Listening to This Frontier Needs Heroes is like having your friends play in your backyard while the sun comes up. With their powerful delivery and delicate harmonies, their music is full of idealistic lyrical stories of love, loss and longing for a better world.
In this interview, we have a virtual pow wow with This Frontier Needs Heros to discuss influences, their newest project, and more.
Full Q&A, links, and streams below.
What led you into this journey with music? And further, what drives you to push it out to the public?
I played in a band in High School with some friends, but it wasn’t very serious. Although everyone in that band went on to produce great original music separately. I moved to NYC to go to college thinking I wanted to do film, but ended up switching to Philosophy. I became kind of a book worm, and started writing songs. I felt like I could say what I wanted to say most effectively in the form of songwriting. Some of my early songs became mantras for me to process whatever I was going through emotionally. I would sing them to remind myself of whatever epiphany I thought I had achieved. I never thought too much about why I would push it out into the public. That is just what my peers were doing, and what I thought an artist should do: communicate, create, and connect. With my new album the songs are very straight forward topical, and these are things that I believe must be said in response to what is happening in this moment of time.
What attracted you to shift your music to this new genre/style?
I think of it more of an evolution rather than a shift. I just wanted the songs to rock, and to communicate as perfectly as possible. No distractions, but musical elements that would make people happy.
Who or what influences your creativity? Have your tastes in music changed over time?
This last set of songs I wrote mostly as part of the Stetson Kennedy Songwriter Residency in Fruit Cove, FL at the former residence of Stetson Kennedy. It is now a nature preserve, and museum, where they do concerts. The residency is special because Woody Guthrie wrote over 80 songs in this magical place called Beluthahatchee. You may know the song “Stetson Kennedy” sung by Billy Bragg on the Mermaid Avenue album. So that was a huge influence on me.
What are you trying to accomplish specifically on Real Job? Creatively or otherwise?
I was trying to make the best recordings possible to present these songs to the world. I want these songs to reach as many people as possible, and personally I want to continue to work as a musician.
What was the last song you listened to?
“Dance with Me” by Orleans
Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?
I love them all. I have been doing this awhile now, and I want people to have the music in every form possible. I travel so much and my lifestyle is such I personally don’t have the time or space to collect vinyl although that is the best form to listen. CDs are still great for some people to pop into their car on the way home. MP3s obviously are great because they can reach people over the entire planet in an instant.
Where is the best place to connect with you online? Discover more music?
“Real Job” is going to be my 4th Album so you can listen to all my previous work on Bandcamp. Keep an eye out for everything new!
Anything else you’d like to add before signing off?
If you believe in what I’m doing please buy the music or at least share it with your friends. I am completely independent and need all the help I can get.
