and mentor in my life. Tony is a straight shooter, always with a strong and thoughtful opinion. Yet he ' s unwilling to not be experimenting and have fun. Working together always sort of straddled this really cool line where everything had to be super deliberate and serious but the process in getting there had to be extremely free, light hearted and fun. I learned so much from him about artistic process while making the record and I continue to learn from him as we work together on other new things.
How much did he influence the album? He produced it so quite a lot! This record would not be what it is without him.
You are known for your Folk and Jazz influences- how did you get to balance them together into one or did you rather let one shine out the most of the other based on the lyric ' s themes? I was trying to avoid thinking about genre while writing and recording this record because I feel like that ' s such an easy trap to get stuck in for me. I guess those influences come out and merge because it ' s stuff that
I like and stuff that has maybe osmosized into my musical DNA from a lot of listening and studying...
Where did you find the inspiration for the songs and lyrics? My family, my friends, my wife, and my early experiences as a kid.
Any plans to hit the road? Yes, I ' ll be playing a few shows in London at the end of July and will hopefully be doing some shows across the US in the fall but that ' s not all confirmed yet so I ' m not gonna let the cat out of the bag just yet:)
What else is happening next in Ethan Gruska ' s world? I ' m excited about a few records that I ' ve co-produced with Tony Berg. I’ m very proud of the Phoebe Bridgers record that is due out soon and we are currently working on the Z Berg record which is sounding so cool. Lots of writing for myself and other people as well. Keeping busy!:)