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 ! :)