Today we’d like to introduce you to Kyle Jones.
So, before we jump into specific questions, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
As a songwriter, music was always a way for me to express myself and deal with emotions in a way that seemed bigger than words on a page. Since a young age, I knew I wanted to write, and music connected with me in those early formative years. Lyrics were always very important to me. Meaningful lyrics can take the song from enjoyable to existential. It’s also the performance of the song for me. Live music connects with people on a deeper level and is a really unique experience that people are missing today. Especially with electronic music’s rise in popularity, there’s no human performance element to it, and I think you lose a piece of humanity in that and what makes us all unique. You can’t just gloss over the flaws! I want to hear those wrong notes because when an artist nails a performance, it makes it so much more incredible. I’ve been writing songs for over a decade and I don’t think I’ll ever stop.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Wow, the music industry is in such peril. There’s actually so much good music out there but you have to really search and find it. Radio stations are paid to play the same 15 songs on repeat, and most Venues charge musicians to play today, and (even pre-COVID) folks just don’t casually go out and listen to live music anymore like they used to. Even years ago, I remembered being taken advantage of as a young musician… packing one club in Pittsburgh and making $0. When I moved to LA in 2009 finding places to play with a band has been difficult, but there are a few great spots on the west side for music. Trip in Santa Monica for up and coming artists is one of my absolute favorite venues to play.
Can you give our readers some background on your music?
The songs I write, there’s a lot that goes into writing each song. I’m always trying to improve and feel like we’re on the verge of that one big hit to put us on the map. This latest album was a couple of years in the making and it’s 12 fully complete songs that we worked a long time on. Fishing Town revamped as Hearts Travel Far is a very meaningful song to me. I had an old friend with a lost child at sea. While the search was going on the whole country had this outpouring of love for the family. I felt personally invested and checked constantly for a status update for several days since the beginning. It must be the worst feeling in the world to lose a child and it made me think about how even though we haven’t spoken in years, I felt like I was there with them. It’s a song about love and time and space… and love evolving through time.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
There’s an old picture of me. I must be about 10. Writing song lyrics with my best friends on a bunk bed. I had totally forgotten about how deep my desire to write songs was ingrained at a young age. I also had to dress up as a cat for Cats the musical in high school… but the coolest childhood memory is how we didn’t make our talent show our senior year! The teachers claimed it was the content of our songs (the words “sex and violence” were in a song, Everything Zen by Bush) but I think it was politics. So we created a “No Talent Show” And scheduled it the same night as the talent show! The teachers were so pissed and they wanted us to move the date to a different night and our reply was, but you cut us that’s the whole point! We rounded up a bunch of the talent from our class that was cut and the support from everyone was amazing! It drew most of our senior class and it was a badass party! And we got to stick it to our teachers that wouldn’t let us play!
Contact Info:
- Phone: 8188134773
- Email: radiodriver@yahoo.com
- Instagram: @TheRadiodriver
- Facebook: @radiodriver
- Twitter: Hardsunmusic
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