Singer/songwriter/producer Papa Satch started his music career as a founding member of the bands “Black Horizon,”Blank Stare” and “Mercy Hit”. He was also an integral member of the wildly popular band “Spoof”.
As producer he wrote, sang on, and organized the critically acclaimed “Actress, Doggin It” album. In recent years he has toured many of the top clubs in the N.Y.C. Metropolitan Area.
In this interview spotlight, I chat with Papa Satch about his newest release, challenges, technology and more.
Full Q&A along with links and music below.
Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)
I’m from Long Island, N.Y. I guess you can call my music Rock, but it contains elements of Blues, Folk and Country. I try to write songs that mean something, that have some content. I try to write about topics that others don’t write about, although some of my songs are about relationships, too.
What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to keep going?
In my teen years I became interested in creating music, and writing songs in particular. From early on music has been an integral part of creating joy and excitement in my life. What keeps me going is hearing my songs sound great and having others enjoy my music.
How is this new release different than previous ones? Were you trying to accomplish anything specific?
With this CD, I think the songs are even more solid than in my past releases. Every song is good and all have something to say. I was trying to give listeners the best recording I could. Steve (Ronsen) did a great job of mixing and mastering the songs. I tried to produce a great sounding CD and I think we accomplished that.
Name one or two challenges you face as an indie musician in this over saturated, digital music age? How has technology helped you (since we know it does help)?
It sometimes is hard to get people to pay attention to what you’re doing. I just keep on moving along and hope people get what I’m doing and hopefully appreciate it. As far as technology is concerned, it’s a great time to be creating music, with the recording software out there. It gives you the power to create complex works of art without the large amount of gear that was needed in the past.
What was the last song you listened to?
This Life, by Vampire Weekend.
Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?
I like CDs but I find that MP3s are great for sending out individual songs to people.
How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?
I like Spotify and have most of my music on there. I also have my songs on Apple Music. As far as Bandcamp I haven’t done a lot with them.
Where is the best place to connect with you online and discover more music?
If you want to hear our music you can go to Reverbnation: www.reverbnation.com/papasatch . We’re also on Spotify, CD Baby and other digital stores.
Anything else before we sign off?
Just that I hope that people get joy from our music. It’s what I strive for in every song I write.
