motel void

If I’m not mistaken, you are from LA, California (?). Could you please describe the local music scene a bit?

I’ve definitely had a bunch of people hit me up asking me if I’m from Cali. Actually, I’m holed up here in the mid-west in the great state of Illinois haha. It’s not too bad here in term of the music scene because of Chicago, but it lends itself to more emo and punk rock bands. It’s a great time, but there really aren’t many surfy-wavy lofi garage bands that I know of out here. It’s pretty difficult to make those genre connections for me lately.

What’s your favorite venue in Chicago?

I’ve actually never had the chance to play in Chicago unfortunately… But I’ve heard some of the bar venues are great. I can’t really think of any off the top.

Could your recommend some of your favorite local bands? What are your biggest influences right now?

I’m living outside of the city about an hour away in a more small town. The music scene is pretty barren besides a few killer blues jam bands that play at the local bars. But for the music I make, my inspirations go really deep. I was really urged to start making music more after listening to bands like Jons a trippy lofi sounding garage band. Mac Demarco played a huge role in showing me I could just give recording a try and have some fun with it. He’s a big one too. Travis Bretzer has been another artist that made me wanna create more too. It’s hard to pinpoint, but they all equally contributed to my sound and feeling.

You are really prolific, this year you released an album ‘22‘, an EP ‘That’s Love‘ and 3 more singles that really grabbed my attention! Recently ‘Hang Loose‘ and ‘Just to Me’, will they be part of your new record?

Thank you so much haha. I would love to say all of the stuff I released this year was calculated, but it really came out all so fast because I’m pretty impatient to be honest haha. I had all of these nights and weekends recording the tracks, then ending up sitting on them for months. I would sit and think, “when should this come out?” or “dude i wanna show people this.” I finally decided to release them as the songs were emotionally relevant to me, no matter how close or far they popped up online. It was really healing for me and helped me move on from some life issues I was dealing with.

Were you satisfied with the reception of your latest releases?

Absolutely! If I even get one save, play, or positive message about one of my tracks, I am beyond satisfied. It’s been very cool to see more people reach out to me with a lot of love the last few months or so. “Just to Me” was a bittersweet one for me, cause I recorded it in a couple hours and just threw it up there on a whim. I’m happy to see people enjoying it so quickly.

Could you tell us more about your recording and writing process?

My writing process is usually always the same. I start with the guitar or piano, then riff a vocal melody with some random lyrics, or a ear worm I’ve had. I track the guitar or piano down, followed by the bass, then i do the drums, add some shakers afterwards, then throw the vocals down, and finish it off with the effects and mix. The funny thing to me is when I’ve had follow artist reach out and ask me about how I get the fuzzier lofi sound on my songs, I have to be honest and say it’s because I don’t have the greatest grasp on how to get great audio clarity. That’s one reason this genre lends itself to me, cause I really struggle to get that crisp clear high fidelity sound. the muddiness and fuzz has definitely grown on my ears however. I always love to find more bands that embrace it. feels really homey.

What are your plans for the rest of 2023? Any live shows/festivals ahead?

I would love to play live with a band again. It sucks, because I miss it so much! It’s rough, because I record everything by myself I don’t really have a lot of interaction with other musicians. I want to maybe sneak a solo set in on the acoustic or something along the way, but I don’t really know when that’ll happen. I’m working on getting more out there though. As for other plans, I’m most likely going to be dropping a little collection of covers. There’s some songs I just always have wanted to cover, so now is the time! I’m recording them right now.

I haven’t found much information about Dog Walk so I’m kinda surprised that it’s actually only one person. I always thought it was a full band…

Yes, Dog Walk is actually my personal project that I record and write all parts for! I definitely don’t make that too clear online, but part of that is because I like when listeners put together a picture of who I am in their heads. It’s cool to think about meaning something different to different people.