Those of you who've read my previous review of Colton's song 'Weatherman' (the link is above) will know that I'm slightly (completely) in love with him, and this interview has only made it worse. We talk about touring with The Script, his next album and writing music.
How was Croke?
Croke was awesome! It was really cool, and it was just such a nice place. Dublin’s great and Croke’s obviously great, I don’t have anything bad to say about it because it was just awesome.
Obviously you’ve been touring with The Script and have had the chance to work with them a lot, how have you found that? Has it been helpful?
They are always helping me grow as a musician, because they’re so far ahead of me each time I hang out with them and work with them I sort of pick up like a little nugget here and there and put it in my pocket. So, it’s been really good. They’ve helped me grow exponentially, I think in a shorter amount of time than I would have on my own had I spent this last year by myself. They’ve shown me so much and opened my eyes to so much and it’s made me realise a lot of things basically. They’ve helped me in a ton of ways. It’s been great though, it’s been really nice working with them and they’re easy to work with.
They’ve introduced you to all their fans, and you’ve gained so many fans from this, what’s been the best part about gaining so many fans?
I think it’s just been the fact that they enjoyed my music, you know. Because you can throw people in front of fans but you can’t make them like you. So, I think it’s just the fact that they’ve really enjoyed my stuff that’s been the coolest and best part because I didn’t expect it. I wasn’t sure how much they’d like it or how much they wouldn’t, because these are all new songs. And my old stuff has sort of proven itself and I’ve gained a few fans off my own steam. So it’s been really, really cool and that’s been the best part. Knowing that my music has been liked.
What inspired you to become a musician?
I started out as a guitar player, I picked up a guitar when I was 13 and I sort of became obsessed with it. I grew up always singing in the car with my Dad, my Dad always wanted to be a singer and never got the chance. So I sort of got the chance, so I think that was a big part of it; the fact that my Dad wanted to do it and couldn’t, but I wanted to do it and just happened to be good at it I think that’s a big thing that inspired me.
What famous musicians do you admire and why?
Michael Jackson is huge for me, I think I was always obsessed with him. I think it was probably the first record that was shown to me or played when I was a baby, and for whatever reason it got into my DNA and I’ve been obsessed with Michael Jackson since I was a kid. But I think it had to do with his performances and everything being so congruent with his music and him being such a good entertainer and his songs just being so damn good. That’s what I like about him. The Police are another influence and I think I just really like them because of their rawness as a band, but then their songs were really good as well. I think Chris Brown’s been a massive influence. I know that sounds weird because he’s like modern day, but I remember hearing his stuff and that sparked something in me when I first started writing. Because I wanted to be like that, I wanted to be on that level. He was always someone who, vocally, I really appreciated and respected.
Personally, I think that ‘Hold On (You’ve got to)’ from Colton’s first album has a very Jacksonesque sound.
What was the first song you remember hearing?
I think the very first one was ‘Beat it’ by Michael Jackson. And then the second one was this song, it’s by Alan Jackson, I think it’s called ‘Way Down Yonder Chattahoochee’. And it’s like this corny country song that probably no one in England knows, which is probably a good thing. So either of those I think was the first.
In case you were wondering, it’s called ‘Chattahochee’ by Alan Jackson, and isn’t quite as awful as I thought it might have been.
What’s your fondest musical memory?
I think still to this day the Portugal show was pretty awesome. But then before that, there’s a couple like the day I met The Script and then another day when I met this producer Patrick Leonard, who did a lot of Madonna’s 80’s stuff. It was the first time I’d ever been in the studio with anyone really, he sort of hinted at me that I may have something worthwhile. And that was really meaningful as a young player. That sort of got things going, so between those three; the Portugal show and meeting The Script which at first was the shittiest gig I’ve ever played I think. It was like 115 degrees outside and I just wanted to go home and then The Script ended up listening and it ended up turning out to be one of the best nights. And then meeting Patrick Leonard.
So, your first album had a lot of different sounds on it, is the new album more refined or do you still experiment with your sound?
I kind of consider myself a musical mess anyway and the second album is not done with so, we’re still writing all the time, so I don’t know. We’ll see when it’s finished, odds are I’ll probably be in a wide-range of genres by the time it’s finished. But we’ll see.
What, to you, is the most important part of a song?
Melody. Hands down, like melody is the most important. Obviously music is really important as well. But if you have a song with a shit melody it will never be cool. I think the vocal melody, the melody of the song, is most important.
What about the most challenging part to write and your favourite part?
The most challenging part is probably just coming up with like new and exciting things all the time or fresh concepts, because there are so many songs out there. So you come up with something like ‘hey, has this ever been done?’ and then you google them and your like ‘oh no’. I think that’s the hardest part. But that’s also the most enjoyable, I think. When you find something that you don’t think’s been done or you come up with a song name and no one’s used it yet. That’s probably the most fun.
Through Periscope we’ve seen you just jamming and coming up with stuff on the spot, do you write a lot of your music that way or is it more planned out?
I think it depends on just how fast the song is coming, sometimes songs come really fast like I wrote some stuff on my old album that took literally like 30 minutes. But then, there are other songs that will take you weeks and you’ll be sitting there staring at the paper like’ come on’. It just depends. If the song is flowing then just go with it and if it ain’t you sort it all out. But then, if not, then you have to get in the boxing match with the lyrics and try and beat out the lines.
What’s your advice to beginners who want to get into music or are maybe struggling?
I think to guitar players, I’d say don’t expect to learn so fast, in our generation we want everything right now, so I’d say be patient and play through the hurt because it sucks. And to songwriters, just study so many songs and take a look at the lyrics and write as much as you can. And just when you think you’re done writing take a break and write some more. I don’t think people write enough now a days, there’s so many musicians saying ‘these are the first songs I’ve written’ and it’s just like ‘no, wait a few years maybe’.
Is there anyone you’d like to write a song with?
I would love to write a song for Sia and I’d love to write a song with Bruno Mars. I think those are my two people. And I’d love to write a song with Selena Gomez, but that’s nothing to do with music.
Have you met someone who you looked up to and had a bit of a freak out or have you managed to keep calm?
I haven’t had any freak outs yet, I’ve met, I know the guys are one of the biggest, but I haven’t met any of my like direct idols like I haven’t met The Police. I didn’t meet Eric Clapton, I almost did. He was in the studio the day after we were there. I don’t know, I haven’t really met anyone big enough to freak out about. I’ve met The Script which was awesome, I met Train and they’re cool and Gavin DeGraw and he’s the reason I started singing so that was nice. He was so outgoing it just made it really easy. I haven’t had a freak out yet, but if I ever meet Eric Clapton or James Taylor or Sting I’d probably freak out a little bit. I wouldn’t say much I’d just get really quiet.
I think ‘Weatherman’ at the moment, because it was kind of a door opener for me. I think The Script really respected me as a writer but then we sort of had to prove that we had like the capability of writing a potential hit and writing it fast. So, the minute we wrote that it’s like so many doors opened and then every time we show it to people it’s like more doors keep opening. That one’s done the most for me and it’s just a really great song. I’m really proud of it.
If you had to buy music would you buy it as a CD, as a vinyl or digitally?
It depends on what means I have to play it, what I do most often is buy CD’s. Like physical copies because I’m sort of a 90’s baby, so I got into buying CD’s as a kid and I always remember going through the booklet and all that. So that relates to me even more than vinyl’s, although I love vinyl’s I’d buy the CD. For the look and the feel and all that. The stuff that doesn’t matter anymore.
It matters, I like buying CD’s because they’re better. You need the little book to read with the lyrics, so you don’t get the words wrong.
Well, people, the last few albums I’ve bought don’t have the lyrics in them. My first record, the CD’s I have for it the booklet’s like 50 pages long, it’s full of lyrics and pictures and cool shit. Because I used to love that. My manager at the time was like ‘don’t do that, just do a little sleeve and put your CD in there’. And I was like ‘no, I’m a 90’s baby. I’m doing this all up. It’s my first album and I’ll put whatever I want in there.’ And I did.
Have you got any dates for when we’ll get the next album?
No. But only because we’re waiting to approach record labels and they’ll sort of decide the timeline. I know that’s the plan between me and the guys, is to approach labels first. Because if not I’d have it out like as soon as I could, but we are sort of waiting for that. Right now it’s under wraps until then, but I think I might release some teaser stuff like a track or two because I’m getting impatient and so are the fans. The first album is so old, it’s just not that cool anymore. It is good, but the new stuff is way cooler.
For the record, the first album is very good and I highly recommend buying it. Favourite album right now.
Will there be a tour after the second album?
Of course. I’ll be touring all over, as many places as I can. We’ve been talking about all the places we want to go and after I talked with the guys they sort of monitored my social media to see where all the people are coming from. We’ll be going to a lot of different places and a lot of countries.
Are you a concert person? What sort of concerts would you choose to go to?
I’m kind of into, I hate to say this because I’m like a guitar player, but I’m so into the dance stuff that’s happening right now and like hard-core hip-hop stuff. You wouldn’t see me at the concerts you’d expect to see me at, like I’d probably go to like a Jeremih or a Tove Lo concert. You’d probably see me at one of those concerts bobbing my head thinking it’s awesome. Or Jack Ü, that’s the concert I want to see right now because I love that album that Skrillex and Diplo did. Go see Biebs do his thing.
Okay, so you’ve just got home from playing a show or something, what would be a comfort food for you?
If I could have anything, we eat pozole back home which is like this Spanish soup. I don’t know if anyone’s even had it here, I love pozole. My grandpa’s a football coach, so I’d watch football games all the time and I’d be freezing my ass off and we’d come home and always have pozole. And even after my sporting events or concerts, it was like pozole. This is making me hungry.
What would be your perfect day?
If I woke up in the morning and was inspired and wrote like the best song, like a number one hit, and then at the end of the day recorded it. And that night listened to it. There’s just something about writing a song that you’re really proud of and listening to it that night, but really feeling like you were on to something. I think that would be my perfect day.
What apps do you have on your phone and which one’s your favourite?
I’m sort of a geek. I’ve got like, I don’t know I just have your standard stuff, I got like Twitter, Facebook, Periscope, YouTube, I go on the news sometimes. I’m trying to think of what my favourite is though. There's this scan app. That scans things really well, Jimbo the producer sent it to me, and I remember the day I downloaded it I scanned papers all day because it was so cool. My favourite is probably the scan app.
If you could have a dream band, alive or dead, who would you pick to play alongside?
If I could have, check this out, I know I’ve said both these people before but if I could have the backing band be The Police with Michael Jackson upfront and me on the other guitar playing with Andy Summers, singing back-up vocals I think that’s what I would do. And we’d all have a band called Michael Jackson and The Popo or something like that. We’d be huge, we’d be massive.
You definitely would be. What sports teams do you support?
I’m sort of a Phoenix guy, so like, the Diamondbacks, the Phoenix Suns and the Phoenix Cardinals are sort of my teams.
When you exercise what’s your favourite way to do so?
If I could have my choice, it would be not to exercise at all. I like lifting weights, and being like manly shit, you know like squats. Probably that. That or circuit training. It’s tough and I love it.
When I was a kid it used to be so much easier to stay in shape, like I’d run for two days and play sports all year round. I was good to go. And now the older I get and the more I’m a musician, like sitting on my ass playing guitar the fatter I get.
That’s how I feel! Now I have to look at food and think can I eat that? Probably not. It’s horrible and I’ve still got friends who can eat whatever they want. They’re like ‘let’s got to McDonalds’ even though we’ve been to Costa already. And we’ll end up going like twice.
Yeah, I think with us we eat at such weird times like we’re always hungry for absolute crap. We’ll get done at the studio at 2AM and Dan will be like ‘we have to go to McDonalds’. Then we end up going and getting all this food, eating late which you’re not supposed to do and we just eat crap all the time, except for now. The camera’s on and you take a picture and you’re like ‘oh, maybe not, maybe I should go work out’.
That’s how I feel. We end up there all the time, because of coaching and swimming. So they’re like let’s go to McDonald’s because I can’t be bothered to cook tonight.
Don’t go. Don’t go. Don’t go to McDonalds, anywhere else literally.
A discussion about McDonald’s and Biggest Loser followed that I won’t bore you all with!
Thank you. That’s pretty much everything I have. So thank you.
Thank you for interviewing me.
As you can see, the man is just really lovely. He’s down to earth and so friendly it hurts, there can only be big things in store for him. Keep an eye out for his second album as it’s likely to be a great one judging by what’s been seen on tour. I can’t wait for the opportunity to see him live, because the videos look amazing, so don’t miss out on that either.
Check him out on social media, don’t be afraid to say Hi!
Twitter: @coltonavery
Facebook: Colton Avery
Instagram: coltonaverymusic
This interview took place on 30/06/15.
Are there any questions you’d have liked to see? Let me know below. I’d love to hear what you think.
No comments:
Post a Comment