Formula Indie Sessions – Interview 1st Eye Collective
1st Eye Collective is a genre-blending music group creating original songs across a wide spectrum—from country and pop to dance, R&B, and beyond. Our mission is to push creative boundaries while staying authentic to each style we explore. Every track is crafted to stand on its own, yet together they reflect our shared vision: one dynamic hub for original music in many forms.
What is your earliest memory connected to music?
I grew up in a musical household. My mother kept Prince, Michael Jackson, and the best of late 70s and early 80s records spinning, while my grandmother opened the door to classical, Julio Iglesias, and a little country. When Hip-Hop broke through, I was hooked. By age ten I was battle-rapping on the school yard, sharpening my pen every day until I knew music was the path. I have written across genres ever since, waiting to meet the right artists to bring those songs to life.
How did your passion for creating music begin?
Curiosity and survival. I wanted to understand why certain chords could lift a room, so I started reverse-engineering songs and writing my own. Music became the place where discipline meets emotion, a practice that keeps me honest and evolving.
What’s the story behind your current music project?
1st Eye Collective is my hub for genre-fluid, cinematic songs built for both listeners and sync. I focus on clear emotion, memorable hooks, and textures that feel tactile. Each release is crafted to stand alone, and also fit a visual world on stage or on screen.
How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard your music before?
Cinematic and modern, rooted in melody and movement. Deep low end, spacious atmospheres, and rhythms that breathe. Built to feel intimate in headphones and powerful on big systems.
What is one thing you’ve learned that completely changed the way you make music?
Realizing everything is frequency changed everything. Life is a dance, and music is how we tune to it. Integrating cymatics in subtle ways lets me evoke feeling beneath the obvious layers, listeners sense it even when they cannot name it.
What tools, instruments, or software are essential in your creative process?
Reaper is my main DAW now, after twenty years on Pro Tools in my Chicago studio. I still fire up Acid Pro for beat ideas because the workflow is fast and musical. As a songwriter, I keep a pad close, a simple MIDI keyboard, a dynamic mic for quick captures, and a curated set of plugins. I also use select AI-assisted tools to accelerate certain steps, so I can spend more time on vocals, arrangement, and feel.
Which indie artist or song are you loving right now?
“Soul to Soul” by Let Babylon Burn has been on repeat. It is raw, uplifting, and sonically fresh, the kind of track that stays with you.
How have your personal experiences influenced your music and artistic vision?
Entrepreneurship taught me clarity, resilience, and patience. Florida nights, long drives, and real conversations about change shape the mood, pacing, and imagery in my work. I write from lived moments, then refine until the song communicates without extra words.
What emotions or messages do you hope listeners take from your work?
Presence, courage, and authenticity. I aim to model what an authentic human looks like, so others feel permission to do the same. If the music helps someone breathe deeper, tell the truth, and move forward, it did its job.
What’s the most important lesson music has taught you so far?
Consistency unlocks the door that inspiration keeps knocking on. Show up, refine, and let the work teach you where to go next.
What is a dream venue or festival you would love to perform at?
Red Rocks Amphitheatre. Music under the open sky, natural reverb, a crowd ready to feel something together, that would be special.
If you could collaborate with any artist, past or present, who would it be and why?
Present, Damian Marley for the message, the cadence, and the groove. From the past, Bob Marley, Marvin Gaye, or Michael Jackson, artists who changed culture by pairing truth with undeniable melody.
Where can our listeners follow and support your music?
YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/@1stEyeCollective
Spotify, https://open.spotify.com/artist/5nJARosC2duLsJtYD77dHe
Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/1stEyeCollective
Tiktok, https://www.tiktok.com/@1st.eye.collective
Twitter, https://x.com/1steyerecords
Website, 1steyecollective.com
Looking toward the future, what’s your dream for the next chapter of your musical journey?
A sustained run of releases that travel globally, on stage and on screens. More collaborations, a tight live show, and a catalog that becomes a trusted source for filmmakers, gamers, and fans who want songs with staying power.
What do you hope listeners will discover about you along the way?
That I am an unapologetic songwriter committed to conveying the human experience, my human experience, through heartfelt and vulnerable lyricism, and that I am here to share the gift fully and honestly.
