Tell us about your tour vehicle. Any notable breakdown stories?
I travel pretty light as a solo artist. I drive a Subaru Outback, and it’s still pretty new, so currently pushing 40k. Thankfully none yet, and no real notable break-down stories. Though I did get into a pretty annoying rear-end accident once on the way to a Boston gig. Tore up the front of the car enough that the windshield wiper container was exposed and I still had half the trip to Boston (and back to NYC after the show.)
How do you eat cheaply and/or healthy while on tour?
I can’t speak to healthy, but I do tend to eat less proper meals on the road. So maybe that saves me some $$$? I try to stay active and run to counteract the junk food.
How many strings do you break in a typical year? How much does it cost to replace them?
My style of playing doesn’t lead to many broken strings, thankfully. I keep the gauge pretty standard and I rarely use a pick. However after answering this question I’m certain this will result in a broken string during my next show.
Where do you rehearse?
My rehearsal space is my home. Peculiarities include every single one of my normal distractions preventing me from picking up a guitar. Whenever I play a series of shows with a band I’ll rent an hourly studio space for a day or two.
What was the title and a sample lyric from the first song that you wrote?
Nice try 😉 Some angst ridden break-up song no doubt. I pulled basically the exact chord shapes and capo position from Tom Petty’s “Angel Dream” by watching the end credits of his VH1 Storytellers episode on repeat, and I wrote a song over that.
Describe your first gig.
Not sure I can recall the very first one on guitar, but the first time I ever sang was at a college open mic night. I’m sure there’s a photo of it somewhere, hopefully no video. Eventually those led to paid gigs on campus. None of these gigs were at my own school, tho, which was a pretty good way to keep up mystique.
What was your last day job? What was your favorite day job?
I worked at a commercial radio station for most of my adult life straight out of college. It was pretty much my only day job, tho I was there for so long and I moved around within the company enough that it feels like separate gigs. I definitely have favorite memories from each position I held, but the height was certainly working as an on-air producer. A lot of high profile interviews with major artists, editing on the fly, and getting a first-hand education on the inner workings of the music industry.
How has your music-related income changed over the past 5-10 years? What do you expect it to look like 5-10 years from now?
Loaded question. It changes so drastically and sporadically from year to year and I’m genuinely concerned about what it will look like in the future. All it takes is one major opportunity in any given year to give this sense of hope that things are going in the right direction, and to that point all it takes is one slow year to drag you back down to earth. The constant, I hope, is that I’ll continue to write songs and want people to hear them, and hopefully make ends meet enough that I can do that.
What one thing do you know now that you had wished you knew when you started your career in music?
I think that seeing the back end of the commercial radio world so closely jaded me pretty early on, but even so I think it’s important to understand that SO much more than talent is required to cut through the noise. In fact, sadly, I think talent shows up lower on the list of priorities for the people looking to get ahead. It’s been a DIY industry for a while now, but these days you have to be capable of so much more than just writing and performing.
All this said, even when you know something at the beginning, I’m a believer that you need to experience it yourself to understand. Show me one person who’s ever been warned about the trappings of the future and been like “great advice, thanks, I will listen to you.” Never. All the warning signs are there, for artists especially, but we have this sick instinct to keep creating no matter what. I think a shorter, less negative, answer would’ve been just find out who you are and stay true to that person. Little victories will come and go.