Formula Indie Sessions _ Interview with Tyrone Shoelaces
What is your earliest memory connected to music?
Sitting on the steps above the living room listening to my older sisters take piano lessons. They hated it and I could play what they were supposed to play without practicing so they quit and I got the piano lessons!
How did your passion for creating music begin?
My first song I wrote was when I was 16 and felt love for the first time. I always have processed things in writing, sadness, love,depression, awakening.
What’s the story behind your current music project?
The Title track Pachamama is an ode to mother earth inspired by the Q’ero Indians who live high in the Andes Mountains. I’ve always felt that my true religion is love and I’ve always worshiped nature so it was a natural starter song. Fast Eddy is an ode to my Dad who I was super close with and had passed on about 6 months earlier. He used to tell me “only the shadow knows” when he didn’t know an answer. I’ve Got To Get Away is about a woman who I saw for about 15 seconds stopped at a traffic light with such a far away look in her eyes I made up the story about what she was maybe thinking about. City Lights is a simple reggae song that I wrote about driving home all the late nights after gigs.
How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard your music before?
We are a mashup of genres- Rock, Reggae Swing with some other beats thrown in there. Sometime in the same song! I would get bored very quickly if I had to write in the same beat every time. WE do some slow,some fast, some very fast!
What is one thing you’ve learned that completely changed the way you make music?
Thats a good one. Probably listening is the greatest skill I’m always working on. We have an expression, you’ve got to hear it to hate it. When we are writing I usually have some sort of structure of a song- maybe a part a and a part b- sometimes even a c. Then when I play it with the band certain things pop out that you just could never imagine. Maybe a horn part appears in my head and I’ll start humming it. When someone makes a suggestion we always try it because we’ve learned that initial reactions can be wrong and lets just take 45 seconds and try it. lol Sometimes we do hate it but sometimes were like OMG thats fucking great!
What tools, instruments, or software are essential in your creative process?
Voice memos are critical. My writing process usually starts sometimes after the last record. Maybe I’m at the piano and all of a sudden , like magic a melody appears or a cool chord structure. I usually don’t have time to expound on it so I out it in voice memos straight away. After a period of time I’ll have many voicememos. Some are worthless but usually there is a song or 2 mashed in there somewhere. Without voice memos or a pocket recorder I would be much less proficient because I usually forget what I’ve done by the next day! lol
Which indie artist or song are you loving right now?
Hiatus Kaiyote- From Australia
How have your personal experiences influenced your music and artistic vision?
Yes, Greatly. I almost always write from the heart
What emotions or messages do you hope listeners take from your work?
I hope that some connection is made. Whether they really like it or not, that’s ok. The worst is when it’s just kind of there and the comment is Oh you sound like ____ Fortunately we don’t usually get that as we like to think we have our own sound and songs sound like a Tyrone Song. One time, Bad Fish by sublime was on the radio and someone thought it was us!
What’s the most important lesson music has taught you so far?
That one good song can take you far!
What is a dream venue or festival you would love to perform at?
We would love to play any festival as we’ve only played a couple with the largest about 1500 people so to stand infront of any large crowd and sing my songs would be life changing.
If you could collaborate with any artist, past or present, who would it be and why?
If alive, it would have to be Van Morrison as his writing arc has always resonated with me. Similar to Dylans. First they wrote about love, then religion and then spirituality. Although I never had a relationship with religion, I feel like my writing arc has been similar.
Where can our listeners follow and support your music? (Website,Spotify, IG, links)
Tyrone Shoelaces on all the streaming services, youtube etc.
@tyroneband on Instagram
Looking toward the future, what’s your dream for the next chapter of your musical journey?
I would like to create a new album of music next year and partner with a distribution partner to help spread the music far and wide throughout the world.
What do you hope listeners will discover about you along the way?
That I’m just a normal dude (albeit a little older, 62) so my sensibilities are that of a Father and a man who has survived all the trappings of a much younger man, as opposed to a single young man at the beginning of his journey. Though there may be an age difference we all have the same stresses, angst and fears and doubts and trying to find the positivity along the way. That is ageless and timeless
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