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I recently released the single, Mosaic, which tells a true story how a friend who fearlessly pursued his own music career—both as a musician and radio host—inspired and motivated me to take the next step in my own solo career.
I was working in my home studio late one evening when the riff for Mosaic came to me. I was in the middle of a Logic Pro tutorial, so I took the opportunity to apply me newfound knowledge and recorded the riff straight away.
First, I had to learn how to learn how play the riff I was hearing in my head—I’m not really known as a guitarist—then I recorded it and programmed a midi drum track to go along with it.
First, I had to learn how to play the riff I was hearing in my head…
The lyric was total improvisation—ad libbed in one take shortly after I had laid down the guitar and midi tracks. I had no Idea what I was going to sing about. All I had was a melody floating in my head. So I started recording, with the guitar riff and drum track playing of course, and started singing.
The first words out of my mouth we, “I put your CD cover on the wall today, I want to let you know I like the way it looks, it makes me smile.” In that moment, I realized who and what I was suddenly singing about and I went with it.
It was basically the recounting if a true life experience, so the words came easily to me. A few minutes later, I stopped recording, went back and deleted a bit of mumbling, and Mosaic was born. I hope you enjoy it.
In the beginning
I began writing music with my best and oldest living friend in my early twenties. I had only joined his band after my previous oldest living friend passed away suddenly. I had known this friend since middle school and his passing hit me very hard.
I knew the band’s material and, as sort of a living memorial, I was encouraged to jump in on vocals. All of those late night acoustic jams at the house, meant the band new me and never questioned my taking on the role as vocalist.
We played a lot of the backyard parties back then, all around California’s San Fernando Valley, but we never really took the band further than that.
We played a lot of the backyard parties back then, all around California’s San Fernando Valley…
Eventually, I made a run at playing acoustic gigs at several of the small clubs in Hollywood, West Hollywood and West Los Angeles. Things were going great, but took a turn with the birth of my second son.
I decided to take a break from music and moved to the Teton Mountains of Idaho and Wyoming, where I focused on making money, raising my kids and learning how to ski…properly.
Hello Utah
Fast forward ten years and just prior to my move to Utah, in 2012, I started writing and playing again. I used to think my break had been unwise, but my writing improved dramatically upon my return to music and I don’t regret a thing.
I’m not a natural performer, nor am I drawn to performing. Performing as a solo artists can be stressful. There are no band mates to support you. Personally, I find the most satisfaction in the creative process of writing.
However, with my move to Utah, I had adopted a philosophy that—simply stated—says if a person spends a significant part of their life creating, they are wasting part of that life if they fail to share their creations.
So around 2017 I started sharing my new music at open mics around the Greater Salt Lake area.
I also set a goal of getting into the studio, because short of playing live—releasing professionally recorded music would satisfy my need to share, and would not necessarily require a lot of live performing.
Putting it on Record
In all my years writing and playing music, I never had the opportunity to record my own music in a proper studio. I have had a few opportunities to record with bands and as a studio backup singer. I’ve also recorded a lot of my own music in various low fidelity formats, but never at radio-ready quality.
One of my pre-pandemic goals was to build my own studio and learn the skills required to record, mix and master music. So I gathered the tools, built my studio and, during the pandemic, I got pretty good at tracking (i.e. recording vocals and instrumental tracks, programming midi instruments, etc.). I discovered, however, that mixing is a skill—an art form, really—that could take years to master.
So I reset my goals and adopted a process that includes tracking and setting the mix as good as I can, then sending my files professionals to provide the final mixing and mastering. It was a good compromise.
The Local Music Scene
I’ve always had an interested in helping grow the local music scene. As I obsevred what was happening in Utah, I saw that there was a lot of talent—some refined but much of it raw—and wondered at how there was so little resources to hep these artists.
I’ve always had an interested in helping grow the local music scene.
Almost all of the money raised by local arts councils goes to public art, dance and theater, and children’s education. The largest and most needy group of adult musicians, is largely ignored.
So, in the spring on 2018, I worked with musician and restaurateur Michael Feldman to form Intermountain Songwriters & Performers (IS&P)—with the mission to help local musicians succeed AND grow Salt Lake City’s brand as a music center.
In 2020, I launched Salt Lake Bard, as a media outlet with the same stated goals as Intermountain Songwriters and Performers. The Bard informes, educates and entertains the public on with stories about the best music artists and venues in Utah.
Ultimately, this is just an extension of my love for local music, and my desire to bring attention to the local music scene.
Follow Scott on Facebook and stream his music on Spotify, Apple Music or Soundcloud. If you want to talk about helping the local music scene and/or growing Utah’s brad as a music center, contact Scott now.