And I was like, ‘well I better learn to write songs because no one is going to write songs for me,’ and I was like, ‘well I better learn to sing because no one is going to sing the songs that I write.’ I mean, I always sang, but I was like ‘well I better become a frontman,’” Ron told us, as he continued to tell us that he also learned other instruments because he wanted other instruments in his music and learned to produce because he needed his music produced. Ron then applied this theory to the way he treated his music in the business side of the music industry – he began doing everything himself and he did it his own way.

Photo by Blair Clark

Ron created music that he cared about and began treating his fans the way he treats his music – with a never-ending abundance of love and dedication. Ron told us how he originally replied to every single fan who contacted him, whether it be through MySpace (which he doesn’t use anymore), the email listed on his website, through Twitter, and any other form of communication available to his fans. Kyle McCammon, Ron’s bass player who sat down with us for part of the interview, proceded to tell us that Ron was spending ten hours a day replying to fans until it eventually became too much. As Ron’s fan base continued to expand, as it still is everyday with almost 60,000 fans on Facebook, it came to the point where Kyle told Ron that he simply couldn’t reply to every single person. Ron, who is easily one of the most dedicated musicians to his fans in today’s music world, couldn’t fathom not replying to every single person. Nevertheless, take a look at Ron’s Facebook page and then look any other internationally successul musician’s Facebook page. While he says he’s cut down dramatically the amount of people that he is able to reply to, he still replies more than almost any touring and recording musician today – especially more than any artist signed to a major label.

Photo by Shervin Lainez

That is just one of the aspects about Ron Pope that has been a part of the recipe for success as musician who is a regular with touring (including international tours) and has put out more albums than he could even specifically count when we first asked, and perhaps one of the most important things that aspiring performers should take note of. Ron is a musician who doesn’t just care about his music – he cares about the people who listen to and love his music and those people that love him back unconditionally. Thus, Ron’s success surely has partially stemmed from his endless stream of music released since 2008. With over eight albums released since then, including three in 2009 alone, he had a simple answer as to why he has chosen to release music at such a quick rate that virtually no musician in today’s industry and economy does: “Why not? People seem to dig them so I keep putting them out.” Adding that since 2008 there has been a gradual build in his fan base, he mentions, “I’m trying to keep myself satisfied. I’m interested in a lot of stuff so I keep making a lot of music, and people buy it.” And buy it, they do. Ron added that perhaps one of the reasons he’s been able to successfully release so much music in such a short amount of time has been that he has a song for everyone; it’s a lot easier for a person to find the perfect song to relate to in any situation for Ron, who has 145 downloadable songs on iTunes, than a band or artist who only has one album or a few singles.

Photo by Blair Clark

Although “A Drop in the Ocean” has gained notable ‘commercial’ success as some may say, Ron isn’t influenced by commercial, Top 40 music. Getting his voice from his father, Ron has been singing since the 2nd grade when he was allowed to join his school choir that generally only accepted students at least a 4th grade standing. Growing up, Ron’s musical influences included music that touched real life topics, such as artists like Tupac, in the hip hop and country genres, as he specifically mentioned. “I don’t know that there is anything more closely related to what I do than hip hop, because it’s people speaking honestly about their lives and the lives of people around them… where else does that happen? It happens in hip hop and country music… I think that’s where my music can draw comparisons, not sonically obviously, but from speaking about myself and people I know and things I’ve seen and things that real people are experiencing.” Including that he doesn’t know what “pop/rock songs are about anymore,” Ron, who also noted that he never has and still never does get nervous when he performs, has done an inspirational job with paving the road for musicians who want to have careers based on creating and sharing genuinely real music.

Photo by Shervin Lainez

Nevertheless, Ron Pope didn’t get to this point by following the same regimen that most of us at Berklee follow. Ron told us that he originally attended Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, to play baseball until he was injured to the point that he couldn’t play anymore, and subsequently transferred to NYU, where he received a degree in anthropology. Ron attended songwriting circles at NYU, in which he says his fellow songwriters made him realize that he could make a career out of his music. During his senior year, his band, The District, started gaining significant attention and after they graduated, Ron ditched the plan to attend law school to put his degree in anthropology to use and they went out on the road. As time went on and his experience with Universal Music came and went, Ron defeated the extraordinary task of creating a music career, with longevity nonetheless, as an independent artist. In a business, as Ron explained, that used to survive off of records sales of potentially 20 million copies, the artist was able to make money from touring; however, they now want a piece of everything an artist does, from touring to merchandise to the small amount of sales from the music itself, essentially developing each artist into a brand as they only way to ensure financial growth and security. Ron has completely defied the odds. He has built his own musical empire, one that includes a touring company, a recorded music division, a merchandise division, and other parts that are all done in-house, besides the parts that he has chosen to outsource, yet still without a major label, that includes people working for him not only in America but in Australia and in the UK as well.

Photo by Blair Clark

The only thing that Ron Pope said you miss out on from working without a major label, is the ability to become an icon; however, Ron Pope is the type of musician who is an icon all in his own. As a musician who spent three and a half weeks only listening to specific records and writing a song every single day in order to create his new album, Atlanta, as well as developed a specific palette of instruments and recorded practically the entire album completely live, Ron optimizes what a real musician is. When asked how he was able to achieve the uniquely stunning sound on the new album, Atlanta, he told us, ”What I really tried to do on this record was put together a palette; I said that we’re going to use drums and bass, piano, acoustic guitar, steel [guitar], banjo, fiddle, mandolin… you know, we made a list like that. And then we’re only going to use Hammond organ and then all of the crazy, sonic textural stuff from electric guitar. I have a distinct way of playing so we decided that it’d be best for me to not play at all, so I’m only playing on some of the transitions on the album.” Even more so, when asked where he drew the inspiration for the songs on the new album and all of his music in general, Ron gave the answer that only a musician who has an undeniable passion and understanding for music itself could give, saying “Once I write the song, it doesn’t matter what it’s about to me… it only matters what it’s about to you. It can be something different for each of us.”

The type of musicianship, passion, and dedication that Ron Pope possesses for his music alone is unmistakable, not any different from his incredible drive for creating a new light of hope in the music industry. If there is anything to take away from Ron Pope’s endless wisdom for music and the music industry, it is that the music industry and music itself are not dying – they’re being revitalized and reborn, all because of musicians like Ron. When music, rather than fame or money or consistent self-indulgence, becomes the sole focus for a musician, that is when anything is possible. Ron Pope said it the better than anyone could while giving the last bit of wisdom to us that he had time for before huddling with his band before the show when he said, “You’re going to have to work really hard. All I do is work… I always treat it like a job. Making music… you do it because you love it. Treat it like a job. Everyday, work hard, be focused. No one is going to give it to you. You’ve gotta be willing to bust your ass everyday – and don’t take ‘no’ for an answer…. Create something good. Do something good. That’s important.”

There you have it. Want to make a career out of music? Listen to Ron Pope; do it because you love it, treat it like a job, and never let anyone or anything (even Universal Music) stop you.

Want more Ron? Check out these links and be sure to check him out on tour now AND make sure you grab a copy of his new album, Atlanta!
Website
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
iTunes
SoundCloud

Eric Hutchinson. Photo Credit: Jeff Lipsky

*UPDATE: Click here to see our exclusive photos from Eric Hutchinson’s sold out concert in Boston!

By: Lisa Occhino

Eric Hutchinson kicked off an extensive U.S. headlining tour on April 17 at Denver’s Bluebird Theatre in support of his new album, Moving Up Living Down, which was released by Warner Bros. Records on the same day. Due to popular demand, the tour has been extended through June. In addition, a second show has been added June 26 at New York City’s Highline Ballroom since tickets to his May 2 concert sold out just days after going on sale. Hutchinson will also play to sold-out houses in Omaha, Minneapolis, Chicago, Boston, DC, and Los Angeles.

Moving Up Living Down – produced by Mike Elizondo (Eminem, Regina Spektor) and Martin Terefe (Jason Mraz, James Morrison) – is the follow-up to Hutchinson’s full-length debut, Sounds Like This, which rocketed on to Billboard’s Heatseekers chart at No. 1. It yielded three radio hits – the Gold-certified “Rock & Roll,” which hit No. 1 at Triple A, and the Top 5 singles “OK, It’s Alright With Me” and “Oh!” – and has sold more than 250,000 units.

“Watching You Watch Him” was iTunes’ “Single of the Week” last week. The track is a Top 15 hit at Triple A radio and has soared into the Top 25 at Hot AC. You can check out the official video for “Watching You Watch Him,” which is already in rotation at VH1, right here.

Eric Hutchinson tells The Groove how he got where he is today, the struggled he faced along the way, and the advice he has for aspiring singer-songwriters:

Berklee Groove: So I heard you went to college in Boston?
Eric Hutchinson: I did, I went to Emerson.

BG: Cool! What did you study there?
EH: I was a film major. I always kind of kicked myself because I guess you can cross-register, and I never took classes at Berklee but always wish I had.

BG: How did you get your start in music?
EH: I’ve always been interested in music. I started writing songs when I was really young, maybe 8 or 9. I had a musical family – they were really into The Beatles. I just always loved doing it, and it became a bigger part of my life.

BG: Besides The Beatles, who are your music influences?
EH: Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Paul Simon, stuff like that. Those are all artists that I remember listening to as a kid, and as I got older I found new ways to relate to them.

BG: Tell me a little bit about the beginnings of your career and how you got to where you are today.
EH: I finished school and started doing music full time, started touring, and I used to travel around in my Honda Civic and do as many shows as I could. I caught a couple lucky breaks and got to make this new album, and I’m really excited for it.

BG: Yeah, tell me about your upcoming album. How is it similar to or different from your previous albums?
EH: It’s the next step of what the last album [Sounds Like This] was. It’s a little bit about growing up. To me, “moving up, living down” means sort of finding that place. When you get out of school there’s some challenges that people don’t really talk about in terms of trying to figure out where you fit into the world and how to be an adult. There’s a lot of stuff I was going through when I was writing these songs. When I made the first album I was living with my parents, and now I live in New York City and I did the new album here. I think there were just a lot of things in transit all at once.

BG: What’s your songwriting process like?
EH: I tend to write beats and rhythmic things first. And then I’ll get a melody, and then I’ll play around with the lyrics. And that stuff can last for months – I’m literally changing the words up until I sing them on the record.

BG: How would you describe your sound?
EH: What I do is soul music because every song that I write and sing – I wanna feel it, and I want the listener to feel it. To me, that’s what I think I am – a soul singer.

BG: What would you consider to be your biggest accomplishment so far?
EH: It was really cool doing the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Playing TV shows is always fun, and someone sang my song on American Idol, which was pretty cool.

BG: What’s the most rewarding part of being a musician for you?
EH: What I really love about doing this all is the connection with the fans. I’m excited for the album to come out because the songs have a certain personality to them, but when the fans get to hear them and know them, the songs take on a new life. That energy that people bring to the shows is really cool. A lot of times I get to learn the song in a new way after that. I’m really excited for that sort of exchange and energy at shows.

BG: What’s the biggest obstacle you’ve had to overcome in your career to get to where you are today? Has there been anything major that made you say, “Wow, I might not be able to do this?”
EH: Yeah, every day. I got signed to a label in 2005, and I kinda thought that was it. I had already been doing it for five years at that point. I thought, “Oh, this is gonna happen,” but the label folded and I didn’t get to make the record and I got dropped. I kind of thought for a while there, “Should I even keep doing this? Is this a sign that I should stop?” But I had to at least make the record, otherwise I would regret it for the rest of my life. I do everything I possibly can so I can always look at myself in the mirror and say that if it’s not working, it’s not from lack of trying.

BG: What advice do you have for aspiring singer-songwriters?
EH: If you don’t write songs, start writing songs immediately, and if you do, write more.  To me, the songwriting is the power; it puts your hands on the steering wheel. You have control over the music you’re gonna make. Also, just being undeniable, you know? Don’t be afraid to get out of town and play somewhere else. Get out of your comfort zone, and just keep playing and playing and playing. That’s how you get better, that’s how you make new fans, and that’s how you get more people to find out about you.

BG: What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned from being in the music industry?
EH: Don’t get into it because you want to be rich and famous. It’s not gonna last and it won’t keep you warm at night. There are plenty of ups and downs. Like any job, there are days where it can be challenging, so if you’re in it because you want the fame and fortune, it’s not gonna work. I do it because I love making music, and I love sharing it with other people.

For more Eric Hutchinson, visit:

erichutchinson.com
facebook.com/erichutchinson
twitter.com/erichutchinson

Allen Stone. Photo Credit: Jason Tang.

By: Lisa Occhino

It’s not very often that I’m significantly impressed with new artists these days. But the first time I heard Allen Stone’s music a few weeks ago, it was like experiencing my first gasp of air after being submerged underwater for way too long, drowning in the oversaturation of the market. Seriously, I can’t remember the last time I was so blown away by an artist that I felt the need to share his music with everyone I know.

Allen Stone is a true soul musician. He makes you feel his music in every bone of your body while delivering a perfect balance of fun, feel-good tunes and thoughtful social commentary. If you’re a fan of artists like Stevie Wonder, or just have a deep appreciation for well-crafted music, you will be so relieved that this kind of incredible, raw talent is still alive in the music industry today.

Even more impressive to me is that Allen Stone is a purely independent musician. He’s got a team assembled, but every single dollar spent on his career is out of his own pocket. I admire so much that he’s stuck his ground and refuses to accept a major label deal until he deems the timing to be absolutely perfect.

But wait – an independent musician who’s performed on Conan and Kimmel, is opening for Dave Matthews this summer, and played two sold-out shows at the legendary Troubadour on his headlining tour? Read on, Groovers…

Berklee Groove: How did you get your start in music?
Allen Stone: I started singing when I was a little kid in my daddy’s church. That instilled a love for music. I picked up the guitar when I was 12, basically trying to get girlfriends.

BG: Did you have any lessons, or were you self-taught?
AS: I was self-taught – well, my dad taught me a couple chords, but it was all by ear for me. I never had a music lesson or a voice lesson or anything. I started writing when I was about 13, and really got serious about it at 16. Someone gave me Intermissions by Stevie Wonder, and that was like my holy grail. The fire was lit inside after I listened to that record. I was like, “Man, this is how I have to learn to sing and play.” I just started diving into soul music after that, and the rest is history.

BG: You have the most soulful voice I’ve heard in a very long time. Who are your musical influences?
AS: James Taylor, Joe Cocker, Creedence Clearwater Revival, but mostly soul, gospel, and R&B music.

BG: What’s your songwriting process like? What inspires you?
AS: I just really wanna write music all the time that’s on the cusp of progression. I mean, I have songs that are cotton candy, straightforward pop songs, but the music that I really enjoy singing and writing is my conscious stuff about politics or cultural progression. Music has done a lot for me to change my spirit, change my energy. What inspires me is the desire to do that for somebody else… The wheels are always turning with ideas for what to write about. There’s not really too much of a process beyond just sitting down and doing it.

BG: I read that you’re a do-it-yourself musician?
AS: I have a [team], but no label, no publisher… There’s a grey area with the word “independent” in the music industry today, where it’s kind of cool to call yourself “independent” when a lot of people actually aren’t. I would call myself purely independent because literally every dollar spent is my own. I don’t have some venture capitalist throwing dollars my way.

BG: Have you purposely chosen to not go with a major label? Have you turned down deals?
AS: I’ve definitely turned down some deals. I’ll partner up with a label eventually. But for me, I’ve worked with my manager for the last five years and he had about 10 years worth of experience before we started working together. The plan that we came up with was to build it as much as we can on our own, and once we have the right amount of leverage we can go to a label and actually utilize what they can do. A lot of people go to a label way too early and get crappy deals, and if they don’t find a single that breaks right away, the label shelves them – and that’s the last thing that I want. If I partner with a label, I want it to be the last deal that I sign.

BG: What are the pros and cons of being an independent musician?
AS: Not having radio is one big one… Labels have the history of breaking enormous acts – and me, I haven’t done sh*t. Obviously they understand how that works a lot better than I do. A con of being independent is that you’re really learning as you go. For me right now, it’s growing faster than me and my team can keep up with, so bringing a label on is going to be necessary because we just don’t have the means and the workforce at this point to really utilize every opportunity that I’m getting. But also, when you sign to a major label, they have 75 other obligations and priorities next to you. You can get lost in that mix, and lost alongside 75 other extremely talented artists who desire the same amount of attention that you do… There’s no formula for cultivating a career in music. I believe that you have to dive into it head first and get wet and sticky and messy, and try to find a way to rise to the top and create a career.

BG: Do you think it’s still a necessity to have the support of a major label in order to be a successful musician?
AS: No, not at all. I mean, I’m self-sufficient right now… I know other artists out of Seattle who are killing it as independent artists… But I think there is a difference between artists like Mac Miller and Adele. There’s definitely a machine behind those mega-artists, and that machine is the label. The people that have been doing it for 20-30 years and broke 10 different bands know what they’re doing, and they have those cultivated connections that have led to successful careers. I think it’s very possible to be successful without a label, but it all pertains to what your dream is, what you want. Do you want to be an arena/stadium type artist, or do you want to be a 1200 cap venue artist? It’s whatever you want, honestly.

BG: What would you consider your biggest accomplishment so far?
AS: I think my biggest accomplishment is being out on the road as much as I am and everybody’s checks being cashed at the end of the month. That’s what I’m most proud of – doing what I do well enough to compensate the people around me that make it possible. I don’t have an apartment, I’m a nomad basically… I don’t really have any expenses beyond my cell phone and my van payments. I lift my chin up about being able to compensate eight people – that’s a relatively large business, if you think about it. To me, obviously the most important thing is the music… but the compensation is a direct reflection of the music…. Pride is a weird thing. I’ve gotten incredible opportunities – playing on Conan, opening for Dave Matthews this year, playing Jimmy Kimmel – but I don’t feel like I deserve those things. For me, those are like blessings. I could name off 25 other artists that are more talented than I am and deserve those opportunities more than me. Sitting back and being proud about that is weird for me, personally. I’m very excited and thankful, but I don’t know if I’m “proud.” I don’t know… This is all very, very new to me, this whole people caring about what I’m doing thing. I’m still learning how to adjust to it.

BG: What advice do you have for musicians who want to achieve success without the help of a major label?
AS: If you want to do music fulltime, you have to know that it’s what you need to do. It’s almost like an addiction to you. If you’re doing it for fame or money or because you think it’ll be easy, then you are so, so deceived. It’s not easy, and it’s not always fun… Right now on tour, we’re doing about 95% travel and other sh*t, and about 5% music… The 5% of getting to play compensates for the 95% of the other sh*t that I don’t enjoy as much… Singing is extremely therapeutic for me, and something I knew that I needed to do.

Allen Stone is performing with Daryl Hall and Sharon Jones at Boston’s House of Blues on April 12.

More Allen Stone:

www.allenstone.com

www.facebook.com/allenstone

www.twitter.com/allen_stone