Formula Indie Sessions _ Interview with Davey Harris
What is your earliest memory connected to music?
My earliest memory connected to music was when my dad would plan the song “stand by me” when I was two or three. Every time the word “stand” was sung he would either freeze, or begin tickling me a lot. It was a fun childhood moment.
How did your passion for creating music begin?
My passion for music began when I was taking piano lessons as an 8 year old. I never liked music theory and would always either create my own songs, or try to copy rock songs I was listening to but on the piano. Eventually I played the drums at a friends house and realized I loved that instrument, and was then drawn to be in a band.
What’s the story behind your current music project?
Davey Harris is the build up of all of my experience in life and in music. I was the drummer and songwriters in the band the tins for many years, but we kinda disbanded around Covid time, and then I was given full permission to be my weirdest self. I write songs about whatever is in front of me, and like to collaborate with different musicians and non musicians alike to create cool songs. I wrote a record called animals where I partnered with a bunch of conservation non profits, I wrote a song called Adam smith with an economist, I wrote a song about the ode to the empowered woman with a woman thought leader, I wrote an ode to the island of Kauai with a local there… and the list goes on. I also host
retreats with different artists and create music that way. I am pretty ADD, but the thought is that eventually when I look back at all the music I made it will allmake sense together. Obviously I also care about the quality of the music and wish to tell stories in unique, catchy, enjoyable, and impactful ways,
How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard your music before?
David Bowie meets Ray Davies, meets talking heads, meets Beatles, meets modern pop music. Genre bending for sure
What is one thing you’ve learned that completely changed the way you make music?
I’ve been fortunate enough to work so to many talented producers and they all have their golden nuggets and secrets to share. The main thing is that creating a song is like chilling away at a rock so it becomes a diamond. For the most part, you can tell early on if the song is good enough to work on it to go from good to great to excellent. There are a some songs that will never get better than good no matter how hard you try, and there are others that will kind be great no matter how hard you try, and there are others that have the dna of excellent. So basically choose wisely when doubling down on your music, cause you could be working on a good song for 6 months, but then have an excellent song that takes you 5 minutes (this happened to me).
What tools, instruments, or software are essential in your creative process?
I record demos on ableton, Then I may record pro in a studio or find producers. For the most part I play all the instruments- drums, keys, synth, guitar, bass, vox, harmonies, acoustics… but I have friends that play strings and sax
Which indie artist or song are you loving right now?
My wife likes baby no money, so I am listening and enjoying in the background
How have your personal experiences influenced your music and artistic vision?
I have realized over the years that I am quite opinionated, and that is cool cause now music gets to become catharsis for my expression, I also love to use the power of music to help Bring awareness to other issues, stories, or events.
What emotions or messages do you hope listeners take from your work? Reply
I’d like to think that the music I write is both sharing existential concern, but also a sweet hopefulness baked in somewhwre
What’s the most important lesson music has taught you so far? Reply
That creating Art for the sake of is really important to my mental sanity, and that releasing art and “going for it” is also really healthy for me, and that I shouldn’t rely on it for more than those two areas
What is a dream venue or festival you would love to perform at? Reply
MSG
If you could collaborate with any artist, past or present, who would it be and why?
Dave Friedman in his prime
Where can our listeners follow and support your music?(Website,Spotify, IG, links)
@daveyHarrisOfficial
Looking toward the future, what’s your dream for the next chapter of your musical journey?
I’ve got some dope music to release in the next couple years (40 songs in fact) and some are even a bit edgy 🙂
What do you hope listeners will discover about you along the way? Reply
That it’s cool to be weird and create things that have depth to them
