Meet Jacob Peter

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jacob Peter.

Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
I was raised in and around Buffalo, NY. I would consider my family to be musically “inclined” though no one has ever really pursued it. My dad plays bass, and my uncle plays guitar. My interest was spurred mostly from their passion for listening to music more so than playing it. My parents are divorced, and I have vivid memories of always listening to music on the drives between their homes. Between the two of them, what resulted was a hodgepodge of new metal and 90’s female singers entering my brain. This all changed though when I met my stepdad, and he gave me some Hendrix and Beatles records to listen to. He has this insane collection of hundreds of CD’s from Steely Dan to CSNY. Slowly but surely those influences took over.

I got a guitar from my uncle in 4th grade, but kind of lost interest until I started truly digging into those Hendrix and Beatles records years later. I started playing in bands in 9th grade and have picked up various instruments in the meantime. I consider myself extremely lucky to have parents that have done nothing but help further my passion for playing. Most of my family pooled money together to get me a dream guitar when I was still in high school. My dad brought me home a drum set off craigslist after I talked about playing a friend’s and really liking it. They’ve been instrumental (pun intended) in allowing me to create, experiment and discover music as a whole.

Over the past few years, I’ve put out some solo records and played in various projects in Buffalo. I decided to move to Los Angeles this past November with the sole purpose of exposing myself to a new city chock-full of my heroes, musical and otherwise.

Please tell us about your music. What else should we know?
I make music under my own name that hopefully feels genuine and personal. On most of my records, I play all the instruments. This is sometimes out of necessity, but it mostly comes from a curious and selfish place. I have a very clear vision usually and want to be the one to challenge myself and see that vision through. I absolutely love playing with other people but its usually in service of their vision. Both realms of playing are equally powerful and important to me. So despite the solo records, I’ll always continue to play with people whose music I admire.

I don’t have a clear message of what I want people to take away from listening to or seeing me perform my music. Whether they like it or not, I guess what I ultimately want to come across in my music is that I’m doing it for me. I write music that feels special solely to me. Of course, I appreciate it if someone thinks it’s special too. But people should do the things they love regardless of how it comes across to an audience. My favorite directors, musicians, authors, etc. are always these visionaries who are completely indifferent to their audience. They create what is most genuine to them and never compromise their vision.

In terms of my artwork, my last two records were done by Juli Grygier. She’s an amazing artist and one of my best friends. I always end up finding a piece of hers that mirrors exactly how I’m feeling at the time of making a new record. And luckily she keeps letting me use her stuff!

How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
People can find me mainly on Bandcamp and Facebook at the moment. I’m deep in an Instagram-cleanse (I’d recommend it!) though it’ll come back once I have new music coming out. All of my records are free on Bandcamp though you can buy them for any price if you’re feeling it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://jacobpeter.bandcamp.com/
• Email: [email protected]
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JacobPeterMusic/

Image Credit:
Charlie Weinmann, Shauna Presto, Alec Alvarez, David Galenki, Juli Grygier

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