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For 18, you have a really extensive catalog, how would you describe your work ethic and is there a certain process that goes into your music?
I think the process is like almost having no process. A lot of the time, my songs will start out as just like a tagline or like a one-liner. I write in like a really country-esque way, I feel like, of like wordplay and like having that one-liner and then like writing around it. And, you know, I’ll come up with those throughout the day and I’ll just write them down and then, you know, eventually they’ll become songs.
So it’s like I’m writing all the time, but I’m not always like making a song. It’s a really sporadic kind of thing. But I’m always trying to work on music. Like last night, we were just I was just hanging out with some people and we found a guitar on the wall and we just started writing a song. And it’s like it’s always happening. You know, there’s never a moment that I’m like, all right, cool, I’m going to check out.
I can’t escape it. It’s kind of unhealthy.
I don’t know if you want to speak about it, but you started your career, as a rapper on SoundCloud, and transitioned into what you’re doing now; What made you switch?
I think at some point I realized that there was a lot more to music than rap and I could do a lot more on my part to make the music more immersive and have more of a story instead of some beat that I found on YouTube and then just made a song over it. I found out that like it’s not that hard to play guitar.
I could do that and make up my own chord progressions and make a song. And that’s like it was more fun for me because it was more involved. So that’s what kind of like made me switch, I could do so much more with this than just sitting on my computer and making a beat or rapping, and it really wasn’t my thing anyway.
I think it’s dope that you noticed and you made that transition and you kind of reinvented yourself. I know you mentioned Maroon 5, “Backseat Lovers”. Is that is that the best way to describe your style or your inspiration?
Yeah, I would say so. I mean, more like the first two Maroon 5 albums, I think, are perfect. I think they’re amazing. And that’s like what I’m going for. Like some like really vibe like you could just turn it on and like not really listen to it, but it would still like sound good or you could listen to it.
And it’s like lyrically dense and like it means something which like I really like that style of music, you know, poppy, but not like deep in like a weird way, but like deep in a. You know, just like lyrically dense, I guess. I’d describe it like that.
Do you do you write most of your songs?
I write all my songs.
Those songs are pretty, deep.
Yeah, I mean, if you look at the credits, you’ll see other people credited, but it’s mostly like, you know, people playing the instruments and stuff like that that like help with fills or, you know, some baseline or something like that. But as far as lyrics go, I write everything.
What projects are you working on, what’s your second song, and what would you say you’re the most proud of?
I like all like there’s two the last two songs on the most recent project. They flow together. It’s like this piano ballad and this really cool six, eight little bluesy kind of jam and I’m really proud of that. I’m really proud of those last two songs. I think they’re really well-structured. That’s probably my favorite, or “Drunk Cigarettes” because that one just happened so fast and it was really catchy and cool.
What was your inspiration for creating “Was You” and then “Nuisance”?
“Was You” accidentally turned into a Paramour song and I’m really mad about that because I didn’t realize until we were done tracking it. There’s a line in there (literally the tagline) It’s like, “all I wanted was you”. And as I was mixing it, someone walked in the room and they go, “I love Paramour” and I didn’t even notice that it was “All I Wanted” by Paramour, like the same thing. But I don’t really know how those songs happen. “Nuisance” and “Was You” were just like random spur-of-the-moment things.
Right. It’s the creative flow of it.
Yeah, honestly, I can’t even remember writing those songs.
What’s your latest work that you have out or working on?
I mean, the latest stuff that I have out right now is my album, Unclimboutable Holes that I’ve done for myself. That yeah, that’s a 10-song album that I think is really cool and I worked really hard on it. I made that in Arizona.
While I was at school, I had free access to the studios at the school and I spent 900 a little over 900 hours making the whole thing, which I’m really proud of that. But that’s the most recent stuff that’s out. And then right now I’m working on just a bunch of singles and just going to grind the single game and just push it online kind of thing.
There’s a lot of good music that I’m making right now that I’m really proud of the music that I haven’t put out, but I’m making. And I think I’m kind of making a little bit, not too much of a turn, but like a little bit of like a honing in more on what I wanted to make, you know.
Right. Do you think being in L.A. as opposed to Arizona, do you think it’s enhancing your creativity?
I don’t. I don’t know if it’s like enhancing my creativity. I think that it’s giving me more to write about and giving me more to think about, which I guess in turn would enhance my creativity. So, yeah, sure.
Last question. Who are some of your role models, aspiring artists, or even some of the artists you’re working with now established coming up? Yeah, are there any?
Yeah, I love Dominic Fieck. I’m a huge Dominic Fieck fan. He can do no wrong in my eyes. He’s just amazing. His new album was really good. His new album, Sunburn, was amazing. One of my best friends right now, his name is Monday. He releases music under “Monday”.
He’s got an amazing voice. I engineer and song-write with him. And yeah, he’s just an amazing guy. He was in this band called Bloodhoney, this this rock band called Bloodhoney for a while, and he transitioned into making like solo, like his solo project. And it’s like dark pop, sort of R&B, like a little bit of rock in it. It’s really, really cool.
Sub-Sad, he’s one of my friends from school. He makes hyper pop. He doesn’t like to say that he makes hyper pop, but like general, you know, generalizing it, he makes hyper pop. He’s really cool. He just got signed by Don’t Be Greedy. Yeah, super cool dude. Trying to think.
There are so many cool people. Zedrin, my guy Zedrin. We lived in Montana at the same time. I have so many people that I’m so proud of and that makes so much cool stuff. I love, you know, talking about my friends. I could go on for hours, but those are off the top of my head.
