Sarah Potenza

Catch up with Nashville-based singer-songwriter Sarah Potenza and listen to her single, "The Mountain", off her new album, Monster, to be released August 19th.

What got you interested in music and songwriting?

Sarah Potenza: I always loved singing - probably because, when I was a kid, I liked showing off 'cause I liked attention - but then I also really liked music. There was kind of a lot of turmoil when I was a kid all the time and music was always a thing that was always there and that I really liked and enjoyed. I even remember, when I was a little kid, do you remember when we had clock radios? I had this little clock radio and I used to keep it under my pillow at night and I would stick my hand under there and turn the dials because I could turn it down so low that no one would hear that I had it on and get mad at me, so I liked to listen to that radio at night and stuff. I just always really loved music and I loved singing because most of the stuff I heard I could sing and I liked to do it. Then, since I got older, it was kind of hard for me to find a place to do that because when you're in school, they have very specific solos for music: they're like, these are the girls' parts and these are the boys' parts and I have this really deep low voice, so it was kind of hard for me, sometimes, to find a place for my voice. I went to college for musical theater because, in musical theater, you can have a big, deep voice - even if you're a woman - and be a lady. In college that was cool but, not in college, there were actual ladies out there in the world who were better singers [laughs]. While I was in college, I was working at Applebees and I sold the most in a contest and won a gift certificate to Best Buy and I went there and I bought this Lucinda Williams DVD and I didn't know who she was, I just bought it and, when I got home and watched it, I couldn't believe the words that were coming out of her mouth and the songs that she had written; it just blew my mind. So, I decided that I was going to be a songwriter and I didn't want to go to college to do musical theater anymore - I didn't want to play somebody else, I wanted to play me - on stage I wanted to be me and so I dropped out of college and I got myself this guitar and I learned to play it and now, here I am still [laughs] fifteen years later.

Do you remember the first album you had?

I don't remember the first one that was mine. I remember my parents had this Bonnie Raitt album called "Thing Called Love" and that was my favorite album when I was a kid.

Which other musicians would you say you have been influenced by?

I really love Charles Bradley because he's this really incredible singer and not just a soul singer, but he really sings from the bottom of his heart and that, to me, is more important than tricks - like flashy runs and notes and stuff - it's just gut emotions. So, I've really been influenced by him and his ability to just let everything out. Also, I really love Mavis Staples and her connection to lyrics. Those two have really influenced me a lot.

What words would you use to describe your own sound?

Well, it's roots music but it's very soulful and it's very honest. It's so difficult to describe it for me, I don't know why, probably because I made it. It's roots rock and roll; it's a little bit of rock and it's just got a lot of dynamics to it.

What were your inspirations behind your single "The Mountain"?

Mostly, I just wrote it as a pep talk to myself to keep myself going and it just took on a whole new life and a whole new meaning of its own when I shared it with other people.

Is that single indicative of what we can expect to hear on your album and can you tell us more about Monster?

Yeah, yeah it is. It really is indicative of the rest of the album: it's all soul rock roots, soul rock if you will. The rest of the album has some songs on it that are similar in the way that I've written them as pep talks to myself and some of them are like self-revelations. One song in particular called "Monster" is this song about growing up, being a chubby girl in an environment full of girls who were all "regular sized" and I was always bigger than them and the revelation of discovering that being regular is actually a handicap. Being beautiful is more of - or just as much of a handicap - as being a not traditionally beauty standards girl, because you open all these doors with your looks - as a woman, we're taught to do that - and I know so many women who have done that and do that and now they're afraid of aging because their looks are something that they use as a part of the tools in their toolbox; as survival. I've never done that because I've just never been put in that position, ever; I've never opened the door with my looks and I had that revelation and that's where that song came from.

Is there a song from Monster that you're most excited to perform?

I'm really excited to perform "Monster". I really love performing that song live, I like telling the story to the audience and seeing their connection with it and see them think about things in maybe a way that they never thought about before because I know that, before I had this revelation, I'd always been jealous of thin girls; I'd always looked at them and seen their size or their small feet or whatever it was and I'd always say 'oh, I wish my feet were a size 7, I wish I wore a size 4,' and being a person with size 10 1/2 feet and a size 14, I thought that that was a weakness. I thought that was something that I had to overcome, but it was just the opposite. I didn't realize that before and I don't think that a lot of people realize that. I don't think that women value their intelligence or value their talents as much as they should and it really was just such a revelation for me, it's really cool to show that revelation to other people and have them, all of a sudden, you see a lightbulb go off on them and they're like, 'oh my God, I never thought of it that way either!'.

If you had to describe Monster in one sentence, how would you do that?

I would say that Monster is about turning your pain into power.

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

I hope that they are able to learn something about themselves through my music; I hope that they're able to see things in a different light, even just a little bit, even just for a moment. I hope they're able to find the joy and the strength and the beauty in their scars and in having heartache and pain and I hope that they can celebrate that with me and celebrate that life is really tough and that it's a really cool and beautiful and hopeful and uplifting thing to acknowledge that and then to take all that and to be able to make it into art and do something cool with it. I think that is what I hope they take away from that. I hope it inspires somebody to follow their own dream, whether it's opening the best diner - whatever their crazy dream is - just to go for that and not worry about security and 401k and buying a house and all these things we think we have to do and that they just choose to do something that they're passionate about and that they love and really, really give it 100%; when they think that they're giving it 100%, dig deep and give it another 100% and good things will happen.

Listen to Sarah's new single, "The Mountain", here.

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Omar Alhindi

Catch up with singer-songwriter Omar Alhindi and watch the video for his single "Twisted" (featuring B. Wash) from his debut EP, Back To Me, out now.

What first got you interested in music?

Omar Alhindi: Oh my gosh, that's the age-old question. It's kind of funny, what got me into music was video games. I was a big nerd when I was a kid and I loved Zelda and I wanted to learn how to play the song on the keyboard I had so I just kinda sat down and I learned how to read music and all that BS through video games.

Do you remember the first song you wrote?

It depends on what you mean by the first song. The first one's kind of funny. The first one I produced on GarageBand: I looped a beat that was already on there and I started playing acoustic guitar to it and I just tracked in the guitar through the computer microphone, so it wasn't good quality but, to me, it was like, 'oh my God, I'm doing it!'. The song was called "Blow Me Away" and I was 14 and I talk about having kids and I talk about being married and it's just really sappy and it's really just such an annoying song, but I listened to it the other day and I was like, 'oh my God'. Like I said, I was tracking everything through a computer mic, so I was whispering into the mic to sing so that I didn't distort it at all and get feedback and so I was basically just whispering into the mic and it was really creepy. So, that song's bad.

The very first song that I produced with Tyme is called "Back To Me" and it was based on a relationship that I had with my ex and that song was relevant - it still kind of is relevant, not emotionally, but it's a relevant song that can be applied to a lot of people - and the song is basically about loss and how you want somebody to come back into your life because, even though you guys resent each other, you can still work it out somehow. It's a cool song but it's not my favorite.

Which musicians would you say that you have been influenced by?

When I was producing the Back To Me EP I think I was influenced by so many: Usher, Justin Timberlake, Tech N9ne; I was listening to a lot of different sounds, it wasn't all pop. I couldn't say I have a single or a top 3 influence, I don't have a list, I just listen to so much music - I listen to Tim McGraw and country and then I was listening to Snoop Dogg - it's completely diverse.

Is there one artist you're hooked on now?

Oh, lately, Shawn Mendes. I love Shawn Mendes so much. He's so good.

How would you describe your music?

My music is really diverse, I couldn't say it's one category. I rap a little in some of my songs; I have an alternative rock background; some of my songs have some slow ballads, like deep R&B; some completely pop songs. All my music is just really diverse and it's kind of a new take on music, I think. It's all coming directly from my mind, there was no help in this project, it was all me.

What were your inspirations behind the song and your video for "Twisted"?

Oh, okay. It's a huge song. This is the one song that I actually didn't produce on my EP and it's kind of a big deal because I was doing all the production and I was like, 'well, what do I do with this, what am I supposed to do with a beat this big?' [laughs]. I've never had a producer send me beats that I was thinking, 'yo, I'm going to use this,' so, writing that, I was actually going through something with my girl and it was on and off. She wanted me to stay and then go away - typical on and off - and, basically, I was just venting about that to my friend B. Wash. I had him in the studio with me and he liked the beat as well and I was like, 'yo, you wanna get on this track with me?' and he was like, 'yeah man, let's do it, what do you wanna talk about?' and I was like, 'I mean, we're kind of venting right now, we could write a song about that?' and he was like, 'fo' sho, let's go'. He started off with his whole verse and while he was writing his intro to the song I started writing the script and I was like, 'tell me what you think of this,' and he was like, 'yeah, let's go!' [laughs]. So, we recorded the hook right there and we didn't have to change the vocals or anything, so it was completely done right there and so the song is a big song because, sound-wise and the creation that went into it, when you get that vibe in the studio, it's like, okay, I feel you.

Also, the video. The video idea was kind of a collaboration. I was working with Dale Stelly and he was talking to me and he was like, 'Omar, what do you want this video to be about?' and I was like, 'I wanna hear what you want this video to be about, I don't write video scripts, so what are you thinking?' and he was like, 'I think the story should be like, you're on this helicopter and you're flying and then you're sad because she got you twisted,' and I was like [laughs], 'I don't understand, what do you mean? Why? That's an awful idea. Let me get back to you' [laughs]. I took a week and I was talking to a lot of people about what I thought the video could be and what different directions we could take and I ended up with this whole idea where I'm the one that's going crazy instead of her. She's telling me to come and go and she's indecisive and I'm getting crazy about it so, instead of being a normal person, I ended up breaking into her house at night and trashing the place and I was like, this could be something, this could be cool. I approached Dale and I was like, 'what do you think about this?' and he was like, 'oh, that's cool man, that's dope, that's a crazy idea, let's get it,' and then he added some twists on it; he got two models - which I wasn't expecting - [laughs] he got a helicopter which, again, I wasn't expecting that, but it was cool overall. I got to meet a few people, I got to connect, I got to network, and it was just a really cool process all together.

Could you tell us more about your Back To Me EP?

It's a story, a love story, for sure. If you play it in order of how I have it, "Kiss In The Rain" is a big pop song that's just all about love and youth. Just, I'm in love and I want to kiss you in the rain, it's just simple; it's cool, it's a simple song. Then, it goes to "Twisted" and she's getting a little bit weird with you and she's like, I'm not sure how I feel about this relationship and then, eventually, things end and, for a guy in a relationship, it takes him time to want to get back together; girls have that instant like, wait, no, come back but guys are like, I'm single, I'm cool, and that's when "Broken" came along. I actually wrote that in a hotel and the room that I wrote it in was really ambient, there was so much reverb. Then, "Back To Me", which was the first song I wrote - as I was telling you - and that's all about, I'm going to be fine. The EP is already out, it's already on iTunes and Spotify.

Is there a song from that EP you're most excited for people to be hearing or one you like to perform live?

Well, I mean, for me, the most personal song is "Broken", but the one that I really like to perform is probably "Twisted" because I get a really nice crowd response. I like vibing with the crowd, I especially like to feel what they're feeling; usually, when the beat starts, it's like, ooh, can you feel this too, let's go. And, there's rapping in it so that's a different factor that I don't have on the EP and they're like, 'whoa, that's dope!' and I'm dancing and I have choreography for it so it's really fun. It's a fun song to perform, for sure.

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

I just want them to know that they're not alone in a relationship. It might be hard but they're not the only one in it and I just want them to know that, if they ever need anything, they can rely on somebody else to be around them, because you're never alone.

Is there anything you want to add?

Make sure to check out the EP, my music video, "Twisted", is out, obviously, so make sure to check that out and if you guys would like to get to know me, you guys can follow me on social media @wewantomar and stay tuned for the new stuff, because I've got good stuff coming out.

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The Giraffes - Aaron Lazar

Photo Credit: Erik Peterson

Catch up with lead singer Aaron Lazar of Brooklyn-based hard rock quartet The Giraffes and watch the video for "Washing Machine" from their sixth studio album, Usury, out now.

What brought you all together?

Aaron Lazar: I came to the city to go to grad school for Fine Arts - be an artist - and working in grad school with a bunch of arty-farty people who talked more about the work than they actually made work made me not so much into the arts so I found myself going out to shows a lot. I used to follow the local pop scene where I grew up and stuff like that so I went out for a couple of years in New York and The Giraffes were actually one of the first bands that I saw that I actually enjoyed - everybody else seemed like they were posing - so I sort of kept an eye on them and became semi-friendly with them in the scene and that sort of stuff. They did not know I was a musician, I was not playing music at all at that point. I introduced another friend's band with a little spiel and performance thing at CBGB's - the other band is called Indian Jewelry, they're from Texas and old art school buddies of mine - and then The Giraffes saw it and they went, 'oh man, people have been telling us to get a singer for years and this guy could do it,' so they asked me if I wanted to join and I said yeah.

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

It depends on the usage. For me, performance and recording are two completely separate things. Performance is all about just making it memorable, making it either crazy or silly or fun: the performance is all about the room, it's not necessarily about the material. Recording is all about the material, obviously. As far as influences in performing, obviously Iggy Pop - the sort of asshole contingency - I'm definitely a fan of people who step it up a notch; The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, those guys are really hot shit and always have been; James Brown; the in your face, unapologetic, confrontational frontman Swans, even though he's not exactly in your face, but he always makes everyone very, very uncomfortable, so there's that. As far as recording and songwriting goes, Bowie is a huge, huge, huge touchstone for me; Scott Walker is a huge touchstone for me; and more arty-farty people, like I love - this is going to sound weird - but I love the way Lightning Bolt records even though, at their shows, I feel like I'm having an aneurysm.

What words would you use to describe your sound?

The typical tagline I give for people who aren't music people is that it's loud, snotty rock and roll. For people who are a little bit more musically inclined and know a thing or two, I usually try to say that it's a rotten hybrid of metal meets surf band backing a complete horse piss, jackass, carnival barker of a lead singer who, from time to time, will try to sing something croonily to just prove he can.

How does the music you're working on and releasing now compare to your previous releases from the late '90s and early 2000s?

The really, really early, early stuff, we were fucking kids - we did not know anything! There was even a period of time when the guys really didn't have tuners, so they just all decided on what the right A would be and it was tuning by consensus so, yeah, those first records were just sort of us figuring it out and being as crazy as we could. We didn't know anything so we thought, like, 'oh, well, if we're going to record something like our live shows, then we have to get drunk like our live shows and we have to go crazy,' [laughs] and now we know a little bit better. The early stuff is just fun, stupid, we were sick and tired of people taking everything so seriously, especially heavy music - which people still kind of do - so we just wanted to entertain ourselves and be goofy. Later on, it got a little more serious because, when you're in a band most of the year and that's your job, it becomes more serious and you actually try to say certain things and I, of course, when I had my heart problems, it became a little more serious because I finally had something to write about that wasn't stupid. There's that. Now, as we're getting older - at least in terms of meaningful writing because I'm responsible for almost all the lyrics - I'm trying to figure out a way to get this three album arc happening: the first one is Usury and that one's mostly about money, not having any money, wanting money, getting screwed out of money, fuck money; the second one I'm working on now, I'm trying to make it all love songs, but perverse love songs, like love songs to things I hate or love songs to ridicule things that I detest, that sort of stuff. I'm still working on it now though so that's the plan, don't hold me to it. For the third one, I have no fucking idea, but I want to bring everything together on that one.

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

It's a loud record about money from the bottom up.

What were your inspirations behind the single and video for "Washing Machine"?

I had almost nothing to do with that one. They kept almost all the details from me, they just said show up at a laundromat, we need you to wash some sheets. That's it. That's all I knew about it until it came out. The song, what I'd say about "Washing Machine" is that it's the most oversexed video for a song about Donald Rumsfeld ever made [laughs]. The song was written towards Donald Rumsfeld and that documentary called The Unknown Known that was done about Rumsfeld just defending all his bullshit that got us into the Iraq war, like straight-faced and him like, 'yeah, no, I did nothing wrong,' and that was sort of the inspiration for that song. For the video, they turned it into some weird [laughs] New York, like, the craziest version of Stefon from Saturday Night Live ever [laughs].

Do you have a favorite track to perform live?

Yeah, I do. It's one we don't often do but it's off of an earlier record, our like Spaghetti Western record called "Help Me With My Blood Count". That's my favorite.

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

Let's limit it to this record and the next record because no musician is in control of what their fans take away from it ever, but as long as no one is out there sniping off innocent civilians or using our music to somehow justify being a complete sack of shit and they're using it to be good and have fun, at least - or get away from bad at the very bare minimum [laughs] - then hurray for you, applause and flowers.

Is there anything you want to add?

We are playing a showcase in the Northside Festival in a couple weeks, we're going to be doing a couple shows out in the mountains at the end of the Summer, and the new record should be ready in the Spring, so we're writing now and we're getting our arrangements together and we're getting ready to hit the studio soon, so stay tuned.

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Jaron Strom

Catch up with pop soul singer-songwriter Jaron Strom and watch the video for lead single, "Truth", off his forthcoming self-titled EP.

What first got you interested in music and songwriting?

Jaron Strom: I grew up watching my parents sing; they sang in church and they grew up together, singing professionally and stuff, so that always had me thinking about it, but I never thought I had the ability or the gift and I never really tried. Sometime during college I started singing on my own and bought a guitar and messing around and learning some chords and writing some stuff and I just realized, I maybe had something there. So, I wrote a couple songs, sang it for some friends and family - I wrote about life and things that mean something to me - and everybody around me was just like, man, this is raw and good, you should definitely pursue music and diving into that. For me, it was just testing the waters, like stress relief and being able to release my emotions into something. That snowballed into writing more songs and doing covers on social media, singing in open mic nights and writing with people in recording studios, and that's kind of built up until now: cleaning up original music and releasing it to the world to my best ability.

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

I'm trying to think back to the first handful of songs I wrote... The first one I wrote completely, all the way through and did a recording in the studio with but never released or anything, it was called "One Day", I think, and it was just talking about making it one day and being able to sing for the world and being famous but not being stuck on that: being a person who's going to change the world and do more with their gift than just get famous and get into trouble [laughs]. It was kind of like that song "Unbreakable Smile" by Tori Kelly, but that's an awesome depiction of my mentality towards music and everything.

Which musicians would you say you have been influenced by?

At a young age, my parents would put me to sleep with Motown music, always. I didn't know what it was when I was a kid, I just knew the sound was absolutely beautiful and the voices and the rhythm and the simplicity of it just put me to sleep every night, so my first inspirations were Motown records such as Ray Charles, The Temptations, Stevie Wonder, Al Green, Bill Withers - anything in that whole range - as well as Elvis and Michael Jackson; that kind of stuff started as my inspiration which, obviously, led into later years and more current music. In the last ten years, I would say people like Bruno Mars, Jason Mraz, Justin Timberlake, James Morrison, Tori Kelly, Jessie J; some of these people, their voices are so original and unique and they write about life and things around them - for the most part out of those that I named - and that just inspired me. Artists can make it and globally impact the world with their art, but also still keep it real and write about real stuff and not sell out so I think that's really cool.

How would you describe your own music to someone who had never heard you before?

I would say my own music is bridging the gap between pop and soul. Having that pop, simple sound but having that, not R&B, but a Motown, soulful vibe brought back into it so that it's catchy and it's new and it's radio, but it's also about life and simple, good things like love or life or just being inspirational to others around you. It's a pop and soul combintation and simplistic and about real things in my life or other people around me. I'm trying to bring humility into music. I'm not saying I won't write a few songs that just come out of my head and aren't about my life because it's always fun to imagine things and write relatable things for other people. That's my vibe, just creating more timeless music that still goes in the Top 40 list.

What were your inspirations behind your single, "Truth"?

"Truth" was basically inspired and written around a friend of mine who was, at the moment, going through a divorce. This was a friend of mine that I went to college with and we majored in the same thing up there - which is Design - and she was a really great person and she got married and her husband kind of kept her from hanging out with a lot of her good friends from college so, for five years, she's just been in this manipulative relationship where the grass is not greener on the other side and she's having to hide her emotions and pretend that everything's great on the outside to everybody and just finally, here in the end, she's breaking loose and telling her truth and breaking free from the things she's been bound to and getting out of that situation. That's pretty much the song and I thought it was cool that I could write a catchy, simplistic song that people would enjoy and relate to but that also is inspired by somebody that means a lot to me in my life. That's what I meant by merging real things in life with Top 40 radio and relatable subjects.

Is that single indicative of what we can expect to hear on your forthcoming EP?

Yeah! So, the EP is going to be a little broad range of love and a slow sexy vibe in a song and a pretty emotional vibe - like in "Truth" about not a very good relationship - and then it's going to have a couple Summer, upbeat, fun, Pharrell type vibe songs that are just about feel good and doing what makes you feel good in life and enjoying yourself, and then another one is like a throwback, Motown vibe and being in high school and being not so much the cool kid but wanting to go for the popular girl - her not noticing you but you're going to go for it anyway - so it's just a range of those type of things. Another one that may be on there is going to be inspired by my grandmother who lost her husband 10 or 15 years ago and it was kind of unexpected and just watching her emotionally go through that pain of an older person losing a loved one and how that dramatically affects somebody's heart - and the physical aspect, as well - so it's just going to be a broad range of heartbreak and losing somebody and love and fun, so it's real life emotions that I've experienced and that I know other people do all the time. That's the vibe of the EP and keeping it acoustic and live instruments, but also having synthetic instruments in there too to move it to radio and just combining everything.

Is there a track from this record you're most excited to share?

I know that the next one we may release as the second single is called "Freedom" and it's also written about somebody I truly care about - a girl that I'm dating right now - and it's a really, really great song. It's really catchy, it's kind of soulful and slow and sexy but still cute, and I think it's just a really catchy song that's simplisitic - it's just guitar and vocals and a few other sounds - and I think that it's really relatable and it's going to be a great song for the world to hear. It's just a wake up slow, very chill vibe. I'm looking forward to releasing that one with the music video. I mean, I look forward to everybody hearing the other ones too; they're really good songs.

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

From this record in particular, I hope people can take away just the everyday life experiences: waking up slow next to somebody and enjoying that or just doing what makes you feel good in life; if you want to hit snooze on the alarm or jump the fence instead of going around it or play the same song on the way to work ten times because you like it and not caring if somebody on Spotify or Facebook sees that you're listening to one song over and over. Just doing, literally, what makes you feel good and just enjoying it. I want my music to inspire people in that type of way and be clean, but still a little bit sexy - combining the cute and sexy. In general, as a whole over time, I want my music to build into a timeless music where I'm not selling out, music that creates a good vibe or emotion or inspires, because my overall goal is to make a change in the world.

Is there anything you'd like to add?

Just to look out for the next single, which is "Freedom", and it'll have a music video and a premiere for the song, which leads into the music video. Be on the lookout for that as well as checking out jaronstrommusic.com for updates and stuff like that and just being on the lookout for new stuff; you can join the email list on my website, as well, on the homepage to keep up to date. My music's here to inspire people and make people feel good and help change the world, so that's pretty much it.

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