thanks for always reading
Owner // Danielle Ellis
Danielle@EllisMusicMagazine.com
Editor // Daniel Zewde
Zewde@EllisMusicMagazine.com
HQ Mgr // Ijeoma Onyekwe
ijeoma@EllisMusicMagazine.com New York Office // Zach Frank New Orleans Office // Rebecca Reece Photographer // Annmarie Larotonda Photography Intern // Danielle-Marie Ernst Writer // Hunter Lohr Photographer // Chris Maldonado Photographer // Kimani Graham Photographer // Paige Sarah Wilson Photographer // Stephen Boyles Photographer // Luciana Morales Reporter // Kayleigh Wagonon Reporter // Gabriella Jasso Design Intern // Traci Schubert Design Intern // Rebecca Melanson Marketing & Public Relations // Rachel Willis The Parents, Proof Readers and Cheerleaders // Alicia and Mike Ellis Parents@EllisMusicMagazine.com Logo By Zach Whitehead freelance submissions for future consideration, send to EllisMusicMagazine@gmaiil.com
CHEERS TO ANDRA DAY written and phtographed by: Ljeoma Onyekew
31-year-old Andra Day has not only a luring voice that makes one wonder if she might’ve been born in the wrong decade, but is a force to be reckoned with. The San Diego singer managed to catch the attention of Stevie Wonder, though the two have yet to make a song together. Wonder, however, did introduce her to Adrian Gurvitz of Buskin Records, who soon after, had her signed to the label. On top of that, Day was recently nominated for a Grammy, twice, on her hit single “Rise Up” and debut album “Cheers To The Fall.” To top off her sold-out Dallas show, Day presented the crowd with a vintage vision – her atop a luggage set with a retro microphone in hand. Even her ensemble claimed the old fashioned glamour with satin pajamas, a leopard coat, and signature red lips. It was nothing, however, compared to the raw talented that was presented once the set started. Day chose “Forever Mine” as her opening number, to which the crowd responded very approvingly to. Her rustic voice could very well be compared to the likes of Amy Winehouse and Erykah Badu. That mixed with her own theatrics, really pulled through to create a personal vibe. Aside from her own songs, Day paid tribute to the late 2Pac’s “California,” Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” and Nina Symone’s “Mississippi Goddam.” What no one saw coming that night, was Day asking the crowd if she could remove her makeup, before proceeding to do so, joking “I know my makeup artist is losing her mind right now.” She then continued on to sing her rendition of Kendrick Lamar’s “No Makeup.” The night was filled with a warm response from Dallas, and mentioning how fun and beautiful they’d been for singing along with her, Day knew she’d won another city over.
hunny the band
The Echoplex // Photographed by Danielle Ernst // February 14, 2016
photo by Rebecca Reece
NEVER SHOUT NEVER interviewed by Rebecca Reece
I’m Chris and I like to play in this band called Never Shout Never. And uh, just always writing songs and hanging out and having a good time.
the cool indie bands from around and just though it together and just like, just got shitty drunk. Tried our best just to get through the set. Had our family out, ya know it was just a real good time.
What did you before Never Shout Never, like in the very beginning? Were you just solo by yourself?
Do people back home know who you are? When you walk through the grocery store do people know that you’re famous?
Ummm, you know I did all sorts of crap.
You used to scream right?
I did, I was in a couple different bands. Was really into like hardcore music when I was growing up, so I played in a couple of those bands, and that was fun so. We still play shows from time to time, for a little bit.
Where do you permanently reside right now? Are you still in your original home or do you have a settlement in LA? I’ve got a place in LA and a place in Missouri.
Do you like to go home a lot?
I do, yeah. My family and my dog. It’s real homey. In LA, I just pretty much go out there to write songs and whatever you know.
Do you play any shows at home?
Yeah, we just did a holiday show in like our hometown area. We did like the whole holiday theme show and had all
Yeah, I mean I don’t know. Joplin’s not that big, but we’re from there and it’s a small town, so word gets around and everybody is usually pretty nice to me and we can’t really complain. I like that it’s a little more simple out there. Like, you know sometimes in bigger cities, if I’m in the wrong place at the wrong time it can be kinda weird. But it’s all good. I personally just try to just go with the flow and not worry about anything like that. I couldn’t care less.
Do you meet people that don’t know your music and you tell them about it? Or do you just let it go? I don’t tell anybody about anything that I do. I just, people want know I just tell them, I just hang out. If they ask me what I do. That’s a good way to end it. I just hang out, that’s all I do.
Never Shout Never-- There’s 3 of you in the band? Yes, there is 3 official members and then we’ve got two extra guys that are playing
photo by Rebecca Reece
with us live right now.
You have been around a long time, haven’t you? Or has it always been the three, or has it kinda changed a little bit?
We’ve been through a couple different line-ups. We actually started out just me on acoustic, then as time progressed we started out with more members. Then we got to about a 6 piece for a couple years. Then we went down to 3 piece again and now we’re up to 5 piece again. Always people kinda coming in and out but two core guys, Hayden and Taylor. They’ve been jamming out since day one.
In the beginning, Never Shout Never was spelled as one word correct? What made you separate it into three words and decide it needed to be separate and not the whole one thing?
I don’t know, I mean it just kind of happened by accident really. I don’t know I really didn’t think about it. You know I was like, I think somebody asked me like “this next record you want to have it all together or space it out.” And I was like lets space it out. Lot of people try to put meaning into it, but no real meaning other than just like uh thought it would look cooler separated.
As your band has moved from a 3 piece to 6 to 3 to 5 piece, do you feel like your music as a whole has changed or
has it stayed pretty steady in the same genre?
Well, we have always experimented and I feel like that is what makes our band a little different than most. Is that every single one of our albums is really stylistically kind of different and my voice is always changing. Like every album I go for something new and uh we just like to keep it fun and fresh. We love change ya know. And I’ve always loved change and I’m changing as a person. Transforming into different people as I go along and its. I think there is something beautiful in embracing change and you grow from it too. We’ve grown as musicians so much as well.
Do you think your fan base has changed with your music?
It’s really broad these days. Um, we’ve got a lot of younger kids coming out still. And it doesn’t seem like that is going to stop for some reason. And uh, we’ve got people your age coming out too. They like the songs, they like to reminisce and whatever. But you’re know we are working to where we can make some music that everybody is going to like no matter what age you are.
What’s your favorite part about being a performing musician? Ummm, I really love to just travel and I love meeting people. And I love meeting the people that come out to the shows.
And uh, ya know whenever I’m off tour I’m a pretty simple guy, so I stay with my close knit friends and just kinda chill and ya know don’t think about it too hard. But when I hit the road I kind of dive in and do it, socialize, party, do whatever. You know it’s just fun. I get a kick out of it, I really do. I used to not. I used to hate touring, but I’ve learned to enjoy it.
What is your favorite place you have traveled to on tour? Do you have a favorite place to play or anything like that?
I like going to South America. Its always real fun down there, its good times. Also like, hmmm, also playing like in, we only played there once, but I thought Japan was real cool. I really love the culture out there and I don’t know. I just got a kick out of it. I’m hoping we go back soon sometime.
When you’re trying to write a song, what inspires you? I think it’s just you know, just the uh, just the whole action of it brings me joy. Ya know and I feel like it’s just fulfilling to create and whenever I have something that I think is really cool, then I’m buzzing about it. You know, so I follow that joy and pretty much all aspects of life. Follow the joy and happiness and then you know, all the rest can go to hell really.
Do you feel like that reflects in your writing a lot, you’re just carefree style about living life and beautifulness?
I try to you know, write about that stuff too. Life is so many different things, you know. One moment its joy and then one moment it’s you know it’s stressful and things aren’t going the way you want them to go and so it’s good to write about everything. And everybody feels everything. So I feel like what I like about our band is that what we’ve done so far is that we’ve captured a lot of emotions, a lot of different emotions. People will tell us that we’re on their sad playlist and their happy playlist. I think we’re doing alright.
Do you feel like you’re motivated more by your happy feelings or your bad feelings? I know people say that people are motivated more by bad feelings than good ones.
You know it’s about turning your bad feelings into good feelings. Changing your approach, or changing something in your life to where you know whatever is bringing you down is going to help you grow. That’s my thing. That you should grow and not get held back by their fear and their doubt. And just live. My whole thing is to just not think about it you know. Just enjoy and be simple. That’s the best thing you can do.
photo by Rebecca Reece
How is it recording this past album, Black Cats? How did that album go?
Well, it was an LA album. So we were out there recording for about 6 months. In downtown LA, in the arts district. Which is nice atmosphere to record. We were there drinking high end coffee and taking care of business. And uh, we took about 6 months on it and made some of our best songs yet. And we’re starting to, starting to do the whole roll out plan that we had for the album. It’s taken a little longer than we thought. But it’s starting to really shape up. Feeling good.
Do you have a few favorite songs off the album that’s your favorite to play? Or your favorite song altogether?
Yeah, I feel like I really like the song Red Balloon. Which would end up being the single. Which we just figured out in the last two weeks. I had to like fight for it to be the single but, we uh. I really liked that one because it tells a real nice store. My favorite song to perform… I don’t know, let me think. I always get a kick out of playing the song Sweet Perfection. Its pretty mad kazoo line, so I get to rock the kazoo like a freaking champ. But I like playing them all. We get a kick out of it no matter how old it is, we can make it into something pretty cool.
Do you have that one song that you’d say that you like every single time you play it the crowd goes crazy and knows
every single word, kind of thing?
Yeah, we have a few like that. Those are always fun to. And the ones that are more like just the tentative and listening to the music.
Do you all write together, or do you all write your own things and then bring it to the table? I have been writing the majority of pretty much everything but the other guys have been getting more involved lately and bringing some cool stuff to the table.
If you had one goal in your music career to accomplish, what would it be? If you haven’t done so already. I guess really like, just um I guess to create an album that is like I guess just a really really good album. And I think we’re still working to make that album. And that would be cool to have one album that is our little masterpiece. That everybody’s like, man that album’s good ya know. We’re still working on that though.
Have you had songs through your recording process that you’re like, no this is so good great I have to save it for my masterpiece? No, I usually just go with the moment and just try not to overthink it.
I N DY
Photos by: Rebecca Reece
TYSSON
John Michael Rouchell, a New Orleans musician, is simply spectacular. His vocals have been known for the famous chorus vocals in double platinum rap star G-Eazy’s debut album single “Downtown Love.” After a nothing less than succesful solo project, “I am John Michael,” the singer/songwriter put together a duo band with his best friend, Alvin Ford Jr. The duo can be seen at local festivals like Jazz Fest or Voodoo, opening up for artists like DALEY at the House of Blues, or at local spots just for fun. The band is widely known throughly the Greater New Orleans Area and seems to only be growing. Both members, Rouchell and Ford, thoroughly know how to keep the crowd entertained while playing some of their biggest hits such as “Bigger” and “Trouble.” The band, we feel, isn’t given enough credit for just how good they actually are, but with many shows booked for the coming year we forsee that to be changing pretty quickly. We expect to see big things coming of these two.
hunny the band
The Echoplex // Photographed by Danielle Ernst // February 14, 2016
KEVIN FLUM If you aren’t completely familiar with rapper and producer Kevin Flum, 22, you’re missing out on what we like to think of as good modern rap music. Currently sitting at 14.8K followers on SoundCloud (and triple that on Twitter), he has won the hearts of many underground rap fans across the nation. The name may sound familiar, as you have likely seen the freestyle that went viral on social media this past January. In the video, Flum can be heard remixing his own song with lyrics about Clemson football. The freestyle’s background track was released a week after going viral as a full length studio single featuring SoundCloud-known rapper and friend INDY. Discussing the recent happenings, Flum says “I don’t even go there. I was there to play a show and visit some friends… We ended up having the idea to do a freestyle video about them because we were up there and the championship game was just days away.”
written and photographed by Rebecca Reece
WHAT DO YOU DO IN LIFE? Travel, write, produce, and edit music. I also still work a part-time job. WHAT IS YOUR BACKUP PLAN IF THE MUSIC STUFF DOESNT WORK OUT? I’ve given myself no other option. It’s always going to be me doing something with music. DO YOU HAVE ANY GOALS OF CITIES TO PLAY THIS UPCOMING YEAR? Definitely Houston because I get the most hits from there, but I want to try to play all of them that want me there.
WHAT CAUGHT OUR EYES AND EARS...“Believe Me (Kevin Flum Remix)” FAVORITE TRACK... “Level (Prod. By Jordan Comolli)” FAVORITE FEATURE... No Komment’s “House ft. Kevin Flum” FAVORITE LYRIC...“I’m too young to stress, I’m so young and blessed, I live life on the road, do what I was told, everyday I’m running for the gold.”
Finish Bottom Lounge // Photographed by Sarah Hess // March 4, 2016
Ticket
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Photographed by Dylan Villarreal
W&W
KITTEN Photographed by Annemarie Larotonda
the neighbou
urhood
photos by: Danielle Ernst
photographed at the Echoplex on February 14, 2016
T
VINYL
Bottom Lounge // Photographed by Sarah Hess // March 4, 2016
H E AT R E
swmrs
The Echoplex // Photographed by Danielle Ernst // February 14, 2016
ALESSIA CARA written and phtographed by by: Ljeoma Onyekwe
For an “anti-social pessimist,” Alessia Cara sure knew how to take Dallas by storm. Born Alessia Caracciolo, the 19-year-old Canada native gave a powerful, yet down to earth performance this past February on her Know-It-All tour that would’ve been tragic to miss out on. After gaining a following of her YouTube channel, particularly from her rendition of The Neighbourhood’s “Sweater Weather,” Cara still struggled to get her own songs out on the radio. The artist had to go through some hardships for months in order to get her first hit single “Here” to play on the radio. Many stations got visits from her in an attempt to find someone, anyone, to put her song out for others to hear. “I wasn’t anything. I was nobody. I was a girl with her guitar,” she told the crowd. With an opening song like “I’m Yours,” Cara really knew how to reel in the crowd, especially with the little slip of “Dallas, I’m yours” into the lyrics. Her energy from the jump became very easy to get sucked into, and filled the room throughout the whole night. There wasn’t a person in the audience that wasn’t swaying along to the music at some point or another. Cara proved that besides her mature vocals, she’s still a kid at heart, bouncing around the stage, and making faces with her fans. Any-
one could tell that she was genuinely happy to be in the venue and enjoyed the company of the hundreds of strangers before her, singing back her lyrics. Though some of her popular songs such as “Four Pink Walls” and “Wild Things” provided an upbeat characteristic, Cara made sure she delivered balance with emotional performances with “Overdose” and “Stone“. Before going into “Scars To Your Beautiful” the songstress took some time to dedicate it to all the ladies in attendance. She spoke about how the world would have to get over what women want to do with themselves. From their actions to looks, how a woman decides to leave her house, is her decision alone, and Cara wanted to make her point in letting everyone know. She herself was the perfect example of being comfortable in everything you do, from her ripped jeans and plain black V-neck shirt, to her curls pulled back into a bun. “I’m here to give you what I have from my brain, and my heart, and my soul.” For Cara, being on stage and performing for multitudes, is more about what your ears hear and less about what your eyes see, proving that this breakout star is more about the authenticity within the world of music.
photographed by Rebecca Reece
DALEY an interview with the star
DALEY is an soul singer from Manchester, England on his fourth US tour- nearly selling out every show. Unseasoned had the opportunity to speak with him about his career just before his rainy-night show in New Orleans.
Some artists are classified as a genre other than what they truly aim to be. What genre do you consider yourself? I feel like if I had to be a genre or pick a thing I would just say singer/songwriter. Which isn’t really a genre but only because I’m kind of quite known for R&B, soulful sound. But that’s not all I do, it’s just those are the songs that have kind of jumped out I think. I guess like an Alternative soulful pop singer.
What made you choose your stage name as your last name rather than your first and your last name? Yeah, just that my first name, which I
have no problem with, Gareth, is like every time I say it to someone, especially in America, people always ask, “like Gary?.” People don’t get it the first time, so I just thought Daily was just kind of easier to remember.
How long have you been making music, both professionally and personally?
It’s been since I was about 15. Well not professionally, that was personally, professionally, since I was 21, so seven years.
Was there a defining moment when you realized this would be your career?
Well, I wrote this demo very early on called “Rainy Day,” I used to perform it live and that what would grab the attention of record labels, that one song. That was the first song I wrote and I felt like I really had written an autobiographical song.
Who are some of your musical influences as singer/songwriter?
I would say Prince, Joni Mitchell, George Michael, and Amy Winehouse.
Being from Manchester, who is your favorite artist that also comes from Manchester?
I wouldn’t say that any of the artists that have come from Manchester are actually my favorite of anything, but I used to love Oasis whenever I was younger, love The Smiths, I liked a little bit of Simply Red. I mean they were probably my three, sort of “picks.”
You have collaborated with internationally known artists: Jessie J, Pharrell, Gorillaz, of course. If you could collaborate with any
artist or band, dead or alive, who would it be?
Maybe Chaka Khan, I would really want to sing with Chaka Khan. So probably Chaka or Prince, or [Image in Heat] or someone like that.
Can you talk a little bit about your most recent album and how you feel it represents where you’re at in your music career?
The debut album, came out a year and a half ago, and it’s something that I’m really proud of you know? It’s my first “official” release, like full-length, so I got to express a lot of what I was going through at the time, and even with a year and a half gone, I still feel really happy with everything that I put into it, and I work with amazing people. The new stuff is kind of just the next chapter about me. Yeah, it keeps a lot of the same principles and helps capture the thing that people like about me which is the soulfulness of the core of the song and how my lyrics are relatable. I just keep improving my vocal performances and the sonic sound of the album.
Is this your first headlining tour? No, this is my [fourth] in the States. I did an album release tour in 2013, then in 2014 an acoustic, unplugged, tour, and then this one.
How is this tour compared to others so far? It’s really good, I’ve got an amazing band, I’ve got a half-new band this time. I’m a lot more experienced now so I kind of handle everything a lot better, I
don’t get stressed and I just enjoy it a lot more now how everything works, and how the touring cycle works. So this one has just been good because rather than stressing out or focusing on things that are like circumstantial, really the only thing I just try to do now is trying to enjoy myself more and be less self conscious and more in the moment.
What has been the craziest thing that has happened to you on tour? I don’t think I’ve had this question be photographed by Rebecca Reece
fore, nothing really crazy has happened, I mean, yeah I get a lot of fans, but all of my fans seem to be real like me. They’re not crazy for the sake of being crazy, they are just like in love with music and particular songs and stuff. I’ve gotten a lot of really amazing stories with the songs.
form it second to last, so I go off stage usually and I come back on to perform that song and it just gets everybody singing and clapping along, so I really enjoy that one. We do a medley section where I do some covers and that’s always fun because people don’t always expect certain songs to come through.
Do you like interacting with them and hearing their stories?
What is better for you, writing or performing?
We do a meet and greet after every show so I always get to speak to at least 100 people from every show which is really cool. It’s just nice to hear people go, “that was the song from my first dance,” or “this song got me through death in the family.” Things like that, you know? There couldn’t be a better reason to make music. Other than that, we’ve had a few crazy nights out I guess that’s just the way touring goes, crazy sort of after parties and things.
Performing is a lot more like instant satisfaction because you have already done the work in a way, you’ve already done the writing and the fine-tuning of the songs and you know exactly what you’re going on stage to do. So I like performing in the sense that it’s quite free I don’t have to delve into it too deep, I just have to enjoy it, you know? With writing, I do enjoy it but it’s more of a, what’s the word, process, it’s more of a process that has to be thought out for me. I have to really focus in and be in the right mood, have something to say, and all that kind of stuff. So I think I could be enjoying performing more on the surface, but writing is, again, once you write something that you really love
What song is the most fun to perform? Most fun to perform would be, probably “Pass it on” from my debut album, just because it’s a real feel-good song. I per-
then you feel like you really hit the nail with it. There’s no other feeling like that.
What advice would you give to young artists trying to make it in the music industry? I would say, like have a think about what you want to get from it, like, you know, what kind of artist you want to be? What kind of music you want to make because you know, it can really make your journey be so different. If you want to be an artist and you want to be credible and sort of not be a flash in the pan then you have to know what you want to do, have to think about who you are and what you want to portray. Find out what people like about you and what people relate to and work on that. Or if you want to be sort of an artist in the moment then you can be more around the hype. I think just knowing what kind of artist you want to be and having a good idea of your own identity. One thing I learned is that no one is going to tell you, at any point, what you should be or what you should do. So you’ve got to be able to figure it out.
If you got into an elevator with someone who did not know who you were, what would your speech be to get them to listen to your music? I don’t know maybe I would just sing to them and be like ‘yes or no?’ And depending on what they say, I would tell them to check me out. So yeah, maybe that would be the best way.
If you had one goal to accomplish during your music career what would it be, if you haven’t done so already? One goal is to, it’s hard to put it into one phrase. Just to be happy, you know, making music, making a living, just doing what I love and connecting with people around the world. It is really the best feeling to be able to do that. So I’d just like to be able to achieve it on a very definite or permanent level, where it’s like that’s what I’m doing now. Even saying that, it’s kind of what I am doing but you know, you just want to escalate a little further, you know? Yeah just to really be happy making music and performing for people and living my life.
thanks for always reading
Owner // Danielle Ellis
Danielle@EllisMusicMagazine.com
Editor // Daniel Zewde
Zewde@EllisMusicMagazine.com
HQ Mgr // Ijeoma Onyekwe
ijeoma@EllisMusicMagazine.com New York Office // Zach Frank New Orleans Office // Rebecca Reece Photographer // Annmarie Larotonda Photography Intern // Danielle-Marie Ernst Writer // Hunter Lohr Photographer // Chris Maldonado Photographer // Kimani Graham Photographer // Paige Sarah Wilson Photographer // Stephen Boyles Photographer // Luciana Morales Reporter // Kayleigh Wagonon Reporter // Gabriella Jasso Design Intern // Traci Schubert Design Intern // Rebecca Melanson Marketing & Public Relations // Rachel Willis The Parents, Proof Readers and Cheerleaders // Alicia and Mike Ellis Parents@EllisMusicMagazine.com Logo By Zach Whitehead freelance submissions for future consideration, send to EllisMusicMagazine@gmaiil.com