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
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