Today we’d like to introduce you to Sullivan Marsters.
Sullivan, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I picked up a guitar lying around my house at age 12 and started writing shortly thereafter. I was living in a rural environment (and by rural, I mean having to traverse a valley, evade bulls and hop fences to make it to the school bus) so the dive into music was spurred from boredom and a lack of external stimulus. The passion grew rapidly.
By the end of middle school, I had turned my bedroom into a recording studio. There were four guitars, a bass, a Rhodes piano, an organ, and several mics & stands laying about (there may have been a bed in there somewhere). My aversion to using existing samples led me to all kinds of strange experiments – hitting FedEx boxes for drums, miking the piano from the bathroom, and digitally manipulating the blood curdling calls of the coyotes that dwelled in the dark forest behind my home. Mid-way through high school, my family moved onto a boat to avoid California’s high cost of living.
Far away from both the friends I had known and my new “land lubbing” peers, I dove further into my obsession and persevered, despite the seagull calls and fog horns that inevitably made their way into my early demos. I remained musically possessed through college, and continued to dream up melodies throughout a dizzying study-abroad around the globe. I had to develop altitude sickness 90% of the way through the Har Ki Doon Trek in the Himalayas to convince myself to pursue “this thing” as a career. Currently, I write this bio sitting on that same boat, preparing to record another batch of demos on liquid ground. And yes, the seagulls still won’t shut up.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
When I was playing with my former band in high school, we had worked for years building up our fanbase and our bank account to book a full European tour. Just a couple weeks out our frontman abruptly withdrew. We could not provide refunds as the money had already been spent to finance the tour, so we were forced to move forward with me as the lead singer. Learning how to sing while on tour is rough, but probably not as rough as it was for the people listening. Needless to say, I learned a great deal and my confidence grew exponentially. This experience taught me that crisis and opportunity are two sides of the same coin. Although not always feasible, I do my best to transform the former into the latter. Lead singer abandons the band? Learn to sing. Can’t find a drummer at your school? Learn how to play drums on your own. Can’t keep a band together because your family keeps moving? Form your own band inside your computer.
Can you give our readers some background on your music?
I am a one stop shop for music composition, arrangement, performance, production & distribution. At the moment, I am building up my discoreograyhy with some solo releases. I am primarily known for producing original content, often in the form of music and video. I perform each main instrument heard in my work (exceptions being the occasional reed or brass instrument) and record them from scratch. Meaning that if I want a crazy guitar tone, I will not search for a plug-in or sample but rather mic/play it unconventionally. This helps me cultivate a unique sound and forces me to commit to them rather than endlessly make micro-adjustments to the reverb on a tambourine or something. Above all else, I just enjoy the process more when it is hands-on.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
This happened recently actually. On May 1st, I released my first fully self-produced single, “Frequent Flyer.” From here on out, I will release at minimum one song per month till the release of the full EP “Lines & Color” on July 30th. In order to finance the record, I waited tables for nine months in advance and practiced the drums at minimum 2hrs a day for at least a year before completing tracking. I feel organized and have a plan I can stick to, and look forward to building an organic following from high-quality and consistent content I feel proud of.
Pricing:
- My music is available to stream and purchase on all major platforms. Purchasing the music obviously helps support the cause the most, the max price for one song is $1.29
Contact Info:
- Website: sullivanmarsters.com
- Email: sullivanmarsters@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sullivanmarsters/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sullivanmarstersmusic/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/_su11ivan_
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/album/15b1oF3TksohGr6Z2rEsy4?si=gtCM4MtcQoWZpTbvFpTyEA
Image Credit:
Live performance shots are done by @lovaphotography. (Instagram handle)
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