- How was it writing and recording Passions Collide.
It was an amazing experience. It caused me to really evaluate my writing and playing style. I wanted to fuse together my two favorite styles, that being rock and flamenco guitar. So I did my best to fuse these two styles together without it seeming disjointed or out of place. So far, everyone has responded well to my endeavor.
- How did you go about making the artwork?
I wanted the artwork to be congruent with the sound of the songs. It took a couple revisions, but the art designer (Darrell E. Haemer) made it all come together. We basically took two pictures of my guitars and fused them together with fire. It was a perfect fit.
- What kind of things inspire you to write music or lyrics?
There are many things that helped inspire the music on the album. The song Ancient Romance was inspired by my travels through Italy. The Journey Home was dedicated to my mom. She passed away before the album was released. Writing this song was a really cathartic process for me. Music can really help one to deal with grief. I really use a lot of life experiences in my writing and try my best to capture or paint a picture of what I have experienced.
- How would you describe the genre of music easy listening today. Has the genre changed during the last decade?
I believe easy listening music or any genre changes with the generations. The music that I grew up on is now considered easy listening or classic rock. So I would have to say that yes it has changed, but change is good. I enjoy many genres of music.
- Promotions on YouTube and finding subcribers is no easy task. How complicated is it today to promote music?
Promoting music is a business and a lot of musicians are not business-minded. It’s all about finding your target audience and creating a niche. Once you find your audience, which takes time, you can promote your music somewhat easily.
- Do you have any tours coming up in the near future?
We are playing several local shows currently, but we are hoping to go on tour in the near future.
- What would be some of your main musical influences today?
My playlist is pretty vast. I still enjoy listening to my guitar heroes such as Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, and Strunz and Farah.
- Where do you see music in general going in 100 years from now?
I believe it’s always going to repeat itself but with some new interpretations. The blues will always be the blues and jazz will always be jazz. The younger generation will always learn from the older. So it is inevitable that we will continue to pass on the music of our generation to the next generation, but the next generation will “make it their own”, so to speak.