Today we’d like to introduce you to Addy Cahill and Lucas Abend.
Addy and Lucas, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Lucas: Well, we grew up one town over from each other in Massachusetts. We met at Concord Youth Theatre in a production of Peter Pan.
Addy: He was a lost boy, I was a pirate. We were both pretty odd kids who found a kindred spirit in the other.
Lucas: At first I was convinced she didn’t like me. But then we ended up becoming inseparable for a few years.
Addy: We never actually attended the same school, and we drifted in and out of each other’s lives. But when we both moved to Los Angeles in 2015 and 2016, we reconnected. Lucas was pursuing music, and I was just returning to writing music after not playing for a few years. He is so passionate and easy to work with- I was so inspired every time we collaborated, and so excited to be close with my old friend again!
Lucas: We still had a great connection both creatively and socially, and we spent many nights just having fun writing new songs and playing around. She lived in a beautiful house with an awesome backyard and garage that they had converted into a screening room and office.
Addy: When my previous roommates decided to move out, I realized I had fallen completely in love with living somewhere that has a dedicated place for serious creative work. I knew that no matter who I found to take the rooms, I wanted to keep developing the vibes in the space outback.
Lucas: One night I was talking with Addy in her (now our) backyard about the future of the house. She mentioned that she wished she could find someone to move in and make the space a recording studio. I needed a studio to do my production and teaching so I thought- why not do it ourselves? I moved in and we started building the studio early 2018. I was still working a job and getting a music project off the ground, so it was definitely a labor of love working nights and weekends turning the garage into a usable production and recording space.
Addy: The studio quickly became a very productive influence in our lives. It’s a place that encourages originality and spontaneous collaborations – so many late nights we ended up jamming, writing, and experimenting with each other and our friends. My folk/country/Americana band “Wilton Virgil” uses it to practice and record, Lucas produces and teaches Ableton out of the studio. One of the many fun evenings of writing and playing music we collaborated with one of our good friends Zach Webber and ended up birthing “Night Darling”, a synth-heavy goth-pop project which is now finishing up its first studio album.
Lucas: The house was the birthplace of Jane’s Addiction, and there really is an inspired energy here. The studio is a great place to focus, and the backyard has an awesome atmosphere -it’s the perfect place to step out to take a break during long sessions or intense creative work. After nearly a year of negotiations, we finally own the space and are able to move forward with our plan to become a fully functioning production studio with a focus on songwriting, composing, and artist development.
Addy: And that is how 369 North officially came into being.
Has it been a smooth road?
Lucas: Oh we struggle everyday, haha. Running a business, being artists, and just taking care of our personal mental health presents so many different challenges, it is a constant battle. The way we get through those problems is relying on each other. Addy has been such a good friend to me since moving to LA, and honestly my entire life. She warmly invited me into her community of friends when I had only just moved here, and she has always listened to me and given judgment free advice as a musician and a person. Seeing Addy persevere through her own challenges has helped me do the same. Having someone who’s close to you and knows you so well makes life seem a lot more manageable. We’re both characters with a lot of (too much?) personality but we’ve always given each other the room to be ourselves. Our mutual respect and understanding has been a huge cornerstone of our partnership. And at the end of the day, the struggle is what makes the work interesting! If it were easy, we’d probably get bored. Everyday, a new challenge pops up for us to solve, but there’s nothing I’d rather do
Addy: The large struggles in my life, dealing with injury, sickness, and loss, have also been the greatest motivators for me to make the moves that have brought me to where I am. I come from a very small, close family, and we experienced a lot of loss in a short amount of time. This sent me on a journey of self-destruction and self-discovery that has resulted in a huge change in my attitude towards life and success. It hasn’t been until now, years later, that I am able to finally look back at the ups and downs and career changes, and see how much dealing with these tragic and massive shifts in my life taught me about stamina. Life isn’t about avoiding struggles or somehow moving beyond them, it’s about dancing with them, and continuing to seek what you love and take care of yourself when life gets hard.
What I find so incredible about music and the arts is that they are a way for us to turn our personal struggles into something we can share, and by sharing, we might be able to help someone else on their own journey. People write hits out of their heartbreak, and then other people all over the world cry to those songs to process their own sadness. I broke my ankle and went into debt the first year I moved to California. I listened to a lot of music during that time and discovered a lot of new music. I was dealing with depression, anxiety, and addiction issues, and I definitely encountered some dark parts of myself that I didn’t know existed. But I was smart enough to pick up a guitar during that time, and when I finally was back on my feet (both physically and emotionally) I had written countless songs, and I had more passion and drive to work than ever before. I had always loved music, gone through phases of writing songs every night, but it took the most painful misstep (literally) of my life for me to discover that what I really want to do in this life is write music and cultivate a comfortable and imaginative space for others to do the same.
Finally setting myself on the right path felt like an amazing breath of fresh air, but it was also the beginning of a whole new different set of challenges. Committing to turning the space at 369 North into something we can share professionally with other artists and clients basically meant taking on another full-time job, on top of the other jobs and projects both Lucas and I have on our plates. It’s a huge amount of work. But when you are doing something you love and truly believe in, you always find a few more hours in the day to make it happen.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the 369 North Studio story. Tell us more about the business.
Lucas: 369 North is a production studio. This means we write, record, produce and develop all sorts of musical projects. We’ve worked on short films and commercials, we’ve developed new artist projects, and also written/produced tracks for established artists and labels. We’ve gotten over 10 million plays with the various projects and songs we’ve worked on and we’re not done yet! We want to be a place where anyone with a creative vision or problem can come and take risks and have fun while making an exceptional final product.
Addy: 369 North is a place where artists can thrive and feel comfortable exploring and developing their sound in a supportive and collaborative environment. We are able to create and produce top quality work while maintaining a sense of play that invites a really groovy cross pollination between genres. The incredible amount we have produced here already is such an awesome testament to the inspirational capacity of this space and this community.
Lucas: Our network of writers and producers includes hip hop, country, folk, rock, and indie artists. We really love how each collaboration gives us a different perspective on the art we’re creating! A lot of studios are just for recording, and a lot of producers are solely dedicated to their own vision. At 369 North, we approach projects with a sense of adventure and experimentation that a lot of places are afraid to go for. Addy and I are both artists ourselves so we know what other artists are looking for- we are hoping to find someone we jive with who is down to listen, have fun, and discover our vision with us through the writing and production process. And that is what we do everyday here at the studio.
Also as a teaching studio we try and impart these concepts onto our students. One of the biggest things that can get in the way of a developing artist is being too focused on perfection. If you’re too concerned with making something perfect you’re never going to be able to take risks and learn new things. Instead of focusing on making a perfect song we focus on perfecting the process of making songs through practice and determination. If you know exactly what you’re going to make and how you’re going to make it, it can drain the fun and adventure from the creative process, and kill motivation. We teach our students to learn from their own dedication to practice, and to constantly create whether if its good or not. We’ve found every student we’ve had has grown tremendously in their abilities and their confidence as an artist. It reminds us to apply the same concepts to ourselves and to always keep creating without expectation and the anxiety of perfection.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
Lucas: My dad always said that success is moving from failure to failure without any loss in motivation. It’s a bit cheesy, but I think it’s pretty spot on. If you’re not failing some of the time you’re not learning, and learning is what art is all about. Obviously we don’t want our projects to be failures, but even if one idea fails, making sure that we’re constantly moving forward is what sets us apart!
Addy: Yes – I have always felt being successful means continuing to grow and to be inspired. A huge part of growth is making space for failure, and learning to accept, love, and have compassion for, failure. I’ve found the more I push myself to experiment, the more I learn to love my failures. When I am being inspired by the world around me, I discover more about what it means to inspire myself. Growth and inspiration feed each other, and success breeds more success. I have already learned so much about myself on this journey of building the studio, collaborating with other artists and putting in many hours of work. I am so much more aware of my capacity as an artist and a human, and I am growing everyday. I am also inspired everyday – by Lucas, by our home, by the fruit trees in the backyard, by my own imagination. This feels, to me, like success. And the kind of success that will only continue to prosper as we are able to share it with others through our work at 369 North.
Pricing:
- Production/Songwriting – $100 hr
- Coaching/Artist Development – $100 hr
- Recording – $75 hr
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.369northstudio.com/
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @369__north
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/369-North-559519397902362/
Image Credit:
Pete Magine, Nida Nizam, Kyle Despiegler
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