Jake McMullen

Catch an interview with Jake McMullen and head to his website for a download of his new single.

What got you interested in music?

Jake McMullen: Way back when, when I was only ten or so, I saw a really good friend of mine playing the guitar - I forget where - but I saw him play a show and I just kind of instantly knew music was for me. After that I bought a guitar and started learning stuff and I've always been a sports guy, I played baseball through college, but I knew that music was what I wanted to do.

 Do you play all the guitar on the EP?

I play most of it and then a friend of ours from the band Civil Twilight, his name's Kevin Dailey, he plays the other guitar.

Are there any artists you look up, musically or otherwise, who inspired your sound?

Yeah, I was really into Springsteen and Dylan and then, lately, it's been a lot of The National and Ryan Adams.

How would you characterize your sound?

It's probably like that line between  indie rock and the ambiguous Americana singer-songwriter stuff.

Is that the sort of sound that we can expect to hear on the forthcoming EP?

Yeah, I think so. There's going to be some stripped down stuff and we're trying to finish the rest of it and experiencing with some different stuff, but along that line, I think.

We'll open up another single probably at the top of the year, January or February, and the EP itself will probably be out in Spring some time.

What do you keep in mind while writing new songs?

I don't know. I always try to look for something that I can live in. For me, I'm making stuff that I wanna hear or stuff that means something to me because I think that if I'm not doing that then there's no point to it but, yeah, I guess just something that I can live in and really relate to.

Is there any lyric or song that's held a lot of meaning for you?

I don't think there's a specific line, but something that I've really been inspired by is Field Report's new record. His writing is absolutely phenomenal and I could pull several lines from there - I can't think of any off the top of my head - but their writing and their record is fantastic.

What do you hope people can take away from your music?

I think if they can relate to it or find something they can take away, something like 'oh my god this gets it'. If I can live in it then hopefully they can live in it with me or just knowing that somebody sort of gets it. We all keep these things in and we're not all just doing 'okay' all the time, I think that when people say they're doing okay they're just brushing it off but, with my music, I was trying to pull out what I was thinking and that way other people can realize like, hey, it's okay to feel these things, like, not everybody is always doing okay. So, just something that they can sort of take away from that, that there's some sort of honesty.

Anything you want to say to your fans?

Of course, thank you. I'm kind of overwhelmed by the response; I get texts or emails from people saying that it's really beautiful and they enjoy it and that really means a lot, when it's something that means a great deal to me that's being received well by others. 

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Anna Renee

Catch up with Anna Renee to see what inspires her work and get your copy of The Places You'll Go, available now.

What first got you interested in creating your own music?

Anna Renee: I executive produced this web series, Destroy the Alpha Gammas - it's like a pop musical - and so my character had a song in it and when I went in to sing it, it was like my first time going into a studio and singing and the producer said that I had a cool tone and I should write some lyrics for him and he would produce them and I started writing and I loved it and then, all of a sudden - 'cause I was acting at the time - all of a sudden I was getting auditions and not really wanting to go 'cause I was like "but I'm writing a song". So, I've just completely switched gears from acting to music now. It's the best thing that's ever happened.

You play piano, do you play on this EP?

Not on this first EP actually, the first EP, all the piano music, aside from "Sharks", Stevie Mackey, he's my voice coach, is also my songwriting partner and he wrote all the piano parts.

Is there a song on this new EP you're most excited for people to hear?

"Guilty" is probably my favorite song on there, although that one came out before so people kind of already heard that. I think that "The Places You'll Go", which is just the title of the EP, I'm really excited about that song. Stevie Mackey asked me to write about Dr. Seuss' Oh, The Places You'll Go! and he said he was going to sing it eventually and then I went and I wrote and, obviously, I wrote higher than I normally would for myself because I thought, 'well, Stevie's going to sing it', and he tricked me 'cause I ended up singing it and he just wanted to show me that I could go higher than I think I can.

Do you have a favorite track to perform?

Well, I have this new song that I just I love singing it. It's called "Lone Wolf" and it hasn't been released yet, we're actually producing it right now, but it's a little different style; it's more like dub step mixed in with kind of like an alt-J type of vibe but it's just so fun to sing, I wish I could show you. It'll be released in probably a month or two.

What do you keep in mind while writing these new tracks?

I try to allow whatever is coming to me to happen and to not touch it, whether it be what I'm saying or the genre or however it should be. Actually, one of my producer's, Mike, just told me something cool which I'm trying to take into consideration, especially right now. He's talking about how each song is supposed to be its own thing and it's kind of like having a kid, you know; you can't force your kid to be something it's not, you just have to let it be and love your kid and help them as much as you can. So, it's like a song but it's a creation like a child and so allow that song to be what it is and help nurture it as best as I can, without forcing or shaping it.

That's why I've been writing a lot of different genres. I've been doing EDM music and country and hip hop and I'll probably have those demos for other artists, but it's still really fun writing them.

So what's the best advice you've received?

To be excited about where you are and just enjoy it. Not so focused on who's going to hear this or where it's going to get placed, like in a big movie, just like enjoying being creative and enjoying having these incredibly talented musicians play on all these songs and watching them come together. It's all very exciting.

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

I would like people to listen to it and hopefully it will help them become more self-aware and realize that there is strength in vulnerability and being yourself and being human; seeing the light and darkness and beauty in both sides.

If you were to sum up your album in one sentence what would it be?

Life can take you anywhere.

The reason I say that is because I had a head injury four years ago and it just completely shifted everything in my life. Where I was, I went to Barcelona for a year, like, all these things happened and it's just crazy to me, it still blows my mind now when I really think about how two years ago if you said that I'd be doing what I'm doing now I would not have believed you, I probably would have laughed, and I just would not have believed it at all.

Is there a song or lyric which has inspired you?

I'm really into Hozier right now and a lot of his songs. I love "Like Real People Do". He talks about, like, "why were you digging? What did you bury before those hands pulled me from the Earth?" and that's a great line. Very powerful.

Any sort of guilty pleasure type of songs?

Well, I normally don't mind people knowing that I love a lot of cheeseball music, but I love Selena Gomez's new song, "The Heart Wants What It Wants" and I've been singing along to that in the car when it comes on.

What would you want to say to your fans?

I would say thank you for listening and I hope that what I have to say can be a positive impact on their lives.

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Kat Quinn

Catch up with Kat Quinn to see what she has to say about her work and listen to singles "Phoenix" and "Little Rose".

What inspired you to really delve into music?

Kat Quinn: As a hobby, it's kind of unconscious; I don't think I could not do music all the time - it's like breathing - I just love it so much. As a career, I was doing it all the time as a hobby and it had never crossed my mind, I had all these other career plans and I was in school and I wasn't studying music, I was doing all these other things, and then I started writing songs and, again, it was just something that I loved to do and I finally worked up the courage to play it for some people and starting getting some good feedback and I recorded a couple just, literally, on a tape cassette player - it wasn't even that long ago and for some reason I still used a tape cassette player. My voice teacher sent them to a producer and artist in LA who saw some potential and that kind of became everything. It made me realize that I could do this thing that I love and maybe that could be my career.

What would you have done if not music?

There's a couple things on the list. I love writing, so I might have gone in a writing direction that wasn't songwriting. I was studying Spanish Literature and Peace Studies with a Latin America minor so I always kind of thought I would work abroad, maybe in the state department or an NGO abroad. I kind of saw myself coming down to Latin America eventually so I think I would be doing that.

Are there any artists who may have shaped your sound?

Definitely. There's definitely so many and it kind of changes every week but, some of the prominent ones who have sort of been there through it all for me, definitely James Taylor, Ingrid Michaelson, A Fine Frenzy; those are my top three influences, I would say.

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

That's always a tough one but I finally have an answer after a few years of just fumbling and kind of figuring out something: I would call it 'acoustic indie pop'.

What do you keep in mind while writing?

You know, it kind of depends. Sometimes, it's really not a thoughtful process in the sense that I fell that it almost comes from somewhere else and the song just kind of fell out. Sometimes it's more work and it's just kind of like trying to piece together thoughts that I've had that have kind of been piling up and make a coherent song out of it. I definitely try to keep in mind the listener and what people are going to take away from it: if it's going to be a fun song or what I can do to make it an enjoyable experience for the listener.

Have you been working on more new tracks?

I have been, I have been. I believe there's going to be an EP coming in 2015 which I'm very excited about. Going to be adding a couple of tracks. I released two singles this past Summer and Fall, "Phoenix" and "Little Rose", and I'm going to be adding to that and releasing it all as an EP. So, there is more music on the way.

Will the sound be similar to what we heard on Kind of Brave?

They will be. I think it's going to be three acoustic tracks and two fully produced tracks so, yeah. It's going to be the same producer. I haven't gotten too far in the thought process yet, but I'm definitely not expecting a lot of change. It's going to be similar veins but, you know, different songs. There'll be micro differences but it will be similar to Kind of Brave.

Do you have a favorite track to perform live?

That changes too. I guess, the new song I wrote; it's always the newest song, right? It's fun for me to try it out, but one of my new songs is probably my current favorite because it's an audience participation song and this is a new thing for me and so I just did this on Sunday and it was so much fun. It's called "Ashes to Wood" and everybody sang along with us which is just really great.

Are there any tracks you can't stop playing on repeat?

Yes, definitely that's how I listen to music. I pretty much find one song and then I listen to it on repeat until I find a new song and so my song/artist of the week are The Lords of Liechtenstein - I would recommend checking them out. They're brothers and they write such funny, smart, clever songs; they're really great so I'm listening to them right now.

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

I think that depends on the song. I try to put a different message in each one. I guess, overall, I want people to walk away having had just sort of an enjoyable, beautiful experience. Even if it's a darker song, I want them to pull some sort of help or some sort of beauty out of it, so I kind of want them to walk away feeling a little bit better.

You do have a lot of darker songs that still manage to feel light, any idea where that style comes from?

I've got a pretty positive spin on life - I'm lucky in that regard. I'm one of those annoying, perky people that always wants to look at the bright side so like when someone wants to complain about something I'm like, 'oh, but look at this,' so I think that's just me. You know, I try to bring a little bit lightness to it, a little bit of hope; I don't want to just depress people with a darker theme. I definitely want to discuss darker themes because I think that's important and can be beautiful, as well, but I don't want to just leave people feeling down in the dumps. I want there to be some sort of beauty and hope coming out of it.

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Sun Culture - Chase Coy

Check out what Chase Coy had to say about his sound and the next Sun Culture album.

What got you interested in music?

Chase Coy:  I used to do art and music both, then I kind of just ran out of time. I've always been interested in really creative stuff. I'm sort of the black sheep in my family, the rest of them are very math oriented, like they all like to check their answers on tests and that sort of thing and I'm totally not that at all. For me, it was just a good outlet; just a little more freedom and I just love working with English, you know, like words and rhymes and everything. It was a really good fit and so I started really getting into it in middle school and was lucky enough to have people who supported me and pushed me to continue doing it.

Are there any artists who have inspired your sound?

Yeah, I mean, there are artists that I look up to, obviously great musicians, that just everyone should look up to, you know, songwriters, especially from the '50s and '70s, kind of like Janis Joplin, stuff like that. Also, a lot of newer stuff: Ed Sheeran, Jason Mraz, John Mayer, those sorts of people. All really, really talented songwriters and musicians and vocalists and all that. All of that influences my solo music but obviously I'm into the indie rock side of things and that's why I started Sun Culture. In indie, the new Walk The Moon album is really, really good.

How would you describe your sound?

It's beachy indie pop with kind of an '80's influence in there.

How has your sound evolved, from your first release to this last album?

When I started out doing music it was very, because I did it independently, it was very easy to just do whatever I wanted with all my releases and then, over time, I kind of developed what was going to be my niche, with the acoustic songwriter thing. I still continued to work on stuff outside of that so Sun Culture, for me, is the culmination of a whole lot of years of doing other stuff and finally wanting to release some of it on my own and just having enough material to do that. I think, mainly, the thing with my music with Sun Culture is just that I've listened to a lot more records, I've learned a lot more over the past years, so my production and song-writing has really come a long way since I started.

Can we expect to hear this same sound on the next album?

Yeah, I may even pull in the '80's influences a little bit more on the next one, I think. Actually, no, I'm pretty much 95% sure. I've already started working on some songs for the new record and had a single released this fall as well called "Young Blood" and so that song sort of bridges the gap between the last record and what the next record's going to be.

Any current artists you can't stop listening to?

That Walk The Moon Talking Is Hard album has pretty much been on repeat since it came out.

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

I try to approach everything I write about from a stand point of understanding that the world is full of complex issues and situations but, at the same time, I try to instill a sense of hope and optimism in all my lyrics and I hope that comes across, I hope people hear that.

Anything you want to say to your fans?

As cliché as it may sound, I wouldn't be able to do what I do without the support of people who listen to my music and so I'm just super thankful to be able to do music as my job every single day. It's absolutely my dream and I'm living it so I'm just blessed to have people who come alongside me and help me to do that. 

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