Gradients Interview
Q: Can you talk about your history as an artist/band?
A: I started playing music when I was eight years old. I took classical piano lessons from a really strict (but brilliant) teacher. He had a full pipe organ in his house as well as a bunch of other instruments. If I had a good practice I would be rewarded with getting to play his harpsichord (what a piano was before pianos were made - it plucks the strings instead of hammering them when a key is played). The allure of playing Chopin and Bach wasn't all that attractive to me as an eight year old, so I moved on to another teacher who taught me how to play sitcom theme songs (Cheers, Golden Girls, Doogie Howser, M.D. - yes I'm aging myself) and Phil Collins which was more in my wheelhouse at the time. I kept up with it for a while but switched to guitar at 15 after getting into bands like Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Stone Temple Pilots, Smashing Pumpkins and heavy metal. I learned how to play their songs and then bought guitar books and started learning how to play Metallica, Megadeth and Pantera songs too. I ended up playing in a few local bands in in the Lancaster/Philadelphia, PA area in my early 20's and played a lot of local shows and released a few EPs. In 2004, I sang for a band called The Twilight Collective which was basically pop-punk for metal heads. We toured the full US and did a number of East Coast tours and released one full-length called A Masterpiece of Modern Tragedy. We broke up in 2007 and at that time I honestly felt beat up by the music industry and stepped away from music for a few years. My bandmates and I still kept in touch and would take weekend trips to the beach every summer and in 2014 we decided to start a thrash-metal band called Witness. I am the vocalist and one of the guitarists for the band, and the preparation for our first EP in 2016 was what got me interested in the recording/production side of things. I started buying recording gear and joined an online mixing school (Ultimate Recording Machine) which helped me to understand not only how to use certain effects and equipment but why they were used and how to train your ears to use them tastefully. After two EPs with Witness I started to write music on my own that would eventually become Gradients. I wanted to channel some of my roots from bands I loved like Quicksand, Failure, Hopesfall, etc. and use the things I learned in record production to really put myself out there and eventually self-produce an album. My first EP, Heroes and Villains, I recorded all of the raw instruments in my studio and had them re-amped with my friends at Atrium Audio. With Insulators, I did all of the recording and mixing myself and had Atrium Audio assist with some production and mastering.
Q: Can you talk about your themes on your new release Insulators?
A: The overarching theme of Insulators is family and how I value and cherish those relationships. "A Million Stars" is about the death of someone very close to me and the numbness I felt for a long time. The world wants you to move on too quickly and I think the takeaway is that there is no specific timetable for grief...you can grieve as long as you want to and no one should make you feel differently. "Everlasting" is about the relationship I have with my wife and how we both made sacrifices for each other but still let each other have independence to be who we want to be. "Insulators" is about how I feel inadequate as a father and I know I make a ton of mistakes, but how I hope my kids look back on their life growing up in a positive way and that understand they were the ones keeping me on stable ground. "You've Become A Stranger" is about some family members who have taken on some radical ideas whether it be with politics or religion, and how interactions with them are not on the same level that they used to be, and the sadness it brings me. I think a lot of people probably have had a similar experience regardless of which way your political/religious feelings lean. "The Lone Survivor" is written about my mom and how she put everyone before herself while I was growing up and that she needs to look back on that time and be proud of all that she accomplished. People can sometimes look back with regret on specific decisions but in the grand scheme of things it's really about the life's body of work and to be proud of those accomplishments. "Avoidance" is about my father who passed away back in 2006 and how in a lot of ways I'm very much like him because I'm very introverted. I've tried my hardest to be more outgoing and I feel it's helped me be a better person. He wasn't alive to meet my wife or kids so I have a whole new life that he never got to experience...my hope is that he's proud of who I've become.
Q: Were there different approaches on Insulators compared to your previous release Heroes & Villains?
A: I think from a songwriting standpoint I really tried to solidify a sound for Gradients while creating Insulators. I wanted to maintain the same cohesiveness in songwriting but yet branch out and try new things, like the electronic elements and some of the sampling. Many of those choices were due to me having lots more time on my hands when writing the album since I was doing the recording myself. A lot of the ideas were spontaneous thoughts that I could just go into my studio and try...some of them stuck and some didn't. I had a lot more freedom as a producer in this way and I think it helped me develop the songs a little bit more than the last release.
Q: Can you talk about your history as an artist/band?
A: I started playing music when I was eight years old. I took classical piano lessons from a really strict (but brilliant) teacher. He had a full pipe organ in his house as well as a bunch of other instruments. If I had a good practice I would be rewarded with getting to play his harpsichord (what a piano was before pianos were made - it plucks the strings instead of hammering them when a key is played). The allure of playing Chopin and Bach wasn't all that attractive to me as an eight year old, so I moved on to another teacher who taught me how to play sitcom theme songs (Cheers, Golden Girls, Doogie Howser, M.D. - yes I'm aging myself) and Phil Collins which was more in my wheelhouse at the time. I kept up with it for a while but switched to guitar at 15 after getting into bands like Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Stone Temple Pilots, Smashing Pumpkins and heavy metal. I learned how to play their songs and then bought guitar books and started learning how to play Metallica, Megadeth and Pantera songs too. I ended up playing in a few local bands in in the Lancaster/Philadelphia, PA area in my early 20's and played a lot of local shows and released a few EPs. In 2004, I sang for a band called The Twilight Collective which was basically pop-punk for metal heads. We toured the full US and did a number of East Coast tours and released one full-length called A Masterpiece of Modern Tragedy. We broke up in 2007 and at that time I honestly felt beat up by the music industry and stepped away from music for a few years. My bandmates and I still kept in touch and would take weekend trips to the beach every summer and in 2014 we decided to start a thrash-metal band called Witness. I am the vocalist and one of the guitarists for the band, and the preparation for our first EP in 2016 was what got me interested in the recording/production side of things. I started buying recording gear and joined an online mixing school (Ultimate Recording Machine) which helped me to understand not only how to use certain effects and equipment but why they were used and how to train your ears to use them tastefully. After two EPs with Witness I started to write music on my own that would eventually become Gradients. I wanted to channel some of my roots from bands I loved like Quicksand, Failure, Hopesfall, etc. and use the things I learned in record production to really put myself out there and eventually self-produce an album. My first EP, Heroes and Villains, I recorded all of the raw instruments in my studio and had them re-amped with my friends at Atrium Audio. With Insulators, I did all of the recording and mixing myself and had Atrium Audio assist with some production and mastering.
Q: Can you talk about your themes on your new release Insulators?
A: The overarching theme of Insulators is family and how I value and cherish those relationships. "A Million Stars" is about the death of someone very close to me and the numbness I felt for a long time. The world wants you to move on too quickly and I think the takeaway is that there is no specific timetable for grief...you can grieve as long as you want to and no one should make you feel differently. "Everlasting" is about the relationship I have with my wife and how we both made sacrifices for each other but still let each other have independence to be who we want to be. "Insulators" is about how I feel inadequate as a father and I know I make a ton of mistakes, but how I hope my kids look back on their life growing up in a positive way and that understand they were the ones keeping me on stable ground. "You've Become A Stranger" is about some family members who have taken on some radical ideas whether it be with politics or religion, and how interactions with them are not on the same level that they used to be, and the sadness it brings me. I think a lot of people probably have had a similar experience regardless of which way your political/religious feelings lean. "The Lone Survivor" is written about my mom and how she put everyone before herself while I was growing up and that she needs to look back on that time and be proud of all that she accomplished. People can sometimes look back with regret on specific decisions but in the grand scheme of things it's really about the life's body of work and to be proud of those accomplishments. "Avoidance" is about my father who passed away back in 2006 and how in a lot of ways I'm very much like him because I'm very introverted. I've tried my hardest to be more outgoing and I feel it's helped me be a better person. He wasn't alive to meet my wife or kids so I have a whole new life that he never got to experience...my hope is that he's proud of who I've become.
Q: Were there different approaches on Insulators compared to your previous release Heroes & Villains?
A: I think from a songwriting standpoint I really tried to solidify a sound for Gradients while creating Insulators. I wanted to maintain the same cohesiveness in songwriting but yet branch out and try new things, like the electronic elements and some of the sampling. Many of those choices were due to me having lots more time on my hands when writing the album since I was doing the recording myself. A lot of the ideas were spontaneous thoughts that I could just go into my studio and try...some of them stuck and some didn't. I had a lot more freedom as a producer in this way and I think it helped me develop the songs a little bit more than the last release.
Q: What is your recording process like? And has it changed over the years?
A: My recording process has changed quite a bit over the years due to getting new equipment and learning new techniques. Since my studio is in my house I had to find ways to record without being obnoxiously loud, so I use a Roland V-Kit for drums and process the tracks with sounds from programs like Toontrack Superior Drummer 3 and Slate Trigger 2. I use a Kemper Profiling Amp for guitar which provides me with endless options for clean and dirty tones with a quick switch of a knob. I also record all the raw tracks (DI) for everything so that if I get into the mixing stage and am unhappy with a tone I can audition new tones and re-amp very quickly without having to re-record. For bass I use a Sansamp and have been very happy with the Dark Glass Electronics Alpha-Omega pedal for adding some mud and drive. For vocals, I built a relatively soundproof vocal booth in my studio and have a computer monitor in there with a keyboard and mouse, so I can pull up my session and do all my vocal tracking within the booth instead of running back and forth between the booth and my desk. I have a Manley Reference microphone and an Avalon VT737SP preamp/compressor. Atrium Audio uses these pieces in their analog vocal chain and I've loved how it made my voice sound so I saved up to get my own.
Q: What is your creative process like?
A: I'm very left-brained and in my full-time job I'm in charge of keeping agricultural chemicals in compliance with government regulations, so things need to fit in nice little boxes. Music is my outlet from all of that...a place to be creative and outside the box. I'm a guitarist first, so that's where most of my ideas start. My phone is full of videos of me playing riffs that I save for a rainy day. If I find a riff I'm really inspired by, I'll record it to a click and then try to build a basic drum beat around it. I tend to add fills and transitions later and focus on the core rhythm section of the song to get them solidified. After I'm satisfied I'll add bass, but if bass is more of a focus in a verse riff I'll go back and forth between guitar and bass. Then I layer with leads and other instrumentation. I'll normally just loop a section and riff on it until I find a sweet spot that inspires me and I'll hit record. That's actually the most fun part of the recording process for me...hit record on a lead saturated with delay and "take it to Neptune" as my friend Matt says. But it's not always so formulaic. I wrote the vocals and chorus to "Avoidance" 15 years ago and never found the right place for it until this past summer. For some of the electronic ideas I try to think of a theme and then find the sounds that compliment the theme.
Q: How do you usually go about writing lyrics?
A: Before I start writing lyrics, I normally find a vocal melody and cadence and either record it with guitar or hum it into the microphone. Sounds a bit cheesy when I listen back but it accomplishes a few things: 1) It tells me the actual notes which I can use to develop harmonies, and 2) it gives me a reference if the lyrics take longer to write than expected. I try not to be overt when writing lyrics because that can sometimes make things less applicable to the listener. I've always been a fan of lyrics that the listener can interpret and apply to their own life. I watched an interview with Eddie Vedder once where he said he wrote the lyrics to "Alive" to have more of a dark and depressing feel to them but when performing the song live, the fans interpreted "I'm still alive" as uplifting and gave a whole new feel to the song which he appreciated on a whole new level.
Q: Have you started playing shows or virtual shows?
A: I haven't played shows yet but I do have it as a goal for this year to start. Gradients has only really been in existence since a little bit before the COVID pandemic hit and my son was born right before everything shut down, so I haven't had much opportunity to prepare for live performances. My bandmates in Witness have offered to play live with me which makes things very easy since we've been playing music together for so long, but we haven't met much in person over the last two years until we started up again about six-eights months ago. With all that said, it's definitely in my plans!
Q: What else should we know about your music?
A: I just want to say thank you to Divide and Conquer for the opportunity to tell my story! And thank you for reading this! If you like my songs, please check out the bands that influenced me such as Quicksand, Jawbox, Failure, Handsome, Hopesfall, etc. Quicksand has been my favorite band since the mid ’90s and they opened me up to a whole new style of music that I never knew existed. It changed my life because I had no musical ambitions until then and would have never envisioned myself being on tour and having a recording studio in my house at this time in my life. And in general, take chances on bands...listen to everything you can. Don't limit yourself to a specific genre because maybe something new you listen to will give you that spark to do something you're really proud of.
A: My recording process has changed quite a bit over the years due to getting new equipment and learning new techniques. Since my studio is in my house I had to find ways to record without being obnoxiously loud, so I use a Roland V-Kit for drums and process the tracks with sounds from programs like Toontrack Superior Drummer 3 and Slate Trigger 2. I use a Kemper Profiling Amp for guitar which provides me with endless options for clean and dirty tones with a quick switch of a knob. I also record all the raw tracks (DI) for everything so that if I get into the mixing stage and am unhappy with a tone I can audition new tones and re-amp very quickly without having to re-record. For bass I use a Sansamp and have been very happy with the Dark Glass Electronics Alpha-Omega pedal for adding some mud and drive. For vocals, I built a relatively soundproof vocal booth in my studio and have a computer monitor in there with a keyboard and mouse, so I can pull up my session and do all my vocal tracking within the booth instead of running back and forth between the booth and my desk. I have a Manley Reference microphone and an Avalon VT737SP preamp/compressor. Atrium Audio uses these pieces in their analog vocal chain and I've loved how it made my voice sound so I saved up to get my own.
Q: What is your creative process like?
A: I'm very left-brained and in my full-time job I'm in charge of keeping agricultural chemicals in compliance with government regulations, so things need to fit in nice little boxes. Music is my outlet from all of that...a place to be creative and outside the box. I'm a guitarist first, so that's where most of my ideas start. My phone is full of videos of me playing riffs that I save for a rainy day. If I find a riff I'm really inspired by, I'll record it to a click and then try to build a basic drum beat around it. I tend to add fills and transitions later and focus on the core rhythm section of the song to get them solidified. After I'm satisfied I'll add bass, but if bass is more of a focus in a verse riff I'll go back and forth between guitar and bass. Then I layer with leads and other instrumentation. I'll normally just loop a section and riff on it until I find a sweet spot that inspires me and I'll hit record. That's actually the most fun part of the recording process for me...hit record on a lead saturated with delay and "take it to Neptune" as my friend Matt says. But it's not always so formulaic. I wrote the vocals and chorus to "Avoidance" 15 years ago and never found the right place for it until this past summer. For some of the electronic ideas I try to think of a theme and then find the sounds that compliment the theme.
Q: How do you usually go about writing lyrics?
A: Before I start writing lyrics, I normally find a vocal melody and cadence and either record it with guitar or hum it into the microphone. Sounds a bit cheesy when I listen back but it accomplishes a few things: 1) It tells me the actual notes which I can use to develop harmonies, and 2) it gives me a reference if the lyrics take longer to write than expected. I try not to be overt when writing lyrics because that can sometimes make things less applicable to the listener. I've always been a fan of lyrics that the listener can interpret and apply to their own life. I watched an interview with Eddie Vedder once where he said he wrote the lyrics to "Alive" to have more of a dark and depressing feel to them but when performing the song live, the fans interpreted "I'm still alive" as uplifting and gave a whole new feel to the song which he appreciated on a whole new level.
Q: Have you started playing shows or virtual shows?
A: I haven't played shows yet but I do have it as a goal for this year to start. Gradients has only really been in existence since a little bit before the COVID pandemic hit and my son was born right before everything shut down, so I haven't had much opportunity to prepare for live performances. My bandmates in Witness have offered to play live with me which makes things very easy since we've been playing music together for so long, but we haven't met much in person over the last two years until we started up again about six-eights months ago. With all that said, it's definitely in my plans!
Q: What else should we know about your music?
A: I just want to say thank you to Divide and Conquer for the opportunity to tell my story! And thank you for reading this! If you like my songs, please check out the bands that influenced me such as Quicksand, Jawbox, Failure, Handsome, Hopesfall, etc. Quicksand has been my favorite band since the mid ’90s and they opened me up to a whole new style of music that I never knew existed. It changed my life because I had no musical ambitions until then and would have never envisioned myself being on tour and having a recording studio in my house at this time in my life. And in general, take chances on bands...listen to everything you can. Don't limit yourself to a specific genre because maybe something new you listen to will give you that spark to do something you're really proud of.