Today we’d like to introduce you to Anthony Papamarkakis aka Tony Pops.
Tony, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
I grew up in western Massachusetts in a place called Chicopee. My older brother and I are first generation American. My mother is Italian but was born in Cairo, Egypt. My father is from the island of Crete in Greece. There was always a lot of love and good food being cooked in the house.
However, we had our challenges getting our folks to adapt to regular American customs. They were strict with us, so naturally, we started to rebel a bit. I didn’t hang out with a good crowd. I got into trouble often, and I always was experimenting with things that you shouldn’t be doing at too young of an age. I’ve seen a lot of people in my life lose their way whether it be drugs, violence, or coming from a broken home.
When I found music, nothing else mattered to me more than listening and obsessing over records and albums from artists that I loved. Being where I’m from, heavy rock music, hardcore, and metal were big influences on me at an early age. I started playing drums around the age of 12 or 13. I took lessons for about five years and eventually started playing music with my friends in their basements. As time went on, my musical taste expanded immensely, and I started to love and appreciate all kinds of music. During those lessons, I learned a lot of jazz, Bossanova, rock, and Latin based music.
At 16, I joined a band that played around western mass a bit, giving me a foundation of playing live shows. I later moved to Boston and joined a blues/rock band that played together for about six years. Venues got bigger, and we started doing really well and even did my first little tour with them. That project brought me out to Los Angeles. After a year or two that band split. I didn’t want to have to find another band to be in, rebuild chemistry for years, so I fell into quite a bit of alcoholism, and I found myself truly lost. I didn’t really have too many people in my life at the time other than my bandmates. I had to start all over again in a new city. Using our band van at the time, we paid our rent for five months picking up free couches on craigslist and reselling them to other people.
A lot of it was a blur for me in ways. During this era fo my life, my partner got me into photography. I loved it and started shooting 35mm film ALL the time. It let me to a job opportunity to travel the world taking behind the scenes photography for Puma in the Volvo Ocean Race. Easily one of the best, most growing experiences of my entire life. During this time, I was still a bit of a mess with trying to figure out my life.
I missed playing music so much. There was a big hole in my heart that I needed to fulfill. I needed to get back into music. After six months of traveling internationally, I made my way back to Los Angeles to start songwriting and singing. I started to pick up different instruments and started to write music for the first time seriously. I also sing with a gospel choir called Singers of Soul, led by my dear friend Dedrick Bonner. He’s partially responsible for getting my messy ass back on track. While this was happening, my other friend, Kevin Costello, got me into working a freelance set design gig. I also was working retail jobs at the same time. Working paycheck to paycheck.
Since 2016 I’ve been releasing music and performing under my stage name Tony Pops (a nickname my social studies teacher in middle school gave me- thank you, Mr. Parmele!). Since then, I’ve released some singles, music videos, a couple of EP’s, and gained some traction on some pretty dope music blogs. In 2019, for the first time, one of my songs made it onto a couple of different Netflix shows, and one MTV show. In late November, I played to my first sold out venue in LA at The Peppermint Club. Excited for everyone to hear the new music we’ve been cooking up for 2020.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
I sing, songwrite, and produce music. After playing drums for so long, I wanted to be in control of my own self expression. My favorite thing to do now is song write and record music. There’s something about the recording process, getting something done in that sense, and putting it out into the world. I often think about what will be left of me after I die. All I want is to have my music out there somewhere for people to remember me by, and some photos that I’ve taken and photos my friends have taken of me.
I honestly do this for myself first and foremost. Self expression through music is how I don’t become insane and lose my way in life. I found that the things that I record that feel the best without forcing anything are the songs that get the most recognition. So, if other people can relate or enjoy it, that’s the cherry on top. One of the best feelings in the world is being on stage and having a full room of people cheering you on and applauding. Truly a natural high for me.
What do you think it takes to be successful as an artist?
Success for me is actually enjoying what I’m creating. There was a moment in time when I first started to write music and I barely liked it at all. I think it takes time to figure yourself out, to understand what you want. Once I started to bump my own shit in the car and be like “THIS…IS SICK.” I was dancing with happiness. I finally started to understand self expression more.
On the other hand, I also think success is measured in fan support, selling out shows, and touring. If you think what you’ve got is great, then to get there, you need enough ears to hear from you. It’s not easy trying to get your music heard these days. It’s most definitely a saturated industry. Perseverance is key. Keep creating, keep sharing, and don’t stop. It’s the only reason I’ve ever got anywhere.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
My music is available in most places these days. Spotify, Apple Music, Soundcloud, YouTube etc… Anywhere you can stream music really. If you are the more tangible type, I sell vinyl on my website (tonypops.com). If you like it, share it and come to a show. That’s the best way to support me.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.tonypops.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/tony_pops
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/mrtonypops
- Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tonypops
- Other: http://www.youtube.com/mrtonypops
Image Credit:
Wolfe & Von
Patrick Molina
Alexander Gay
Steven Hickey
Sean Bonilla
Chris Swainston
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