November 13, 2025 • 23 mins
Welcome to our newest show here at Buzz Knight Media Productions Takin A Walk Nashville. This is the podcast with real musicians and real conversations covering all genres of music that the Nashville Music Scene gives us.
Join us on Takin A Walk Nashville with host Sarah Harralson as she sits down with indie sensation Will Paquin to talk about his journey in music, viral success, and what brought him to Nashville. The rising singer-songwriter opens up about his creative process, breakthrough moments, and life as an independent artist.
Extended Description:
In this episode of Takin A Walk Nashville, we explore Music City with indie artist Will Paquin, discussing:
• His rise as an independent musician and viral moments
• The inspiration behind his most popular songs
• Navigating the music industry as a DIY artist
• Why Nashville became an important part of his journey
• Songwriting process and creative influences
• Upcoming projects and what’s next for his career
Will Paquin has captured audiences with his authentic indie sound and relatable lyrics, building a dedicated fanbase through platforms like TikTok, Spotify, and Instagram. From bedroom recordings to sold-out shows, his story embodies the modern independent artist journey.
Takin A Walk Nashville is part of the IHeart Podcast Network.
Support the show: https://takinawalk.com/
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Taking a Walk Nashville.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Hi everyone, this is Sarah Harrelson, your host of Taking
a Walk Nashville. Today's episode is brought to you from
the Russell, a historic East Nashville church transformed into a
one of a kind boutique hotel. The Russell's mission is
to give back into the Nashville community through their Rooms
for Rooms program by donating a portion of each day
(00:24):
to local nonprofits who are helping those experiencing homelessness. Visit
russell Nashville dot com to a book your experience today.
So here with me in the Russells podcast studio is
Will Pequin, a musician originally from Boston that gained widespread
recognition in twenty twenty when his guitar riffs and debut
(00:46):
song Chandelier went viral on TikTok, accumulating millions of streams.
His indie rock and alternative songs blend elements of classical
guitar with heartfelt lyrics and energetic instrumentation. I'm really excited
to dig into Will's story today and discuss his upcoming
album ha ha ha. So thanks for being here today, Will,
(01:06):
How are you?
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Of course I'm good.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
So it sounds like you just moved to Nashville a
few days ago, right, So what brought you here to Nashville?
Speaker 3 (01:17):
I would say love, Love brought me to Nashville. I
met my now girlfriend. I was out here recording an album,
the album that is coming out, ha ha.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
I was recording it here in Nashville because my friend
lives here and he's an engineer, so he engineered the
whole thing. But while I was here, I met my
girlfriend Kabby, and I was living in LA at the time.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Okay, so he came from LA, not Boston, right, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
I grew up in Boston, went to school in Boston,
but was only in LA for a year.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Okay. Nice. How's your experience of Nashville been thus far?
Even though you're new.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
I have spent a lot of time here, Okay. I
spent like three months maybe writing the album here and
recording it, so I kind of got to see a
little bit of Nashville. But I am still pretty fresh.
I don't really know the spots yet. I don't have
(02:15):
many recks. People are always asking me like, oh, what
would you wreck, like, what would you recommend going to?
I just I don't really go places or at least
I haven't been in places.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
So yeah, there's definitely a lot to explore in Nashville.
And a little bit about your backstory. Just curious when
you posted your music on TikTok in twenty twenty, were
you trying to go viral with your music at that time?
Speaker 3 (02:40):
It's funny, well it's it didn't know, I guess, short
answers no, because I didn't really. It was more just
a fun pastime for me to do while covid was
happening and school was on Zoom, you know, I would
just play guitar all day. Yeah. And my sister is
(03:06):
the one who told me about TikTok, my little sister,
and she's like, you should just make you should put
your videos up here. And I was like, okay, I
guess so. So I downloaded TikTok and kind of it
took off pretty much within the first video that I made. It. Wow,
it kind of caught on. It was kind of new
to be playing guitar, I think on TikTok when I
(03:30):
came into it, so it was kind of like a
new thing. I don't know, within like four months, I
think it really, it only took four months until Chandelier
got released from then on, So it really only took
four months for me to get that idea for the
song and then end up recording it and releasing it.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Yeah, at that time, quick before you went viral, were
you trying to become a full time musician and make
that your career?
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Certainly? No, certainly not. I was just going to school
for advertising. I went to be U Boston University, and
I was just getting a degree in advertising, which I
was like fully prepared to be in that industry. I
had like an internship. So it was definitely a switch
(04:19):
when I had to make the decision to kind of
stop focusing on that career path which I'd been kind
of prepared for my whole life. Yeah, and within like
pretty much overnight, had to really decide what I wanted
to prioritize. And it took me a while actually to
(04:39):
fully accept that maybe there is a chance that I
could be a musician full time, Yeah, because that was
kind of a dream that I had that had kind
of died years and years ago because I just I
don't know where I grew up. It seemed like not
an option like where I people just didn't They just
(05:01):
like weren't musicians. They weren't really playing music or listening
to the music that I listened to, So it just
didn't seem like a thing.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Right, So you could say social media definitely helped influence
your career path in that way.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
Yeah, it definitely created the career path for me, I'd
say so, yeah, I mean that was it was definitely
a big shift for me that year.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Yeah. Yeah, and advertising can definitely like having that knowledge,
I'm sure helps you a lot with your own career.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Yeah, it's probably subconscious. I don't it's I always think
about how much that has helped me, and I think
it has. It's just hard to determine what I learned
in school and what I had just already known, right.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Yeah. So a lot of your music features finger picking
and rips on the guitar and even the recorder, which
is cool. Some of your musical influences and what did
you listen to growing.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Up, Well, I was kind of all over the place
I grew up. I mean, my dad was really into
music and still is really into music. So he introduced
me to a lot of stuff from when I was
like born onward. He's still turning me onto new music.
But forties through sixties pop music was what I kind
(06:29):
of grew up listening to, and I still listened to it,
but that was really the foundation of where my earliest
influences came from. I think like my first musical awakening
was when I kind of started listening to the Beatles
a lot. Okay, I'd say the Beatles were like the
(06:51):
first musical, like major musical influence in my life. And
that was when I was like eleven or something. And
my friend Will, who produced this album, he's my childhood
like best friend. His name's also Will, but he's the
one that got me into the Beatles, and we just
spent fourth and fifth grade just only listening and talking
(07:14):
about the Beatles. That's like all we did.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Were you playing guitar at the time.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
Yeah, Yeah, I started playing guitar when I was around eight.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Okay, so you could just emulate the Beatles on guitar
and we would like write like Beatles copy songs and
sing harmonies.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
But yeah, I started playing guitar before that. It was
kind of a My dad played guitar before that, but
he hadn't really been playing since I was born, so
it was kind of I didn't really associate guitar with
him until like he showed me he had like an
old guitar that he had from when he was in
(07:57):
school and playing in bands. It was kind of like
a classic. I pulled it out from under his bed
and would like play it in secret. Nice yeah, and
I kind of did just fall in love with it immediately.
I was like obsessed with it, like pretty much that
day forward, and I still kind of am. I'm still
(08:18):
learning new stuff as much as I can.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Were you doing shows at all at that point before
you started doing TikTok?
Speaker 3 (08:27):
I mean shows is a stretch. I was playing like
in my friend's backyard. I had a little band that
was oh. I was in two bands early on. I
like had my own band where we'd play like bluesy
covers like rock led Zeppelin, what else. We played like
(08:51):
Freddie King And but then I was I played drums
in my friend Will's band, and we were doing more
like beatlesy type things so cool. I was kind of
doing both of those at the same time. And then
once I hit middle school, I pretty much stopped writing
my own music and like taking my own creative stuff seriously.
(09:19):
But I still played drums in my friend's band, and
that was just like a nice creative outlet.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Well, you definitely wear a lot of hats between songwriting,
playing multiple instruments, and also audio production. You've been known
to record songs and unconventional places like your car and
a closet. So did you teach yourself audio production and
why did you choose these places to record versus a
studio at the time.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
Well, my friend Will. I keep giving my friend Will
shout outs, but he got really into recording music around
twelve or thirteen. He had like a little track that
he I remember when he showed me the first song
that he ever recorded back then, and I was just
(10:09):
blown away that that it just didn't seem like a
possibility that you could just record your own songs. I
just wasn't aware that you could do it right. So
that kind of turned me on to recording really early stuff.
Like I recorded some demos when I was like thirteen
on garage band. That was like my first intro to recording.
(10:34):
But I mean the unconventional places was a lot of
out of like insecurity, I'd say, because I have always
kind of kept my music stuff a secret because a
lot of my friends don't they're not really music people.
They're not into music. It was just always like a
(10:58):
or My own writing has always been such a personal process,
so I think back then, I was like really scared
to have someone hear something that wasn't finished yet, right,
So I would like record in my basement closet when
(11:22):
I was like thirteen, or I would turn my amp
up really loud and play and then record vocals on
the sly so that no one would hear me singing.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Like was your earlier music self produced? Like Chandelier?
Speaker 3 (11:37):
Yeah? Yeah, so this was all when I'm only talking
about when I was like thirteen, but right, I mean
I pretty much stopped through high school and pretty much
into college until COVID hit. But yeah, Chandelier, I recorded
a lot of it, like in my car because that
same type of insecurity. Like all my friends were rugby players,
(11:59):
like I was on the rugby team, and they were
very not like music forward, right people. So I was
like again just finding myself, keeping it a secret from everybody.
I'd recorded most of my my first like four songs
I recorded in my car at night.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Well it shows you you don't always have to record
in a studio because the quality of it is sounds
really good.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
Oh well, I listened back and I'm like, oh god, yeah,
that was definitely. It was always I always had like
a DIY approach. I always thought that a DIY or
it was. It was the only option that I had,
so I didn't really consider doing anything else, right, I
(12:46):
really just had like a computer back then.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Was this your first time in a studio recording your
new album? Okay?
Speaker 3 (12:55):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (12:55):
How was that experience compared to you know, you're used
to doing everything on your own.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
It was really nice, Honestly, It's like I did miss
aspects of having full control over stuff. And also the
real major difference was I'm playing with a full band on.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
This okay, so there's other musicians on it.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
Yeah, we're just doing like live takes, and that's the
cool foundation of the song. When before I would have
to just do everything like I'd play the guitar, and
then I didn't have a drum set, so I would
have to figure out some way to go around making
a beat or making some sort of percussive element. That's
why none of my songs have drums in them until no.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Okay, And you're a co producer on the album right
with your friend Will.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
Okay, yeah, but yeah, I mean Will kind of took
control over the engineering aspect. My band I've been touring
with for years, so we're pretty jelled already. And I
just sent demos to them that I did my I
did my little DIY demo album that I sent to
(14:08):
the band, So I got that little like I was
able to scratch that di y h.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
That's cool. And you recorded it here in Nashville with studio.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
At Last Dollar OKAYO, it's very nice, very nice studio.
My friend is the he's the engineer there, so we're
able to get in there. Cool for like a month.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Did your band come into town with you or are
they already in Nashville?
Speaker 3 (14:36):
They are spread out. My bassest Abby lives in La
now and then my drummer seb lives in Seattle. Cool,
but they're coming to Nashville in a few weeks to
rehearse for this tour.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Coming on nice. What inspired you to write this album?
What does this album mean to you?
Speaker 3 (15:00):
I was kind of feeling a lot of angst post
releasing this EP that I recorded last summer. It was
all like really acoustic, really quiet, introspective, thoughtful, Yeah, songs
(15:21):
that I really love, and I really love the way
that came out, But I think I just after releasing that,
wanted to do like the total opposite.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
Yeah. Yeah, it's definitely a big contrast. Definitely more rocking.
I've heard the singles that have come out already and
haha ha is a fun one. Yeah to jam too.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
It's definitely more rocking. I was listening to like a
lot of Fugazi and just more loud stuff as well,
so I think that kind of inspired it. I was
also about to go on tour and wanted songs that
I could have fun blowing on tour. Okay, that was
like a major inspiration for the sound of the album
(16:01):
was just I wanted it to sound like we were
just playing it live, because that was kind of a
thing I've never really done before. It's not meant to
be listened to, like in a live setting. Like a
lot of the songs that I'd recorded, I didn't have
live in mind, right, So then going to try to
(16:26):
convert them into like live performance songs, I had like
kind of a lot of trouble.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Right, especially if there's so many different layers instrumentation on it.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
Yeah, some of my songs have you know, fo guitar
layers and I can't have four guitars on stage, so
I had to either cut the song off my set
list or try to come up with a way to
make it work live. Yeah, so this album, I didn't
want to do that with this album. I just wanted
to be able to play the songs live, and that
(16:57):
is essentially what the entire song is. Yeah, so kind
of minimal production on it.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Do you ever play the recorder on stage? Played on
your TikTok videos?
Speaker 3 (17:10):
No, that is a new hobby of mine that who
knows how that will last.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Be kind of fun to pull that out on stage.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
I know. I've thought that recorder would be an easy
thing to learn the basics of it, or it's really
easy to like first begin playing it, but then if
you want to get more complicated with it, it's actually
such a hard instrument to really learn. And I've hit
a wall I think on my recorder player.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
I think that's most everyone's first instrument from taking it
in like elementary music class.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
I still have mine from when I was in kindergarten
or whatever.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Nice. That's cool. Well, you mentioned you have a tour
coming up in a few weeks. Is there a stop
on the tour that you're most excited for?
Speaker 3 (17:57):
Boston because I've never played a headline show in Boston before. Cool,
so this will be my first and all my friends
will be there, my family.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
What's the venue again, It's the Red Room. Is this
your first time playing there?
Speaker 3 (18:13):
Yeah, And I've seen a bunch of shows there. I
went to shows when I was in college there, so
it'll be cool to be on the other end of
you know that venue.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
Yeah. Are you looking forward to your Europe tour? Your
Europe shows?
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Yeah? Yeah. We went to Europe in the spring and
it was super fun. It's like a very different energy
playing shows there. So yeah, very excited to go back there.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
Very cool. Well, you have certainly achieved a lot at
a young age. So after this album and this tour,
what do you hope to accomplish next with your music career?
Speaker 3 (18:53):
And I've been thinking about that. It's hard to think
about it because I kind of have such a thing
ahead of me that it's hard to think what I'm
going to do after it, But I am thinking about it.
I mean, I think I want to settle down into
Nashville for a little bit, and I've kind of been
(19:16):
running around for the past like two years, either touring
or being somewhere else recording. Like I lived in LA
for a year and a half, but I pretty much
wasn't there ever, so I haven't had a place to
just sit down and write for months on end. That's
kind of what I want to do after this tour
(19:39):
in the new year, just kind of relaxed for a
sec and kind of think about what I want to
create and what I want it to sound like and
what I want to say. Do you get to working
on the next one?
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Yeah? Do you write most of your songs yourself or
do you collaborate and right with others.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
I've never really co written something before. I've never really
done like sessions with people. Well that's not true, No,
I've there's a collaborator in La Gabe Greenland that I
wrote some songs with. I would like, take an idea
and he would help me just finish it out and
(20:22):
produce it, and that was fun. I do enjoy collaboration.
I want to I want the next project to be
a little more collaborative with my band. Before I kind
of had the parts in mind and they would kind
of do their thing on it, but it was mainly
just the part I had in my head. It would
be nice to sit down with a band with no
(20:46):
real direction.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
I've never really done that before and create something from scratch. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (20:53):
Yeah, I've never done it, so I've never really had
the opportunity that I have never lived in the same
place as.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
My band before, right, Yeah, that can make it a
little bit challenging.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
So I'm trying to get some time and wrestle them
all together so that we can sit down and do
something together. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Yeah, Well, we wish you luck on your upcoming tour
and everyone should give a listen to Hahaha, which is
out on streaming platforms. And again we're here in East
Nashville at the Russell Podcast Studio. And well, since we're
on taking a walk Nashville today, I know you're new
to Nashville, but since you've explored it a bit, do
(21:35):
you have a favorite place you have liked to take
a walk in Nashville.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
Yes, Shelby Park. I'd say that's a pretty obvious one.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
Yeah, we're right near there too.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
Yeah, I've done I walked the entire the entire run
of Shelby Park last week, and it's a good one.
It's finally getting a little cold out so well, not
cold but temperate. Yeah, not overbearingly hot.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
We call it false fall intimacy. I know.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
I'm ready for the next heat wave to come.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
Yeah. Sometimes I wish we had Boston weather down Yeah.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
Yeah, but yeah, Shelby Park, it's great. The airfield at
Shelby Park. I like it.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
Yeah. There's definitely so many parks here in Nashville that
you'll have to check out while you're here. But thank
you again Will for being here today on Taking a
Walk Nashville. Is there anything you'd like to end by
letting our listeners know?
Speaker 3 (22:33):
Yeah, going on tour, I'm playing. Where am I playing
in Nashville? Dark Matter? Cool in Nashville. Should be a
good time.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
Yeah, yeah, definitely look up Will's upcoming shows on his website.
If you're in Nashville, check out his show here in
Dark Matter and his other stops on the tour. Thank
you again, Will for being here today.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
Yeah, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
Thanks for listening to Taking a Walk Nashville with singer
songwriter Sarah Arylson, and check out our other podcasts, Music
Saved Me, Comedy Save Me, and taking a walk. Available
on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
your podcasts.
Taking a Walk Nashville.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Hi everyone, this is Sarah Harrelson, your host of Taking
a Walk Nashville. Today's episode is brought to you from
the Russell, a historic East Nashville church transformed into a
one of a kind boutique hotel. The Russell's mission is
to give back into the Nashville community through their Rooms
for Rooms program by donating a portion of each day
(00:24):
to local nonprofits who are helping those experiencing homelessness. Visit
russell Nashville dot com to a book your experience today.
So here with me in the Russells podcast studio is
Will Pequin, a musician originally from Boston that gained widespread
recognition in twenty twenty when his guitar riffs and debut
(00:46):
song Chandelier went viral on TikTok, accumulating millions of streams.
His indie rock and alternative songs blend elements of classical
guitar with heartfelt lyrics and energetic instrumentation. I'm really excited
to dig into Will's story today and discuss his upcoming
album ha ha ha. So thanks for being here today, Will,
(01:06):
How are you?
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Of course I'm good.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
So it sounds like you just moved to Nashville a
few days ago, right, So what brought you here to Nashville?
Speaker 3 (01:17):
I would say love, Love brought me to Nashville. I
met my now girlfriend. I was out here recording an album,
the album that is coming out, ha ha.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
I was recording it here in Nashville because my friend
lives here and he's an engineer, so he engineered the
whole thing. But while I was here, I met my
girlfriend Kabby, and I was living in LA at the time.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Okay, so he came from LA, not Boston, right, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
I grew up in Boston, went to school in Boston,
but was only in LA for a year.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Okay. Nice. How's your experience of Nashville been thus far?
Even though you're new.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
I have spent a lot of time here, Okay. I
spent like three months maybe writing the album here and
recording it, so I kind of got to see a
little bit of Nashville. But I am still pretty fresh.
I don't really know the spots yet. I don't have
(02:15):
many recks. People are always asking me like, oh, what
would you wreck, like, what would you recommend going to?
I just I don't really go places or at least
I haven't been in places.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
So yeah, there's definitely a lot to explore in Nashville.
And a little bit about your backstory. Just curious when
you posted your music on TikTok in twenty twenty, were
you trying to go viral with your music at that time?
Speaker 3 (02:40):
It's funny, well it's it didn't know, I guess, short
answers no, because I didn't really. It was more just
a fun pastime for me to do while covid was
happening and school was on Zoom, you know, I would
just play guitar all day. Yeah. And my sister is
(03:06):
the one who told me about TikTok, my little sister,
and she's like, you should just make you should put
your videos up here. And I was like, okay, I
guess so. So I downloaded TikTok and kind of it
took off pretty much within the first video that I made. It. Wow,
it kind of caught on. It was kind of new
to be playing guitar, I think on TikTok when I
(03:30):
came into it, so it was kind of like a
new thing. I don't know, within like four months, I
think it really, it only took four months until Chandelier
got released from then on, So it really only took
four months for me to get that idea for the
song and then end up recording it and releasing it.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Yeah, at that time, quick before you went viral, were
you trying to become a full time musician and make
that your career?
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Certainly? No, certainly not. I was just going to school
for advertising. I went to be U Boston University, and
I was just getting a degree in advertising, which I
was like fully prepared to be in that industry. I
had like an internship. So it was definitely a switch
(04:19):
when I had to make the decision to kind of
stop focusing on that career path which I'd been kind
of prepared for my whole life. Yeah, and within like
pretty much overnight, had to really decide what I wanted
to prioritize. And it took me a while actually to
(04:39):
fully accept that maybe there is a chance that I
could be a musician full time, Yeah, because that was
kind of a dream that I had that had kind
of died years and years ago because I just I
don't know where I grew up. It seemed like not
an option like where I people just didn't They just
(05:01):
like weren't musicians. They weren't really playing music or listening
to the music that I listened to, So it just
didn't seem like a thing.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Right, So you could say social media definitely helped influence
your career path in that way.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
Yeah, it definitely created the career path for me, I'd
say so, yeah, I mean that was it was definitely
a big shift for me that year.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Yeah. Yeah, and advertising can definitely like having that knowledge,
I'm sure helps you a lot with your own career.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Yeah, it's probably subconscious. I don't it's I always think
about how much that has helped me, and I think
it has. It's just hard to determine what I learned
in school and what I had just already known, right.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Yeah. So a lot of your music features finger picking
and rips on the guitar and even the recorder, which
is cool. Some of your musical influences and what did
you listen to growing.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Up, Well, I was kind of all over the place
I grew up. I mean, my dad was really into
music and still is really into music. So he introduced
me to a lot of stuff from when I was
like born onward. He's still turning me onto new music.
But forties through sixties pop music was what I kind
(06:29):
of grew up listening to, and I still listened to it,
but that was really the foundation of where my earliest
influences came from. I think like my first musical awakening
was when I kind of started listening to the Beatles
a lot. Okay, I'd say the Beatles were like the
(06:51):
first musical, like major musical influence in my life. And
that was when I was like eleven or something. And
my friend Will, who produced this album, he's my childhood
like best friend. His name's also Will, but he's the
one that got me into the Beatles, and we just
spent fourth and fifth grade just only listening and talking
(07:14):
about the Beatles. That's like all we did.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Were you playing guitar at the time.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
Yeah, Yeah, I started playing guitar when I was around eight.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Okay, so you could just emulate the Beatles on guitar
and we would like write like Beatles copy songs and
sing harmonies.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
But yeah, I started playing guitar before that. It was
kind of a My dad played guitar before that, but
he hadn't really been playing since I was born, so
it was kind of I didn't really associate guitar with
him until like he showed me he had like an
old guitar that he had from when he was in
(07:57):
school and playing in bands. It was kind of like
a classic. I pulled it out from under his bed
and would like play it in secret. Nice yeah, and
I kind of did just fall in love with it immediately.
I was like obsessed with it, like pretty much that
day forward, and I still kind of am. I'm still
(08:18):
learning new stuff as much as I can.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Were you doing shows at all at that point before
you started doing TikTok?
Speaker 3 (08:27):
I mean shows is a stretch. I was playing like
in my friend's backyard. I had a little band that
was oh. I was in two bands early on. I
like had my own band where we'd play like bluesy
covers like rock led Zeppelin, what else. We played like
(08:51):
Freddie King And but then I was I played drums
in my friend Will's band, and we were doing more
like beatlesy type things so cool. I was kind of
doing both of those at the same time. And then
once I hit middle school, I pretty much stopped writing
my own music and like taking my own creative stuff seriously.
(09:19):
But I still played drums in my friend's band, and
that was just like a nice creative outlet.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Well, you definitely wear a lot of hats between songwriting,
playing multiple instruments, and also audio production. You've been known
to record songs and unconventional places like your car and
a closet. So did you teach yourself audio production and
why did you choose these places to record versus a
studio at the time.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
Well, my friend Will. I keep giving my friend Will
shout outs, but he got really into recording music around
twelve or thirteen. He had like a little track that
he I remember when he showed me the first song
that he ever recorded back then, and I was just
(10:09):
blown away that that it just didn't seem like a
possibility that you could just record your own songs. I
just wasn't aware that you could do it right. So
that kind of turned me on to recording really early stuff.
Like I recorded some demos when I was like thirteen
on garage band. That was like my first intro to recording.
(10:34):
But I mean the unconventional places was a lot of
out of like insecurity, I'd say, because I have always
kind of kept my music stuff a secret because a
lot of my friends don't they're not really music people.
They're not into music. It was just always like a
(10:58):
or My own writing has always been such a personal process,
so I think back then, I was like really scared
to have someone hear something that wasn't finished yet, right,
So I would like record in my basement closet when
(11:22):
I was like thirteen, or I would turn my amp
up really loud and play and then record vocals on
the sly so that no one would hear me singing.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Like was your earlier music self produced? Like Chandelier?
Speaker 3 (11:37):
Yeah? Yeah, so this was all when I'm only talking
about when I was like thirteen, but right, I mean
I pretty much stopped through high school and pretty much
into college until COVID hit. But yeah, Chandelier, I recorded
a lot of it, like in my car because that
same type of insecurity. Like all my friends were rugby players,
(11:59):
like I was on the rugby team, and they were
very not like music forward, right people. So I was
like again just finding myself, keeping it a secret from everybody.
I'd recorded most of my my first like four songs
I recorded in my car at night.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Well it shows you you don't always have to record
in a studio because the quality of it is sounds
really good.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
Oh well, I listened back and I'm like, oh god, yeah,
that was definitely. It was always I always had like
a DIY approach. I always thought that a DIY or
it was. It was the only option that I had,
so I didn't really consider doing anything else, right, I
(12:46):
really just had like a computer back then.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Was this your first time in a studio recording your
new album? Okay?
Speaker 3 (12:55):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (12:55):
How was that experience compared to you know, you're used
to doing everything on your own.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
It was really nice, Honestly, It's like I did miss
aspects of having full control over stuff. And also the
real major difference was I'm playing with a full band on.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
This okay, so there's other musicians on it.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
Yeah, we're just doing like live takes, and that's the
cool foundation of the song. When before I would have
to just do everything like I'd play the guitar, and
then I didn't have a drum set, so I would
have to figure out some way to go around making
a beat or making some sort of percussive element. That's
why none of my songs have drums in them until no.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Okay, And you're a co producer on the album right
with your friend Will.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
Okay, yeah, but yeah, I mean Will kind of took
control over the engineering aspect. My band I've been touring
with for years, so we're pretty jelled already. And I
just sent demos to them that I did my I
did my little DIY demo album that I sent to
(14:08):
the band, So I got that little like I was
able to scratch that di y h.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
That's cool. And you recorded it here in Nashville with studio.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
At Last Dollar OKAYO, it's very nice, very nice studio.
My friend is the he's the engineer there, so we're
able to get in there. Cool for like a month.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Did your band come into town with you or are
they already in Nashville?
Speaker 3 (14:36):
They are spread out. My bassest Abby lives in La
now and then my drummer seb lives in Seattle. Cool,
but they're coming to Nashville in a few weeks to
rehearse for this tour.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Coming on nice. What inspired you to write this album?
What does this album mean to you?
Speaker 3 (15:00):
I was kind of feeling a lot of angst post
releasing this EP that I recorded last summer. It was
all like really acoustic, really quiet, introspective, thoughtful, Yeah, songs
(15:21):
that I really love, and I really love the way
that came out, But I think I just after releasing that,
wanted to do like the total opposite.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
Yeah. Yeah, it's definitely a big contrast. Definitely more rocking.
I've heard the singles that have come out already and
haha ha is a fun one. Yeah to jam too.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
It's definitely more rocking. I was listening to like a
lot of Fugazi and just more loud stuff as well,
so I think that kind of inspired it. I was
also about to go on tour and wanted songs that
I could have fun blowing on tour. Okay, that was
like a major inspiration for the sound of the album
(16:01):
was just I wanted it to sound like we were
just playing it live, because that was kind of a
thing I've never really done before. It's not meant to
be listened to, like in a live setting. Like a
lot of the songs that I'd recorded, I didn't have
live in mind, right, So then going to try to
(16:26):
convert them into like live performance songs, I had like
kind of a lot of trouble.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Right, especially if there's so many different layers instrumentation on it.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
Yeah, some of my songs have you know, fo guitar
layers and I can't have four guitars on stage, so
I had to either cut the song off my set
list or try to come up with a way to
make it work live. Yeah, so this album, I didn't
want to do that with this album. I just wanted
to be able to play the songs live, and that
(16:57):
is essentially what the entire song is. Yeah, so kind
of minimal production on it.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Do you ever play the recorder on stage? Played on
your TikTok videos?
Speaker 3 (17:10):
No, that is a new hobby of mine that who
knows how that will last.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Be kind of fun to pull that out on stage.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
I know. I've thought that recorder would be an easy
thing to learn the basics of it, or it's really
easy to like first begin playing it, but then if
you want to get more complicated with it, it's actually
such a hard instrument to really learn. And I've hit
a wall I think on my recorder player.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
I think that's most everyone's first instrument from taking it
in like elementary music class.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
I still have mine from when I was in kindergarten
or whatever.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Nice. That's cool. Well, you mentioned you have a tour
coming up in a few weeks. Is there a stop
on the tour that you're most excited for?
Speaker 3 (17:57):
Boston because I've never played a headline show in Boston before. Cool,
so this will be my first and all my friends
will be there, my family.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
What's the venue again, It's the Red Room. Is this
your first time playing there?
Speaker 3 (18:13):
Yeah, And I've seen a bunch of shows there. I
went to shows when I was in college there, so
it'll be cool to be on the other end of
you know that venue.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
Yeah. Are you looking forward to your Europe tour? Your
Europe shows?
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Yeah? Yeah. We went to Europe in the spring and
it was super fun. It's like a very different energy
playing shows there. So yeah, very excited to go back there.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
Very cool. Well, you have certainly achieved a lot at
a young age. So after this album and this tour,
what do you hope to accomplish next with your music career?
Speaker 3 (18:53):
And I've been thinking about that. It's hard to think
about it because I kind of have such a thing
ahead of me that it's hard to think what I'm
going to do after it, But I am thinking about it.
I mean, I think I want to settle down into
Nashville for a little bit, and I've kind of been
(19:16):
running around for the past like two years, either touring
or being somewhere else recording. Like I lived in LA
for a year and a half, but I pretty much
wasn't there ever, so I haven't had a place to
just sit down and write for months on end. That's
kind of what I want to do after this tour
(19:39):
in the new year, just kind of relaxed for a
sec and kind of think about what I want to
create and what I want it to sound like and
what I want to say. Do you get to working
on the next one?
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Yeah? Do you write most of your songs yourself or
do you collaborate and right with others.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
I've never really co written something before. I've never really
done like sessions with people. Well that's not true, No,
I've there's a collaborator in La Gabe Greenland that I
wrote some songs with. I would like, take an idea
and he would help me just finish it out and
(20:22):
produce it, and that was fun. I do enjoy collaboration.
I want to I want the next project to be
a little more collaborative with my band. Before I kind
of had the parts in mind and they would kind
of do their thing on it, but it was mainly
just the part I had in my head. It would
be nice to sit down with a band with no
(20:46):
real direction.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
I've never really done that before and create something from scratch. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (20:53):
Yeah, I've never done it, so I've never really had
the opportunity that I have never lived in the same
place as.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
My band before, right, Yeah, that can make it a
little bit challenging.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
So I'm trying to get some time and wrestle them
all together so that we can sit down and do
something together. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Yeah, Well, we wish you luck on your upcoming tour
and everyone should give a listen to Hahaha, which is
out on streaming platforms. And again we're here in East
Nashville at the Russell Podcast Studio. And well, since we're
on taking a walk Nashville today, I know you're new
to Nashville, but since you've explored it a bit, do
(21:35):
you have a favorite place you have liked to take
a walk in Nashville.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
Yes, Shelby Park. I'd say that's a pretty obvious one.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
Yeah, we're right near there too.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
Yeah, I've done I walked the entire the entire run
of Shelby Park last week, and it's a good one.
It's finally getting a little cold out so well, not
cold but temperate. Yeah, not overbearingly hot.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
We call it false fall intimacy. I know.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
I'm ready for the next heat wave to come.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
Yeah. Sometimes I wish we had Boston weather down Yeah.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
Yeah, but yeah, Shelby Park, it's great. The airfield at
Shelby Park. I like it.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
Yeah. There's definitely so many parks here in Nashville that
you'll have to check out while you're here. But thank
you again Will for being here today on Taking a
Walk Nashville. Is there anything you'd like to end by
letting our listeners know?
Speaker 3 (22:33):
Yeah, going on tour, I'm playing. Where am I playing
in Nashville? Dark Matter? Cool in Nashville. Should be a
good time.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
Yeah, yeah, definitely look up Will's upcoming shows on his website.
If you're in Nashville, check out his show here in
Dark Matter and his other stops on the tour. Thank
you again, Will for being here today.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
Yeah, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
Thanks for listening to Taking a Walk Nashville with singer
songwriter Sarah Arylson, and check out our other podcasts, Music
Saved Me, Comedy Save Me, and taking a walk. Available
on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
your podcasts.
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