Denny White

Catch up with singer-songwriter and producer Denny White and listen to his latest single "Traces", out now.

What got you interested in music?

Denny White: I grew up surrounded by music, everyone in my family played an instrument or sang. Me and my siblings were always in lessons, and encouraged to to keep up with it, so that had a huge impact on me.

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

I can't remember the exact song, but I remember it being a Ben Folds-esque piano type vibe...

Which musicians have you been influenced by?

Some of my favorites are Radiohead, Amy Winehouse, John Legend & the Beach Boys..

Which words would you use to describe your sound?

A pop backbone, with an electric blue eyed soul undertone.

What were your inspirations behind your single "Traces”?

I was really inspired sonically first through trying to create a hybrid of organic instruments, mixed with more futurist textures & synth sounds.

Could you tell us more about your upcoming EP and whether that single is indicative of what we can expect to hear?

My next single is coming out late February, and it’s similar to “Traces” in it’s hybrid feel, but it’s a bit more of a ballad & piano driven. I can’t wait to share it.

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

I hope people connect with it enough to get them out to a show in the near future!

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The Real Fits

Catch up with alternative rock band The Real Fits and listen to "Sideways" off their latest EP, Drown In Gold, out now.

What got you interested in starting The Real Fits?

Jared: Well, me and Blair - The Real Fits is me, Raquel, Nick, and Blair and we also have a fifth member currently, his name is Joel and he's playing some keyboards for us - are brothers-in-law and we've known each other since we were, like, four years old and we'd been in bands together in high school and stuff. And then we parted ways and I went to California, he came down here, and then, after a while, we got back in touch and he said, "you know what, I really want to play music," so I moved down here to start a band with him. Then we found Raquel and Nick on Craigslist, actually. That's a short history [laughs].

Where does your name, The Real Fits, come from?

Raquel: When I first joined the band, the boys wanted to name it Fox In The Sea and I didn't like it very much, but the acronym was FITS so we just agreed to name it Fits. We were Fits for a while and when we were trying to upload on Spotify for the first time there was another band named Fits so we were like, "dang it, we gotta get a new name". But all of our Instagram and social media handles were 'therealfits' so we were just like, "whatever, let's just use The Real Fits," and it stuck [laughs].

Which musicians have you been influenced by, individually or as a band?

Jared: We all come from different backgrounds musically with what we're into but then, when we got together, we all started showing each other stuff and developed our band's style of music by doing that. I'd say some of our favorite bands, that we can agree on as a whole band, would be Tame Impala, for sure.

Raquel: Alabama Shakes.

Jared: Alabama Shakes, we all love. Local Natives, alt-J. All of these bands we listen to and I think have developed our style a little bit.

If you had to pick your favorite current artist or band, who would that be?

Raquel: Angel Olsen.

Jared: That is a tough question.

[Laughter]

Jared: I'm just trying to think about all of the music I listen to and what I listen to the most. Probably Tame Impala. Or Local Natives, for me, personally.

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

Jared: I can speak for specific things that I do within the band. I know for me - and even Blair, our drummer - we're influenced a lot by Local Natives and Thom Yorke who's in Alt-J, who we're both obsessed with and we kind of mimic some of the things he does [laughs] in a polite way and we really admire his style. The whole band, that's really hard for me. The comparison that we get the most is Fleetwood Mac.

Raquel: In a general sense, indie or alternative rock. I feel like every time I try to explain it to someone I just throw out as many adjectives as I can think of [laughs] and I'm like, "I don't really know".

What were your inspirations behind your song "Sideways"?

Raquel: For "Sideways", I remember, when I first joined the band, the guys sent me 3 songs that they had recorded that were just instrumentals. A couple months after we finally got into one of the songs that they originally sent, I was writing it and I was having a hard time coming up with lyrics but then, one morning, I put my headphones in and went to a coffee shop and sat there and I was just journaling; just through the process of journaling, I stumbled on these lyrics. Basically, I guess at the time I was pretty frustrated because I felt like no one was listening to what I was saying and everyone was disregarding me, so it came from the process of journaling through feelings and then, once I did, I just had such a strong connection to that feeling that I wrote those lyrics about how I felt.

Could you tell us more about your EP Drown In Gold and what people can expect to hear?

Raquel: As a collective, I'd say it's five very different songs that all have a similar vibe.

Jared: I feel like there's definitely a theme. Raquel writes all of the lyrics, basically, 100% herself. I've noticed stuff between this common theme, but it's really hard to say exactly what it is; a lot of them can be similar to the "Sideways" theme of not being heard and frustration with yourself or with your situation.

Raquel: Lyrically, as a whole, it's talking about, pretty much, my life. A couple of songs - "Wild Wild West", "Sundown", and "Sideways" - are songs that I wrote about reflecting on myself and the relationship I had with myself and what I wanted to be like. And then, "Feels Like Mine" and "Tides" were about a relationship and they were both the end of a relationship, but one was an angry, frustrated one and one was more of a moving on one. I guess it's just 5 songs that are very story and lyrically driven with beautiful instruments in the background [laughs].

Jared: Yeah, I'd say she's a storyteller.

If you had to pick one song off this EP that you were most excited to share, which one would it be?

Jared: I think we're going to have different ones, for sure. I always go with "Sundown". I think it tells the best story and it's probably my favorite song to play.

Raquel: For me, it would be "Tides". It's always my favorite one to play because I get to rock out to the instrumental part with the guys, but then it's some of my favorite lyrics that I've written. Usually, that's one that has a ton of energy when we play it, so it's always super fun to play and get into.

In one sentence, how would you sum up Drown In Gold?

Jared: It's a good start.

[Laughter]

What's your favorite place to get coffee or lunch?

Raquel: Oh, yes! My favorite place to go is Peixoto, it's local coffee shop in Chandler and I like to go and hang out there.

Jared: I like to go to Chipotle.

[Laughter]

Cold War Kids or Coldplay?

Raquel: Cold War Kids.

Jared: Easy. Cold War Kids. Both me and Blair have loved those guys for a really long time.

Twenty One Pilots or Panic! At The Disco?

Raquel: Panic! At The Disco.

Jared: Yeah, I'd probably say Panic! At The Disco.

Raquel: Their first album!

Jared: Their first album was cool.

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

Raquel: I'll just say a connection through music. I hope that we're able to create something that makes people feel and makes them happy. I know that, whenever I have a favorite song that I love so much it can change my mood and it's like a sense of comfort, so I'd love to do that as well and make people feel.

Jared: I'd say don't forget to rock.

[Laughter]

Jared: Some people forget about it, some people never do it, and maybe people think that society and music genres are moving into different directions with a lot more electronic stuff, but the most important music for us, period, is just down and dirty rock and roll. We think that deserves to stay around and we're going to try and carry that torch.

Is there anything you want to add?

Jared: We've got some good shows coming up. We play at The Walnut Room in Denver on February 18th; this is actually only our third show outside of Arizona. Then we have a show at Crescent Ballroom in Phoenix on March 24th and that's one of our personal favorite places to play in Phoenix 'cause it's an awesome venue. And we're actually releasing two singles that day!

Upcoming Shows

February 18th, The Walnut Room, Denver, CO

February 22nd, Sky Bar, Tucson, AZ

March 24th, Crescent Ballroom, Phoenix, AZ

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Feyer

Catch up with singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Feyer and watch the video for his single "I Just Don't Know" from his debut full-length album Signals Internalized, to be released February 10th.

What got you interested in music?

Feyer: Well, I've been taking piano lessons since I was 6, on and off; piano is really what got me started. When I started singing around the age of 10 or 11 and started getting into a lot of classic rock greats based on what was played on the radio in my town - artists like Queen and Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd - I thought, 'that would be cool if I did something like that'. So, I started getting into that. From there, I took on a couple more instruments in addition to piano - drums, guitar, bass - and then I joined a few bands here and there and, after there, I got into recording and producing my own music.

What was the first song you wrote that you were really proud of?

There was this song that I wrote when I was about 14. I actually had to write it for a Humanities/Social Studies class and we all had to do creative assignments based on human rights and activism and things like that and I think that was the first song that I wrote that was fully fleshed out, in terms of music and lyrics, that I was very proud of. In terms of songs that I've been doing with this current solo project, it started about 4 years ago. In 2013, I wrote this song called "Wasted Time", which you're actually going to see appears on this album that I'm coming out with on Friday.

Which musicians were you influenced by?

A lot of it started, as I said, with classic rock. Queen was the main one that really got me interested in performing and songwriting but also, of course, you have The Beatles and Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd. From there, I started getting into more modern rock bands, bands like Avenged Sevenfold and Metallica, some of the heavier stuff. Recently, I've been getting into really alternative groups like Passion Pit and Tame Impala and also solo alternative artists like Grimes. Most recently, I've started paying attention to what is trending and what's in the Top 40, just to see what the world is listening to. I started paying attention to what the number one singles are and it's actually become a hobby of mine, to memorize the number one song, year end, of each year; like, last year, it was "Love Yourself" by Justin Bieber and before that it was "Uptown Funk" and before that it was "Happy" by Pharrell Williams. Going back to the '90s, I can tell you what the number one song of each year was.

Is there a song that you're hooked on right now?

I think the song that I'm hooked on right now would be "Hymn For The Weekend" by Coldplay. There's a lot of Top 40 songs out there that you hear them a bunch and it's really catchy, but then you get tired of it after it's been played so much. But this song is being played a lot and I'm still not tired of it, even though it's been out for almost a year now. I'd say one of my favorite modern groups in the mainstream right now would be Coldplay, just because they've been doing this for 20 years and they're very fresh and they're still able to catch my attention. Another group that I'm really into right now is Twenty One Pilots, they've been coming out with some stuff that has managed to make it into the Top 10 but still sounds very different from a lot of the other stuff out there and that's what I'm getting really into: stuff that's able to break through into the Top 10 but doesn't necessarily sound like anything else, it has its own sound.

How would you describe your own sound?

To me, it's always hard to describe, but I guess I'd have to describe it as taking everything that I've observed and learned over the years with different genres and styles and periods of music and trying to put it all together into one precise style. If you listen to my album, you'll hear songs that resonate with a lot of stuff they were doing in the '80s with progressive rock and stadium rock, but also trying to put a modern spin on it production-wise, like some of these modern day alternative groups like Coldplay and Twenty One Pilots. I'm all about blending genres, blending production styles, and blending particular periods of music. Certain periods, like the '80s and '90s and even the 2000s, have their very distinct styles and what I'm trying to do is find a way to put it all together.

What were your inspirations behind your single and the video for "I Just Don't Know"?

Funny story, the instrumental of it I actually wrote when I was 16, which was about 7 years ago. Basically, I was in this music production class at my music school and I just started fooling around and these melodies and these rhythms started coming into my head and I hung onto it in my brain for a while but never really got it down and recording it until about 2 years ago. That's really just how it came about. In terms of the video, honestly, I didn't have much of a budget to make a music video but I knew that there was this wide open parking garage space in my town and nobody ever goes to the top floor, no cars ever drive through it. It's a big open space and I just wanted to think, what's a nice open space that I can film a video where I don't have to pay to rent out a space where I could set up all my instruments and I'm able to showcase that it was me playing everything on it - which it was - and I had the idea of, you often see a band video where it's different people playing every instrument and I wanted to try to make a video where I'm playing multiple instruments, but just at different times. To point out each instrument, each instrument is given a different color, and so I wanted to experiment with that. One day we just took all my instruments, we moved them into the garage for a couple of hours, my friend set up a camera and she filmed it, and then I took the footage home and I edited it and did all the colors in post production and that's about it.

Could you tell us more about your debut album Signals Internalized?

This is my first full-length debut album and it's the first album that I'm really going all in with. In the past, I've released a couple singles on SoundCloud and Bandcamp here and there, but I wasn't too happy with the production so I took them down. I spent about 2-3 years just really working on developing my sound and trying to get this album as good as I could get it. Basically, what you'll hear from it and what you can expect from it is, as I said, a combination of all of these musical styles that I've been interested in and trying to write for, but also combining that with a personal narrative, lyrically. I'm someone who has dealt with the issues of anxiety and depression in the past and I wanted to tell that story in the lyrics and my whole thing is, a lot of people mention that there is a little bit of a disconnect between my instrumentals - which sound powerful and thought out and fleshed out - with my lyrics - which are meant to be more vulnerable and very personal and narrative. Some people say there's a disconnect between the two and either the lyrics have to be more powerful or the instrumentals have to be toned down a little bit to match, but I kind of like the mismatch. I think that could be my sound, is the disconnect. That's what people can expect.

In one sentence how would you sum up Signals Internalized?

Signals Internalized is, essentially, all of my experiences and musical training thus far, coming together in a 12 track album.

I will say, because I have musical training in a couple of different fields - ranging from vocal production to instrumental production to recording to songwriting - I'm not a specialist. I don't play one instrument really well, I never became a virtuoso on piano or a virtuoso singer or anything like that. I want to take all of the skills that I have enough of a grasp on and try to use it and just combine it so that I don't necessarily have to specialize in just one thing. If I was just doing one thing in music I'd get really bored, honestly, so I want to try to take all I've learned and put it together in one package, which is what I'm hoping to achieve with this album. And, of course, it will be different with each album as I grow as a musician and as I keep learning. Who knows, the next album could have an entirely different style, it could have an entirely different theme! It's really hard to say right now, because I'm constantly learning and I know so much more now about myself, doing this album, and about my production. Even when I finished the album, which was a couple of months ago, I know more now about production and songwriting - and about myself - than I did when I finished this album. As I said, each album, I'm trying to make more developed and try to do something different each time.

Is there a favorite song you have to perform live that you're excited to play Friday?

Yeah, I choose between two actually. "I Just Don't Know" - which is the lead single - is really fun to perform live 'cause it sounds very energetic, especially when I play live with my band, which is what's going to happen this Friday at The Bitter End; which is very exciting to play that venue because that's where Super Bowl Halftime star Lady Gaga actually got her start, was at The Bitter End 10 years ago, so it's very exciting to be on a stage that she was on. "I Just Don't Know" is very fun to play live. Also, the closing song, "Wasted Time", is also fun to play live, because I'm noticing from my gigs that that's the one that I think the crowd gets most into and it's always really fun to see a song that you're playing where there's a visible reaction from the crowd and you can see that they get into it. I'd say it's a tie between those two that are the most fun to play live.

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

It's sort of a mix between two different things. I'm noticing, a lot of time, that in terms of specializing, that a lot of artists and a lot of songs are really just about one thing: you have songs to party to and you have songs to relax to and you have songs to cry to and you have songs to laugh to. I want my songs to have more than one meaning. Going back to the disconnect between the lyrics and the music, the music is meant to get people to have fun and to rock out a bit, but I want them to also, in another instance, stop and think about what the lyrics are saying; whether they're able to do that at the same time or not, that's on them, I guess. I want my music to be able to be used for different occasions, rather than just be about one thing. The lyrics will be for a thoughtful occasion and the music will be for a fun, rock out occasion.

Is there anything you want to add?

Just look out for the album when it comes out, it'll be on iTunes, Spotify, Apple Music, all of those things. Look out for some more music videos coming out, look out for some more features, maybe some more shows in the future, and that's about it.

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The Mrs

Catch up with drummer and founder of pop rock band The Mrs, Andra Liemandt, and listen to the Austin-based four piece's latest single "The Beast" off their forthcoming debut album.

What got you interested in starting The Mrs?

Andra: Well I wouldn't say that it was something that was a preconceived notion or something that I had thought about planning and doing, it was something that just came about. I was looking for my daughter's piano lessons and, at the time, she was three and I happened upon a place that taught by ear and they convinced me that I should be, not only teaching my daughter piano, but that I should be learning an instrument, too. So I thought, "what the heck, why not? I live in Austin, the live music capital of the world," so I picked up the drums about eight years ago and, in doing that, I - as most girls do, we get our best friends involved in all the craziness that we love to do [laughs] - called my best friend Jenny who is our bass player and I got her to come and join the craziness with me. She picked up the bass and we started this journey of learning music together and, ever since then, it just has become a huge passion and love. About three and a half years ago, I decided that it was time to turn this dream into a reality and we formed a message. We brought on Mandy and Larissa, and that's what started the band The Mrs.

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

Growing up, I was from a small town, from Victoria, and Madonna was just a huge influence in my life. It was Madonna, it was The Go-Go's, Mötley Crüe, Boy George, I listened to it all. I had an older brother so I heard a lot of different varieties of music; he had his fast car with the T-top down and woofers in the back and we listened to every kind of genre of music, but it was always loud [laughs]. I never played music but I danced; I was a ballerina, so I was always into classical. But I loved heavy rock and I also loved Madonna. Now, transitioning into what influences our music, there's four of us in the band and we love anything current pop to throwback to any pop power goddess: Katy Perry to Pink to Kelly Clarkson. I would say we've had some strong influences from Kings of Leon to Muse to U2, of course, OneRepublic, X Ambassadors, Imagine Dragons. We love heavy drums with vocals that are flowing throughout where we can have lots of harmonies. It's a good mix of everything. A lot of Prince; one of our songs that we have now, we were really thinking of a heavy Prince feel to it. George Michael, of course. There's a lot of girls and a lot of opinions going around in the room [laughs].

Is there an artist you would recommend everyone take a listen to?

One artist? That is a very big question. I'm a big Ed Sheeran fan. Big X Ambassadors, and I don't know that I have to say 'give them a chance' because everybody does. [Laughs] I have young kids - they're eight and ten - and my station gets controlled by them at all times, so if they dont think it's cool, I dont get to listen to it, pretty much [laughs].

Which words would you use to describe your own sound?

This new album has a lot of different sounds on it and I would say it even has a little bit of reggae to it and, like I was saying earlier, a bit of a Prince feel on one of our songs, to some ballads to pop. Our sound is definitely a pop rock feel because you always feel the drums and a good bass line throughout. If you're not happy with [the album], if you're in a mood and you want to switch the feel, all throughout the album you can just pick a song and get with whatever mood you're in.

What were your inspirations behind your single "The Beast"?

I was going for more of a Go-Go's flair. Definitely a power rock feel to it and, coming off of our single "Enough" and some of our other songs, we were wanting to have more of a feel of that Kelly Clarkson "Stronger" feel. We had written down several different feels of what we were going after and that song, in and of itself, was probably one of the harder songs we wrote on the album - being that it had such a large chorus and that big feel to it - and that's what we were going after, was just a big, anthem-y rock feel. We were hoping for you to just feel free and just rock; I feel there's a space for that right now, to just feel. Bangles, Go-Go's, just bring it back and rock out! [Laughs]

Are these new singles indicative of what we can expect to hear on the album?

We're releasing our single "Blink Of An Eye" this February, just in a short few weeks, and "Blink Of An Eye" is going to be a bit of a different feel. I would say, you could feel that song being a little bit more OneRepublic. It's going to be a fresh sound for us, you're going to be surprised. I'm in love with this song and I think that there's a part in the breakdown where you really connect, it's a euphoric sense where you're floating in a cloud almost [laughs] but it's very powerful. I do a mix of both acoustic and electric drum throughout, so you get a taste of both, and there's a lot of different sounds going on on the keyboard and it's just really fun! That's going to be a little bit more unique sound for The Mrs, I think you'll be surprised and be excited to hear what that sounds like.

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

["Blink Of An Eye"] I'm most excited about. We also have collaborated with Paul Oakenfold to bring out a remix as well, so I'm really excited about "Blink Of An Eye". There's so much to this song and so much just flavor in the music that it will give our audience so much depth of what we can offer for the whole entire album. This song is just the platform for things to expect. On some of the other songs we brought in horn players, like on "The Band Plays On" and "Cleaning House" when you feel like you've stepped into Jamaica for a little bit; you're just going to be surprised on this album and the creativity that went into it. We'll take you back down with "Dare Me" where it's just about taking risks and it's never too late but you feel it, because it's rock and hardcore, it brings you back down and grounds you. You're going to feel all of this and then when you get to "Somewhere To Go" with the ballad with this [sighs] beautiful piano that Larissa plays and the whole album is just a journey of live expressions of years of life and experiences that we've all gone through.

How would you sum up the album in one sentence?

The album is a reflection of living a full life: marriage, kids, careers, friendships, and all that that entails.

Would you mind telling us more about The Mrs Magic Mirror app?

Not at all! That was our first music video and that was launched a little over two years ago. Once that was launched and went viral - over 5 million views, Good Morning America called [laughs] and I didn't believe it when it was happening - once that did happen, we realized that we needed to really do more with this. We were getting inundated with calls from Queen Latifah, you name it! We were out there needing to really go and tell people what was happening and what that was all about, that Magic Mirror and the beauty that was seen in the people that experienced the Magic Mirror, we actually went out and toured around with it; we took it into places, into malls, into events, with charities, we took it to the Top of the Rock in New York and having done all of this - the Mall of America, we were everywhere [laughs] - and in doing that, we spoke and met and talked with hundreds of thousands of people. Based on just these conversations and hearing from people - from kids, from women, from men - we heard stories and we heard their lives. When we met and we sat and we said, "we're going to write our album," this is a reflection of their lives, not just ours, but an entire view of what it means to live these lives. This is all of those experiences and what we believe represents all of those people and how they affected us and how we believe we affected them in that mirror and what it's done to change people's lives. This album, I truly believe, is a representation of The Mrs and that experience that has forever changed me as a person, has changed my family, has changed our band, and it is so powerful. I believe in this album, I believe in what we've written, and I believe that these songs mean something.

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

I believe that when someone decides to listen to a song, in whatever particular moment that they're in, that they are able to connect with it on a level that brings something into their lives and that helps them get through a day or a moment or brings joy that they can take with them throughout. "This Is Not A Lullaby" - which I wrote for my kids from that perspective, Jenny was writing it for hers, and my bandmates were writing it, Larissa and Mandy, reflecting on friends and their respective loved ones - there's a lyric in there, "failure is defining". We believe in that moment, in that lyric, that failures are defining and it is in that moment that you grow and it captures who you are. Those are some lessons that are really hard to teach your kids and so, if a mom is playing this song for her daughter or maybe she's listening to it and she's like, "you know what, this is something I really need to remember and maybe I'll be able to share this with my daughter," or, "maybe I want to listen to this with my daughter or my son," and maybe it helps them grow; to remind them that maybe they're having a hard time in spelling or a hard time in whatever and that it's okay, you will grow. If that gets them through that moment, that's okay, because no matter what's going on in their life, we don't want the kids to lose sight of their dreams and to know that they will become who they need to become because they are strong. It's all of those things. I can dissect every song of why I wrote it, why we did that, but those little moments, whenever you think about, if somebody's listening to it and if they can grab that moment and why we wrote that lyric, it would be really meaningful to us.

Is there anything you want to add?

We're releasing "Blink Of An Eye" February 17th and then our album's coming out in March. We're performing in March at SXSW. A little over 8 years ago, I didn't even play the drums and Jenny didn't play the bass and we weren't even a band [laughs] so it's quite a dream and I feel honored and, for me, that is something that is very meaningful and helps us to keep moving forward with what we're doing. And we do have a pledge campaign going on that helps keep this moving forward.

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