SIRPAUL on Music & Me

All photos by James Contrino

Tomorrow, Tuesday, June 1, 2010, Music & Me, the latest release from SIRPAUL, will be available on iTunes. I was lucky enough to have the chance to interview him back in April, about his his career and inspriations that brought him to this point. As he was kind enough to send me an advance copy, I listened to it and loved it right away. All 12 tracks are delectable treats, just waiting to break out on the radio and be perfect for your iPod. The first single is the title track, and you can give it a listen to one of the remix versions now available on iTunes here.



Q: Your latest release, due out soon, Music & Me, seems to be a more mature, personal pop feel. To my ear, it seems an amalgam The title cut, which I love, is just a joyful exclamation. The beats and feel are brighter, and, dare I say, happier. How did it feel when you were writing it?

Happier! Honestly...that's just how I felt in general during the entire process of recording this new album! Making music for me is like an anti-depressant. It just puts me in such a healthy head space. My birthday was on January 5th. As a gift to myself I decided, this year I would be totally selfish and lock myself in the studio every free day I had that month. I wound up writing, recording, producing, engineering, mixing and editing the entire album of 12 songs, by myself, in 9 full days!! It just came pouring out of me and it is to me, the most accurate representation of who I am both personally and artistically. I'm so excited to share it with the world. The first single is going to be the title track Music & Me (Obra, Keven Maroda and Human Body already signed on to do remixes!!) I also just announced a remix contest for the song that starts today so if any of your readers want to give it a go, they can send an email to ruthlesspromotions@me.com for more details!!

Q: Another of my favorite cuts on the album is Love Taboo with a great R&B feel. What inspired that?

I'm glad you like it! Love Taboo is totally a nod to George Michael's Faith-era music. I feel like he was touching on something that was so groundbreaking in the 80's yet that album still holds up very well today. This song is funny to me because it's about how men flirt with each other. Same sex couples can be so awkward when they go out because of the potential reaction even the slightest PDA can illicit so they tend to have a very specific way of behaving in public. It's very flirty and suggestive and they use a lot of innuendos and sneak around. I think the song captures the playfulness of that dynamic.



Q: 'U' looks at a rather haunted feel of love. Which came first, the music or the lyrics?

The music came first. It funny that you chose the adjective 'haunted' because the track wouldn't leave me alone until I put words to it and finished it completely. I wanted to write a song about how being in love can make you act before thinking. When you fall in love for the first time it's so different than "having been in a relationship before"... It transforms you. It makes you feel both completely vulnerable and empowered at the same time. My favorite line in that song is "with you…I can be a Knight." That's how totally how my husband Paul makes me feel…

Q: Press Rewind is an interesting premise - getting over a bad romance by hitting rewind. What made you think of that?

It's funny how songs are so subjective. I can totally see how it can be interpreted that way! I was referring more to the point where you're so consumed by someone that the thought of wanting to be with them is completely consuming! You start to question if you should rewind, or erase and start over so you can get a clear sense of perspective...but you can't!

Q: Songs like Loser Lover and Mistaken make great dance songs. Does heartbreak lead to the dance floor?

I love to go out dancing! That's always be the first place I would go after a break up…straight to the club! I'm all about grabbing my friends and celebrating the beginning of the next chapter. For some reason I never think of break ups as a bad thing…if something isn't meant to be, move on. Life is way to short to stay in some shitty relationship. The universe rewards you for letting go of anything that you feel isn't good enough for you.

Q: Shine ends the album with a real positive and celebratory message. Did you know when you wrote it it would close the album?

No. I just knew that song was special because it made me feel something so strong inside. "Shine" was inspired by the movie Avatar. I had NO IDEA how much that movie was going to affect me. It brought out so many emotions I had pent up for a long time. The scene where the character Jake flies for the first time was such a metaphor for letting go and having faith in love. It was also about letting go of the negative stigma that's attached to being gay and just allowing yourself to exist, be yourself and ultimately…fly.

Q: What song best expresses the real SIRPAUL?

I can't pick one! I feel like this album is like a shattered mirror image of me. All these songs are fragments that reflect different aspects of my personality and I always bare my soul through my music. If you really pay attention to the words of my songs there's always a deeper meaning or some sort of hidden message. Sometimes I'm telling a completely fictitious story and sometimes it's like I'm telling the world my darkest secrets and finally letting them go. I also have a very twisted sense of humor, so sometimes I like to make music that contrasts the lyrics: like a really happy dance song that's secretly about being miserable.



Q: What song left the strongest memory while recording?

Recording this entire album was the most amazing experience of my life. I had such a huge creative spurt and I was just completely immersed in the music. I allowed myself to lose track of space and time and just let the music flow freely. That's why I'd have to say Music & Me. It's my love song to Music.

Q: When you are in the studio, does the musician, singer, or producer take the lead role?

I primarily work completely by myself so when I'm in the studio, the Producer side of me totally takes the lead. It's like I'm possessed by it! I turn into this other person who is completely focused on the final product and doing whatever I need to do to get my music to be as accurately perceived as possible. After all, perception is reality, right?

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That concludes my interview with SIRPAUL, and I hope he had as much fun answering the questions as I had asking them. I'll definitely be able to find out, as I already have my tickets to the show he is putting on June 26th in New York City. For more on this amazing singer/songwriter/producer, check out his official website here. And make sure you grab a copy of Music & Me, cause I know I will be hitting iTunes first thing Tuesday morning, so go ahead, and help support fantastic out indie musicians.

SIRPAUL - The Interview II

This is the second part of the interview with SIRPAUL. These questions speak to his musical journey, the evolution of SIRPAUL in his music, from the beginning up to Music And Me, which is set to be released on June 1 on iTunes. I will complete this series with the discussion about the making of the album and a review of it. And it was just announced SIRPAUL will kick off his live shows in New York City on June 26th at the Triad Theater. Tickets can be purchased here.

Your first recording, 2003’s Thrust EP, seems to me offered a nod to the late 80s Euro-Electronica of Depeche Mode and Yaz, yet had your own spin. How did you approach your first recording?
SP: My first recording was actually my album SIRPAUL. For that one I basically hid in my bedroom and hoped no one was listening! Lol!! I was working with the absolute basics- a keyboard, a mic, a digital 8 track and one sampler. My second album (the unreleased Sexual.Human.Being) no one ever heard, although I think it was quite good. At that point I had incorporated some acoustic guitar and my songwriting skills were getting better. I was creating more polished, well-crafted Pop songs. By the time I got to Thrust I was working on a computer in my tiny NYC apartment. The Thrust EP was just a sampler of my songs from Switch. Switch was my first REAL album and Thrust was going to be my first REAL single. I wanted Thrust to be a respectful nod to Prince and George Michael but I honestly can never shake that Euro feeling completely out of me so you can hear those influences in anything I record. I had my cousin James come over and help me out with the process of recording the vocals on that song and he helped me get to the that part where I sing in a falsetto. We were totally cracking up during the recording but I'm actually really proud of that song! I think it doesn't take itself to seriously and it really set the tone for a lot of my future work.



Robotika had a more brooding feel, a bit sparse, almost jazz instrumental in nature. Does the music come easier?
SP: Robotika was an experiment and the birth of my synonymous “alter ego.” I was trying to give myself very specific parameters and rules for the record. No real instruments were allowed. So if you heard a guitar it was totally synthesized. I loved making that album. I really stretched myself artistically and it was a huge relief to not have to feel obligated to reveal so much lyrically! But I don't think any one particular style or genre of music is easier for me to create. I honestly make music in the most organic way... It kind of just flows out of me and I have absolutely no explanation as to how or what I will create next. If you listen to the track 2001 from Robotika you will hear that I sampled it as the basis for one of the songs from my next release Music & Me (the song Break the Beat (Don't Stop!) So sometimes I'm starting one idea and finishing it almost 10 years later! When you get to the point where you are sampling yourself you know you have made a LOT of music! lol



In 2004, you released the album Switch, a much more pop-flavored outing with influences ranging from Middle Eastern rhythms and acoustic simplicity. What brought that on?
SP: I think Switch was deeply subliminally influenced by what was happening in the world and in my personal life at the time. We were at the war in the Middle East and at the same time I was finding my artistic voice. I thought I could take that influence and let it speak through my music. That album almost never happened because immediately after completing it my apartment was broken into! I was out at the release party for Robotika and a compilation my label was releasing called Very Controversial! When I got home my computer (with all of the music I had ever created) along with my all of my recording equipment was gone! The police told me it was definitely an inside job done by some I had known...I was so devastated that I almost stopped making music. But I felt like without music I had no purpose in my life so I asked every person I had ever given a CD to to please return it to me so that I could put my library back together. I got back every single song except one! The sound quality of some of the songs on Switch aren't perfect (to me) because they still needed some tweaking and EQ adjustment. Without the master files I couldn't adjust anything so I had to just compile the songs, press the CD's and move on.



My first purchase, 2006’s Dismantle, returned to the slightly dark and brooding side, only amped up. There seem to be more rock influences, both in percussion and mood. Vocally, you really stretched yourself, in a good way. Even the videos had a darker feel. Was that something you were trying to do?
SP: Well yes and no...but not really. I think Dismantle was just about taking yourself apart and examining every single aspect of your person and the way you love both yourself and other people differently sometimes. I was just creating and that's what came out. I did want to add more rock guitars and more Drum & Bass, Techno and Breakbeat elements but it was just what I was feeling like fusing together at the time, sound wise.

The 2007 Do U single seem to go flat out rock at times, with driving beat, but many of the mixes utilized electronica to soften that. What is your favorite version?
SP: I think Do U has a very “Rock” attitude to it, but for me it was the most electronic single I had made to date at the time. Do U has a very interesting story behind it... I had “virtually” met French producers Human Body through MySpace. I fell in love with what they were doing with Naomman (who I also “virtually” met through MySpace) at the time and they really liked my sound as well. They sent me an instrumental demo track and I couldn't stop listening to it! It was the first time I was ever set to write lyrics to and sing on a song that someone else produced so it was very exciting to me. I came up with the hook for Do U while I was out dancing at Mr. Black one night and it just stuck in my head and I knew we had something special there. So I went out to the studio on Long Island and my sister Cherylyn and I finished up the lyrics and I recorded the vocals to what is now the Human Body Original Version. After it was done, I was just so excited about the track that I had to remix it. So I started editing the vocal arrangement and played with very new sounds and that's how I came up with the Robotika Remix (which is always what I call the versions of songs where I feel like I've stretched myself artistically.) I felt that the original version was a little too abstract for the “aurally repressed ears of the US” at the time so the Robotika Single Version wound up being the version we used for the video. But I can't pick just one... I love them ALL!!



Last year you had Objectified, an electronic collection that is sexually charged, both in rhythms and themes. The videos were also more abstract, with the one for the title song to have almost a layered computer screen feel. Yet vocally, you never step away from the emotional intent of the song. Was that always the intention?
SP: The running theme in all of my work is always the concept of Technology vs. Nature. I just think these two forces are constantly battling to dominate one another. I never get tired of exploring this dynamic and I also feel that I'm always finding new ways to express it. On the album Objectified, I loved creating a pure dance pop album that still had smart lyrics while maintaining a sexy, fun tone. Andreas Anastasis had done the video for Do U and it was my most successful single so far, so when it was time to shoot the next video and Andreas wasn't available, I really had no idea what I was going to do! The next video needed to be really strong and I had only ever worked with Andreas. His unavailability opened the door for me to work with a new director for the first time. I was put in touch with Mark Odgers and I could tell that immediately after we met, he was the right person to shoot this video and that this was going to be something completely ground breaking and different for me. I feel like visually, this video is really quite an achievement and he did an amazing job.

Look for the conclusion and my review of Music And Me around the time of the release to iTunes on June 1. Also check out the music videos to be posted momentarily for those not familiar with his work. For more information on SIRPAUL, check out his website here, Twitter here, and FaceBook here.

SIRPAUL - The Interview I

In a new feature for Soundtrack to my Day, I am proud to post an interview with one of the voices that are certainly part of my own personal soundtrack, SIRPAUL. I have been a fan for several years, and when he mentioned he might be up for an interview for the blog, I jumped at the chance. It has been many years since I interviewed anyone, so I will admit to being nervous, but working with SIRPAUL was a wonderful experience, and I look forward to the readers thoughts.



First, for a bit of background information, where were you born, you grow up?
SP: I was born in a tiny harbor town called Port Jefferson out on the north shore of Long Island, New York, and I lived there until I moved to NYC. My whole family still lives there and they are all about 15 minutes away from one another so when I go to visit I can see them all...I'm really close with my family.

Who were you listening to as a kid, your early influences?
SP: I have three sisters and one brother and I grew up listening to the music they exposed me to... They each had artists they listened to the most: Madonna, Prince, Stevie Nicks, George Michael, and Van Halen. You can hear all of those elements in my music...But I was OBSESSED with Cyndi Lauper. My entire room was wallpapered with images of her. I had every single piece of memorabilia that was available and I would sit in my room and listen to She's So Unusual over and over and over! I really felt like she was the only person in the world that I could relate to at the time because she looked crazy and I did too! I was really into the whole “New Wave look” and you could see it in the way I dressed...I was kind of androgynous and had crazy hair colors all the time.



When did you first start making music?
SP: My parents were both musicians. My father was a drummer and he played on the Ed Sullivan Show once with his band and my mother and her sister were a singing duo called Judy & Jo. They signed to Capital Records when they were teenagers and they had put out some records. One of them was an answer song to Elvis's Good Luck Charm called Don't Wanna Be Your Good Luck Charm. Their songs were GREAT! So at one point or another we all were encouraged to try our hand at music. My brother Brendan is an amazing guitarist and my sister Lisa totally rocked on the drums. But I always sang, made music and wrote songs. I remember being a little kid and making my own tapes and designing the album covers and forcing my friends to be in “bands” with me. I took it very seriously. Then my sister Cherylyn and I started playing around with a keyboard my parents bought me and we began writing real songs when I was around 12. It was all over from there. We were obsessed! By the time I was 16 we had recorded our first demo tape together as a freestyle/techno group called Double Exposure. We were offered the opportunity to start putting out music in Japan but we didn't feel like the offer was legit. (Maybe it was the fact that they wanted my sister to pose for Playboy??) My voice was still changing and I had a lot of work to do so it really wasn't the right time but we thought we were totally gonna be the biggest stars in the world!



How does being a DJ influence you as a singer/songwriter?
SP: Well there's always been this misconception that i'm a DJ but I'm not. I've had a very close friendship with one DJ since the very beginning of my career. In 1998 I recorded my very first album, (the self-titled, out of print CD, SIRPAUL) in my bedroom on a keyboard and I was feeling very ambitious. I had just moved to NYC and I pressed a thousand copies of my album and 200 pieces of vinyl for my first single I Disagree. I remixed the song myself (very well, I must say at the time, considering that I was only working on a basic keyboard, a digital 8 track and one sampler!) and my co-worker at the time was Andreas Anastasis. We had just started hanging out and he was really excited to see what would happen with my singing career. He ran the door at a gay club called Twirl in Chelsea. He told me to come down and bring my vinyl to the club because he knew the DJ. When I got there he grabbed my hand and ran me over to the DJ booth and introduced me to this ridiculously beautiful DJ...DJ Alex Lauterstein. I was so nervous, but Alex was totally cool and we clicked right away. He said he would play my record and my heart just stopped beating for a minute. When I heard my song playing for the first time I think it changed my life forever!! We both loved New Wave (Duran Duran, Depeche Mode, Erasure) so I guess that since Alex and I shared an affinity for the same types of music, I was probably tailoring my remixes specifically to appeal to that particular sense of aural aesthetics right from the very beginning.

In your personal life, you have a partner, right? How has that helped you with your music?
SP: Yes. Paul is actually the best thing that ever happened to me. I really have never been in love before so this person coming into my life has really changed everything for me. I believe we are soul mates. Our families have both been amazing at welcoming us both respectively into their lives and rallying around us to support us as a unit. They do not treat us any different than any other couple. We both feel very blessed.



What makes you happier, making your own music, or spinning the music of others?
SP: Nothing makes me happier than making music. I love to play and listen to other peoples music too, but it's honestly just not the same level of satisfaction. DJ's make music by combining other peoples music and mixing CD's together. Producers and artists are creating something out of nothing at all...which feels like magic.

Do you enjoy performing for an audience? Where can a fan catch you performing live?
SP: I love performing live. I've had such an overwhelmingly emotional response from fans in the audience at my shows so I'm really curious to see what the response is like when I can actually encourage people to get up and dance! I'm in the very early stages of putting together a show in NYC to coincide with the release of my new album Music & Me. [Editor Note: It was just announced SIRPAUL will kick off his live shows in New York City on June 26th at the Triad Theater. Tickets can be purchased here.]

End of Part 1 - Part 2 to follow tomorrow night