Jesse Macht

See what Jesse Macht had to say about the inspiration behind his latest album and head to iTunes to get Suitcase Heart now.

What got you interested in music?

Jesse Macht: I always played music as a kid, I know that's an old story, but I played piano as a really little kid and violin and sang all the time, but what got me into it really was being in a band. When I was in high school I was in a cover band and we added a guitar player because, at the time, I wasn't really good enough, and he came into the band and was like "you know, we can write our own songs". For some reason - I had been a huge classic rock fan, I loved Jimi Hendrix, I loved Zeppelin, James Taylor, and listened to all this music - but, for some reason, it never dawned on me that I could write my own songs so, when he said we could write our own songs, that sort of blew my mind and we wrote a song and after that I was hooked. He took me to go see a band called Kara's Flowers in LA and they were like a high school band, a few years in front of us, and watching them do their thing was pretty cool because I was just in awe that somebody that was like my neighbor could do it. Kara's Flowers turned out to be Maroon 5 so, for me, they were just great mentors, just seeing all those things together.

How would you describe the sound on this album?

Definitely a bit melancholy; now it's been about eight months since I actually tracked it, so it's interesting to hear, you know, to hear how your mind changes from writing it and tracking it and everything. I think there's this sort of ambient familiarity, like an ambient classic rock sort of vibe but they're love stories and it's love/loss. I went through a rough break-up so that's where the heart and the intention of a lot of the songs came from, but they're also dealing with bigger questions, like what sort of love forces you to question: it forces you to question who you are as a human being, and your business, and your life's intention, and why you exist, and what you want. Love was the impetus.

How does this album compare to your last one?

This one just took definitely more of a chance with what I had to say and what I had to ask myself. I loved making that last record, but it was my first record and it was sort of a flag in the sand. I was in a band for awhile, in a pop band, and that was my first adventure outside of it and, even though I loved the songs and it was an important record for me to make, this record was a little more focused and exactly what I was trying to communicate with the songs, which really was this idea of who we want to be and how are we willing to get there or what are we willing to sacrifice and, you know, what do you have to sacrifice to get there and it hurts and it feels good and it's all of these things, but how do we live up to the expectations of the life we want to live?

How has your sound evolved since leaving the band and starting your solo career?

It just got me confident, I would say. When you're first doing something on your own, I think there's a lot of blind faith, which you need to, you know, to jump off the cliff, and that band gave me that and the ability to get going. I think now, where I'm trying to evolve to is, the courage to be as honest as possible, to trust that if I really speak from the heart and really trust people and share what questions I have and fall into that, fully, then that's going to make my music a little more experimental, both lyrically and musically, and it'll be that much more genuine. I think when something is truly genuine people can't help but connect to it, they can't help but love it. Anybody, I think, who looks down on somebody who's truly and genuinely putting their heart on their sleeve, they themselves don't have heart. It's just really hard to do that, for any human being to get up and really share something and I think, now, having the courage to be on my own, having that first record under my belt, it's just life experience that gave me the opportunity on this record to just put myself out there and really go the extra mile.

What do you keep in mind while writing new songs?

People are a huge inspiration for me, other people, friends, family, strangers: I'm just interested in their stories. I think looking at other people and looking at their stories and the interactions I have with those people - I try to reflect on just some of the philosophy I have in life and, you know, where I'm going and why I'm going. There's a lot of 'why'; what are we on this speeding rock for and, you know, if we're going to spend our time doing something it better be something that inspires us every moment. So, I'm just inspired by other people's inspiration and I'm inspired by why people are up and positive and why people are down and melancholy and I'm just so interested in the drama of life and helping people and myself to sort of ask the questions of what makes us take that next step.

Are there any current artists or new releases you can't stop listening to or might take inspiration from?

Yeah, I mean right now I'm listening to some oldie stuff but the woman who I really, really wig out for is Laura Marling; she is so wonderfully in touch with this haunting affair she has with life and she's so complicated in her analyzing of her childhood and of her womanhood and the interactions she has. She's just so brutally honest with it that it forces her to be this really haunting character and that comes through in her guitar playing and the tunes she plays with and the lyrics she uses and that just inspires to no end because she fully is unapologetic about the trajectory of her life and how she's trying to move her way through. I think we're always on a journey to try and be that genuine truth and she's really in the thick of that now and so, yeah, she inspires me a lot. She was a huge influence on the record.

Have you got a favorite song from Suitcase Heart to perform live?

Yeah, I really love "Broken Faith", which is the first song on the record. It hits the nail on the head of what I was trying to sound like, for sure. I recorded that at the Zac Brown Band studio in Nashville, which was a super cool place - it was featured in Dave Grohl's Sonic Highways TV show that's on HBO right now. "Broken Faith" came really to me because it really was an honest conversation; it comes from this idea - which is a little bit of a bummer, I think I'm healing - but, when I was going through the break-up with this girl, part of the stuff that really broke us down at the end was when we would sort of argue and conversate about all we were going through. She got to this point when we were talking - and she was the one girl, the one person, in my life who I could be fully vulnerable with and share with her my weaknesses and my doubts and frustrations and anger, all the things you hold onto when you're in the middle of a public conversation, even with close friends sometimes you don't let go and, with her, she was the first person I really have given to - when we were falling apart, she had sort of said, in passing, like 'sometimes you were more vulnerable than I could take you being and I needed you to be strong for us because we're both artists and I don't know if I can live that life where you have that vulnerability' and that really just pulled the rug right out from under me. I thought, 'oh, shit, even in love I can't be fully vulnerable with somebody; I have to be protected and have to be this, you know, virile, male protector. That sucks'.

That's really where I broke my faith; I lost that idea that, in love, you can be fully vulnerable and now I think I'm trying to be fully vulnerable in my music because, that, at least, is under my own volition and music can't be taken away from me, I can play that no matter what. I think I need to heal that and learn that maybe in another relationship or any other person I can be that vulnerable, but that song really was, like, the impetus of the whole record and the sound and it was a really honest moment of that philosophy of what a bummer it is to lose that vulnerability.

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

I think I want people to hear the stories and see if they can relate to them and know that there's somebody else out there who's going through it in that voice, with that perspective. Also, even though some of the things might sound down or melancholy, they'll find inspiration that we share the same struggle, everyone's going through the same thing, and that in all the songs, even in "Broken Faith", I do have a genuine optimism that lives inside me so when I write, I write out of loss or vulnerability but I can't help but always find the optimism. Sort of like, we'll get through this eventually but this sucks right now. I have a lyric in "One More Call", which is the fifth song on the record, and it says "if it's impossible to love me I won't make you live this lie but I will force you face to face with your reasons, and if you push me to the right you push me away, and you'll prove that you're not worthy of this hope I build inside" and that's kind of, like, those three lines are sort of how I feel about life like I don't want to force anybody into something, but I am going to be vulnerable, but if you're not willing to be that friend to me or to be that person then you're not worthy of the life I have inside of me, and I want other people to realize that.

If you can't fully be yourself around somebody, a parent, a family member, a friend, if you can't fully be that sad face or happy face or whatever is truly you, that person can't build you up for those things that are truly you, then they're not worthy of your life; they're not worthy of your inspiration and you have to be worthy. Hopefully I, as a song-writer, am worthy of those people listening to my record and vice-versa; hopefully they are willing and worthy of listening.

I'm going to be on tour in January and in Spring so hopefully people can come out and see that and I've got a song called "This Light" that is coming out in the next few weeks for the holiday season, which is essentially a song about the holidays and how wonderful it is to be around the people you love during this time. All those sort of holiday ideas, but there's no mention of Christmas or Chanukah or Kwanza or anything like that; this song is all about light and how this time of year is so much about light and how it forces you to reflect. That song is coming out in the next few weeks, and the video too; I'm excited because it's got a lot of family footage and all that. 

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Phil Cody

Check out what Phil Cody had to say about his work with Warren Zevon, his forthcoming tracks, and head to iTunes to get your copy of Cody Sings Zevon.

What's the best response you've received since releasing Cody Sings Zevon?

Phil Cody: I guess that would have to be, I guess at this point, the Italian response; it was the best and the first. I was offered the opportunity to release it over there and that was followed up with a two week tour of mostly Northern Italy but also Sicily, as well. That would have to be the best response, because they were interested right away. I've toured over there multiple times before and they've followed my musical adventures, even when there weren't too many to follow.

How would you describe Warren's work, or even his influence on you and your own work?

He was an influence on me; he was, I guess you could call him, a rock legend. He was the main guy that I ever toured with and when I was starting my career he was already a legend at that point, in the '90's, and so I knew who he was; I'd even played his songs in my high school band - we used to play "Werewolves of London" and stuff like that - and, being a student of music, I was well aware of who he was.

I was given the shot to do my first tour with him and it was a big thrill to be able to do it but really, once we got out there, travelling, he was a huge influence on me. It was an education, completely; it was like going to college, you know, learning life on the road, that of the travelling troubadour. The ins and outs of road managing and hotels and getting to sound-check on time and how to work the crowd and all those things, night after night after night, I had never done on a scale like that before so, watching him do it, it was a complete education, in and of itself, because he was a complete professional.

I loved music and so the music was inspiring at the same time and, watching him do it, someone with that kind of experience and quality music, it inspired everyone there - there was nothing about it that didn't. You know, everything was about the song, highlighting the lyrics, the words, and the songs really held their own and the crowd knew them all and that was interesting to see: just how the hard-core fans react to somebody - knowing every word, heckling him, being heckled, the interaction between him and the audience, and they loved his sort of sarcastic way of looking at life, curmudgeonly in a way, but always with a wink in his eye.

What do you want listeners to take away from this cover album?

We really kind of went for a vibe of listening to a record where you could kind of put it on and play it and, it's not like you can't pick any tune out of there and enjoy it, but we were trying to get an atmosphere that was kind of like a late night highway thing where you could just throw it in and let it go. I wanted people to be able to have a good album listening experience but, at the same time, if they knew Warren, it would show them some slightly different takes on his songs. Mainly because, having toured with him and him playing solo, it's a lot different sound and that's how I learned the songs, so my interpretations of him are a lot more based on his live performances than his studio recordings - which is how most people know his songs -and the way I played the songs, having learned them from his performance versions, gave me a pretty big head-start into kind of finding my own way with his songs.

Ultimately, I'm just really doing my part. I wanted to do my thing to see that the songs live on and, perhaps, expose his music to a younger generation. I did it personally, for my own reasons; I really needed it at the time and I needed to go into the studio and work so it was a bit of a personal salvation, doing this record and reaching out, getting some peace of mind and getting my life back on track. It was a really self therapeutic thing. I knew the guy, he was a pal of mine, I played under him, I learned under him, I studied under him; I'm just trying to share it now and move it on and keep it alive and do my part with that, which is kind of what I always said I would do, and I thought there was certainly a place for this in the world.

Are there any current artists whose work you can take inspiration from?

This is a tough one for me because I'm a music junkie, in a lot of ways, but I could jump around in any decade at any time. I was pretty blown away by Benjamin Gibbard; he made a solo record a couple years ago and I forget what it's called, but it's absolutely fantastic. It's clever, good lyrics, good hooks, good melodies. You know, I find things current and also listen to old stuff at the same time, too. I'm not completely blown away by a lot of stuff now because I think there's a lack of attention and effort put into lyrics and some people have the vibe, the sound, hell, even the look, everything, but, I have to say, the large majority of lyrics I hear are wanting.

I'm not talking my specific world, which is singer-songwriters, rock, stuff like that, and you can't expect anything from those Top 40 tracks, but a lot of people who are wanting to get into more sophisticated music, I guess, are still not really putting the energy and the effort into it, and maybe they can't; I don't know, writing lyrics is hard as shit, especially to come up with a story, to come up with a catchy phrase that's not only great but is going to stick and that someone is going to remember and repeat. Tom Waits, people like that, they're great singer-songwriters and they spend hours, years, to perfect the craft and I'm a lyric guy so just a simple melody with some good words on top of it.

Your next album will be coming out in 2015; can you give a hint as to what direction the album is going in and how it will sound?

Well, compared to Cody Sings Zevon, it'll be a bit more of a full band. Cody Sings Zevon is much more atmospheric and moody, with limited percussion and drumming in various spots. I think the tracks I'm working on now are a lot more full band, with a drum player and bass player and organist and all that, so maybe a little bit bigger, in that regard. More of a four or five piece rock band, but still folk rock. I'll be playing mostly acoustic guitar - some electric - and kind of just old-school straight-up cool five piece rock band sound. There'll be a variety of upbeat and ballads; I'm a sucker for waltzes and ballads, so there's always going to be a couple of those, but I'm trying to get some more rockers on there too.

What do you want people to be able to take from your own music?

That it's good solid rock; gives you some good words to sing, some good melodies. That it's honest and sincere and just, take that away from it and enjoy listening to it and hopefully come out and see my play. That's all you can really hope for, and all I really want is to make music that makes me feel good - that helps me get up in the morning and go to bed at night. I want music that my kids will be proud of and that other people will enjoy. If I'm able to make a living doing it, that's good, but I'm not doing it for the dollar. I think there's a niche out there for everybody and I think that it just goes back to me playing with Warren; touring with him was like going to school, going to college for me; he [Warren] wasn't playing for thousands and thousands of people when I toured with him, but every night, no matter where we went, he was playing for hundreds and I've always said, "man, I would be happy if I could just go around the country and have a couple hundred people come out and see me play". I know that my music is probably not meant to reach millions and millions, but I'd just be happy to entertain a couple hundred people in twenty to thirty cities a year.

Is there anything you would say to your fans?

Enjoy the Zevon record, it was a labor of love. Anybody that knows me and has followed me knows that connection, knows the history, and they'll see the record and go, 'ah, that makes sense'. Enjoy that and know that more music will be coming and just dig it. Come out and see me play and I'm sorry I had a few missing years there where I wasn't putting out music but I'm back to doing it and don't have any indication of stopping. I'm just going to continue to write songs and do my best at finding cool songs to interpret and rewriting them, I wanna do a little bit of all of it. I just hope that it's an interesting ride for anybody to get on, for anybody who's interested in folk music.

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Nolan Kennedy

Stream parts of The Honesty Theory on SoundCloud now, see what Nolan Kennedy had to say about his debut album below, and look for East coast tour dates in Spring 2015. 

The Honesty Theory was released a few weeks ago, what's been the best response to the album so far?

Nolan Kennedy: The response so far has been really overwhelming actually. We're getting a lot of love back on this album. It's pretty great hearing things, personally, especially on Facebook and text message and through word of mouth; people talk to other people I know who are just sending so much love back, they're just saying how much it's affecting them. Just, if they're really into the tune then everybody's got a different opinion on a song, everybody's got a different flavor, so many favorites. It's nice waking up and somebody you haven't heard from in a while just bought your album and is like 'I think it's great and I love what you're doing' and I guess that's the biggest thing is, you know, people really appreciate what we're trying to do.

How would you describe the album?

I would describe the album as seven songs and I think that's the perfect size nowadays 'cause everyone's really interested in a single but this album is more of a project, it's a collection. I think if I [had] made twelve songs on an LP it would be a little more difficult to digest, you might get lost a little easier, in this giant digital music world that we've created, you know, I think seven songs is easy to digest and it's easy to take in because every song is a little bit different. I have so many different influences in my life and I wrote the songs at various times and chapters in my life where I was either into different sounds or in different bands, you know, how old I was and so it's all a little different but it all dances around the same idea. We chose to do songs that I had written years ago: "Apologize", for example, was the first song I ever wrote and "Cover You" and "Devil Creep" are some more recent songs. Because this is my first album, you know, just as a new album, I think it's important to, if you're going to know an artist, to know them from the beginning, so we thought it was important to take songs up to my life thus far, rather than strictly newer material. I wanted everybody to see where the songs used to be and where they come from, where I come from, 'cause each song is personal so it's my way of kind of sharing my story.

Is there a track from the album you're most happy with the way it turned out or really want people to pay attention to?

I think my two favorite songs on the album are probably "For Jaclyn", and that's due to, you know, that's one of the relatively old songs. Some of the guitar work and harmonic and things like that I just think of as basic and I think that all just came together very nicely. It sounds nice and it's a very poetic song, but the song that I am probably most proud of, based off the response I've gotten, is probably "Devil Creep". It's a very simple song, melodic, but it's a very personal song to me and, you know, getting up on stage and playing that song, it's the last song I always play because it's the hardest to play. A lot of history goes into that song and some of the references are pretty direct, like I talk about my mother and my siblings and my father but, you know, for people who know me and know my background, they are overwhelmingly moved by that song and those who really don't know me - I think everybody can relate to sometime or some instance or something in their life where they just think "why". You know, there's nobody to blame but things are just hard and they're just not going your way and you're not really sure what it is and that's what the devil is in my song. Everyone can relate to that so even people who I don't know, who I don't have a history with, find solace in that song; they can relate to it and it really makes them reflect and for me to put something so personal out there - I mean, that's kind of the point, I guess, for me doing this is to put out personal things - that song in particular and the overwhelming response has just been like "I feel you" and really moving people. That's what I love the most about this song. So that's my favorite song: "Devil Creep".

Is there an artist whose work has inspired your sound or writing style? Any current artists you take inspiration from?

It's kind of a mix; I'm really a '90's kid so a lot of those bands I grew up listening to, like Foo Fighters and Nirvana, songs with messages, but my writing style.. I don't know. I really don't know; I have no idea where it comes from. I know that growing up I played with my [cousin]; I learned most of my guitar work from my cousin; he's kind of like my older brother figure and I always used to watch him play and that's kind of how I learned, for the most part. I taught myself based off of watching him play so a lot of my style I developed by watching him and other people. My sound though is very basic, you know, melodies are catching and lyric driven. So, I guess I would say, anybody '90's and any old school singer-songwriters; I'm really into blues like Muddy Waters  - things with a solid melody and the lyrics are driven too, I guess I'm just inspired by everybody.

Oh yeah, Alexi Murdoch; I'm really into Alexi Murdoch right now. I really do enjoy Ed Sheeran and what he does with lyrics; I think he's extremely talented. I listen to a lot of those guys just because they have a killer melody, killer sound, simplicity and, you know, it's just really, really awesome.. Who else am I listening to right now? James Bay. James Bay is killer, man. He's got a great acoustic sound, rough voice, bluesy, definitely him.

What tracks have you got on you iPod now?

Actually, really embarrassing story: On the subway the other day I was coming down from my girlfriend's place and I had just smoked a joint before I got on the subway and it's jam packed and the one One Direction song that I have on my shuffle pops up on the subway on the screen and I leave it on because, I'm like, 'this is alright'. This girl sitting next to me on the subway taps me on the shoulder and gives me the dirtiest look and holds up her iPod and she's got the same One Direction song playing. She's like fourteen years old and I had a full beard at the time; I was totally embarrassed, like, "ah, I got caught".

So, that one One Direction song, James Bay, Alexi Murdoch, Pink Floyd - I just downloaded the re-mastered greatest hits - I'm really into classics too.

What's the best part about performing?

The best part about performing is watching people sing along; I really enjoy looking out into the crowd and seeing everybody's mouth move. At the album release party there was a hundred and thirty something plus people there and, you know, there's so many lights on my face and I can't really see everybody, but I'm looking out at these faces and you can hear people sing back at you and that's really cool, when people sing back to you.

How would you describe your sound as a whole to someone who had never heard it?

My sound as a whole I would say is acoustic indie rock, lyrically driven, with some blues and folk influences.

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

A unique listening experience, really. I want people to listen to the songs and hopefully they like it and it's catchy and they like the melody and all that stuff but, really, I hope they can relate to what I'm saying or they find some sort of relationship to the words and can relate and then therefore reflect and think about their own experiences. I think that enhances relationships, is self-reflection, and so I think I want people to take away from my music is listen, relate, and reflect on your own life as well. Everybody shares kind of the same baggage a lot of the time that we don't talk about and music's a way to express that so, hopefully, people can find comfort in that. 

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Paul McDonald

Head to Kickstarter now to help fund the album, check out first single "Bright Lights", and see what Paul McDonald has to say about his forthcoming debut solo album. 

You've been raising funds for the new album on Kickstarter, how's that been going?

Paul McDonald: It's good, you know, Kickstarter is an interesting thing; for me it was always an interesting thing to actually have your fans help fund the record. It's been a cool process so far and it's really good to see that people are supportive and really liking the music.

You've released rock and folk in the past, but "Bright Lights" has a strong indie pop feel; is that sound indicative of what we can expect to hear on the new album?

Totally, I mean, you know, like you said, the typical in the past has been kind of roots with rock and folk and I just wanted to kind of experiment with sounds and stuff on this new record. That ["Bright Lights"] was kind of the first track that we wrote and it was mixed with that more modern kind of pop production just to kind of back it up but, you know, we just started really liking it and that's one of the sounds. But the album kind of goes up and down; it has more indie pop tracks on there and it also has some pretty heavy tracks as well. It kinda still has some elements of, like, the folk stuff that I've done in the past but also some new sounds. We're using synths but we're also using like banjos, you know, so it's a lot of in between.

How would you describe the new sound?

It's kind of a blend between folk, rock, pop, and blues, maybe. More in the pop realm this time around which I think is a cool approach. You know, that word used to scare me, being like "hey, I'm a pop artist", but all that means is that it's popular, I guess, that's what pop means and I just kind of wanted to experiment and try to go for a wider sound this time that more people could, I guess, attach onto. The main reason for doing music is to get it out there and have people hear these songs and these emotions and when they're hearing these songs, I hope they inspire people and that they can relate to these songs. I just felt maybe this was a cool approach and it's better for me, as an artist, to grow and step outside of my comfort zone and to experiment with new things.

Have you had trouble breaking out of that American Idol stigma?

You know what, I'm not really sure, because it's always going to be a part of what I've done in the past and that's cool; I mean it totally opened doors and led me to where I am right now. I haven't ever done any of those like American Idol tours or any of that stuff, I've just always constantly been growing as an artist. That was a season of my life, when I was on TV, you know, singing songs, but I've never let that hold me back or put a chain on me, ever. Right after I did that I didn't even do a solo career; I could have put out a record immediately after Idol but I decided to do the band thing with Nikki and, so, I don't think so.

Why go solo now after working with bands for so long?

It seems like the thing to do since I've been playing music full time. I've had bands all, you know, the entire time: the only time I was doing anything solo was when I was doing the American Idol stuff and that still felt kind of like a band because I was with ten other people, we were touring around and I wasn't really singing any songs I had written so it didn't really feel like it was any kind of solo work, more of like, I was part of a major production. I like the creative aspect of working with other people, I just kind of felt like, after this last record that I just put out with Nikki, you know, I had had all these other bands and national stuff, I just kind of felt it was the time to start fresh and try it. I feel like ten years is a good time - I just turned thirty years old - and I was like 'I think it's time for me to make a solo record' which is cool, you know.

The music video for "Bright Lights" was just released; how's the response to that been?

I feel like everybody has been super kind and seems to like it, so that's good news. It's only been out one day so it still has a lot of time to kind of make its way across everyone's computer and all that kind of stuff, but everyone I've talked to enjoys it which is just good. It was kind of scary because, for me, that's always been the toughest part about releasing a solo album; with a band you can kind of, you know, cover yourself a little bit because you're in with a bunch of other people and if the track doesn't work out then you go "hey man", you know, we don't let them screw up, but with this solo thing it's your own name and, at the end of the day, it's your art. So, it's really scary to put something out and I think that's why I've waited so long to do it, because I wanted it to be right. People seem to really enjoy this track and the video so I'm kind of really excited about it and I hope that this is a good sign for the rest of the record.

Are there any new releases from other artists you've gotten hooked on?

Ah, yeah, you know, the new Hozier record - I've worn that one out. And the newer Ryan Adams record is really cool. I've been listening to Alt-J, their new album is really cool, too. And, actually, I've been getting into the new Taylor Swift album, which I thought was kind of a really cool approach.

Have you had a favorite fan interaction?

Favorite fan interaction story... Not so much. There's always, you know, I'm trying to think of a really funny one. It's always inspiring when people come up and say they like the music or when they know me from certain things or whatever, it's always cool. One time, I did get this one guy that came up to me - this is more of just a funny story, not so much a fan - but, he was like, "hey man. I know who you are. Do you mind if I grab a photo?" and I was like "yeah, no worries, man" and he's like "dude, you're so awesome. I love everything you do" and I'm like "oh, cool. Thanks so much" and he's like "you know, Hangover is my favorite movie" and I'm like "that's cool. That's a great movie" and he's like "you're Bradley Cooper right?" and I'm like "no man, I'm not at all". He's like "you're lying man", I'm like "fine man, but I still am not an actor, I promise". That was kind of funny.

Is there anything you can share about the new album; any new tracks you're excited to release?

You know, I'm excited about all the tracks, really. They all kind of have a certain thing that I love about each one. "Bright Lights" is more of the kind of pop tune, but it has lyrical depth in it. The lyrical depth on this record, it tells a story; I wrote this over the past year - it's been kind of an interesting period in my life - and I've written about that, so the album kind of goes up and down with emotion. I'm just excited. Each track is so different; they each have different vibes but they all kind of run together, which is nice.

What do you want people to take away from the album?

I just hope that they enjoy it. I hope they can relate to it. I hope it inspires them. I hope, you know, they feel something when they hear it, because this record has really been just the past year of my life; so much work, so much of my time, soul, and heart, and energy has been poured into this thing and I just hope that people can relate to it. Maybe one of my songs will help them or they'll feel the same thing that I felt when I was writing it and that's all you can really do when you put something out, is just hope that people enjoy it and that they feel something when they hear it. That's the beautiful thing about music, you just hope it inspires them. 

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