Erisa Rei

See what Erisa Rei had to say about her music, inspirations, and debut album, Black Ball.

What first motivated you to begin making your own music?

Erisa Rei: I first started out doing Christian music in 2004. Back then I was doing it because I felt like it was something I was supposed to do. Obviously I loved music back then too, but after the official genre switch in 2011, my goals became a bit different than before.

And you do have an interesting mix of genres: you have the strong lyrics of great female singer/songwriters but the Americana/Roots sound that's usually not associated with that type of artist; what led to this mixture of genres?

Well, I feel my music is true to who I am as a person. I am a soulful, rootsy person who also happens to be a deep thinker. I grew up in the country, as well as live in the country now; because of this, I feel that rural sound is somewhat present in my music. The gospel influence comes from growing up in church. The blues and soul sound is just innate.

What are you most passionate about/tend to keep in mind when writing a new song?

I am a very intuitive person. Oftentimes my songs come to me in bits and pieces. I have a hard time sitting down and writing a song, for the sake of just writing a song. I mean, I CAN, but it ends up being one that I really don't like that much or [will] use when I go out to perform, let alone put on an album.

The "bits and pieces" usually come when I am doing mundane things, like cooking or driving on the road. Sometimes I'll have a conversation with someone and a phrase will stick out. I'll just file that phrase or idea away for another time in order to ponder it. I think about the ideas for awhile before I actually sit down to write it out into a song.

Are there any recent releases or new artists whose music you've found to be inspiring?

I'm sort of playing catch-up on life, as I didn't listen to a wide variety of music growing up. I recently watched the Muscle Shoals documentary and have been listening to Aretha Franklin's "I Never Loved A Man The Way I Loved You", and Etta James' "Tell Mama". I also love Bettye Lavette's album, Thankful N' Thoughtful, Lake Street Dive's "Bad Self Portraits" and Ray LaMontagne's "Supernova". Lindi Ortega's "Tin Star" is fantastic too.

Speaking of you playing catch-up, how do you balance your role as wife and mother with that of songwriter and performer?

With four imaginary arms spinning plates! Really, I have an amazing husband that watches the kids while I'm gigging. If it is a longer string of tour dates, his mom or my mom comes down to help. It is difficult to keep up with other artists who are single that can go out and tour 200 dates a year. I don't have that luxury. I think that the most I've made it out is 65 dates in one year. Usually, I can squeeze in around 40 or 50. I hope with my next release I'll be able to get in at least 100, but we'll see. I homeschool the kids so I don't feel so guilty about leaving them while on the road.

That's great. So, have you already begun working on some tracks for the next album?

For the past two years, I've been writing. I've learned a few tricks from my producer, Paul Buono, about simplifying a bit, in order to show off my voice. So, I've been trying to find that little niche in the music world that belongs to me. My label, producer and I want to make sure that I am giving the public a really great album this next time. Since March, I've really been able to find a groove. Right now, I'm in the process of demoing the songs. The label will get to hear them after I'm done with that. We'll see if they like them. If they do, then I'll start recording. If they don't, back to the drawing board.

One of the demos available on your SoundCloud page, "Your Kind Of Love", is brilliant; what prompted the track?

Thank you! I'm glad that you like it. That is a song I demoed in March 2012, but it is one that didn't make the cut for the next album, mostly because the "feel" of it doesn't fit. (The other ones are even better, I promise!)

"Your Kind of Love" was prompted from when a particular group of people were expecting me to live up to their life standards (that they didn't keep themselves). When I failed to meet their ridiculous requirements in order to "fit in", I was ultimately rejected by them. I am the type of person that is honest about how I feel, but I don't expect other people to live according to my standards. Just be respectful of me, live the life you want, and I'm cool. However, if someone is disrespectful, hypocritical and then puts me down for not living according their own version of morality ("do as I say and not as I do"), then I stand up for myself and keep walking out my life the way that I see fit.

Do you have any tracks that you think sort of stand out from the rest or that you really enjoy performing live?

I've been trying out my new songs at local writer's nights. They are getting a lot of EXCELLENT response. That makes me feel pretty good about them.

As far as the tracks from previous albums go, "Black Ball", "News To See", "Like Dominoes", "I Still Need You", and "Be Gone, Winter Long" seem to be crowd and fan favorites. My very favorite song is actually one that I don't play out very often, because I always seem to not perform it as well as I love it, is "Sojourn Band" from the album Black Ball.

Going along with the response these new tracks have been receiving, are there any fun stories from the road/performances that you'd like to share?

Well, the main thing is where I have been playing them. It is this cajun restaurant/bar called Kimbro's in Franklin, TN. Every Tuesday night they have a deconstructed writer's night where many of the bands and listeners in the community drop by to play their music and support each other. It has such an amazing feel of community there. We're all there to support each other, not compete. To me, that is what music artists should do with each other. Anytime a music artist feels the need to tear down someone else's music, they either are bitter or not confident enough in themselves. This is something that I had to learn myself, so I'm not condemning anyone. It's just an observation.

Is there anything I didn't ask you about that you'd like to add or anything that you want to say to your fans?

I can't think of anything to add to the interview. As for my fans, sincere thanks for all of your support! I love you all. :)

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Alisha Zalkin

Had the chance to talk with Alisha Zalkin about her newly released On This Road EP and how she uses yoga and meditation in creating her music.

Which artists or albums have inspired you, musically or otherwise?

Alisha Zalkin: I would say the biggest album and artist that has inspired me is Carole King and her album Tapestry. It's one of my all time favorite records: I literally know every song. Her musical style, everything she writes about - well, like, her co-writers, but she wrote as well - just, her songs were so influential at that time and they made a difference for women and it's just an incredible record and she's just my idol. The first track off the record is a Carole King cover.  

"Fearless" is so powerful; what was the meaning or inspiration behind it?

The inspiration behind that song was.. a friend of mine, a childhood friend, was diagnosed with cancer and it was the first person who was my age I knew who was diagnosed with cancer. It just really just hit me hard and I couldn't help but think about, you know, when we were all in kindergarten, if we had known one of us was going to get cancer in our twenties, how would we have lived our lives differently? So I walked into a writing session with a friend of mine, my co-writer, Mary Ruth Schuler, and we were talking for hours, sharing stories about people that we know who've had cancer and, sort of, how we would live our lives; what would we do differently, that kind of thing. We just thought, why do we wait for that point to really live fearlessly? It really should be something that we do every day, all day, because there's no difference between someone who is suffering from a disease and someone who isn't. Tomorrow isn't a promise for anybody.

You've put out two EPs now, are there any plans for a full length album?

Yeah, that's the goal, the next step. This one just came out so I'll probably be performing for a bit but, all the while, writing and creating a full length.

Which track from On This Road means the most to you? Which of the tracks can you not stop listening to?

Definitely "Fearless". That was just an emotional song, for so many different reasons, and it forced me to take risks, as an artist, and be totally authentic and honest with myself; it's been a big game changer for me. That's one where it's just so meaningful and, you know, everyone knows someone who has been ill with cancer and so every time I perform it I can feel, just, that attention I have from the audience and it's a really special song. I love doing that one live.

What do you mean when you say it forced you to take risks, exactly?

I just meant, like, all around. As an artist, I'm putting out this song that's, hopefully, inspiring people to be fearless and it kind of holds me accountable for being fearless too. It's kind of like 'practice what you preach' in a way, even though I don't want to say that I'm preaching it, it's.. I can't authentically perform that song, in the studio or for an audience, unless that's the way that I am constantly living my life and challenging myself to live that way.

Where do you see your music going in the future?

I really hope to do a tour. I would really love to tour the states, tour out of the states, and just constantly create music that empowers and inspires people; I really just feel like that's the point of music, so I wanna give back in that way. I feel like I've been given music for a reason and I want to make sure that I get to people.

Other than music, what most interests you; were you not pursuing music, what would you be doing?

I am very into yoga and meditation and I do transcendental meditation twice a day: I practice yoga regularly; I actually did get my $500 yoga certification. If I weren't doing music I'd probably do something in that realm of meditation/yoga/ayurvedic medicine, something along those lines.

If you could see one artist/band in concert this summer, who would it be?

Ooh, that's a really hard question.. There's so many.. You know, one I've really been wanting to see live is Jason Mraz. I would definitely want to see Jason Mraz live but I've also been wanting to see Allen Stone live; I don't know if he's on tour but, if we were talking concerts, I would definitely go with Jason Mraz.

Are there any concerts/festivals you aspire to play at?

Hmm, I would love to do Bonnaroo, Outside Lands.. I would love to do yoga festivals; they often have music so that would be cool. Lightning in a Bottle is also a very, like, conscious space music festival.

What do you want listeners to take away from your music?

I just want them to feel empowered by the music and I want them to feel, sort of, rejuvenated. I want them to feel as though whatever stress they're dealing with or whatever, whatever's in their way of just fully accepting themselves and being truly authentic, I hope that the music inspires them to be that way, to let go of whatever's holding them back.

How do you transpose your love of yoga and meditation and, all of that, and put it into your tracks?

Well, you know, yoga and meditation are all about self discovery and it's really like being truthful with yourself and honest with yourself; making the choice to live with integrity. So, I try to write about my own experiences with that and I happen to work with an incredible producer named Steve Greenwell who does not let a beat go by that isn't truly authentic. He doesn't allow any music in there that is just there for the sake of being there. I mean, it was all so honest and pure so that really supported the lyrics and the melody and the message of the songs. I think, you know, I think that really [helps to] translate the stuff that I learn while I do yoga and meditation into my music. I tell people I did my $500 yoga certification but yoga isn't just the physical practice and I teach yoga through my music so, yeah, I think that's how I see the two co-exist for me.

Is there anything you want to say to your fans?

Just to spread the word. If they love it, share it with their friends and just, listen to the music. 

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Okapi Sun

Check the interview to see what Leo and Dallas of Okapi Sun had to say about making their debut album.

Techno Prisoners is your debut album?

Dallas: Yeah, this is our very first album. We just started the band in 2013, so this has been going on for pretty much a year and a half now so, yeah, it's the debut album of Okapi Sun. It was exciting; it was a long process but it's cool to have all the music out there finally. It kind of starts to free you up to write new music too because we've just been focusing on all the songs we wrote at the beginning of the project and then you obviously want to record the album so you're just concentrating on those songs and it's nice to have that done so we can actually start thinking of new songs. 

How did you two meet? When did you decide you wanted to form a band together?

Leo: We just met in the club in Europe and I saw her there and then we started talking and we became friends. Then I was going over her and I called her up and was like "I'm coming over!" and that's pretty much how we met.

Dallas: I don't think that we ever - well, I don't know; maybe we were like "we should start a band" - I can't remember, but I do remember us just kind of.. I think we said "let's get together and just kind of play some music" and that was really the situation so we got to a room together and we brought all the instruments that either of us knew how to play and we just kind of started experimenting and messing around. Then, when we actually started writing songs we were like "oh, okay, this doesn't sound too bad" so then that's kind of when we started to think 'maybe we should develop this more and turn it into a real band'. That was in October of 2012 so from October to December we were just kind of messing around and meeting up and playing music for fun and then, by January, we actually had some real songs and we started playing shows and we really took it seriously.

Leo: Yeah, I think mostly we just really wanted something as an outlet. We were working at the same job and I remember thinking like "oh, yeah, that's something fun after work" and we would just get together and play music.

How did you come up with the name 'Okapi Sun'?

Dallas: Okapi is one of my favorite animals: my favorite animal, growing up, was the zebra and then when I saw an okapi, which was probably in high school or something, that became my new favorite animal - even though I still liked the zebra. So, yeah, it's an animal and, when we were thinking of band names, I was like "oh, what do you think about 'Okapi'?" and she was like "oh, what's that?" and so I told her it was an animal and we looked it up and she thought it looked really cool -which it does - and so we were like 'okay, well let's think about it for a few days' and then a couple days later she came to me and she said "well, what do you think about 'Okapi Sun'?" and I was like "ooh, I kind of like that" so that's pretty much how the name came about.

Leo: Yeah, I thought that it was really cool that it was an okapi and it's like a spiritual animal, for one: I thought that it would really stick with who we are and what we represent, kind of like a mixture of all different cultures, you know? 'Cause, obviously, we don't look the same, so I thought it was really cool to have this weird animal representing us that looks like a horse, a zebra, and a giraffe in one.

How would you describe your style of music to someone who had never heard it before?

Dallas: Usually when we're talking to people and we're like, "oh, we're in a band," and they ask us that question, like "what does it sound like," the first thing that I usually say is that it's kinda like electronic/pop/dance music and, every now and then, we throw in some words like tribal/disco dance music. I mean, those are the words that we use to describe it. Just fun; easygoing; pure; like, four to the floor dance music, but it has a little pop flair because we try and do a lot of melody driven songs versus just reverb, you know, straightforward electronic, like EDM style of music. We kind of are a little different from that because we have more actual melodies for the songs but, yeah, I mean, it's pretty much just fun dance music... Do you want to add anything to that Leo?

Leo: You actually summed it up... It's cool; this is only us two, but I think we bring a really full sound to the table for our audiences. I think that it's pretty cool that we're playing all these instruments: I mean, one person plays synthesizers, guitar, and drums and we sing and then we have our tracks and I actually think it's really cool just to see. So, that's my two cents.

What part of the album making process was your favorite?

Dallas: I think I would say, probably for the both of us, one of the funnest parts was being able to work with Neal Pogue. We were able to fly out to Atlanta, Georgia which, I'd never been there, but it was just a really exciting experience. It was just exciting for us to be able to work with him and then when we got [to Atlanta] and we just had a lot of fun and we got to watch his process and kind of see him take a little, you know, put his flair on our music and so that was really a fun experience. 

Leo: Yeah, I think that was definitely one of the highlights. For me, the whole process was really exciting because, ever since we'd started this we'd just been playing with our instruments and had like the beginnings of the songs; we just had like these little bits and pieces and then later we got together and we were like "oh, this sounds cool and this sounds cool" and from there we just started layering all the instruments and developing all of our songs and it was really exciting to see the whole process of seeing the songs coming from like that instant idea to.. We write something together and then, having it sort of come to life, as a full work of art: that is just exciting to me.

And the most challenging part about making the album?

Leo: Pretty much, just putting what you have in your head out there and trying to get as close as it gets because, obviously, we both have a vision of how it's supposed to sound and then, actually, in the end, having it sound how we really meant it. It's always hard trying to talk when you're working with other people because we don't have the technical aspects of it so we had to compromise, but I think it came really close to how we had it in our head and I think that we did a really good job of bringing what we thought it should sound like to life, but that was definitely a challenge. What do you think Dallas?

Dallas: I agree; I totally agree with that.

How did the album writing process work? Did you collaborate on everything, or write on your own before coming together?

Dallas: Oh, no, we collaborate on everything we do so, pretty much, the writing process is just: we'll just go into our practice space and sit down and go through the beats that we have in our system or we'll search for new ones online or if we can't find anything that fits our mood at the moment then we'll just write something that we like. Then, after we have a beat that kind of inspires us a little, we'll turn the lights off and start jamming to it and there's really no rules to it. If both of us start playing the synthesizer, we both start playing the synthesizer; if somebody stops and decides to pick up the guitar then they pick up the guitar; if we both start singing.. We just kind of let whatever comes out come out and then as, I mean, a song is like three or four minutes, but usually we'll jam on it for ten or fifteen minutes; you just kind of play and sometimes you might hear a melody that works that might be played on guitar but then you might start singing it; you might be singing it and someone might start playing it on something else. We just kinda keep messing around with it until we start hearing something that we like and then we might stop and talk about it like "oh, that was cool; let's try it again". Then we'll mess around with it again and it starts taking an actual shape; we'll start seeing parts that we like for verses and hearing parts that we like for choruses or whatever and then we'll usually spin off one more time and kind of verbally say "well, let's play that part here and let's play that part there" and then we'll turn on the recorder and just play through it once or twice, kind of letting it come out however it comes out with the little structure we've put on it. Then we let it go and we'll move on to the next thing and do that maybe five or six times in a sitting, just that whole process, and then we'll listen back to the recording over the next couple of days. Obviously, some songs we'll be like "okay, that one was weird; drop it" but then other songs you're like "oh yeah, that kind of sounds cool" and then you kind of start messing around with it from there and actually shaping it to a real song: forming the choruses and adding words and adding layers and adding instruments; developing a song.

Leo: That was really good. I think that's it is really cool when two people actually get together like that and really are in that moment and whatever comes out, comes out. It's a really cool feeling because you're creating something from however you feel in that moment and that's kind of a nice part of making music, in general, because that's like the joy of creating music, for me. You know, some people have that idea of how it should sound on paper and that's pretty much how it's supposed to sound but, however it comes out, we'll take it and we'll mold it into a song later and that's kind of the Okapi sound.

Is there a track you really love performing live?

Dallas: That's a hard question; I like all of them. Really, there's not like a song that we play that is like "oh my gosh, okay, let's try and get through it to get to the next one". They're all fun and they're all different, in and of themselves, so it's just like, you know, some songs have drums and you get excited to perform that because you get to jump on drums and other songs, like, I might sing a lead in one song, she might sing the lead in another song and there's a lot of stuff going on so I don't think any one song ever gets boring and, you know, not exciting. It's just like one long..

Leo: Dance party.

Dallas: Yeah, one long dance party.

Leo: Yeah, I think it's fun because every song has different aspects and, in the end, we wanted to create something that we would want to listen to, if we had gone to a show; like, "oh, you know, this must be cool to watch, so I would want to see that song and dance". It's kind of fun; we always play a lot of instruments in the songs so it's like I'll be looking forward to the next song because there's drums and then the next song comes up and you're on guitar so it never gets boring with that.

What song can you not stop listening to right now?

Dallas: Ooh, Fame Riot. The Fame Riot and Ishi. Those are two bands that we play with; we played with Ishi before and we just played a show with The Fame Riot this past weekend in Seattle and we're going to play with them again down here in San Diego but those are two CDs that we always have in the car and we can't get the songs out of our head once we listen to them.

Leo: Yeah, [The Fame Riot] is from Seattle and Ishi is from Dallas, Texas.

Anything you want to add that I haven't covered?

Leo: We're excited to go on our first national tour coming up in a couple weeks so we're pretty much packing right now and getting that ready.

Is there anything you want to say to your fans?

Leo: We just want them to have a good time.

Dallas: Yeah!

Leo: We want it to be like a big dance party and everybody can just come and have some fun and there's no, like, you don't have to be cool or dress cool or whatever, it's just like, everybody comes together and has a good time and parties and that's pretty much what we're trying to do through music: bring everybody together and celebrate life.

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Charlie Oxford

See what Charlie Oxford had to say about working in Nashville and his self-titled debut album, available now.

When did you first become interested in writing your own music?

Charlie Oxford: I think I started first writing probably [around] fifteen or sixteen. It was just kind of a hobby but I didn't really start taking it seriously until college. I went to school in New Orleans at Loyola University and it kind of put me into this situation where I was surrounded by all these other musicians so it felt like it was kind of more of a natural thing for [music] to become more of a serious aspect of my life by that time.

You said you were influenced by your time in New Orleans, specifically during Hurricane Katrina, how did these experiences help to shape your sound?

That was a rough time for everybody down there. There were a lot of students dealing with depression and who had lost a bunch of stuff during the storm [and it] just made us feel closer together. It's a pretty crazy thing to be going through.

Musically I think it made me turn to songwriting as a way to cope with all of that going on down there. Music was a pretty big crutch to lean on so I think it made me dive into it a lot more.

This is your debut album but it feels much fuller and more mature than a lot of artist's early work; Why do you think you were able to create that full sound?

You know, I moved to Nashville probably four years ago and that was probably, for my music, I think that was the smartest decision I ever made since this is probably the best songwriting town you could probably ever move to.  Again, being brought into a situation where everybody is about the music. The music scene here is just a lot stronger than [Dallas]. I'm originally from Dallas, Texas and Dallas is great but, I mean, there's no city like Nashville when it comes to the songwriting scene. All my friends are musicians and we all write together and it's a thing that we focus on every, every single day to get better at it. So you know when I was thinking about doing the Kickstarter campaign to raise money for this I thought to myself, I'm going to take my time with this 'cause you only get one first impression: I wanted to take my time with the writing to make sure that I was, on the music side, getting as good as I possibly could before I put my first step forward.

You've been working in Nashville for quite some time now; are there any memorable stories from performances/working in the studio you want to share?

The studio time for this record was pretty funny. We recorded it at Welcome to 1979 over in West Nashville: it's a pretty cool place; it used to be a vinyl record pressing plant and now it's a complete studio. It was just fun getting in there with the guys we had playing in the band, just 'cause you don't get to do that a lot so it was pretty fun.

I walked down - the studio's set up with two different levels and I was trying to film the entire thing - I walk down at the end of the last day: the entire band is sweating with their shirts off and I've got the video camera rolling on them. It was just pretty funny; cool scene to watch.

Yeah, it was a really cool experience. Adam Smith and I really worked well together; we co-wrote four of the songs on there. It was a really great experience for me.

There a lot of different influences, different genres I guess, in your music, so which genre or artist inspired this work?

I don't know if there's one but, I mean, as far as like, current artists out there right now, you know, I listen to a lot of guys like James Morrison, Gary Clark Jr, Amos Lee - male singer/songwriters. I mean, the first and second songs on there are pretty blues driven and then there's "Letting Go" which is, to me, close to just a straight up pop song and then there's "You and I" on there which is more of an acoustic ballad. As far as my earlier musical influences, you know, like Sam Cooke and Stevie Ray Vaughn and guys like that... I don't think that I could boil it down to one just 'cause I'm constantly listening to as many new artists as possible just to keep it fresh.

You said in your bio that songwriting became a therapeutic way for you to express yourself; which of your songs has the most personal meaning?

I would probably say "You and I", just because it's about my wife. Before we were even married or engaged we were driving around one day and apparently I was bugging her and she was getting a little bit annoyed with me so she dropped me off at my apartment and said "just leave me alone" and I was, I think I was like, "what the heck did I do" and I go in and I write that song and it was really about like, how do I not screw this [relationship] up? I wrote that song and then a few years later we were married so it's a constant reminder to me to be a better person, I think.

Both the music and lyrics for "Waiting For" are pretty emotional; what was the inspiration behind that song?

You know, Adam and I wrote that song with a friend of ours and I would go over to his [Adam's] house to write a lot, 'cause he's got this big studio over there, and I walked in and he was like "well, what do you want to write about today?" and I was like "you know, we've been writing love song after love song after love song and I'm kind of so sick of it. You know, I want to write about where I'm at right now" 'cause I was just at the point where, I was in that kind of floating zone of 'we have the funding to do the record but the songs aren't quite there yet'. I kind of felt like I was stuck in a rut and it was really about, you know, what are you waiting for with your life? Get up and do something with it and turn it around for the better. To me, it's not a love song, even though it does kind of sound like that.

Do you have a favorite song to perform live or a song from the album you would say is your favorite?

I think "Waiting For" is my favorite. That one or, I go back [and forth] between three; there's that one, "Drive Me Crazy", and "Letting Go" and I think it just kind of depends on the day and the mood I'm in.

A lot of your tracks have a bluesy soul or folk feel to them but you went with a different vibe for "Disappear"; why did you decide to record the song in this way?

It is different and it can get a little heavy. It's just the way the song went. It was kind of that ethereal, kind of heavy rock song and, to me, for some people maybe it doesn't make sense for the record but, to me, at the time, it did 'cause I just wanted to, I made a point of wanting to put, you know, songs on there that were different from each other.

There's a wide variety of instrumentation on the album; did you personally write the music for each  instrument, or did you collaborate with other artists?

On ["Intermission"] we collaborated with David Davidson of the National Symphony Orchestra. We were thinking of doing a string intro for "Stranger Than Fiction", which happened, and then we were in there and we were just kind of playing around and we thought, well, why don't we set up something so there's kind of a break in the middle of the album? "Disappear" is kind of a heavy song and just, you know, give your ears a rest for a second. The first half and the second half [of the album], to me, are pretty different. We hadn't really seen it [album intermission] done before and we thought it was kind of a cool idea.

I played guitars and did vocals; the drums were done by Jeremy Lutito: he's in a band called Leagues that's out of Nashville. They're good; I love those guys, they're so awesome: those guys were class A musicians so, when we were in studio days, I kind of let the reins free and just let them do what they do.. I felt like that was the best thing to do. The bass was done by Tony Lucido and the guitars were done by Court Clement - he's done a lot of work with guys like Matthew West.

Jason Reeves played a little bit of guitar on it and then Joe Pangallo played a little bit of guitar on "Stranger Than Fiction"; I kind of brought all my friends together to make as good of a project as I could.

"Stranger Than Fiction" feels a little different from the rest of the songs. How did you come up with that sound?

That was another one that Adam and I wrote together with Joe Pangallo's help. A lot of the times I would come in with - my song writing stems off of melody - so I would come in with a basic melody that was chorded on my iPhone or singing in my head on the way over and we would just go from there. That melody, that kind of heavy, distorted bar sound, worked for that. The strings idea didn't come until much, much later; until we were sitting there and we were like well, this needs much more backing vocals, this needs way more strings: the song lends itself to that kind of thing. Each song, to me, has a way of just telling you what you need to do.

Which track are you most excited to share with your fans?

The first single, "Waiting For", is probably the one; I'm a sucker for horn sections and the horns on here are just phenomenal. The guys that did it, they're called the Hornheads, from Minneapolis; they did the last Prince record and Chaka Khan stuff: something I just loved, so it was pretty fun to have those guys on that record. I just feel it's a fun song; it's upbeat and I'm excited for people to hear it.

Do you plan on bringing back any of the fifty songs you wrote in preparation for this album on any later albums or b-sides?

That's a possibility. I don't know. I haven't really thought about that 'cause I've been writing new stuff for my next project so, I don't know, we'll see. I've definitely got them locked in the vault but I don't know.

Songwriting is one of those things where, for me, I have to focus on it pretty much every day. It's kind of like a muscle that you have to exercise. I've probably got ten or so songs for the next project and hopefully that will come out soon. This project took awhile to get out so hopefully the next one will not take quite as long.

I think the Kickstarter ended at the end of 2011 and I was still writing then; I think we may have possibly jumped the gun on the funding part but I'm glad we got it done when we did. I think we started recording maybe a year later and then maybe took nine more months after that to finish mixing and mastering and getting it all printed up and then me moving them around to different labels and seeing who I could team up with for the project; a lot of that stuff is the boring business side that nobody wants to talk about, but it's essential. I started working with Rock Ridge last summer and the album was completely done by then; I was looking for partners to work with to help me get it out there.

Is there anything you would like to say to your fans?

Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you for sticking with me because I know it's been a long process and I can definitely see if any of them were frustrated with me if they thought I took too long to get this out but, you know, just; I'm excited for the next year, for touring and all that stuff. It should be a fun ride.

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