![\"tumblr_inline_omof99RUx11swxv3i_500\"](\"\/wtbu\/files\/2017\/03\/tumblr_inline_omof99RUx11swxv3i_500.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Kevin Garrett is a talented new artist steadily rising to fame. At 25 years old, he has already toured with many artists including Alessia Cara, Oh Wonder, and James Vincent McMorrow. WTBU DJ Christina Carpio sat down with Garrett after his final show on his first headlining tour for his new EP\u00a0False Hope<\/i>\u00a0to talk about who inspires him, working with Beyonc\u00e9, and what is to come.
\n<\/b><\/p>\n
Christina Carpio: When did you know that you wanted to pursue a career in music?<\/b><\/p>\n
Kevin Garrett: Well I\u2019d always been around music. I started music when I was very young\u20144 years old or so\u2014and I started writing songs when I was 11 or 12.<\/p>\n
CC: Songs about what? What does an 11 or 12-year-old know?<\/b><\/p>\n
KG: Nothing. I didn\u2019t have anything to write about, so none of those songs really ever saw the light of day. I went through high school, did the talent show and all that stuff. It was always kind of just a hobby. I was recording myself at that point, and like looping, and doing all these cool things with my guitars and stuff; that\u2019s when I started writing. Once I got to New York for school, as soon as I got there, I just started playing, and my first show was at 3 p.m. for two off-duty police officers on a Sunday. Then the venue asked me back, and the next time I went back, it was opening for Norah Jones, so it was pretty cool. Once I played a few of those shows at that venue, I kind of realized that I could hang with this circle, and then I just started hustling. New York, and Boston too, could do this because they obviously have a very vibrant music scene, sort of the bigger metropolitan cities\u2014something about a place. Like when I moved to Brooklyn, that atmosphere makes you run so much harder. So I write everything at home in Pittsburgh, where I\u2019m from. The phrase I like to use is \u201cI work in Pittsburgh, and I run in Brooklyn.\u201d I\u2019ve obviously written elsewhere, since I\u2019m not home enough, but the hustle is in Brooklyn.<\/p>\n
CC: Who are some of your inspirations or idols?<\/b><\/p>\n
KG: I was raised on classical music because of the violin, and then if it wasn\u2019t that, it was classic rock, like Zeppelin, and Pink Floyd\u2014pretty much every band except The Beatles, oddly enough, just kind of what my dad was into. Then once I was old enough to buy my own CDs, I got a Ray Charles disc, then found Sam Cooke. Sam Cooke\u2014he\u2019s obviously not been with us for a while, but he still is the person that everybody leans on for vocal inspiration. If you listen to enough Sam Cooke songs, they all start to sound the same. But he was the first person to do those set of runs, those set of melismas, those set of nuances in his singing, and it just took soul music and gospel music to a whole new level. [Also], Otis Redding, then really old country like Hank Williams, Willy Nelson before he had the ponytails, and Porter Wagoner. I like a lot of old stuff. I think idols\u2014we all have the same idols: Beyonc\u00e9, Beyonc\u00e9, and Beyonc\u00e9. Sam Cooke would be really cool to meet, if I could figure out how to meet him and go back in time.<\/p>\n
CC: How would you describe your music?<\/b><\/p>\n
KG: When I first put out\u00a0Coloring<\/i>, it started as a joke, because it was a reference to my favorite MUTEMATH song, \u201cOdd Soul.\u201d I called my music \u201codd soul,\u201d because it was supposed to reference the different palette of influences I was taking in around this sort of soul-centered pop sensibility, and I\u2019ve always been attached to that type of phrase, \u201codd soul,\u201d being my music. I talk to people about it, and I\u2019m very lucky for them to say they can\u2019t really put a finger on it. I\u2019m kind of somewhere in between all the Franks and the Sams and the Jameses, and that\u2019s pretty cool because in the same way the Franks and the Sams and the Jameses are between each other, I think I\u2019ve worked really hard to sort of carve out this sort of niche for myself, and it all started with kind of a fake tag, but now it\u2019s very real to me.<\/p>\n
CC: You worked with Beyonc\u00e9 on\u00a0Lemonade<\/i>, can you tell me more about that?<\/b><\/p>\n
KG: Yes, I was very lucky to contribute to\u00a0Lemonade<\/i>. It was what I will continue to only refer to as a \u201cright place, right time\u201d sort of thing. It was very much an honor to be a part of that album, I would say more than any of her other albums, because it was just so impactful. There were two very strong messages she was giving for women and for equality. And you know, it\u2019s a shitty thing for me to say that I\u2019m lucky to be a straight white male. It feels stupid saying that, but like that\u2019s the reality of the situation, and I think we need artists like Beyonc\u00e9 to make albums like\u00a0Lemonade<\/i>\u00a0to remind people that everybody should feel lucky to just be a human, because we\u2019re all humans. I think she did a really good job of opening up on this album, and conveying a side of her that we never see, and I\u2019m just happy to help set the tone right at the top of the record. It was really cool to be a part of that song, and I saw her perform it at the VMAs, the only time she\u2019s ever performed it, and it was phenomenal. I remember when I first heard it, heard her record it, I was wondering how she would sing it. What it was going to be like? But she really stuck to the vision. I think we were tapping into similar headspaces, because she wanted to sort or channel that sort of vulnerability. You see in the movie, she\u2019s in a bathtub beside herself. It made it very real. Long story short, [I\u2019m] very honored to be a part of that album, and congrats to her on her Grammys.<\/p>\n
CC: So you\u2019ve been on a lot of tours with a lot of different artist; has that taught you anything? Have you learned anything as an artist from touring with other people?
\n<\/b><\/p>\n
KG: When I first started touring it was James Vincent McMorrow in late 2014\u2014a short run across the southern states, and I didn\u2019t know what I was doing. I\u2019d gone on tour with my old band a couple of times, but it was all very much the type of shows where the venue might not have even known we were there. There was no advance; there was no anything,\u00a0so it was the type of thing where, \u201cOh this is a legit tour, let\u2019s do this.\u201d And every time I open for someone\u2014continually, because I\u2019m going to open for Mumford and Sons pretty soon\u2014I learn something from everybody, and every time I\u2019m on stage with my band, I learn something from them every night. All three of them are in their own way influential to me, because we play the same songs every night for a month, and Sean, my drummer, he\u2019s been playing the\u00a0Mellow Drama<\/i>\u00a0songs for two and a half years. It\u2019s not very common, I don\u2019t think, for an artist to tour an EP for two and a half years. We did \u201cPushing Away\u201d tonight and it felt like we were playing it for the first time. I think what\u2019s important on tour is to think ahead, know until the last show, there is always another show. And if you\u2019re opening, it\u2019s kind of important to put yourself in the headliner\u2019s shoes. Now that I\u2019ve been a headliner one time through, I kind of sometimes just want to go right back to being an opener.<\/p>\n
CC: How different was it doing your own tour this time?<\/b><\/p>\n
Obviously the shows are very fulfilling, because they\u2019re sold out and people are coming to see you. Some opening looks, people came to see me. Like on Alessia [Cara\u2019s] tour, there were people who seemed to know who I was by then, and same with Oh Wonder. But when you are headlining, especially since we are doing some smaller rooms in certain cities, it\u2019s the type of thing where I can take my ear[piece] out, or I can just listen to the crowd sing the lyrics to my songs louder than I even know them. All this is to say, touring is exhausting; I would not recommend anyone to do it, but at the same time,\u00a0the only way I would pursue a career in music, is to stay on the road. It\u2019s pretty old school to do it that way.<\/p>\n
CC: As an up-and-coming artist, who are some other artists you think people should be on the lookout for?<\/b><\/p>\n
KG: His album just dropped yesterday, Khalid. Homeboy is 19. He\u2019s from El Paso. I was texting him the other day, because I think I said something about him in an interview when I was at the L.A. show, and he tweeted me. He was like \u201cOh my god, thanks man!\u201d And I was like, \u201cYou don\u2019t listen to me, you don\u2019t know who I am,\u201d and then he DMed me and he was like \u201cNo, no, I didn\u2019t think you listened to me.\u201d With artists like that, you\u2019re always kind of wary, because there\u2019s hype and then there\u2019s talent. With Khalid, he\u2019s got both, and it\u2019s incredible. The same way when I first discovered Alessia, just as \u201cHere\u201d was going viral, before I went on tour with her, Alessia Cara was just kind of down-to-earth, surprised that things were happening, and she still is. Khalid, he\u2019s on a rocket ship. It\u2019s crazy, and he definitely doesn\u2019t know it yet but, congratulations on the new album, if you\u2019re listening. Also, Nick Hakim, he came to Berklee I think. He\u2019s putting out new music. He\u2019s signed to ATO, and I\u2019ve been a fan of his forever. Brilliant, brilliant, young man, who just knows how to write a song better than you. No matter how you look at it, any song. You give him a song he\u2019s already done [and he\u2019ll say], \u201cOh I\u2019ll do it better man.\u201d And he\u2019s not boastful about it\u2014he\u2019s just so smart with his decisions and anything that he puts out, even the songs he probably doesn\u2019t like. I\u2019m like \u201cCome on, this is just not even fair.\u201d There\u2019s a British guy who I love, he\u2019s a dear friend of mine, and he\u2019s slowly sort of building a catalogue, re-releasing some songs and releasing new songs in this sort of Oh Wonder-esque, every month sort of thing. His name is Bruno Major. He has some pretty cool songwriting connects; he\u2019s worked with some really awesome people, and I\u2019ve been lucky to work with him a little bit, but I really want to work with him some more. He just put out a song called \u201cJust The Same\u201d and it\u2019ll hit you where you need to be hit at any given moment.<\/p>\n
CC: Lastly, what\u2019s next for you? Is there an album coming soon?<\/b><\/p>\n
KG: I\u2019ve had the concept for my album for a really long time. I\u2019ve never really given it up to anyone. I\u2019ve told a few people what I know it\u2019s called. The title has recently taken on a deeper meaning, which I\u2019m really excited about, because I think I\u2019ve also kind of found some design pieces within it that I\u2019m really amped on. I\u2019m a very visual, sort of tactile learner, like creator I guess. I see things when I hear things and smell things when I hear things, some kind of weird synesthesia thing. I don\u2019t really know. I never really think about it, but like enough people say they have synesthesia, that I think, \u201cWait a second, I better look into this, because you\u2019re saying things that I do.\u201d Maybe I have synesthesia, and that\u2019d be pretty cool. But anyway, the album hopefully comes out sooner than later. The same thing about touring an EP for two and a half years\u2014I\u2019ve been touring for a very long time, so I\u2019m trying to take my off time to sort of buckle down. Obviously not being signed, not having a label and a marketing strategy, or really any sort of PR help, has been trying to say the least, but at the same time I relish being independent. I think it\u2019s rare these days. Something that I\u2019ve definitely noticed is that I\u2019ve grown in the past two years, kind of more than I ever thought I would off of two EPs, so I feel really good about where I\u2019m at. I\u2019m not in any rush to put the album out, but at the same time, I know we\u2019re all waiting for it, and I\u2019m just as anxious as everyone else is, so sooner than later is probably the answer for that.<\/p>\n
Check out Kevin Garrett opening up for Mumford and Sons this May, and listen to his latest EP,\u00a0False Hope<\/i>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kevin Garrett is a talented new artist steadily rising to fame. At 25 years old, he has already toured with many artists including Alessia Cara, Oh Wonder, and James Vincent McMorrow. WTBU DJ Christina Carpio sat down with Garrett after his final show on his first headlining tour for his new EP\u00a0False Hope\u00a0to talk about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13221,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16],"tags":[86,33,26,29,85,87,25],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13221"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=370"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":372,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370\/revisions\/372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}