Whitney Tai

Catch up with dream pop singer-songwriter Whitney Tai, listen to her single "Falling", and look for her Forever EP to be released in May.

What first got you interested in music?

Whitney Tai: Since I was a little girl, I've been singing, writing poetry, drawing: I was born an artist. My parents noticed early on that I was not a normal kid, 'she's out there, she's writing screenplays, she's doing this and that,' so I think, for them, it was a natural thing and, as I grew older, I started to write my own music and I started performing a lot in different talent shows and in church. Then, I pursued a career in design and I met a lot of people in the music industry through that and I started collaborating with a lot of interesting artists because I was trying to create a brand of art and music together, as a concept, fusing my musical talent and background with my artistic background to start an art movement as a way of supporting upcoming artists - like myself - and other artists who need a platform to be represented on. That was where it started, it's really just this idea that I could help other artists reach their greatness through inspiring them with provocative art, thought, and poetry.

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

It's funny, my first song - and I always forget about this because it was so early - I wrote my first song when I was 10 and it was called "Sheer Ecstasy"; I don't know where the hell, as a 10 year old, I would come up with this [laughs], but it was because I love nature, I love being outdoors, doing outdoor activities, and just admiring the beauty of nature itself - simplicity-wise - so I wrote, basically, a poem or a song that captured what the breeze felt like and the feelings you would get from that solidarity of being you, yourself, alone with nature. So, that was my first song. It was not even a love song [laughs] it was more of just an appreciation for life.

Which musicians have you been influenced by?

It's interesting, my influences of who I gravitated to when I was young is totally different than what I would say I've become as an artist now, but my earliest influences would be Metallica, Pink Floyd, The Beatles - I had a wide range. My parents opened me up to a lot of jazz music as well and I used to listen to Fleetwood Mac a lot, they were a big influence, The Pretenders. When I got into my teens, I loved No Doubt, they were a huge favorite of mine, and I like a lot of solo artists. I don't really identify with Celine Dion, but I always felt in awe of her vocal ability and how she was able to use her voice so powerfully and that was inspiring; as a vocalist myself, you're not always looking at the music, sometimes you're looking at the technical skill behind an artist and the message they're sending. Sarah McLachlan was definitely another early vocal influence; I loved her, the way she used the different tenors of her voice, the different variations of sound and emotion, and I think that's what brought me into doing dance music - not just pop music - because in dance, you can use your voice artistically in different ways to make people feel things, whereas in pop, you're kind of fitting a format of one sound, so it's nice to be able to jump between genres. I'm trying to think of another band, there's so many! I listened to everything growing up. Stevie Wonder was another big influence for me, so it was a mixture of rock and soul.

Is there a current band you've got on repeat now?

There's three bands I have on repeat right now. I have Minus the Bear; I've been listening to this indie band that I found on YouTube, his name's Thomston, he's been on repeat; and I love The Weeknd, I've been listening to him for awhile, too. But it's always different, it changes depending on what my moods are.

How would you describe your sound or brand?

I wanna say rock and roll glamour; it's a little bit edgy, but it's still soft around the edges, there's this grunge pop. Also, dreamy. Whenever I've been creating music, even when I was younger, I always had this desire to evoke emotions in people, whether it's through lyrics or voice. You always wonder, what is it about a song that makes the hair on your arms stand up, some kind of scientific thing, and every time I would listen to a song that was my favorite, I would be like, 'why is it that I feel like I get shivers?'. You know, when you hear a certain sound in a song? I would love to provoke that feeling in other people, because those are the moments where you contemplate life is beautiful, I can overcome this situation, or this song is getting me through something that I maybe couldn't have gotten through on my own. I guess, music as therapy is my motto.

Could you tell us more about your inspirations behind your single "Falling"?

Yes [laughs]. Actually, the whole EP is called Forever and Forever was this concept that there were so many things happening around me at the time with my own love life and other friends of mine who were going through some difficult times and I just kept coming back to this one thought: what if the reason we can't find this peace within ourselves is because we're always fighting ourselves? We're always going against the grain, but I think if you could pick a moment in your life where you were your happiest or if you could pick an ideal moment that belongs to you and no one can take it away, why not make that the moment you live in forever; why not make it your every moment? So, what does that mean? That means that life becomes simpler, your expectations vanish because you're so present in the now that you don't care. So, "Falling" is a love song, Forever is an ode to life that's saying, 'listen a moment, stay with me forever because I'm not letting you go, I deserve happiness, peace, and love that belongs to me, as a human being'. "Falling" is, I'm in love with life, I'm in love with people, why don't we think about how beautiful that feels; just that innocence of being in love - your first love or your first friendship with someone new - and embracing that and letting it be what it is and not complicating it with other circumstantial things that happen in our lives. So, it's about innocence, romance, acceptance, and living in the now.

You've touched on this a bit already, but could you tell us more about what we can expect to hear from Forever?

I would say that soul, blues, and rock and roll are the influences. I collaborated with a couple of artists who are very genre-ly different: one of my co-writers is in a pop-punk band and my producer is a soul, blues, rock guy, so there's some elements of even their artistic style and, as an artist, I believe in collaborating with other artists. I like to let people express themselves freely because I think it makes for a different concoction of sounds and you have to be open to that as an artist. I think most solo artists get stuck in this idea that it has to be their way and I don't think that's how you grow as an artist and that you have to open up your mind. 

My first album was more alternative, it had a little bit of rock in there, a little bit of pop - more classical pop, I would say - and this one is a little edgier, there was a different group of people I was writing with. I've always wanted to be a rockstar; from when I was born, my parents were like, 'alright, she's going to be a rockstar,' so it's just something that I envisioned for myself because, when you have big dreams and big hopes and passions and you think big, you just want to be able to help other people with that; bring them up and not push them down. It goes back to what I first said about a movement: music as therapy, music as a movement. We're all artists and I think, sometimes, we don't see ourselves that way, we just see ourselves as music makers, but we're artists and art speaks to, not just the ears, it speaks to the senses, it speaks to the emotions. 

As for my future sound, I don't know, I'm evolving; I'm fairly new in the music scene. The EP is three songs; it's two remixes and "Falling", but I have some singles that I'm going to be releasing in the next few months that are different because, again, they're with different artists. Some indie pop stuff, I'm doing some trance, I'm collaborating with Blackmill, I'm also collaborating with a new artist out of Chicago, doing some experimental stuff, so I'm always looking to push myself to the next level that I expect from myself as an artist.

What do you hope your fans and listeners can take away from your music?

I just want them to know that I'm going to keep making music for everyone and not just for me. I want people to enjoy music as an art form and not as an automated, I deliver you the same thing every time. I want people to be part of that movement, I want them to realize that they can do anything they want to do, they just have to put their mind to it. Whatever their passions are, I want people to be inspired so that they can go out and chase their dreams and do what they want to do. I want to talk to them through my music and make them feel things that are going to provoke their actions into doing something positive.

Is there anything you would like to add?

I have an EP release show on May 13th at The Bitter End at 7 PM in New York City. I'll be performing with a few other bands there and my flyer is up on my music page on Facebook. That one I'm really excited about. I feel like The Bitter End, in general, is one of the oldest rock clubs in New York City and it has history in itself, just of the people who've stood on the stage and performed there; artists from 30/40 years ago to, now, Lady Gaga, so it's just a nice venue and I feel honored to be able to perform there.

I just want to say, for me, I look at myself as a singer - aside from being a songwriter and a producer - because when I was little, I felt like my voice could heal, that it had the ability to heal people, and maybe that means heal them through a time. I had a pretty rough childhood: my mom died when I was 11 and I was left to fend for myself for many years and it was very tough to lose somebody that young that is a major figure in your life - especially when that person was the one who supported you in your music and was pushing you towards your dreams - so that was something that changed me as a kid. It made me realize that I only have one life to live and I can't waste a single second doing anything that doesn't help me or benefit others in a positive way, because we're not guaranteed tomorrow or a week from now. My goal is to give back the love that was taken away so that people know that they're not alone, that they have somebody, that my music can be a friend to them. Whether it's rock and roll or if it's dance music or if it's pop, you'll know it's me; it's always going to be me coming through there.

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Skunkmello

Photo Credit AJ Ferrer

Catch up with Skunkmello's Matt Bartlett and listen to the band's single "Slaughterhouse Blues" off their forthcoming album, Hot Chicken, due out June 10th.

What brought you all together?

Matt Bartlett: Music essentially [laughs] music and bars is where we came together. I met Jono through mutual friends years ago now over several beers and I guess we talked about jamming and he happened to know Ed, who became our bass player at the time - he's now shifted over to the guitar - then, maybe about a year and a half ago, a band that we liked busted and their bass player was hanging around and we decided to incorporate him, move Ed over to guitar and bring in Jay on bass. So, through mutual acquaintances, hanging ,and just general concert going I guess is how we all got together.

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

Individually and as a band we're very influenced by blues, funk, and roots music and obviously classic rock and roll. Myself, I'm influenced a lot by classic rockers like Hendrix and Zeppelin, as well as Miles Davis, Frank Zappa, and The Grateful Dead, and that's what I grew up on. In the past ten years or so, I've moved more towards North Mississippi blues music, Junior Kimbrough, folk stuff, Mississippi John Hurt, and recently I've been listening to a lot of rockabilly and old school rock and folk; it's a very eclectic mix. There's some hip hop in there, definitely some afro grooves too [laughs]. I'm sure the others would say that too, that they have an eclectic mix in their background, as well. 

How would you describe your sound?

As a sonic stew of all of the above. We're certainly a rock and roll band, in terms of our output and our spirit, but we definitely draw on a number of those mentioned influences and try to combine them into our own random guck.

Could you tell us more about your inspirations for your single "Slaughterhouse Blues"?

It's actually funny, the name of our band is from a blues song where the chicken - his name is Skunkmello - tries to, in order to avoid the slaughterhouse, pretends to be all the other animals on the farm, kind of an existential survival tactic, so the reason we call ourselves Skunkmello is because we've adopted the guise of rock and roll to avoid the slaughterhouse as well. So, the "Slaughterhouse Blues" incorporates that ethic or perspective where our slaughterhouse is certainly out there, but we play rock and roll to get around it and it's a gritty determination to avoid the harsh realities and rural plotlines of that industrial grind.

Is that sound indicative of what we can expect to hear on your forthcoming album and can you tell us more about Hot Chicken?

It's definitely more concise and thematically intertwined than previous efforts. We had the luxury of actually doing this and working in a studio; luckily, we had some late night connections and we got to do this over a series of whiskey addled late night recording sessions in a studio rather than our normal method, which is whiskey addled late night sessions in someone's house. From a logistical standpoint, we had this whole studio at our disposal and from a content standpoint, I think it is more thematically defined with that slaughterhouse vibe where we're trying to fight against the tide as much as possible. It's a true rock and roll record too, so it's definitely meant to be played loud at late hours of the night to really get the full effect and it has the elements of blues and folk and rock & roll and that Americana tradition through the heavy amplifiers that we've become known for, at least in our home city.

If you had to sum up Hot Chicken in one sentence, how would you do that?

[Laughs] I don't know. I would say, it's a record intended to be played over loud speakers at indecent hours of the night; a rock and roll record; rowdy data points burning across the interstates of asphalt Americana - we say that sometimes.  

Is there one song from the album you're most excited for your fans to hear?

I have a couple favorites. One is a sleeper that we won't put out and we probably won't play live much called "Alligator Coat", on which I could see playing a good amount of slide on an electric dobro - we won't bust those out live all too often. But we will be busting out a couple more of those slide tunes coming up. We have a residency in the village at Bowery Electric over the course of May, so we'll get into the deep cuts a little bit and "Alligator Coat" will be one. The big finale, called "Sweet Delight" - which we extend to about eight minutes - is raw, distorted, amplified, feedback firepower which is a fun song to play live, we do that one.

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

Hopefully ringing ears, that would be ideal [laughs]. And, the need to go out and live rock and roll through any means, as well. 

Is there anything you'd like to add?

We're doing a record release show at Rockwood on stage 2 June 10th at 8 PM; we have an acoustic residency - which is not normally our flavor but we've gotten into doing that a little recently to mix it up - every Monday night in May at Bowery Electric; the record's out June 10th.

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Jerad Finck

Catch up with singer-songwriter Jerad Finck and listen to the stripped down version of his single "Criminal" off his latest release, Criminal.

What first got you interested in music?

Oh, I don't know, I guess I've played my whole life. My grandparents played a lot of music and they were a touring country act, my other grandpa was in choir, and I played a lot of jazz and trumpet when I was in fourth grade and did that until college, then I got more in songwriting and that kind of stuff.

Do you remember the first song you wrote?

Yes. A lot of it was just listening, I got hooked into The Beatles really bad and then I just started writing a ton of stuff. I'm trying to remember the name of it, I remember we used to play it all the time. I only knew 2 or 3 chords and I think that's kind of how everyone does it, they play the two chords that they know and try to make something out of it [laughs].. "I'm Never Gonna Be"! That was the name of it [laughs].

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

Pretty much, guys that are just really into songwriting. As far as new people that I'm into, I really like Brandon Flowers from The Killers, Ryan Tedder from OneRepublic, The Script, Ed Sheeran, all that kind of stuff. Older stuff, I was really into The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, Tom Petty, just pretty much anybody that focused on the songwriting aspect of it.

Which words would you use to describe your sound?

I just try to make upbeat, positive, pop rock. Before music I was a social worked and did a lot of clinical psychology and I did that for almost 8/10 years so, for me, music was always just more of a vessel bringing something positive to someone's life and when you see that touring and you watch someone react to a song and live through it, that's what does it for me. So I guess, to answer your question, just life music [laughs] we're all getting through stuff.

Could you tell us more about your single "Criminal" and why you've decided to release it in its acoustic format now?

The single "Criminal" I wrote with David Hodges and Steven Solomon and they're both pretty massive songwriters, so that alone was a pretty exciting experience for me, just to be in the room with them and do it. We did the song, we did the full production thing - which is my normal kind of pop rock sound - but, in songwriting, especially the way that we do it, the songs originate in some kind of meeting with just a piano or an acoustic guitar and a bunch of guys sitting around, so we wanted to just bring it back to where it was originally, because it has its own little thing that way, it shows off more of the actual song and lyrics when it's stripped down like that than sometimes I think your bigger productions do. I love the bigger production, I just wanted to show people both sides of it, because I thought it was worth listening to.

How does your Criminal EP compare to your debut album and can you tell us a bit more about what we can expect to hear from you next?

I like to think my Criminal EP is lightyears better than my debut record. My debut record, we had a really small deal from an indie label; I wrote all the songs in probably two weeks, we went in and tracked the whole record in 2 or 3 days, and it was just the process that everyone goes through when they're first starting out. Looking back, at the time I was like, 'this is the greatest thing I've ever done!' but looking back now, it's like, wow, it sounds like some fledgling stuff, and it was. This record, I got to the point where I was able to not have to go and kill myself on the road, I got to take some time off and actually work on just constructing what I thought were great songs. I spent the last year playing around between Nashville, New York, and LA with everyone I've met over the years and all the writers and publishers I'm talking to and just really working on getting some solid tracks. We spent over the last year and a half recording this stuff, so I'm really, really happy with this one [Criminal] and, of course, there's a full length that we're going to be releasing in the next couple months. The EP has a few select tracks from there and then we have probably 13 or 14 we're going to put out in a few months.

You've been on tour, do you have a favorite track to perform live?

I really like playing "Blood In The Water". People seem to really react to that one and, for me, when I wrote that one, it was something that I really connected to. That piece was one of the really personal songs on this record for me, that was just what I was going through when I wrote it.

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

I just hope they find something for themselves in it. I found something for me in it and that's what it's all about. You put something out there creatively and hopefully you can take something away from it and it resonates with the listeners and the fans; they're the ones that let me keep doing this, so it's pretty inspiring. When I went out on my first tour a week ago with Parachute, it was amazing to go to some of these cities and have people singing Criminal to me already when we just released it, so that was pretty exciting.

Is there anything you'd like to add?

There's just a lot to come, we're just opening the floodgates here. We've been waiting amongst all of this stuff for awhile to do it right and there's just going to be a lot of stuff coming out very soon.

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Nick Deutsch

Catch up with singer-songwriter Nick Deutsch and listen to his new single "Under Your Ocean" from his forthcoming EP Heartsaver, due out this Summer.

What first got you interested in music?

Nick Deutsch: My mom was actually a private piano teacher, so we always had music in my house. That was probably the first introduction to music; as a little kid, I was running around whenever my mom would play Scott Joplin's "Maple Leaf Rag". We had a really big piano and, at the time, we were all living in Chicago, so I just had a natural introduction to it and then started taking piano lessons and, from there, it just spilled over into dabbling in theater and composition and, really, songwriting came about when I just felt the desire to write my own music instead of continually be playing works of other composers and I just really followed that path. I could keep going [laughs] but in terms of the introduction, I was really fortunate to have music, constantly, in my upbringing.

Do you remember the first song you wrote?

You know [laughs], it was when I was in junior year in high school. My friend reminded me because she sent me a text message saying, 'you've come a long way from "Off Sheridan Road"' because apparently, I had completely forgotten that, but I lived on Sheridan road and she had one of the first demos I ever did, so I was looking back through the albums and I was like, wow, I guess, technically, that's the first thing I wrote. So yeah, it was called "Off Sheridan Road" and it was just about the winding lakeside street and the goings and comings of people that drive up and down that path in Chicago.

Which musicians have you been influenced by?

When I was younger, I really liked - I mean, people who played the piano and sang, I always gravitated towards - Fiona Apple and Tori Amos, Vanessa Carlton was a big one. Now, I still listen to a lot of piano player singer-songwriters, I think now with male pop singers. I've always loved James Morrison, he's a British singer-songwriter who's huge. I love Sam Smith, I like Troye Sivan and, strangely enough, I've been listening to - I don't think it's that strange - I love Kacey Musgraves and I like a lot of country music, so there's another song on the record that's very, very Kacey Musgraves influence. I kind of just split my iPhone into those categories.

What words would you use to describe your own sound?

I call it heartstring indie pop, because I think that it's not necessarily as open-ended as the big pop songs you hear on the radio that are sometimes so broad that anybody can relate to them; I always try to achieve that, I think my own songs are a little bit more personal to my life and I try to be very lyrically clear and specific, that's just my own writing style, and I think it's definitely pop in that category. I say it's more indie pop just because I think there can be an edge to it and this is not necessarily as commercial as standard pop, so that's my classification.

As you said, the lyrics are clear and it's fluent on its own, but could you tell us more about the inspirations behind "Under Your Ocean"?

"Under Your Ocean" is really about being in a relationship where one person is, I say, depressed because, at the time, I was dating a guy who was very unhappy in his life and constantly not wanting to work through whatever issues were going on and this song is about, if there's ever that dynamic when you're dating somebody where somebody is unhappy - whether it's clinically or they're in grief - they can grab the other person and pull them down and it can get to be a very destructive thing if there's an addiction or anything like that going on where one person is trying to help the other person. What I was trying to go for is trying to basically capture that, where you can really love somebody, but if they don't love themselves, it's just not going to work; if that person doesn't take the steps to work through whatever's going on, they can grab you into their field of life, I suppose. I really liked the imagery of, if you've swam in the ocean before, you know that there's an undertow sometimes and it can pull your down, and that was the first lyrical bit that I had. I liked the imagery of that; other people, sometimes, even if we love them, can still pull us into their darkness and that's what the song's about.

Could you tell us more about your forthcoming EP?

The new EP is, contrary to the first single which is definitely the heaviest song in the record,  the rest of the songs are very upbeat, positive. I have a few pop tunes that are very almost dance pop. I love Kylie Minogue and I think the main song on the album was definitely influenced by that bright, upbeat nature. All the songs are kind of about different kinds of love, if it's friends or questioning one's capacity to love, or being in love, and/or being strongly in love. The first single is more adult contemporary, I think, which tackles that, and literally everything else on the album is very upbeat. I think Crazy Ride was definitely a heavier kind of record and this one is moving more into some adult contemporary, but I would just describe it as being upbeat and every single track is very different in how it looks at different types of relationships.

How would you sum up Heartsaver in one sentence?

I would say that everyone will meet someone who doesn't break their heart, but instead saves it; there are so many songs about being heartbroken, and Heartsaver is about someone saving your heart, as opposed to breaking it.

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

I hope it just helps people look at their own relationships that they have and perhaps it opens their mind and heart to whatever's going on in their own lives. Sometimes we need a sadder song like "Under Your Ocean", but sometimes we also just want to get up and dance and be happy and I think Heartsaver captures that and I think people will see that I'm musically shifting into a little bit more of an improvement and an advancement of me as a songwriter. I hope people will catch onto that and also just get to have fun with the music instead of having it always be more serious.

Is there anything you'd like to add?

The music video for "Heartsaver" is going to be happening soon and that's going to be very exciting. We're going to have a great narrative involving robots and things for that [laughs]. I'm just excited to start to get new music out there.

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