Interview w/ Troy Cartwright

Hey everyone!

Returning yet again with an all new artist interview to round out the week. Today, we check in with Dallas, Texas native Troy Cartwright, who was an Artist Spotlight feature here on the blog last month and is currently living in the Boston area where he goes to school at the Berklee College of Music. We caught up on a very warm April evening where we talked about all things related to music and how it has influenced him both as a musician and as a person. And without further ado, here is the transcript of that interview:

First off, introduce yourself and tell us where you're from and what instrument you play?

I'm Troy Cartwright, I'm from Dallas, Texas and I sing and play the guitar.

What is the earliest memory you have of first hearing music?

When I was little kid, like around 4 or 5, for Christmas we had this reindeer and you pushed it's nose and it played Christmas carols in mono. And we still have it actually, but somehow it's died, but when it makes music, it becomes totally out of pitch and it's not even intelligible music anymore, but that's probably my first memory of music that I recall.

Tell me about your childhood growing up and how much music influenced it?

A lot, I would say. I grew up in the South so I had to go to church alot. The first time I played music I was 14 doing some worship stuff, but before that even I can remember in Dallas you drive around alot, so I just remember being in back of my mom's minivan with my Walkman and Third Eye Blind's "Blue" album and I listened to that album a thousand times and I just remember being in the back of the car just wishing I was playing on stage to thousands of people. Right away, I was like "Man, I got to do that!"

When was the moment you realized that you would like to be involved in playing music?

I don't know if I can recall a moment, I played music until I was 14, before I could drive. You know when you're younger, time goes so much slower. We played this battle of the bands in Coppell, Texas and they had a fan voting at the end, the band was called Scarlet Redemption and when they got to our name, people were chanting "Scarlet! Scarlet!" and I was like "Man, I gotta keep on doing this!" That was my moment.

Tell me a little about your experiences attending Berklee College of Music and how it has helped shape you as a person?

Obviously getting in is an honor, so that's pretty exciting, that initial thing. I would say in some ways it's almost a hindrance because you're like "Oh man, I got into Berklee, I made it!" and then you get there and you're like "Oh no, I didn't." I guess it shaped me as a person, you grow up alot when you're at college so it helped me with relationships, I played in alot of different bands since I've been here so there's been alot of experience just dealing with different people. I've done the type of band where you rehearse every night and you just jam, drink beer, and hang out every day, and I've been in bands where it's like of course, business as usual. We're all friends, but rehearsing wise we'd rehearse maybe once a week. I would write those songs beforehand, we'll book a 2 hour rehearsal and generally we'll practice for an hour and a half just because everyone is so on top of it. It's a much more professional atmosphere, but then they both have their merits and just being at Berklee has helped me being around people who push you to work harder. I think musicians are inherently lazy, maybe humans in general. You know, you get here and people really kick your ass and I get to work harder and for awhile, that got me down. There was probably a year at Berklee where I really didn't do anything. I mean I had a band and we would like play, but I really suffered because I wasn't applying myself very well and I had to go through this long, personal battle to kind of get to the point where I am now, where it's just every day I wake up and get really excited to do this.

If you weren't making music, what do you think you would be doing to pass the time?  

I could see myself going two ways: I love business, I don't know why, I'm fascinated about it, I love reading The Economist every week. I think if I wasn't going to write music, I would want to do something with books, I love reading books, probably publishing or something like that, just finding the next big thing, I think that's for me.

What are some of your favorite songs that you've ever written and speak out to you the most?

I love the song we're about to release called "Mercedes Benz". That's probably the most sentimental song I've ever written, it's about my mom. Sometimes just certain people, especially parents they do so much for you and at some point "thank you" just doesn't really cover it, it's just like "I don't know what else to do."

Do you feel that music has the uncanny ability to connect people through friendship and in love?

Oh yeah. I think it definitely brings people together. You know, there is some beauty in singing together. One of my favorite teachers of all time, this guy Pat Patterson at Berklee, he always talks about this chemical called oxytocin, it's released for something when you're having sex and when you're singing together (Laughter) And those are the only three times when it's released. So, I think that singing together, it does something to you and I think songs, that's why they are there, to help people feel, especially with country music you've got people, these guys who write songs that are basically saying to their loved ones what they really don't know how to say themselves, which I think is a beautiful thing.

How has music changed or influenced your life up until this point?

Probably better question is, "How has it not?" (Laughter) because I think if I wasn't doing music, I would still live in Dallas, I would've gone to school in Texas and I would probably be halfway to getting married right now.

What is the one thing you love the most about playing and making music?

I think when you're playing music, it's this weird sense of satisfaction that you know it doesn't happen all the time, we had a rehearsal last night and I was talking to my bass player about "Dude, music just gets me so high sometimes." Feeling this really feel good sense of purpose that gets fulfilled when I play music. That's the feeling that I think you chase as a musician.

What advice would you give to other emerging musicians and songwriters?

I'm not sure I'm a good person to be taking advice from, but I think anyone who has worked their way to music is going to tell you that you just have got to work really hard. If you're a guitar player, practice every day, if you're a songwriter, you've got to write every day and sometimes kids are lazy and they're like "Oh man, I learned these and I sing lead and I learned these chords and I wrote this song, I'm going to be famous now." And it's so much work, so work hard and don't be lazy.

What music are you currently listening to on your iPod these days?

Well it's all Spotify now. I don't know if it's a good idea but I'm using it everyday. I'm just a total Texas country music nerd so I listen to Jack Ingram's "Live at Billy Bob's" and it's an amazing live album, but I don't listen to all country music, I've been listening to alot of Hank Williams and Ra Ra Riot, something about that band gets to me and the new Fleet Foxes album. I'm not the guy who's terribly up on the buzz bands, I'm a little slow, I listen to an album and I listen to it 100 times and then I'll move on to the next one.

In your spare time, besides making music what can we expect to see Troy Cartwright the person doing?

Yeah, you can see me watching sports, screaming at a TV, rooting for the Texas Rangers and Dallas Mavericks. I would say outside of making music, I'm usually yelling at the TV, watching sports with my buddies at a bar or something.

Sports aside, what do you have coming up next for the rest of the year musically?

Yeah, there's lots of stuff. We started playing in New York pretty regularly, we're playing in Vermont in May, Burlington, VT, The Radio Bean, and we actually just booked a tour in Europe which we're pretty excited about for a couple of weeks. We're working on a new release, it's a live album, I have no idea what it's going to be called yet, something not terribly creative. We're actually doing something a little different, we have videos with it and instead of releasing an album, we're going to trickle it out and do maybe a song a month and see how that goes and then we're hoping to record a full length later this year which I'm terribly excited about.

Lastly, in terms of personal significance, where does music rank in terms of your own life?

Number 1 priority is being with my family and friends and after that it's music. You can't let anything get too far in the way of the ones you love and you've got to keep those priorities.

Thanks once again to my friend Troy Cartwright for being so generous with carving time out of his schedule to do this interview. Troy is an amazing and talented individual and one you need to see live in concert when you get the chance. If you haven't checked out his music yet, please do so at www.facebook.com/troycartwrightmusic or head on over to his official website at www.troycartwright.com

Of Monsters and Men - My Head Is An Animal

Reykjavik, Iceland's own Of Monsters and Men have arrived stateside in the U.S. with their debut release, "My Head Is An Animal". The Icelandic folk rockers have been gaining some notice in the scene thanks to the disc's amazing first single, "Little Talks" which has been quickly gaining steam at alternative radio stations across the country. The album is an eclectic and diverse mixture of indie folk with just a dash of pop to make it stand out from the rest of the crop.

The album opens up with "Dirty Paws" a calm, ethereal tune with the dual vocal harmonies of Nanna Bryndis Hilmarsdottir and Raggi Porhallsson to create a harmonic bond between the two that lasts throughout this song and all of the others featured here on the album. "King and Lionheart" features more prominent guitar riffs that settle in rather nicely and feature the same dual vocal power that was featured in the prior track, something that is very rare to find in music these days. "Mountain Sound" is a upbeat, sonic blast that will have you grooving along to the song upon the second you first hear it with wonderful percussion and with Nanna and Raggi trading turns at the microphone to create something to behold right before your very ears. "From Finner" is another standout track that best expresses the overall simplicity of their music, with rampant folk melodies doing their part in ensuring that the song is heard in all facets both instrumentally and vocally at the same time. By far my favorite song on the album is the aforementioned first single, "Little Talks" an amazing, bombastic tune complete with uptempo rhythms and vivacious instrumentation throughout that makes this song one of the inescapable songs we've heard so far in 2012.

The disc's second half gets underway with "Love Love Love" a warm, inviting tune that starts out with Nanna's warm, inviting vocal prowess giving way to the songs easy going and breezy instrumentation that runs rampant throughout. "Your Bones" features an incredible vocal performance from Raggi that blends in wonderfully with the organic and homegrown instrumentation that is a pleasant and relaxing song to unwind to during the day. "Sloom" is a mostly acoustic based track that takes a bare bones approach so that the listener can take notice of all the different instrumentation that makes up the song and they correlate to one another. The disc ultimately concludes on "Yellow Light" an ambient, melancholy track that ties up all the songs together in one cohesive package and presents a band that knows their own sense of style and purpose within the music scene and how the audience will react to each of the songs featured here on the disc. Folk music is enjoying a resurgence these days with acts like Mumford & Sons and Fleet Foxes helping folk music make the transition into the mainstream a little bit, a move that we didn't see coming but are welcoming with open arms as the musical tastes of listeners are changing by the minute as we speak.

Overall, a strong and cohesive debut effort from Of Monsters and Men, who are helping to spearhead the folk renaissance movement and also help Iceland get on the musical map within the folk genre and help out their musical peers there as well.

                                                                                                                         Album Score: 4/5

Track Listing:

1. Dirty Paws
2. King and Lionheart
3. Mountain Sound
4. Slow and Steady
5. From Finner 
6. Little Talks
7. Six Weeks
8. Love Love Love
9. Your Bones
10. Sloom
11. Lakehouse
12. Yellow Light

Artist Spotlight: Old English

Hey everyone!

Rounding out the month of April with another edition of Artist Spotlight! This week, we're staying in the Boston area and checking out the sounds of Old English! The band consists of Pete Kendall on guitar, Dale Bales on bass, and Russ Sternglass on drums. All of the members of the band went to school locally at the Berklee College of Music where their highly skilled education shows in full force here as the band is ridden with prog rock melodies that hearken back to The Grateful Dead with some slight Mars Volta influence lurking around somewhere, laid back guitar rhythms that are incredibly soothing and provide a sustainable melodic punch that lasts all the way through, and the drums round everything out and give all the songs that extra spark that makes them stand out from all the other bands currently out there today. One thing that you might notice about these guys as you're listening to them is that some of the songs have the absence of vocals. This purely instrumental approach is an excellent way for the audience to focus squarely on the ambient rhythms running amok throughout their music and spot out the different sounds and then listen to them individually to see how they sound when they're all combined together. A great local band with a wealth of potential for greater success down the road. Some tracks for you to check out include "Worthy Adversary" and "December".

For more information on Old English, head on over to their Facebook page at: www.facebook.com/oldenglishband The band's EP is available for listen on their ReverbNation page at: www.reverbnation.com/oldenglishband so you can check out for yourself the sweet sounds that they've unearthed just for you. If you wish to download the EP and name your own price (including 0), head on over to the group's BandCamp site at http://oldenglishband.bandcamp.com and do your part in supporting local music any way you can!

Note: For local area concertgoers, they'll be playing at The Rosebud in Davis Square, Somerville on May 4th at a show being put on by Unregular Radio. If you wish to buy advance tickets for just $5, cruise on over to http://www.unregularradio.com/local-music-tickets/100-unregular-radio-presents-a-rich-old-red-night

BREAKING NEWS!! Dick Clark Dies At 82!

Some sad news just coming in this afternoon. Television icon Dick Clark has died of a heart attack, he was 82 years old. He got his start working in radio at WRUN in Rome, NY owned by his uncle and managed by his father where he was an office worker and eventually moved up to announcing station breaks. He went to school at Syracuse and worked at WOLF, a country music station for a short time before moving on to WFIL, a Philadelphia area radio station that would eventually give him his first big break on television in 1952 with American Bandstand. That show went on the air in 1957 on ABC and would last for 32 years before going off the air in 1989. The show was a groundbreaking success and was in a nutshell, 30 years of American life and was a pioneering achievement in merging the areas of music and television in one complete and unique package. He also helped create the American Music Awards in 1972 which was the first show to award musicians based on what the music buying public listened to. He was a total legend who changed the music world as a whole forever.

Kyoto Drive Signs With I Am Mighty Records, Releasing Label Compilation!

Hey everyone!

Kyoto Drive has just inked a deal with up and coming UK label I Am Mighty Records. The band has slowly been picking up steam the last few years over in England, touring with the likes of The Starting Line, Hit The Lights, and Mae among others. The band just wrapped production on their first release on the label titled "The Approach". That album will be released on May 28th and if you're interested in pre-ordering it, head on over to their BigCartel site at kyotodrive.bigcartel.com For more information on them, check out their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/kyotodrivemusic 

I Am Mighty Records will also be releasing a compilation titled "I Am Mighty Records and Friends". This disc features all of the bands currently signed to the label including Tall Trees, Count To Four, Liar Liar, Paper Tigers, Sell Your Sky, and loads more. If you want to receive the compilation album, all you have to do is sign up for the I Am Mighty Records newsletter and a link will be sent to your e-mail on April 30th where you can download it free of charge! 10,000 physical copies of the CD will also be made and given out at various shows and special events throughout England. To sign up for the free compilation, head on over to www.iammightyrecords.co.uk/compilation

Canary - Handsome Stranger EP

                                   

Boston's own Canary have released their debut EP to the world titled Handsome Stranger. The disc is a delightful collection of indie rock tunes interspersed with a slight R&B touch that puts them on a whole different pedestal among the crop of new artists breaking out onto the scene today.

The disc opens up with a bang on "I Never Said", a passionate, jazzed up no holds barred track that introduces us to lead singer Jackie Berkley's amazing and passionate vocal prowess that adds a great deal of energy and enthusiasm to this and all of the other tracks featured here on the disc. We move on ahead with "You Couldn't Hold On", a more toned down number that features terrific work on the keys courtesy of Alex Hartley and Jackie's vocals moving down a couple of notches, but still retains the delicate passion that was displayed on the prior track and continues to elevate the disc to whole new heights. The EP's title track picks back up the pace displayed on the first track, and continues its exploration of R&B toned rock rhythms and Jackie's vocals once again putting all the group's ferocious firepower on display in this wonderful and captivating track. The disc's finale is the soulful "Daddy Ain't Comin' Home", a track that sees Jackie's vocals drawing some influence from the early 60's Motown era for this one and is a deep, soulful ballad that ties everything up in one neat package and is the perfect way to close out the disc. I had the opportunity to catch these guys in concert a couple of months ago at Tommy Doyle's in Cambridge and they put on an amazing show in a venue that I felt was perfectly suited for them. There's just something about performing in small bars that really makes your music pop and sizzle and gives you much more notice versus performing in a crowded bar where no one can really hear you. An absolutely terrific band and one to check out whenever you get the chance!

Overall, a great first effort from Canary, who have clearly demonstrated that they have the skills and talent necessary to get noticed in the scene and have a real knack for adding deep R&B tones into their music that makes them a very diverse and entertaining group all the way around.

                                                                                                                                  Album Score: 4/5

Track Listing:

1. I Never Said
2. You Couldn't Hold On
3. Handsome Stranger
4. Daddy Ain't Comin' Home