Throughout college and my travels, my musical pallet has expanded a lot and I love being exposed to new or new-to-me music. I don’t know if I can pick on just one artist who has influenced me the most, but I guess it would be the Beatles because without them, none of the other artists I love so much would do what they do.
Where do you get your inspiration to write?
My songs typically come from personal experience or from what I see around me. I love love songs and have written about past romantic experiences. More recent songs have followed that trend, but have also touched upon a lot of the challenges that I’ve been going through to get my career off the ground.
I’ve had somewhat of a system in my writing, but since working with Gino Vannelli I’ve been trying new approaches and he’s pushed me out of my comfort zone and what’s come out has been something really special.
Has your style of music changed since you first started your career?
It has and it hasn’t. I know, I know what a cop out, but I’m serious. At the route of it, it’s still me. You can hear my voice in my lyric and the voicings in my chords and harmony. I feel every writer has their stamp and I think anyone that knows my catalog can hear that across my songs.
I’m growing and with that my sound evolves. I’m really excited to get back in the studio and work on the new album because with experience comes new horizons.
2012 saw you launch your second album “Words Left Unsaid” how successful has that been for you?
Words Left Unsaid has done so much for me! “That’s What She Said”, “Beautiful”, “Crawling Back To Me” and “Dancing With You” have really been standout singles across radio and video platforms. “Beautiful” has over 2 million views on YouTube and “Crawling Back To Me” has passed 1 million. They’ve also been hits on Vimeo and MUZU.TV.
“Crawling Back To Me” was just picked up to be in the soundtrack of an upcoming eBook, one of the first of its kind, called “H8 Society – How An Atomic Fart Saved The World”.
It’s a really fascinating novel that pokes fun at modern society and the standing of the world. You can download a preview of the book at http://h8society.com.
You made videos of Beautiful and Crawling back to you from your second album, are you planning on making any more?
Yeah I recently released a performance video for “She Is…” and we filmed something for “That’s What She Said”, but the project was rather ambitious and the video we shot may remain the vault because the post-production effects were quite challenging to produce. I’m hopeful that we can eventually get it out, but we’ll see.
I haven’t given a lot of thought to what songs will get videos off the new album, but as the album takes shape there will be a lot of attention given to that.
2014 you did a tour. Where did you go and what were the highlights for you during this tour?
It was my first East Coast tour in some time. We didn’t just stick to the coast and went to some new markets including Nashville, which was just outstanding! I played to one of the most enthusiastic crowds I’ve ever had there. It was my first time in town and to get that warm reception was really incredible. It was also great to see so many familiar faces of people I’ve met along the way. It was just such a strong sense of community. It was incredible!
I also got to do some TV and perform in Boston for the first time in over 3 years! It was hard to believe it had been that long, but it was so great to be back where it all began.
Your next album will be produced by Gino Vannelli, how did this come about?
In 2012 I was encouraged by a passionate Gino Vannelli fan to apply for his Masters Class, the Art of Voice. I had seen the opportunity, but came up with a million excuses of why it wouldn’t work. After hearing that encouragement I decided to go for it and low and behold I was accepted into the class. It was an incredible experience and Gino and I hit it off, forming a teacher/student relationship.
JAMIE ALIMORAD
IMC INTERVIEWW
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