Ariel Bellavalaire Interview – In this interview we discuss influences and playing music. October 20, 2014.
Ariel Bellvalaire Interview
1. What’s new in the world of Ariel Bellvalaire?
Well for starters, I’m traveling a lot doing music and acting which is so much fun! I’m performing a lot in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and New York City. I just finished recording some new original songs that I’m super excited about and am playing several shows a week now!
2. As a musician do you play different instruments and approach them all with the same view?
Guitar and vocals are my main instruments and I’ve been playing constantly and trying to learn more styles so I can be more than just a rock lead player. I’m currently working on learning funk and blues! I also practice vocals daily too, the scales, warm ups, cool downs, and all that fun stuff :) As far as other instruments go, I can play keys and bass for recordings and if I’m needed to perform with them but I really consider myself more of a guitarist and singer and commit most of my time to those two things.
3. Finding the inspiration and influences to work in a studio and play live would it be different or the same to you?
They’re actually the same, I write about people and situations that are very real in my life so when I’m recording the songs in the studio I portray the emotions I felt when the situation happened and when I perform them live, I do the same. The only difference is live, I tend to act it out more to put on a show and throw in some more guitar solos and fancy tricks!
4. During a year how many shows do you do on average?
The past year, I was pretty much in the studio all the time, writing, doing an acting job, or in meetings so I didn’t get to perform as much as I would have liked. (Performing is my favorite thing to do.) I’m so thankful that I’m now starting to perform constantly, anywhere from 2-4 times a week and am loving putting on a wild show on stage!
5. Could you describe some of your earliest influences in life?
I always wanted to be a singer when I was young so my parents brought me to a place in Connecticut called Summit Studios that had an amazing program that put young students together to form a band and had rock band classes. I performed at my first bar with that at 10 years old and fell in love with being in a band and doing pop music. Shortly after, the band needed another guitarist so I decided to play guitar and within my first few months of playing had to perform both singing and playing at the same time which really forced me to practice more. At that point I was playing only pop music (lots of blink 182, Avril Lavigne, etc.) One day I had a random desire to listen to metal music so I went online and typed in the only metal artist I could think of, Ozzy Osbourne. The intro to Crazy Train came on and BAM! My mind was blown and by the time the guitar solo came on, I was already deeply in love with Randy Rhoads and Rock N’ Roll guitar. I finally learned to sing and play all of Crazy Train including the solo and performed it live with my band. As soon as I started playing the guitar solo, the audience started screaming and was lol OMG! A little girl is playing that solo! That’s when I realized that not many girls played lead guitar and that I wanted to keep up with it and inspire more girls to play lead!
6. How important is it for a musician in this generation to spend time on social media?
It’s so important!!!!!!!!! Every important opportunity I’ve gotten has come thru my social media videos and I’ve really been able to promote myself that way.
7. You have a big following on Facebook. Do you see the numbers rise mostly after you post new photos, videos or from playing live shows?
I get the biggest rise when I post a video of me playing a guitar solo, whether it’s the whole solo or just an Instagram snippet. Pictures do generate a rise too, especially if I have the guitar in the picture with me.
8. What could we find interesting in your music collection at home?
It’s funny, you can see my music tastes dramatically change when going they my iTunes library. It starts out with all my early loves, Avril, Blink 182, all the early pop stuff, then it jumps to Ozzy, all the 80’s rock and hard core metal, then back to current pop, and now lots of Prince and blues. My gym work out playlist is a mixture of all that stuff haha
9. Could you describe what goes on in a day in your life as a musician on tour?
Well, I’m not a typical performing musician, I’ve always been straight edge so on performance days, I lock myself in my room, practice for hours, go to show, order a water at the bar (haha I get interesting looks for that) then give a hard core performance onstage. Instead of staying out and partying after, I head home and watch a movie or something haha (hard core rocker huh?!)
10. Where do you see music in general going in 100 years from now?
Now a days, it’s mostly synth and dance music that’s popular. I see it going back to big guitar sounds and solos! (I’ll make sure of it!)
Check out Ariel Bellvalaire on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/ArielsMusic