Formula Indie Sessions _ Interview with Boyce Thompson
What is your earliest memory connected to music?
My earliest memory was trying to learn the clarinet in third grade. I had trouble even making a sound with it. I later learned that it’s a hard instrument to play. Probably not the best one to start on. I eventually learned to play the trumpet and then the baritone horn. I played the horn in concert bands even in college.
How did your passion for creating music begin?
My passion began at about 14. I started playing the guitar and piano. I immediately seized on these tools to write my own music. I’ve always spent as much time writing music as learning the music of others. That didn’t help much when I started playing in bands and jazz ensembles. I was playing too much of the music for the first time. Thankfully, my skills had reached a level where I could do it.
What’s the story behind your current music project?
“Grandpa’s Got a Robot” is a departure for me. I tried to do an album of more accessible music. My previous albums have been jazz influenced. But I’ve always written bluesy and rock tunes that I thought might make good singles. Many of them I wrote for my kids. I thought it would be fun to collect them on one album.
How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard your music before?
Eclectic would probably be the best word. I like virtually all kinds of music, though jazz is my favorite. When I was younger, I would write songs that made fun of country, easy-listening, and pop songs. I couldn’t help myself. Now I have more respect for these musical styles. I just love the diversity of music. I think someone listening to my music for the first time would say it’s jazzy, partly because it includes horn solos that you don’t often hear on popular music but also because I use a jazz guitar and comp jazz patterns on the piano. Jazz diehards, on the other hand, tell me that my songs don’t qualify becuase they aren’t extemporaneous enough.
What is one thing you’ve learned that completely changed the way you make music?
These are good questions. It would have to be that I’ve learned digital music creation tools. I’ve been making records – mostly tape recordings – since I was 14. My earliest work is on eight-track! I eventually graduated to a Tascam eight-track digital recorder. Then I moved to the computer. In the last six years, I’ve learned enough about Logic Pro to be dangerous. I record all the piano, guitar, bass, and vocal tracks myself at home on a computer. I retain other musicians – mostly friends – to provide the other tracks. When I’m satisfied with a composition, I take it to my engineer, Tom Bernath of Upfront Audio in Arlington, Va., who does a professional mix. Mike Monseur of Axix Audio in Nashville does my mastering. They are both great.
What tools, instruments, or software are essential in your creative process?
Besides Logic Pro, it would have to be the AKG C 414 microphone that I bought. It’s very versatile and nuetral. It does a really nice job on acoustic instruments and my voice.
Which indie artist or song are you loving right now?
I listen to a lot of Ben Folds, David Lindley, and They Might be Giants. But lately I’ve been digging into jazz music archives. The great thing about the streaming services is that they make all the old recordings accessible. I’ve been listening to Harold Arlen recordings lately. He was a triple threat – he wrote music, sang, and soloed. You can’t say that about most musical artists. They typically have one talent.
How have your personal experiences influenced your music and artistic vision?
Well, my music is almost entirely about personal experiences. Something happens — whether love, rejection, exhuberance, or an impression — that I can’t shake. It rattles about in my subconscious until I pull it out as a song. These days, I “hear” the guts of nearly every song in my head before I play it. Then it’s just a matter of unearthing the chord changes and melodies. I get great satisfaction from mirroring the imagined and actual work.
What emotions or messages do you hope listeners take from your work?
Joy, mostly. I really love creating music, even when I’m doing moody tunes. I hope that comes through in my music. Most of the tunes on Grandpa’s Got a Robot are meant to be enjoyed by others. I didn’t really write them for myself. I wrote them for my kids, my friends, my grandchildren, my wife.
What’s the most important lesson music has taught you so far?
That you get better. But also that you can capture a time. I’m a much better guitar, piano, and bass player today that I was even five years ago. I can hear it in my work. I’m also a better singer now that I have my own recording studio and I can do as many takes as I like until I have something I can be proud us. Music’s power to transport you to another place and time is powerful. It’s a narcotic. Maybe it should be illegal. I shouldn’t be able to remember so explicitly what it was like to be in love for the first time, get dumped, or get married. I can get the same response listening to an old Jackson Browne tune that I enjoyed with a girlfriend – Something Fine, for instance. But it’s quite another thing to be transported by a tune that you wrote for someone long, long ago.
What is a dream venue or festival you would love to perform at?
I don’t really have that dream anymore. I’m more concerned with recording the songs that I’ve written during my lifetime. I didn’t play much music after I married, had kids, and built a career. But I kept writing songs in what little spare time I had. Now I have time to record my old compositions and write new songs. I’ve published six albums in recent years. About half the songs on those albums are from my catalog. The other half I wrote in the year before I released the record. I play out in a jazz combo, the Glen Echoes. We play jazz standards in clubs and restaurants in the Washington DC area. The appearances give me a chance to work on my keyboard skills. The music is difficult, and I had real trouble with it at first. But I’m a competent player now. I can hear myself getting better, which is another beautiful thing about music.
If you could collaborate with any artist, past or present, who would it be and why?
David Lindley. I’d like his help doing reggae covers of all my work! In reality, though, I already collaborate with some of the best jazz artists in the Washington DC area. Eric Harper plays bass on most of my music. Tedd Baker does most of the sax solos. Joe Herrera adds trumpet solos. These guys do me a big favor playing on my records. I really couldn’t ask for more. The one thing I’d still like to do is take the best jazz musicians I could find into a studio and see what they could do with my tunes. Maybe I wouldn’t even appear on the record.
Where can our listeners follow and support your music? (Website,Spotify, IG, links)
My six records are on all the streaming services – Spotify, Apple Music, etc. They are pretty easy to find.
Looking toward the future, what’s your dream for the next chapter of your musical journey?
I have several more “albums” in the works – does anyone think that way anymore! – including, God forbid, a bluegrass record. Well, it’s actually more like an early Americana album. Some of the songs sound like they could have been written by Stephen Foster. I started it during the pandemic. There are no drums on the tracks; acoustic guitars, mandolins, and banjos provide the rhythm. I also plan to release an album of would-be jazz standards in 2016. It’s nearly ready to go. And I’ve been working on album of folk and country songs that’s once again entirely acoustic.
What do you hope listeners will discover about you along the way?
I hope people appreciate my song-writing skills. I’m fairly proud of my lyrics. I try to say something, usually two things, one on a deeper level than the other. Also, I think I’ve written some memorable melodies, ones that might stick with you. And I’ve been surprising myself lately with some of the guitar and piano solos that I put down. I’ve come a long way in recent years. I hope that I continue to grow as a musician.
