What was the experience of creating “Sunday Afternoon”, and can you walk us through your songwriting process? I was working on my album, sitting at my piano and the extremely rough idea for the song started to come through. I began mouth syllables for the lyrics. Soon after I had this idea to write a love song and love tragedy in one. Relationships can be beautiful, painful, complex, and fragile, “Sunday…
What’s something you’ve done differently in the “Spirit of the Trees” music video from your last video, “Diamond Sailor,” that you’re proud of? One thing we did differently on “Spirit of the Trees” was having me participate in the video more. I’m proud to be more hands-on, which makes it more personal for the viewer. What inspired the scenery and color schemes you incorporated in the “Spirit of the Trees”…
How has serving as a music director of a synagogue impacted your own creations and choices within the music industry? Thanks for having me here. I never intended to be a music Director at a Temple, but I must say it’s had a powerful impact on my art. I used to write songs, but the primary goal was doing something catchy and cool. But now – that’s changed. I try…
Can you describe the meaning behind your artist name Life Change? How does it relate to the music you make? “Life Change” is how I’ve grown up during the difficult times of my life circle – how my situation was changing from who are you, to how are you. Coming from a country like Liberia with less opportunity for youth, for me, coming this far is a life changing process.…
What do you hope Sonarpilot’s music creations bring to the world? There’s a lovely quote by Albert Einstein: “He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed”. Sonarpilot’s work is designed to make the audience stop for just a moment and feel that sense of wonder, step out of their everyday reality – even if it’s just…
What is one of your proudest moments as a group, and how did it impact your music career? Shaheed: Touring with Jurassic 5 nationally and abroad, and doing the work we do in the community with our foundation Knowledge Rhythm and Understanding for the youth. DJ Supreme: One of our proudest moments to me was touring the world with Jurassic 5. We traveled to the UK and Germany representing with…
“Insane” is an intriguing take on the inside of your mind. Why is it necessary to cover mental health topics in your music? Mental health is a very important topic to cover because so many people still have such a negative view on those who struggle with mental health. It’s something that people don’t take seriously until it’s too late. Many people keep their struggles to themselves because they are…
1. Can you describe your songwriting process? Does it differ for every song you write? My process works this way, pick up a guitar or sit at a piano and try to stumble on a seed of inspiration. From there it’s about doing the emotional digging to fully uncover the story and message of the song and then applying craft to it in a way that avoids cliché. 2. Why…
Do you find that your upbringing contributes to your current musical creations? If so, in what ways? Yes. I came from a family of musicians. Music was in our home, and it was always a part of our culture. My mother and my father, as well as my sister are singers. My brother, Paul Lakatos, is considered one of the foremost guitar players in the world today and I’ve been…
How did Tim Snider & Wolfgang Timber come to fruition? At what point did you all know you wanted to work together? The band started playing together in 2020 in the middle of the pandemic and I’m still trying to wrap my head around how the whole thing came about. It can take a long time to find the right players for band and weirdly enough it almost felt like…
What is the meaning behind “Touro de Lide”, and what made you choose a Portuguese title? RONE WORTHEN (lead singer): The meaning of “Touro de Lide” is to be as bullish and as aggressive as necessary to protect what’s important to you. We choose a Spanish title because bull fighting is romanticized but the reality is the matador is seldom in any serious danger, and the bull has virtually no chance…
Answers by Lauri Reimer, project coordinator and band manager Describe the process of gathering the all-star line-up to help bring this rendition of “This Christmas” to life? With Kevin Wachs being a long time publisher of Rock Cellar Magazine (www.rockcellarmagazine.com), we have had ongoing relationships with many recording artists and their publicity teams, so it seemed only logical to reach out to some of these local artists who already know…
What originally drew you into the country genre? When did you begin making music? And when did you first pickup a guitar?I believe I was drawn to country music since I was a kid for It was the only thing on the radio and records and 8 tracks that I was around all the time. Hearing the steel guitar cry and blended harmonies my ears were just drawn to it.…
How have your New Jersey roots influenced your musical beginnings, and how do they continue to shape your band’s sound now? That is hard to say. We are a New Jersey band but have never sounded like the famous New Jersey bands that have come before us. I’ve heard people say that we embody a New Jersey attitude. It could mean that our sound has an energetic rock feel paired…
Greg, how do your New Jersey roots play a part in shaping the Greg Hoy and The Boys sound? How and when did you and The Boys officially meet? Being born as a songwriter in New Jersey gives me certain rights. Example: my top two karaoke songs are ‘Livin’ on a Prayer’ by Bon Jovi, and ‘It Was a Very Good Year’ by Frank Sinatra. (Fun fact: I won a…
1. What was it that got you into making music? How Old were you? “I was 14 when I started getting serious ideas and intentions with music. No Signal spawned in just a couple days of conceptualizing. As cliche as it sounds it felt like a ‘calling’, I kind of feel like a messenger, if things go good it’ll all start to come together and make sense to everybody. As…
When and where did you discover your passion for writing songs and raps? What made you want to pursue music professionally? Upon moving back to the East Coast from Venice Beach CA, I really took my raps to the next level upon hearing high energy electro beats made by Colormind. When I became part of the music production process, it revealed a deeper writing opportunity where I could act upon…
Did your upbringing impact your passion for music? When did you realize that music was something you could pursue professionally? Music was a way for me to express difficult emotions in my life. We came to the U.S. from a refugee camp in Thailand and had massive culture shock as well as constant financial pressure to pay rent, pay back our airfare from the camp, buy food and buy a…
Describe the formation of the group The High Plains Drifters, and the significance behind the group’s name? Christina Benedetto: This is more a question for Larry. But for my part, Larry and I have been friends and drinking buddies for ages. When he asked me to join the group I was over the moon. I love all the guys in the band. Just to give you a rundown, in case…
When and how did you discover your passion for music and songwriting? How have you progressed as an artist over the 50 years of your professional career? I grew up with a piano and a set of drums in our living room so I would have to say my passion for music began as a young child. My older brother Greg was always in bands so it seemed inevitable that…