DOWNTOWN MYSTIC
Q What inspired you to center the EP On E Street Remix around the idea of searching for understanding in uncertain situations?
Those are the kind of songs I was writing at the time. Something must have been in the water. Given that I’d quit a band I’d been in for 10 years and was now trying to craft a solo vision, searching for understanding in uncertain situations makes a lot of sense to me now. Thanks for pointing that out.
Q In Way To Know, you reflect on a world that feels divided and confusing—what personal experiences shaped those lyrics?
I’m not sure. The lyrics are written from an intuitional level. I’m talking about my feelings about the world. I’d been through a turbulent time in my personal life. I had left something behind to start something new, so I’m not feeling sure about things. I’d left behind everyone I knew and was totally on my own. That’s not exactly a place you can trust. I need a way to know who I am as well as knowing others. The world feels cold and karma is a bitch.
Q Your lyrics often balance hope with a sense of realism. How do you approach writing about difficult themes without losing that sense of optimism?
It’s part of who I am. I don’t run away from responsibility. We are all responsible for ourselves. It’s the one thing that all of us must take care of and there are no excuses.That’s as real as it gets. I can deal with difficult themes because I understand facing responsibility. My focus is to bring something positive to a situation. It’s easy to complain, but optimism can require some work.
Q In And You Know Why, there’s a strong tension between logic and emotion. Was that song drawn from a specific moment in your life?
That song probably saved me as an artist. I was ready to pack it all in. I wasn’t happy with the songs I was writing. They were all starting to sound the same. I’d never thought of giving up, but I was burned out. I was at a real low point and seriously considering throwing in the towel. It was at this moment that this chord progression magically appeared. I’d never come up with anything like it. These chords would form the intro and verses for And You Know Why. I was so taken by them that I HAD to write this song! I could not give up now. I was excited for the first time in a long time and the burn out just disappeared. I wanted to keep going. Love hurts, life hurts and I wanted to FEEL that emotion. I wanted to make the listener FEEL the emotion. I wrote the song and never looked back.
Q Hard Enough introduces a more character-driven perspective. What inspired the portrayal of that kind of unpredictable relationship?
Since I always come up with the music first, it was obvious that this was going to be a rocker. I’m not exactly sure where the lyrics came from, but it is “sex, drugs and rock’n’roll”. So sex it is! It was a bit of cliché to write about a hot girl. But what about her being the strong one? The guy’s a stud who always gets the girl, but maybe not this time. She keeps him on his toes, and he never feels secure about her. The other thing that takes it away from a cliché is there’s a narrator. It’s not a guy talking about his girl and how hot she is. There’s a narrator trying to give this guy advice because he seems to know something about this type of girl.
The tricky part came on the chorus because I wanted to say how difficult it was to be in a relationship with this girl. The problem was the word “difficult”. It’s an impossible word to use in a song. It doesn’t sing well and how do you use it? You can’t. What can I use in its place? After much thought, “it gets hard enough” popped into my head. It gets difficult to love her won’t work but hard enough will. Oh, it gets hard enough to love her. That’s a double entendre. Beautiful! You need a double entendre for a classic rock song. LOL
Q Across the EP, relationships are shown as both meaningful and complicated. How do you personally view love through your songwriting?
Love is a complicated emotion. It all depends on what I’m writing about. You can be in love, which has certain emotions, and you can have heartbreak, which is another set of emotions. Whichever one I’m writing about, I want to feel the emotion. That’s my priority.I’m not a fan of playing with people’s emotions. There are certain devices you can use to do that, but it doesn’t feel real. I want the listener to identify by feeling the emotion.
Q Sometimes Wrong feels like a very introspective moment. What led you to explore self-doubt so directly in that track?
It’s interesting that you ask that because I wrote the song for a female singer. I think it was the first time I ever did that, write for the other sex. The cool thing was, I could change the sex of the singer. All I had to do was sing “she” in place of “he”. So the song worked for either sex. I think the lyrics are a bit more emotional because I was trying to write from the female perspective. It makes more sense when a female sings it because she’s upset. Singing it as a guy makes it seem very revealing. The male version is more ambivalent. I sing it from the point of view that I’m not sure how I feel. “Can this pain in here be misleading”? I’m questioning my feelings. Am I feeling bad because I’m supposed to? I think you expect the female to be more broken up about things, so I made the lyrics a bit more vulnerable.
Q The idea of consequences, especially in “we reap what we sow,” appears as a central message. How important is that concept to you?
In the context of the song, it’s very important, but I wrote it because I believe it. As I stated earlier, you have to take responsibility for your life. No one can do it for you. The law of Karma is real. You can do whatever it takes to win or succeed, as long as it’s not at another’s expense. I don’t think people think about consequences enough. There’s a feeling like “as long as I get mine” and I wanted to get biblical on that kind of thinking.
Q Do you see this EP as telling a continuous story, or more as separate reflections connected by a shared mindset?
I think it’s separate reflections. The songs deal with life situations we all experience in one form or another. I see the EP as a comment on the human condition. Every song has something everyone can identify with. You can see yourself in the songs and still be on the outside because you’re looking at another person’s problems.
Q How has your songwriting evolved in terms of expressing emotional complexity compared to your earlier work?
I think it comes with age. My earlier work did not have the same depth. You need to have some experience to be able to write like that. When you’re younger and have a tough experience, the instinct is to lash out at the other person. It’s not me, it’s them. That has a certain validity, but it’s one-sided. You’re forcing the listener to pick a side. lol
I think as you mature you become more aware of your emotions and how better to control them. Otherwise, you’re at their mercy and continue to make the same mistakes.Again, responsibility is the key. You take responsibility for your actions. That’s how you can deal with complex emotions.
Q When writing about relationships, do you draw more from observation or personal experience?
It’s a bit of both. I don’t think you can write about any relationship if you’ve never been in one. I think it would lack a certain truth that you’re trying to convey. I do a good deal of observing people and feel things on an intuitional level. I trust my gut instincts when connecting to emotions.
Q There’s a sense of unresolved tension in the EP, especially in the closing track. Do you prefer leaving questions open rather than answering them?
Sometimes the best you can do is ask questions. Some things have no answer. That’s life. I try to be positive if I can and try to provide answers. But I also think it’s better to letthe listener decide for themselves. That allows the song to take on more than one meaning.
Q Looking back at On E Street Remix, is there a particular line or moment that you feel best captures its overall message?
“Because each day we all get older and soon we’ll reap what we have sown” seems to sum it up. There are consequences for our actions.
Q What do you hope listeners take away from the themes of uncertainty, reflection, and emotional honesty in this EP?
Those are the themes we face everyday in our lives on some scale. I’m also a Numerologist, so I can offer insights that people might not think about. So much of what I do is create and feel the vibes. Music carries a vibration. In some ways music is the sound of the vibration. Think about that. I want people to hear and feel the vibration of what I’m creating. If I did my job, people will get the feeling I’m trying to convey. They’ll feel something positive. Maybe a tear or two will be shed when listening, if they’re so moved. Tears release dis-ease. Maybe the feet will keep time, or the head will be moving to the beat. Affecting the listener is real success for me. It’s easy to write something on a superficial level, but for me, I want the listener to feel it too. I want my music to provide an emotional release and that’s what I hope connects for the listener.
