Today we’d like to introduce you to Trevan.
Hi Trevan, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
It seems apparent that I was predestined to be in music. I was actually born to my dad’s own music playing in the delivery room; an instrumental song of his called ‘Spring,’ which is pretty amazing given I was born in the spring. Then growing up, I used to listen to cassettes on my walkman religiously; mostly my dad’s album that he’d made just before I was born and bands he had been in. I am so fortunate in that my dad was and is truly a top-talent musician and I had someone right in front of me living the reality of pursuing music and watering that inspiration in me.
My mom wasn’t a musician but she had/has incredible taste in music and would make these amazing mixtapes that spanned so many different bands and genres. One of my favorites of hers had Oasis, Bush, Alice In Chains, Stone Temple Pilots, Train, Incubus, and Deftones all on it. She also played music around the house all the time. I have distinct memories of her playing Earth Wind and Fire’s Greatest Hits, John Mayer’s Room for Squares, and MTV being on in the background.
My mom used to let me bang on pots and pans with wooden spoons too when trying to keep me occupied and would even bring them with me when I stayed with family or friends while she was out of town for work. I initially seemed to gravitate towards drums and my parents had gotten me some toy drum sets (neither of them lasted more than a week before I destroyed them). I also remember beatboxing at a very young age. There’s a picture of me as a little kid holding a toy rake and pretending it was a guitar.
I had a friend in elementary school whose family had a garage full of instruments and that was where I really had the first chance to sit on a drum set and try to figure it out. Then I got to be in my first “real” band in middle school and my parents got me my first real drum set in eighth grade; a Black Pearl Anniversary kit. By the time I was fifteen, I was playing in two to three bands at a time. They were always usually on the heavier side; metal or some form of rock. Fifteen was also when I started to dabble with guitar.
By sixteen, I had started my own collection of riffs that I eventually turned into my first songs. By eighteen, I had released my first EP as a guitarist and songwriter in my own band, 36 Alterations, which was my attempt at creating my own Linkin Park (one of my top two all time favorite bands; the other being Limp Bizkit). I was also playing drums in a metal band called Erathma, that was garnering some decent attention in the underground metal scene and which I also wrote quite a few guitar parts for. By twenty-one, I had started dabbling in producing and engineering and created a small creative collective with friends of mine; writing and recording together in my bedroom studio.
Soon after, I was engineering and producing other artists, playing drums in another rock/hip-hop band called The Sound of Ugly, as well as working on my own solo projects. I’ve continued on with this path essentially up until now. In 2019, I began working as a writer/producer out of Revolver Recordings in Thousand Oaks; owned by the fabulous producer Mikal Blue, who produced Colbie Caillat’s first album, OneRepublic’s first album, worked with Jason Mraz and a number of other acclaimed artists. During this time I had also been performing cover gigs at resorts, restaurants, and private parties as a singer-guitarist.
In 2021, I had a very scary accident where I almost lost my life. In the course of my recovery, I began setting the intention to create an album of songs that were acoustically based and derived inspiration from the likes of John Mayer, Jason Mraz, Jack Johnson, as well as Third Eye Blind, the Fray, and other Rock/Pop groups of the 90s/2000s. As I was crafting the songs, I knew I wanted to do the project with Mikal Blue and by the beginning of 2022, we had agreed to do it.
I’m very proud of the album we’ve created because I had still written almost all of the songs myself and was able to play drums on the project, which I haven’t been able to usually do on my own self-produced projects. I have already released seven songs from it; six on my ‘Summer Vacation’ EP and one just came out as a single, ‘Cry Your Eyes Out.’
Awesomely enough, it was choosing to do my album with Mikal Blue that also opened the door to meeting Macy Gray, which led to me co-writing a couple of songs with her; one of them being the title track from her Christmas album, ‘Christmas With You.’
I still perform regularly at restaurants and for private events, as well as songwrite and produce when I can. This year, my main goal is to keep promoting my album, performing, building my fan base, and hopefully opening more doors as a writer/producer.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has been an incredibly challenging road, paved with some beautiful angels and serendipitous unfoldings.
One of the greatest challenges off the bat was that because I held my dad on such a pedestal as a performer and musician, his criticism of me as I was developing was really really hard. I can remember, when I was still just barely starting to sing, that he once said to me, point blank, “you’re not a singer dude.” It was so painful and I even thought, “yeah… maybe I’m not.” Thank God the band that I was in at the time involved my singing and thank God I kept persevering to try and better myself however I could. At the time it sucked, but looking back now, I am incredibly grateful for how hard it felt to impress my dad because it created a pre-disposition in me to constantly challenge myself and try to be as honest as I could about what I could do better.
Other challenges have been living out of my car twice. Both times it was purely for economic reasons. I figured I’d rather not have to pay a bunch of money on rent and utilities and instead have that money to put towards food, and thereby not have to take on a job or something that isn’t related to music or what I’m working toward. At times, it was very freeing and liberating to feel like I could go or be anywhere. But there were also plenty of times that I felt like such a failure that I couldn’t even get a place for myself or that I was living out of my tiny 2003 Corolla. But, it was also something I would always say to myself, “this will be a part of my story. Whenever the day comes that I’m famous, I’ll get to say ‘yeah, I lived out of my car twice.’”
Another challenge has been my being an extremely sensitive person. I’m so empathic and I absorb peoples’ energies so easily that it can make it very daunting at times to know where I truly feel safe or where I truly feel a sense of ‘belonging.’ I’ve been a part of many different religious groups and spiritual persuasions, I’ve explored different forms of “partying,” trying to find where I feel most at home and sometimes I feel at home in a space that I would least expect, and other times I’ll feel this tear that I have songs designed for a certain genre, but the scene surrounding that genre feels like something I don’t want to be a part of.
And perhaps one of the greatest challenges that I still face today is: I’m innately drawn to so many different styles of music and have, over the course of my career, created albums and songs in almost every style you can think of. My challenge has always been, “how do I tie this all together? How do I make this make sense,” as well as sometimes wondering “which of these is most ‘authentic’ Trevan?” Of course, they all are authentically me (which doesn’t make it any easier), but that has perhaps been my greatest challenge as an artist and creative. Not to mention, I have ambitions in acting, entrepreneurial endeavors, and other spaces. Always praying for clarity around this challenge.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’ve been a singer-songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist for many years now. Though it has taken many forms, my current focus is doing everything I can to promote my new album, Brand New Start.
Most know me as the singer-guitarist performing at restaurants, private events, etc. Others know me as the guy who’s always freestyling or coming up with song ideas everywhere I go. My specialty as a songwriter and producer is definitely hook writing, coming up with the core catchiest part of a song, or helping to make a song as catchy as possible. I’ve also done a bunch of stuff for film/tv/commercials in the form of jingles and that’s definitely another area of expertise for me.
What sets me apart definitely seems to be my energy and the high vibe I bring to just about everything I do. What also sets me apart is the wide array of genres, songs, and styles I can do almost effortlessly; whether I’m performing or working as a songwriter/producer, that seems to be a consistent piece of feedback I receive.
My hope and focus for the rest of this year is to keep promoting my album, hopefully open more doors and avenues in the sync-licensing world, maybe getting a publishing or publishing deal of some sort to get more songs from my back catalog placed, and then hopefully get to finally get out and do some touring with a full band opening for tons of artists I’ve dreamed of; like Taylor Swift, John Mayer, Jason Mraz, Jack Johnson, Matchbox Twenty, Third Eye Blind, 311, Train, Ed Sheeran, and others!
Who else deserves credit in your story?
The first two obvious people who deserve so much credit are my mom and dad. My mom was and has been my biggest cheerleader and the voice of “you can do anything Trev!”
My dad was the one who really instilled in me that “don’t settle or half-ass it” mentality. And I probably inherited a lot of my natural pre-disposition from his own pursuing of music and the fact that he is truly insanely talented. My dad also was the one who built my studio computers for me, which were instrumental in my whole process as a producer and engineer.
I’ve also had many beautiful mentors over the course of my career. One of them was a childhood friend’s dad, Bruce Lowe, who worked with Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney, Madonna, and bunch of other big names. He taught me a lot early on in my career about the business side; learning about master ownership, publishing, and how all of that stuff works.
Another amazing mentor has been my dear friend Doug Pakes. Doug worked as an engineer at the legendary Sound City studios and was working there when Tom Petty, Fleetwood Mac, and some others were there working on some of their biggest albums. He also worked as the engineer on Rick Springfield’s “Working Class Dog” album, which had “Jessie’s Girl” on it.
He was my biggest investor and confidant during a lot of my early development as a producer and engineer and actually fronted the money for me to build my first real studio computer. We also wrote a lot of songs together under our collaborative moniker, “Modern Classix.”
And perhaps one of my most recent and incredibly special supporters is Mikal Blue. When he brought me in to work as a writer/producer at Revolver Recordings, he also essentially let me live out of the room my studio was in. He taught me a lot about pro-tools and has been a beautiful voice of encouragement and support for the past three years of my career.
Another person who deserves a lot of credit would be my dear friend Katie Ferrara. Katie has been like this wonderful guiding angel throughout my process as a singer-songwriter. She let me rent her guest room briefly during the last time I was living out of my car, she told me which PA system to get for my gigs, and she’s always been a wonderful voice of encouragement and support.
Other supporters would be all of the people who have booked me for gigs over the years.
A big thank you to my man Dalton Cyr who was a major collaborator and contributor on my Brand New Start album with Mikal. Also to my dear buddy Theo Seidmon who has been my main collaborator on most of my sync projects for commercials, tv and film.
And of course a huge thank you to my family who have been big foundations of a very loving environment growing up, with lots of food, pool time, barbecues, etc.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/trevanmusic
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/trevanmusic
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/trevanmcclure1
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/trevanmusic
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/trevan
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/trevanmusic
- Other: https://trevanmusic.com
Image Credits
Albert Haleem Kevin He Max McCoy
