Joe Marson

Catch an interview with Joe Marson, watch the video for single "Love You Safely", and head to all the sites below for more.

What made you decide to get into songwriting?

Joe Marson: I don't know if there was a moment of revelation for that one. I think it was probably sometime during high school when I just realized that I hated working regular jobs and this felt like it was sort of my calling.

Were there any artists who inspired your sound?

Yeah, Jeff Buckley, Ben Harper, Jimi Hendrix, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bobby McFerrin; a lot of inspiration from all of those people.

What words would you use to describe your sound?

Alt folk, soul, bluesy rock.

How did your years of cross country travel affect your sound?

I picked up a lot of different influences as I traveled, for sure. I think each place lends itself to allowing me to delve into and discover influences that I've always been into, whether it's hip-hop, or straight blues in Austin, Texas, or more technical sorts of things in Boston. Yeah, it definitely allowed me to explore different musical avenues.

Are there any artists you've been compared to?

I mean, yeah, I get all sorts of different things, from Ray LaMontagne to Jeff Buckley.. I think those two, a lot.

Do you agree with any of those?

No, not with the Jeff Buckley one. I don't think I'm that good, so I always heavily dispute that. I don't think I'm anywhere near that level but, you know, some of the other ones, I can see. If you're a white guy with a guitar there's only so many options.

You're one of the finalists in the Guitar Center Singer/Songwriter competition; what's the best experience you've had with that?

It hasn't really happened yet. All the finalists won ten grand in gear from Guitar Center, but the actual competition or whatnot is they're flying us to LA in March, but it's been great and I've been having all these new fun toys to play with; it's like Christmas all over again. Just, my apartment's filled with big boxes of instruments and new stuff, so that's been really cool.

Have you received any good advice in preparation for the competition, or even songwriting in general?

In terms of competition, I feel like I'm ready. I play all my shows like they're a big competition - I play all my shows the same - so I feel like I'm ready. Songwriting wise, you know, I've read different things. It's really all about creativity so you can sort of cherry pick from different arts. I remember reading Stephen King's book called On Writing which is all about his creative process and I really enjoyed that. I've listened to a lot of YouTube stuff and different artists, but it's mostly just a lot of trial and error.

Do you have a favorite song to perform live?

Yeah, I mean, I've been doing an a cappella version of "Voodoo Child" by Jimi Hendrix. I came up with an arrangement that's basically emulating Bobby McFerrin's style and I've been having a lot of fun with that one lately.

What do you keep in mind when working on new songs?

That's an interesting one; I don't know how to answer that because all my songs are very different. I guess, just keep in mind that, the better they feel while I'm playing them, the better they probably sound to other people.

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Kin Cayo - Blake Hanley

Catch an interview with Kin Cayo's lead singer/guitarist Blake Hanley, grab "Our Ship" from iTunes, and check out all the sites below to keep up with the band. 

How did growing up in South Florida help to shape your sound?

Blake Hanley: I think that's the biggest part of our sound. South Florida is such an amalgam of many sounds; there's the Caribbean and you have Colombians and Cubans, especially in Miami, Haitians and Bahamians, and that had a huge shaping in my musical taste, growing up; it was just so eclectic. South Florida's built by people coming down from the Northeast and snow birds and New Yorkers and so I think that kind of mixture between those two worlds definitely has an impact on the music.

What words would you use to describe your sound?

I usually experiment with a couple of different ones but one that usually goes over pretty well is 'tropical post punk'.

This started as your project, so how did the band come together?

Just friends of friends really, and it kind of came together, just, I had an idea and I had some songs that I had already kind of completed and I had a friend who was a guitarist and I asked him if he wanted to be in a band and he had another friend that he thought would be a good drummer for this project so it just kind of happened that way, organically, and it turned out to just work really well, like, the drummer's from Bolivia and so he just has an innate understanding of the rhythms. It kind of just came together through friends.

What type of artists influence your sound?

I think one of my biggest influences has always been The Clash, both musically and in terms of their message, as a kind of global thing. They kind of, at least to me as a kid, I thought they were really cool, not only because of their music, but because they seem to stand for something. They were speaking up for the most vulnerable, they were speaking to be a voice for the voiceless, so that really attracted me and I always thought if I was in a band, I'd be in a band like that.

Is that what you keep in mind while writing?

When I think like that and I think from a big, general point of view, it actually doesn't help writing. I think, for me, when I write, I try to focus on details. It's more of an inside out process than outside in and so I usually try to focus on a story and little details, not even a story, maybe just there's one thing I see and that seems like a good song title or a good description of something and I kind of work out from there, but anytime I try to be like, 'oh, I want to put this message in a song,' it never turns out well. It just seems not authentic so I think, what I’ve learned is to start from a very small place, and hopefully, what’s kind of just in you comes out, rather than trying to force it.

You just finished your residency in Echo Park, what was your best experience or would you recommend it for other up and coming bands?

Oh yeah, friends of mine have a band called Party Nails - they're really good, kind of pop music - but they're playing there right now, doing their residency, and I just went and played an acoustic set before one of their shows and I was telling them that it's such a great place just to use as a live laboratory and experiment and figure out what you're doing. For us, we played there nine weeks straight and every week we just got a little better, every week we learn something new or try something new or got a new piece of equipment because that's what was necessary to produce the sound we were trying to produce so it was great for us. I would highly recommend it.

I think that the most memorable moment - there's no crazy story - was just when you see a crowd start responding to your songs and singing along and that happened usually around the last couple of songs we played, like "Our Ship". To see that happen, it was exhilarating, even if it was on a small level, where you know there's only so many people but you could feel it and in that room you're really close to people, so that was the most memorable moment.

Is "Our Ship" indicative of the sound we can expect to hear on the EP?

Yeah, "Our Ship" embodies, from the music to the message, it embodies a lot of what the band is about and that was one of the primary reasons we decided to release it first; not because we maybe thought it would be the most popular song or the most accessible song, but because we thought it contained the essence of what we were trying to convey.

Is there a song on there you think will be the most popular?

I don't know, you know, we're recording a lot and we have many more songs recorded than the EP has on it and will have on it, so I never know. I mean, all the songs have their own thing. I can usually tell when one will be maybe more popular but, at the same time, I've been wrong about that too.

How would you describe the EP?

I mean, I would describe it as, just in terms of sound, I would say, it's kind of this indie post punk with this kind of South Floridian/Caribbean influence, but it's got a moodiness to it. I would say, it's just kind of this mixture between dark and light; that's kind of, I think, the essence of the songs that I really like, similar to what you hear in African American Spirituals, where they're joyful but they're also sad at the same time. There's this hope amidst the darkness element to them and that always was what I thought made the best songs and was something I strived for in my own song writing and for the band. In terms of the message, I think that there's a lot of that in the EP.

Is there a track you can't stop listening to right now?

Probably, the latest track that I have on repeat a lot is the song "Glory" by John Legend and Common; after I saw the movie Selma I was listening to that a lot. Besides that, another artist that I really like a lot is this artist from Argentina called Chancha Via Circuito.

What do you want listeners to know about your music?

I mean, I guess it depends on the song. I think it kind of goes back to what I said before, what i think the EP is about. A lot of the songs are about a light at the end of the tunnel or, like, only in darkness can you see the light. There's kind of that feeling and that's what "Our Ship" has and that's why we released it first. It's this kind of realness that, yeah, things might be bad right now, but there's hope; hope's on the way, that there is a light. I think that's kind of what I find the most interesting. 

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Novo Amor - Ali Lacey

Catch an interview with Novo Amor (Ali Lacey), grab the debut EP from iTunes, and watch the video for single "Welcome to the Jungle".

Why use the stage name Novo Amor?

Ali Lacey: I mean, it kind of, in a way, conveys why I started the project. It's Portuguese or Galician for 'new love', which kind of just represents why I started the project, kind of what the songs were about, when it all began, kind of like, I was throwing my passion into something, which was music. I had gone through a break-up, which is very kind of cliché in a way, but that's kind of why I use it as an alias, just so I didn't have to use my real name.

The EP was just released in 2014, how has Woodgate, NY been received?

Yeah, it's been received really well. The first track from the EP I wrote for a friend's feature film and after the film came out in the middle of 2013, everyone kind of took to the track really well like, "oh, wow, that's really good, you should make more," so I just kind of kept going with that. It was received well on my blog in the UK and the US and got picked up by a record label in Norway, so I ended up just making a bunch of music to go around it and then that kind of started spiraling, as well. It's been received better than I expected it to, as a song I wrote for a friend, initially.

Aside from your cover of "Welcome to the Jungle", have you been working on any new releases?

Aside from that, I'm kind of writing for an album at the moment. I'm kind of half way through, I'd say, and it's going to take a while to produce it all. I'm writing with a guy called Ed Tullett, who I wrote the last song with, we're putting out an EP together this year; there's kind of a lot going on. I think the AXE "Welcome to the Jungle" cover is kind of taking up a lot of my time at the moment. 

Are there any bands or artists who have inspired you or your sound?

There are a few artists which kind of sound similar, I guess, and are coming out these days: a guy called Dustin Tebbutt from Australia - he's kind of similar - is good; a guy called Vancouver Sleep Clinic, he's one of those that I really like and he's similar to my style. A lot of the music I've listened to in the past year has helped mould the sound in a way, something like James Vincent McMorrow and Bon Iver; I'm just taking elements of all of them and just making it my own while songwriting really.

How would you describe your sound?

Quite ethereal, I guess. It's an ambient, ethereal, fragile kind of sound. I try and make stuff that will move people in a way and kind of have something epic in it and make it really quite melodic.

What do you hope people are able to take away from your music while listening to it?

Like I said, I always try to make music that will maybe move someone in a way, like I get a lot of messages from people saying 'oh, your song, I can really relate to that,' or, you know, saying they're going through a break-up and the other person really likes my music and stuff and whenever they hear it now it kind of gets them in a way. Receiving messages like that, it's really nice to know that people are relating to music in the same way that I am when I'm making it. It's kind of like, I'm not really hoping that there's anything people can take away, I'm just making the stuff that I want to make and what I want to hear so if people like it, you know, that's great.

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Ben Hope

Catch up with country rocker Ben Hope, take a listen to new singles "Colleen" and "On The Run", and look for new album, Ragged and Rowdy, coming in January.

What got you interested in music as a career?

Ben Hope: When I was young my parents were very brave and they bought me a drum set when I was like six and, you know, you grow up singing in church and stuff and my brother  was starting to get involved with playing  guitar, my dad played the bass, and so we used to sit in the basement for hours on end - my brother, my dad and I - playing that song "Runaway Train"; we would just play it over and over and over again. It's always just been something I really love to do and my parents have been really supportive over the years and I just absolutely love it.

Are there any musicians who have inspired your sound?

Definitely, Garth Brooks was a big inspiration for me when I was a little boy and over the years I've gotten a lot of inspiration from some country music greats. There's actually a group of musicians called Class of '89 which is Garth Brooks and Travis Tritt and Clint Black and Alan Jackson; all of them released their first albums in 1989 and kind of changed the face of country music there in the late eighties and I've gotten a lot of inspiration from those guys over the years, definitely what I grew up listening to.

How would you describe your sound?

I would describe it as country rock with some honkey-tonk vibes. There's definitely some songs on our new album where we lead into a classic country genre and then there's a lot of country rock.

What would you say the theme of the album is?

The album is called 'Ragged and Rowdy'. I think it's kind of a self reflection but it's a celebration so it's a little typical of a country album in that it kind of goes through some lonely stuff, some blues stuff, goes through a little drinking too much, a little partying too hard, but it never gets bogged down in its own emotions. I think, really, it celebrates those feelings. If there's something I want a listener to get, it's that I want them to hear a song and recognize a feeling that they've felt before and, instead of it taking them back to a sad place, allowing them to kind of open their hearts and celebrate the way their heart works and kind of revel in our own feelings.

What do you think the most popular track from the album will be versus which one is your favorite?

We just released a single that's called "Colleen" which I know a lot of our fans have been really vocal about how much they link that track. I think "Colleen" is going to be a popular one. My personal favorite, that's a hard one. There's a song kind of tucked away in the middle of the album called "Lonely Fool" that has long been one of my favorite songs that I've ever written and that one does get bogged down in its own emotions, which is why I don't think it's going to be the most popular track on the album; it is a little kind of, I wanna say, morose, it's a little wallow-y.

What do you keep in mind while working on new tracks?

Working with our producer, Steve, who's a dear friend of mine from down in Florida, he and I talked a lot about what it meant to be 'ragged and rowdy'. What we wanted to get across is kind of the duality between doing wrong and feeling right and we wanted the album to feel pretty raw and pretty honkey-tonk feel and really, more than anything, we wanted it to be a thing that people would listen to and want to drink whiskey to and that's kind of what we kept in mind in the studio. Having my album played in the background of a bar is kind of like, we have achieved success if people get a little more drunk while listening to our tracks.

How does performing on stage as an actor compare to performing with your band with your own songs?

I think it's been really informative to have spent so many years as an actor, for the music particularly, because storytelling is a craft and I think you have to be able to work it out as it's a muscle and, certainly in the writing, it's been great to kind of have a good grasp on the form of narrative skills or even just simply kind of a strong grasp on the English language, you know, it's one of the only tools that we can communicate with so I think the theater world has been really informative, especially in the writing and as a performer I think it's been important too. I think we have a real dynamic presence as a band and most of our band members are actors and I think that dynamic presence comes from being really comfortable on stage and being really comfortable as ourselves, so I think it informs us a lot.

Is there any favorite song, lyric line, artist that's inspired you?

I think I'm constantly running across things that I think are inspirational. I can tell you about one that happened to me this week actually. Once is coming to a close, which is a show I'm in on Broadway, we've been there for three years and it's coming to a close and I was listening to this Ray Wylie cover song the other day and he's got this lyric and he says "on the day" - I'm going to butcher it, this is not a direct quote - "on the day that I keep my gratitude above my expectations, I have a pretty good day". I think that's really nice, I've been kind of living on that one for a couple weeks.

Any traditions you're excited for this week?

Absolutely, my wife and I are not going to get to go home for the holidays, but we will be together and she's actually been talking about having a couple people over, playing a little music, and maybe going out and caroling, maybe in an old folks home or hospital, so we were talking about doing that sometime. That'll be fun, spreading a little cheer.

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

It's so funny, I was just writing an e-mail yesterday, answering somebody's interview question, and it's amazing that I've never really thought about it that way, and maybe it's good that I never really thought it that way, you know what I mean? I don't write a song with the intention of doing something for another person, like talking about the album, it does feel like a series of confessions, just turning my heart inside out and letting people look at it if they want to, but I guess, if there's something I want people to take away from the album, it is forty-five minutes of opportunity to have a really good time, by yourself or with friends. It's great music to sit down a listen to on your headphones as you commute somewhere in your car but it's also great background music for having a party, so I think I just want people to listen to it and take the opportunity to have a really good time.

We've got a great show coming up at the Highline Ballroom on January 6th, which is going to be also the closing party for Once.

The next single will probably be released in early January. The new single is called "Harlem Rag"; it's a country song about my favorite neighborhood in New York City.

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