Today we’d like to introduce you to Adrian Bourgeois
Adrian, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
If destiny is a thing, and I’m not sure it is, then it was pretty much already pre-ordained that my life would be all about music from day one. My dad was in a band called Bourgeois Tagg which had a top 40 hit and performed on the Tonight Show the year I was born in Sacramento. I learned to play drums, wrote my first song, and performed it with a band, singing lead and drumming in front of a thousand people all before my fifth birthday. Piano and guitar followed soon after, and by the time I was in sixth grade, I had my dad’s old Tascam 8 track digital recorder and was multi-tracking my own original compositions. My high school graduation final project was finishing my debut album. I started producing other artists, started many bands, gigged like a maniac, kept writing songs, and moved to LA. And here I am.
Alright, 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?
If there’s such a thing in life as a smooth road, I haven’t found it. But that’s how you know you love something, right? You’ll have your deepest struggles with the people you’re most deeply close with because they’re the ones it’s worth it to forge through with and not turn back from. I think the struggles with art often stem from the balance between what you want to make and who will ultimately receive it. Actually making music is something, at least in its purest form, I find to be easy. It should be easy. There’s a certain intuitiveness that lets you know you’re on the right path with something you’re working on, flowing with your own natural tide. The difficult part is finding an audience for it. I don’t really buy into the notion that the art you make should be just for you and you shouldn’t care what anyone else thinks. To me that’s sort of selfish and is ungrateful for all the profound art that someone risked putting out into the world and inspired us to make art of our own in the first place. Art, and I would say music particularly, is supposed to find its way to other people’s ears and hearts, and once the creating part has concluded, I think it’s our responsibility to try and guide what we’ve made to people who will be moved by it. That of course can really be the challenging part because the skills and inclinations that make one good at creating art are not the same and often even at odds with the skills that go into letting people know about it. I’m personally not a very good salesperson. I can be quite introverted which doesn’t always play well with the social media exhibitionism that’s expected of us on a daily basis. And as you can probably gather from these long winded answers I’m giving, I don’t much relate to the short attention spans my generation and younger only seems to have for anyone, and really only know how to present myself and what I make to people who are willing to invest quite a bit of their time and attention to it. I’m a tough sell, and I realize that, and I used to think that a sort of cynical two-faced approach was required to get anywhere with music which honestly always disgusted me, but I don’t think that’s true anymore. Who you are as an artist permeates through every aspect of you, inward and out. There should be no point at which the substance ends and the presentation starts. It can call be one. Your message is only as poignant and powerful as you have the ability to communicate it in ways others will hear and receive. I am slowly learning this.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m first and foremost a songwriter. All the producing, singing, and instrument playing I do are ultimately in service to that although all of the above have led me down all sorts of musical paths that I’m very grateful for. At the center of my work is the music I make of my own as an artist. I’ve put out two albums, a collaborative duo ep, and have released a single every five weeks for the past two years that I’ve produced and recorded myself often featuring amazing guest harmony vocalists such as Gaby Moreno, Davíd Garza, Sherri DuPree-Bemis, Ricky Berger, and Gal Musette. I perform constantly, either playing my own material or backing up others. And I do a lot of production work for other people’s projects. Some highlights I’m proud of…. Performing on Jimmy Kimmel Live…. Opening a campaign rally for Bernie Sanders… Participating in the album and concert 50th anniversary tribute to Paul McCartney’s “Ram” album featuring original Wings drummer Denny Seiwell… Serving for the past year as technical director for John C. Reilly’s Mr. Romantic show… Arranging and producing music for Stanley Tucci’s new “Pack One Bag” podcast… Recording music presented at Farm Aid… Just to name a few. What I think sets me apart is my commitment to timelessness. Whatever I create needs to be build to last.
What was your favorite childhood memory?
My favorite childhood memories are all centered around family. My parents dancing to old soul music in the living room. My sisters and I frolicking in the snow. Grandma’s Irish wit and warmth getting competitive at a post dinner card game and leading us in laughter harder than we’ve imagined possible. Walking a seaside amusement park with my aunt and uncle at dusk knowing they have the ability to make the magic of the evening last forever. The shadows Fourth of July fireworks make on a garage door. The smells, the songs, the spirits that combine and conjure the essence of home. The rare pieces of all of that which still have not yet receded into mere memories. The dreams I am still chasing.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.adrianbourgeois.com
- Instagram: @adrianbourgeois
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/adrianbourgeois
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@adrianbourgeois?si=vSWMlZIeDJNyOiSM
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0Fipiq3Ehrqr8nFomu7QnI?si=89TyK5vVTMST7GKQMVd7Ag
Image Credits
Photos: Ricky Berger, Jess Ferrara, Corey Bourgeois, Sean David Christensen, Open Folk
