Today we’d like to introduce you to Tyler Sankey.
Tyler, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I am a musician/guitar player/songwriter/singer originally from NY(Upstate and NYC), currently studying at Musician’s Institute for Performance and Audio Engineering. I play in many styles. But my main focus is on rock n’ roll, mainly psychedelic rock(with a harder edge)/classic rock. I am currently writing an EP of all original tunes which will be out around February of next year (so keep your eyes out), as well as a full-length album shortly behind that with many other projects with other students from MI.
Music has been part of my life since I could remember, one of my first memories was when I was an adolescent. I couldn’t have been more than eight years old. During that time in my life, my family made our first move out of an apartment and into a new townhouse in our hometown in Queensbury, NY (that’s up north, in the sticks for you NY’ers out there). My father had one of his friends over and we’re listening to some classic rock, namely Pink Floyd’s The Wall. I remember being mystified by the sounds coming out of the CD player and I couldn’t imagine what things could be making those noises. I also remember being scared of what was being played because some of the noises David Gilmour can make happen would literally terrify me (especially on UmmaGumma). My parents always played music on our car rides and adventures, not to mention all of our family get-togethers and parties so I was constantly surrounded by music.
Music really broke open for me when I was a teenager, I was going through a tough time like every other teenager and I was looking for an outlet for my creativity and to let loose my emotional side. I’ve never been much of an artist, photographer, or painter so I couldn’t vibe with that scene and I had played the flute for a few years at that point but, wasn’t much into playing any sort of “school band” music. Then, I believe as most young men do, was shown the raw, emotional, and uncut style of music called classic rock, and shortly after rock n’ roll. Recalling the first experience I had, I was sitting in my grandparent’s house at the little soda bar they had set-up. I remember particularly having a rough week that week so I felt pretty down in the dumps. My grandfather was consoling me, trying to get me out of the funk I was in and had thrown on some Bob Dylan for some background noise. As soon as I hear the first few chords, I was hooked. My face perked up, my eyes lit up, and my mood changed completely. And as the night went on, we sat and listened to The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, and many more older artists. Boy, I remember first hearing Purple Haze and being totally blown away and not knowing what to think. I believe that’s where my interest of playing music and picking up guitar as an instrument started. I just remember leaving his house with a brand new catalog of music in my iPod (if anyone still knows what those are).
I played in a few bands back in NY while I was living there which had gotten me very much so acclimated to the condition of playing in a live band and the trial and tribulations that come with it. At one point when I had moved down to Queens, I was in the midst of joining a band with a buddy I knew from back home which didn’t work out in the long term but was a great experience for me to learn from. We ended up playing paid gigs in Brooklyn, Manhattan, the Bronx, and Long Island and hell, we even got a song or two of ours on radio stations. A few months after that, the band had split up and we were left to our own devices. I ended up moving out to Princeton, NJ and during my time there I worked in a few private studios in NY, NJ, and CT which I would travel to, to help artists with writing/finishing originals, recording ideas(as in layering tracks, Harmonies, etc.), post-production, mixing, and mastering.
After that point, I had moved back home to make some extra cash and hopefully figure out a career path in the music industry. Being a guitarist, I learned about some of the MASSIVE LEGENDS during that time like Jeff Beck, Scott Henderson, Roy Buchanan, Allan Holdworth, Jude Gold, and Allen Hinds (just to name a few). As I was doing research on these guys, I noticed some of these people happened to be instructors at Musician’s Institute In Hollywood which piqued my curiosity as I was looking for some guidance. Long story short, I applied to the college during the winter of last year, was accepted and am currently studying.
Fast Forward to now, I am at the tail end of my Guitar performance degree and will be graduating with that degree at the end of December in honor roll. The following semester I will be enrolling in their Associates in Audio Engineering program to start my next adventure.
I’m always looking for collaborations and projects, feel free to hit me up on Instagram(@tylersankeymusic) or through email [email protected]
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
At first, getting into music was very isolating for me as many kids who went to my school, were not into that style of music so I couldn’t connect much with them. I had trouble finding others to play music with and bounce ideas off of except for one of my good friends, Caine who was my only guitar buddy. After high school, I eventually found a good group of friends to play with for a few years but as the years went on, the playing was less and less frequent. With there not being a very big music scene in my neck of the woods, it was generally difficult to get paid gigs so many an open mic nights were had. So I started looking in other places, eventually playing a weekly jam at a theatre in town with some small-town musicians who have been playing for many years, then looked out of my area for new opportunities which made me realize that I couldn’t evolve musically in my hometown and it was time to start looking elsewhere.
Can you give our readers some background on your music?
I am mainly a freelance guitarist/composer/singer. I dabble with other instruments but I have an affinity for compositions, guitar playing, and vocals. I specialize in rock n’ roll, my favorite style being psychedelic rock, n roll but I have played in bands with various genres and am open to all styles of music. I pride myself on writing out-of-the-box compositions which will bend your ear. Also, I take pride in my work ethic and my ability to work well with others. For example, for every semester I have attended Musician’s Institute I have made honor roll and I have various collaborations with students from MI who write in different genres and well as playing with students on a weekly/daily basis.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
I will be enrolling in the Audio Engineering program at the Musician’s Institute after I graduate from my performance degree. I am currently writing an EP consisting of six songs as well as a full-length album to follow up the EP. I also am writing/engineering on a collaboration album with 15 different artists to showcase their talent as well as separate projects from that collaboration.
Contact Info:
- Phone: (518)932-1502
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @tylersankeymusic
- Facebook: @tylersankeymusic
- Twitter: @tylersankeymusic
Image Credit:
Bishop Tsang
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