Senator

Catch up with singer-songwriter Senator (Howard Baker), listen to his new single "Breathless", and look for his debut EP, Tiny Monsters, to be released later this year.

What got you interested in music and in songwriting?

Howard: I grew up in a very musical family. My mom and relatives were really into musical theater and performing and all that, so I just was kind of surrounded by it my whole life. My mom used to always help out with the local theater and so every day after school I would have to go there and just watch practices, basically, and learn the songs. So it's kind of something that was instilled in me at a very young age and grew up performing, grew up singing in choir my whole life. I think singing, playing guitar, and songwriting was just a natural extension off of that.

Do you remember the first song you wrote?

[Laughs] Actually, the first song I wrote wasn't terrible [laughs], I still get requests for it sometimes when I play for people that were around at that time. I think I was in high school, I was 15, and the song was called "Megan". It was about a girl that I went to high school with and I was at a party one night and I was talking to this girl, Megan, and we kind of hit it off and then she walked away or something and one of my good friends came up and was like, "dude, you should hook up with that girl and then never talk to her again," and I was like, "what are you talking about?" and he was like, "she does that to everyone"; and then he told me a story of how she did that to him and he was kind of bitter about it and wanted me to do some payback and so, instead of hooking up with her and doing what he wanted me to, I just wrote a song about it [laughs]. And so this song's about this girl named Megan who uses people.

Where does your stage name, Senator, come from?

That actually was also something I got in high school. I moved up to Petoskey, Michigan in '98 I believe and whenever I would meet new friends' parents and stuff, when I would introduce myself I would say, "Howard Baker," and apparently there was a very famous senator named Howard Baker during the Nixon era and he headed up one of the committees that investigated Watergate and so his name became pretty well-known and it would always get brought up when I would introduce myself to my friends' parents. They would be like, "oh, like the senator," and one of my friend's parents, in particular, they really latched onto that nickname and just started calling me it.

Which musicians would you say you've been influenced by?

My big three are definitely Beck, Nirvana, and Radiohead. Actually, I should probably throw Cat Stevens in there too because he had a really big influence on my writing style because, when I first started, I was mainly an acoustic singer-songwriter. But, Beck, Radiohead, and Nirvana are the three that I got brought up listening to a lot and I really took a lot from them.

Is there anyone you've had on repeat lately?

Kind of those three [laughs]. As far as newer stuff goes, I would probably say the last album that I really, thoroughly enjoyed was Tame Impala, their Currents album that came out in 2015. I was never a huge fan of theirs before, I'd heard a lot of their stuff and some of my friends were really into them, but I think they just really nailed it with that last album and I saw them live and I was really impressed, so I became a pretty big fan.

Which words would you use to describe your sound?

I usually say it's acoustic indie rock. The basis of it, again, I do all my songwriting on acoustic guitar and I use loop pedals and stuff a lot too, so that's the foundation of a lot of my music. And then once we got in the studio, we kind of just built off of that and orchestrated it, added a bunch of electric instruments, and went from there.

What were your inspirations behind your new single "Breathless"?

The story behind the song is kind of a bleak one, to be honest. It stems from two different experiences I had with two different girls and they opened up to me and they told me they'd had two very bad experiences of being raped and it was a very deep, heavy conversation. Both their stories were the same, but different: one of them actually chose to pursue charges and testify against him and he got locked up but, the other one, she chose not to do anything and she had her reasons for it and the reasons are fairly common, apparently, for people not wanting to pursue it. I was just really affected by their stories, especially in recent times, the past couple of years especially, and we've heard stories about stuff like that happening and justice not being served and people getting away with it and I think it's a big issue that really needs to have a spotlight on it and something that needs to be addressed. A lot of it is just our everyday culture in this country and letting things like that slide and chalking it up to 'boys being boys' or whatever. It was hard for me to really process it and to really know what to do and songwriting for me is very much my outlet and so that's what I channeled all of my emotions into, was "Breathless".

As far as the sound goes for it, when I start writing, I generally start with the instrumentals of the song and I had a riff on the guitar and it kind of sparked an old, Eastern European folk style, to me, that was the original direction of it that I just kind of heard. Then once we got into the studio, we started messing around with more electric sounds and kept that feel a little bit, but it took on a life of its own in the studio.

Is that indicative of what we can expect to hear on your debut EP and could you tell us more about Tiny Monsters?

"Breathless" is pretty close to the overall sound that you can expect. I've actually been told - and I hear it myself - that each song has a different, distinct sound and style to it. I didn't really have one kind of sound or vision going into making this album, generally speaking I just write each song as its own thing, and so I chose a sound and a style that fit each particular song instead of the whole album. There is somewhat of a common theme in the music. It's cinematic a lot; I love strings, I love blaring voices and a bigger sound, so that definitely shows itself throughout the whole EP. I like to touch on very dark subject matter, as you can see with "Breathless", that's kind of a resident theme throughout the whole EP, as well, and that's where the title of the album comes from. 'Tiny Monsters', my engineer actually came up with it. We were listening to a song by the band Puscifer with Maynard, the singer from Tool - it's one of his side projects - the song was called "Tiny Monsters" and I asked my producer/engineer - his name's Hunter Levy - "we still need a title for this album," and, without skipping a beat, he goes, "how 'bout 'Tiny Monsters'?" and I was like, "yeah, that's actually pretty cool," and he was like, "it fits because each one of your songs is kind of like its own little tiny monster," and so I just went with that.

Is there a song off this EP you'd say you're most excited to share with your listeners?

I'd say I have three different ones. "Breathless" is one of my favorites on it. I love performing it live. There's a guitar solo in the middle of the song that I really like and there's a really cool drum fill and, when I play it live, I actually play bass for the majority of the song but then, mid-song, I drop the bass and I walk over and do the guitar solo as well, so that's always really fun to do. The other one on the album is "Lost Again", which is actually going to be my second single release off the EP and we made a music video for it. That song is probably the most personal to me; it also seemed to resonate the most with the overall audience that I've showed it to, as far as the widest range of demographic that seemed to like it. It was one of the first songs that I wrote that I felt like I found my sound with. It was a struggle for me for many years to really settle into what I wanted to sound like, and I think I found that on "Lost Again". The other one is the last full song on the album - because there's an outro - it's called "April Moon"; that song I also love playing live. It's one of the only songs on the album that I really, fully sing out in; I do a lot of softer singing in most of the songs but "April Moon" is the one I really sing out with. It kind of has the most distinct and unique sound of any of the songs on the album and it's just a lot of fun to play.

How would you sum up Tiny Monsters in one sentence?

A musical illustration of the darkest parts of humanity, rearranged to make it more palatable to the masses.

What do you hope listeners are able to take away from your music?

First and foremost, just a good listening experience. I hope they enjoy the melodies, the lyrics, all the work that I put into it. But I also hope that it starts a little bit of a conversation and causes people to think. I talk about a lot of serious topics in the album and a lot of personal feelings and experiences and while, a lot of the times, those themes might not be that easy to talk about or something that people really want to think about, but it's a reality of the world and a lot of times it needs to be discussed and it needs to be acknowledged and, if listening to my songs or my albums sparks any of that to anyone, then that would make my happy.

Is there anything you want to add?

I'm just really excited about this! This is my first album - my first single off my first album that I've ever released - so this is a long time coming for me and I'm very happy about it, so I'm just really looking forward to the release. I think we are releasing "Breathless" through Pancakes and Whiskey on the 11th, so I'm looking forward to it.

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Aria Wunderland

Catch up with singer-songwriter Aria Wunderland and listen to her latest single "Coup D'etat" off her upcoming EP Paper Gowns.

What got you interested in music and in songwriting?

Aria: It actually started with classical music, I was really, really drawn to music from Europe: basically, Chopin, Beethoven, and Tchaikovsky when I was a kid, for some reason. It kind of went hand in hand with Disney, too - I was obsessed with both and I just wanted to study piano. I was playing piano by ear and, maybe around 5, I started just playing Disney songs and whatever I could figure out on my own. My mom had given up because my brothers tried piano lessons and hated it so, with me - I was the third born and I was 5/6 years younger than both my brothers - she was just like, "well, let's just see what happens". I was begging her basically, I wanted piano lessons so badly, so it all started with piano. Then, I was also singing separately, singing to Disney and annoying the hell out of my brothers singing every song you could imagine [laughs]. It wasn't until my early teens that I realized, "wow, I can actually merge the two and this could be really cool if I sang and played piano at the same time". I started just playing around with melody - I would say melody was always the first thing for me, being that I was into classical music - and then I slowly began to take some of my journal entries and see what I could come up with writing-wise. Yeah, that's how it started. [Laughs] It started on the piano.

Do you remember the first song you wrote that you were happy with?

Yes I do! I wrote it as a teenager and I had a lot of rock influences and hip hop influences, but this one,  because it was done with live instruments with the band that I had at the time, it just came to life in more of arock way. But, I was like, "wow, this is it". I knew it was good. I'll never forget, it came out so easily, I wrote it really fast, and I was like, "this is good," and I just knew it, so I was so excited. I was working with a music producer at the time - this was just in the very beginning, kind of just developing me - and I called him and Iwas like, "I think I wrote a really good song" so, yeah, I remember that [laughs].

Which musicians would you say you've been influenced by?

I grew up in the '90s so, at that time, I feel like it was really interesting; rock was Top 10 and so was Biggie and Tupac, so I definitely was influenced by that. Jay Z and that kind of music. I was really into No Doubt and Radiohead - I loved Radiohead. Later on, I got into some more contemporary artists - or the new wave of people - I listened to Florence + The Machine, Imogen Heap, and I loved Sia, I was listening to her a lot when she was part of Zero 7. A lot of early Coldplay influenced me too. And earlier Kanye West.

Is there anyone you're hooked on now and excited for in 2017?

Yeah! I've been really digging Twenty One Pilots, I really like what they're doing. I like that they've been able to take a more alternative sound - which is kind of what I feel like I represent - and they make it accessible. I've been listening to them a lot.

How would you describe your own sound to someone who had never heard your music?

It has pop sensibility but I would say heavy/synth, hip hop/urban drumming and 808 bass, but also a little bit of an alternative rock element, too. I always say pop alternative. I'm excited about where music is right now because I feel like there's a place for me finally [laughs].

What were your inspirations behind your new single, "Coup D'etat"?

I finished writing "Coup D'etat" right when all the buzz surrounding our current election started, so maybe a couple of months ago, leading up to Trump becoming our president-elect. At the time, I wasn't feeling pressure to write anything new, we pretty much had most of the songs that I wanted on the E.P. We started off listening to A Tribe Called Quest, just randomly we were blasting their music, so we kind of had this bit of a jazz/rap vibe going on. I was thinking a little bit more out of the box and I was like, you know what, I love the concept of coup d'etat - I love history and I've studied a lot of history of rebellion and revolution - and the word 'coup d'etat' always resonated, this idea of overthrowing government. We were just having a very philosophical conversation in the studio [laughs] and I was like, "why don't we just use this as a metaphor and let's just hypothetically say, 'what if we could overthrow government?' since we don't really know what's going on, we don't really know if what we're being told is real..." we got into this whole conspiracy space in our minds while we were vibing out and I was like, "I want to write this song and let's see what happens". When Trump did win, I didn't have in mind to release this song - I was going to release another song - but I was like, "you know what, this song really fits right now and it fits what I'm feeling". I was just feeling that I wanted to express myself and I don't want to rant on social media - I hate that, like, when Trump won I was inundated with all these people on Facebook and everywhere and I was, "I don't even want to get involved in that, I'm just going to release this song because I feel like this song speaks to what I want to say" - its release was just kind of to vent my frustration.

Where would you say your inspiration usually comes from while you are writing new songs?

It usually comes from personal experience. I also am very inspired by romantic experiences, not just the sad ones. I've spent a lot of time in LA and New York recently in the last 5 years - I'm going back and forth doing the bi-coastal thing, like every month we go to LA - and before we started doing this last year I was only in LA and I was going to a lot of parties and really getting into the lifestyle of Hollywood or Beverly Hills and looking at it from the outside in and I get inspired by that: the parties and rags to riches. I was really, really intrigued by how everybody there can feel like they're a celebrity even if they're not. They embody that and live that. Those are things that I explore in my writing and this is specific to Paper Gowns, it's something that I recently really got into, just being in LA and observing it - and New York, too, Manhattan. I would say it's a combination of politics, some personal relationship experiences, and then just parties and debauchery and people and all of that that really influences me - and it'll make more sense when I release some of my later music; the lyrics and stuff will tie in, I think that "Coup D'etat" speaks more to the politics.

Could you tell us more about your upcoming EP Paper Gowns?

I use this idea of a gown made out of paper to tie in what I was saying before about this idea of living lavishly, regardless of how much money you have. This idea that you could get invited to a party, you're just a young 20-something-year-old living in an apartment with 3 other roommates and you get invited to this awesome party and you're able to just figure out a way to put on a fabulous dress and go and have a great time. Paper Gowns, as a whole EP, I play into that a lot, this idea that everyone can be a rockstar, everyone can feel great regardless of their situation. I feel that it specifically targets people in their 20s living in metropolitan cities that are living check to check but they still want to have fun so you figure it out; and in that, also just exploring yourself and accepting yourself - you hear that a lot in the songs. But, yeah, the title is Paper Gowns because I was like, this is exactly what I'm trying to say, I'm trying to say that even if you don't have anything, you can still figure out how to have a great time and make a gown out of paper even if you have to, so it's like a metaphor.

Is there one song off this EP you're most excited to get out there and share?

Yeah, I would say it's "Paper Gowns", I have a song titled "Paper Gowns" [laughs]. I think that one really ties everything in. I feel like "Paper Gowns", the song itself, really speaks to the themes and inspirations of [the EP].

How would you sum up Paper Gowns in one sentence?

It is a fun, lifestyle EP to listen to and get lost in.

What do you hope listeners are able to take away from your music?

I want everyone to feel like superstars regardless of who they are or where they come from, I want them to realize that being rich or feeling great, it's all a state of mind so it's a choice and it's not circumstantial. I want everyone who's listening, regardless of their walks of life, to be inspired in that way, to just listen to the album and be like, "you know what, I'm going to have a fabulous night tonight, I'm going to go out and just be the best version of myself I can be, nothing's going to stop me," that's basically what I want my listeners to feel when they listen.

Is there anything you want to add?

There are some songs that do explore going through some things and discovering yourself, so I want people that are maybe going through something similar to really find solace in my music and just connect to it in that way. For me, I feel like I listened to so much music growing up and it always got me through difficult times, so I would love that; that would be a dream come true, for my music to do that for someone else.

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Murcier

Catch up with pop R&B artist Murcier (aka Thurmond Bowens, Jr.), listen to his new single "The Good Life" and look for much more to come from him in 2017.

What got you interested in music?

Murcier: I have loved music and been singing since I was about two years old and I aways knew that I would go down this journey of pursuing music. I got distracted a few times but I always found my way back to music. It always called me. I guess, when something is in you, you've got no choice but to pursue it. So I've been doing this, like I said, I've been singing since I was two but I've been pursuring it professionally for about two or three years now, grinding on it.

Do you remember the first song you wrote?

Oh yeah, I do actually [laughs]. What did I call it though? I know the title was really stupid, it was something about 'love'. It was a song about some high school girl that I was crushing on and she wouldn't pay me no mind 'cause I didn't sing that much in high school - but if I'd sang this song for her I probably would've been alright - but it was called "I Love You". That was a long time ago.

Where does your artist name, Murcier, come from?

Well it comes from my mom's maiden name, her last name was Murcier. She's the one who taught me how to sing so I thought it would be a neat tribute to her and to honor her for bringing this craft into my life and just showing that I appreciate her for doing that.

Which musicians have you been influenced by?

I'm constantly being influenced by people, it changes all the time, but part of my core influences are Stevie Wonder, because I love him musically, I think he's so talented musically; John Legend, I love him lyrically, I think he's a great writer and musician; I love Sade Adu because she's just so different and I think she's somebody who's herself. I also love Usher, I love Justin Timberlake: people who can entertain. Those are probably my main squeezes right there.

What would you say is the best album of 2016?

I just heard Childish Gambino's album, I really loved that album. But I did also love Solange's album, A Seat At The Table. Those two were at the top, for me.

How would you describe your sound to someone who had never heard your music?

I really love music so I try to put all of my influences into one sound, which is kind of hard but, if I had to tell you, it would be pop and R&B. But I try to show my musicality in bridges and lyrically, at least. I always want music to be digestable so that anybody can listen to it and take something away from it.

What were your inspirations behind your single "The Good Life"?

Have you ever heard of law of attraction? I'm sure you have, everybody knows it. I was really inspired by that and everybody wants a good life and if this is what life is telling you right now, you want to attract a good life, then art imitates life, life imitates art, so just write about it and sing a song about having a good life and that was what the main inspiration was. I wanted to speak on what I was feeling about having a good life and just prospering [laughs]. Don't mean to sound tricky, but that's probably the best way to put it. 

Do you have plans to release an EP or album with that? 

I definitely do have plans. Right now I have ten songs, I'm still not sure when I'm going to be releasing them, but they are definitely something that you're going to enjoy - I believe people are going to enjoy - and I'm planning on certainly releasing it next year, that's for sure.

Is there one song out of those 10 that you're most excited to get out there?

Hmm. Probably two. One is "Your Love" and "Candidate". I like "Candidate" a lot because a lot of times you're looking for things in certain people and they're not really adding up; you want this kind of girl but that girl's not usually checking for you, it's always the unlikely girl that's really what's best for you. That's basically what the song's about, it's really a story.

What do you hope listeners are able to take away from your music?

I hope they're able to learn some life lessons, some things that I've learned in my life, some things that I've learned from other people in my life. My mom told me a lot of times, "experience is not the best teacher, it's only a teacher," so if you can learn from somebody else, do that; you don't have to touch fire to know that it's hot. That's what I hope that people learn from my music and, hopefully, this album.

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Chris Bowen

Catch up with singer-songwriter Chris Bowen and listen to his latest single "Picture" off his upcoming debut album, Kings and Queens, to be released in 2017.

What got you interested in music?

Chris: It definitely started from early on, when I was just a little guy. My mom would always have the music going on and the radio playing while she was home and she would always sing to me and it was always a part of my life. Of course the radio was always playing to fill the air; my dad was in the service so it was a rarity that he was home. Music was always in the house.

Which musicians were you influenced by?

Back then it was just the classic rock that was on at the time and then, as I grew up and I was listening to more on my own and starting to find artists that I could relate to, those musicians that really stood out for me were, generally, the originators, which isn't a surprise; a lot of artists and a lot of people who love music tend to gravitate towards the originators of those genres that tend to last. For rock, it was Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, for me. When I started playing the guitar, my cousin had also been playing for a short while and he was like, "hey, you should listen to some of this Van Halen stuff that I've been playing," [laughs]. I was just starting to get into the real guitar rock stuff then and he played some Van Halen - he played "Eruption" for me - and I was like, "wow". And at the time, I was more interested in Alice In Chains and, when I heard Eddie Van Halen, that pretty much sealed the deal for me.

Is there anyone that you're hooked on right now?

You know, it's going to sound odd, and I still think it was such a terrible and tragic waste of talent, but Scott Weiland and his solo efforts, I just dove into when he started doing his own thing. I loved the eclectic mix that he had in his writing from this totally 60s vibe and he blended that with today's music and then there were elements of his grunge days still sprinkled throughout his songwriting; his Happy In Galoshes album, when he put that out, I was sold after listening to 30 seconds of a couple of the tracks. And then his Wildabouts, his last one, I just loved it. So I still play that all the time on my iPhone. I love it.

How would you describe your own sound?

It's always difficult to express this, actually [laughs], trying to talk it up and sell yourself. I think it's a mix of the influences that I had when I was little and what my mom had always played - that was the classic 60s vibe and some 70s vibe in there, and I try to bring that out in some of my guitar playing, instrumentally, throughout the songs and in the music that I write. But then, there's also more of a modern feel to the vocals and I try to keep up with what folks are doing, but I don't want to replicate anything, I try to stay creative and original with what I do. I think it's a mix between what influenced me the most - which was the grunge music - and a modern flair in the vocals - which I've been told has been reminiscent of a Jason Mraz/Gavin DeGraw type of vocal - and then, like I said, that classic 60s vibe with some of the instrumentation that's in the background that pops out if you really listen to it.

What were your inspirations behind your single "Picture"?

I just tried to think of something that has had an impact on my life, that from just listening to my friends and knowing people it impacts their life as well, and that's basically going through the trials and tribulations of a bad relationship. I'm sure everybody's had one, hopefully not a lot of them, but we all go through it from time to time. The inspiration for it was just something that I had experienced and it was waking up one day and realizing, "hey, I'm kind of better than what I'm going through, I don't feel that I should stay and continue on the receiving end of all of this negativity that I'm experiencing in my relationship". Standing up for yourself and moving on and having the courage and the confidence to say, "I can do this on my own and I can break free of this". The song takes you through that from the beginning where you hear the singer, which is me, you hear me talk about, I know what's going on, you can't fool me, you haven't treated me great and, look, I'm aware, I'm awake now to the way I've been treated. By the end of the song, the message is, it's time to take that picture off the wall, it's time to move on because it's not worth it to me anymore.

Could you tell us more about Kings and Queens and if that single is indicative of the sound that we will hear?

I think, yeah, you said it right there. The theme is more of that moving on and having the confidence and the courage to continue with whatever it is that you desire, your dream, and having the backbone to really pull yourself up by the bootstraps and continue forward. I try to keep that theme going, especially with the sound; you're going to hear a lot of the same mix of that 60s vibe in it with more of a modern flair to the vocals and I try to keep everything very uplifting and upbeat, but still giving that message of moving forward with your life; no matter the struggle, just use that struggle to propel yourself to the next phase because there's definitely enough struggle to go around, going through life, and I think people can learn from that, they shouldn't shy away from it. Kings and Queens is the title of the album but the title track is more of that, 'we're struggling but as long as we have each other and as long as we can do this together, we'll be fine, because we love each other and love will take you through it'. I try to keep that consistent through the album.

Is there one song off the album you're most excited to share?

There is one and it's a slower one. I quickly fell in love with it when I began writing the introductory riff and it's about letting go. That's all I really want to say about it, but it's about letting go and saying, again with that theme, it's okay to let go; it's okay to let go, it's okay to take a breath, what I've been doing isn't working so I'm going to change it up. The vibe that it comes across as is more of a 90s feel, but I try to keep the guitar very clean and, I don't know, I really love the way it just comes across. It's a very clean sound and it hit me. As you write, some things just stick out, and this one definitely jumped out and grabbed me as soon as I started laying down the first few riffs. I'm excited about that.

In one sentence, how would you sum up Kings and Queens?

It's a reflection of the experience I had making the album, but also an experience that people will be able to relate to throughout.

What do you hope listeners are able to take away from your music?

Definitely a positive message. I want people to be able to relate to it, I want people to be able to smile when they walk away from listening to it and then come back and be able to find things that they may have missed from time to time when they listen to the music again. I'm very much into helping people as much as I can and music might not be able to be a huge source of physical help - I always go back to medical help with folks, I always want to help them financially or whatever - but at least help them find some emotional solace from time to time. It's an escape and that's how I see music, it's an escape from the every day crap that a lot of folks have to go through and it's a real escape; it's not like something where you turn on the TV and it's some reality show that's not real anyway - it's fake reality - that's something different. But, when you listen to music, you can dive in and you can let it take you away, and that's what I hope that, when the audience listens to this, they can do that and they can relate to it, maybe they listen to some of the words and it makes them remember a better time or think of someone that they love and puts a smile on their face. I would hope to God that they can get something like that out of it and that would make it all worth it for me.

Is there anything you want to add?

I'm really excited about the rest of the album coming out in, hopefully, the early Spring/late Winter season. We're working on it and it's always a process. It was really exciting for the single, I wasn't expecting any of the stuff that came along with it, like I was put on the Grammy ballot and that came out of nowhere for those three categories. It's already exceeded my expectations, so it's been an exciting process and I just can't wait for the rest of the album to get out to folks so they can hopefully like it and listen.

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