In this interview, we chat with Oktavian about his influences, his newest project and more.
Full Q&A as well as links and a stream of his single “Truth Hurts” follow.
We’ve featured you before but let’s dive a little deeper into the artist and the music. What attracted you to this genre or style of music?
I’ve been raised on classical and jazz music, and later on got super heavy into Motown and funk before becoming a full time pop industry songwriter. With Oktavian, as my artist project, I have the freedom to mix and mash everything I love, and think less of what the pop industry is after. Don’t get me wrong, I love writing a good straight pop tune, and I do it everyday, but it’s nice to really do something weird and think: ” If i didn’t have to hit the chorus at 40 seconds, where could I go?”
How long have you been creating and sharing your music with the public?
The Oktavian project officially started a few months ago with my first release ” Truth Hurts”, under the awesome label Dirty Soul. They heard an Oktavian song I messed around with about 1.5 years ago and said: ” This is cool, wanna do a whole EP?”. I never thought about it before, but i’m glad i took on the challenge! I worked with producers XELA and NORDE on a few tracks and had help from BADDLUCK on the song ” Hymn For Her”, which will be released soon as well! My brother Ruben Samama is a ridiculous musician and played bass and piano for a lot of of the songs.
Who or what influences your playing and/or writing? Also, what motivates you to keep going?
I guess I already answered the first question before 🙂 My motivation is that singing, songwriting and vocal production is the only thing I know how to do. I’ve never actually held down a stable normal job that wasn’t in music! Right after college I was a professor of songwriting at Berklee College of Music and ran a company that writes toplines for EDM producers. I had an office job for exactly a week before walking out. I couldn’t handle the sitting down at the same place for so long.
Were you trying to accomplish anything specific on this new project? Creatively or otherwise?
I just wanna make cool shit that’s different than what I do normally. It’s pretty therapeutic!
What was the last song you listened to?
The new NAO record came out last week, and it’s on repeat! I’m digging into it more, but so far my favorite track is the slow grower ” In The Morning”, which evolves into this super heavy last chorus. I love that dynamic shift!
Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?
I’m lazy and I listen to music on my Ipod, though I buy all the records i listen to.
How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?
Neither hahaha! I’m on Soundcloud more than any of the other platforms.
Other than the digital era overwhelming us with access to an abundance of music, what are one or two of the biggest challenges you face when trying to attract listeners to your music?
I think being an artist, you need to have this constant drive to get your message out, and i’m too much of a inward focused guy to shout ” LISTEN!” all the time. My gig as a pop songwriter and vocal producer has me working with artists that are naturally like that, and I envy them sometimes. They have that charisma and energy to always keep entertaining. I’m more of a quiet worker type.
Do you gig, tour or perform? Do you ever live stream? Where can music lovers see you perform?
I don’t perform that much! I used to, but I realized that being a studio rat is more my kind of gig. It’s a very comfortable level of adrenaline that I can handle. When i used to be perform I got jacked up on energy and started saying the weirdest shit on stage. I’m not naturally a performer.
Where is the best place to connect with you online? Discover more of your music?
I’m on soundcloud/OktavianMusic
instagram/OktavianMusic
Any last thoughts? Shout outs? Words of wisdom?
Winter is coming?
