Audioholic Media

The first time I listened to Curtis Peoples‘ self-titled debut album, I thought it was alright. I could recognize that it was a good album, but I didn’t connect with it immediately. It wasn’t until four hours later that I realized I had been listening to the album on repeat for, well, four hours straight.

Curtis Peoples is the type of album that is built to sneak up on you. If you take it at face value, you’ll hear exactly what you want to hear, but if you’re willing to dig a little deeper, you’ll hear something new each time you listen to it… And please trust me on that– I listened to the album for four hours straight.

Audioholic Media:How is the tour going for you so far?

Curtis Peoples: It’s been great. It started the day the record came out. We did a CD release show at The Roxy in Los Angeles that was just probably the coolest [show] I’ve ever had. It’s been pretty much a month straight since. We’ve done the East Coast, the Midwest, the West Coast and we just came from the South. It’s been awesome.

AM: You guys are almost done, right? You have only a few dates left.

CP: A few more dates, and then I’m home for a few weeks, and then another national tour. That’s starting at the end of October.

AM: This is your first official run of tour dates in support of Curtis Peoples since it’s been released. What does that feel like for you?

CP: I love it. It’s totally great. My main thing is that I’m so excited about this CD, and I waited awhile for it to come out. We were just waiting to find the right time to put it out so I kept telling people, “I can’t wait for you to hear this!” After a while I think people were like, “Yeah yeah yeah… I’m sure there’s actually a CD.” So it’s really been great to get peoples’ reactions and have it be so strong.

That’s the best way to get that music to people is to walk it right up to their city.

AM: You started out playing in bands in San Diego. Was it difficult to transition from having a full band sound to getting to know yourself in a more acoustic way as a musician?

CP: You know what’s actually kind of fun is [that] it was at first. I started with a band in high school and college in San Diego and then I started doing the solo thing. Songwriting-wise it wasn’t as much of a transition but it was tough just getting the sound I wanted. I think this CD’s the first time I’ve actually been able to meld the sound of when I had a band with my acoustic, solo stuff that I did initially. Now I surround myself with people that I write with, and play with, and I’m able to kind of form a band sound while still being a solo artist. That definitely took a while to get the best of both worlds with that. But it’s really nice because I come from band mentality so I really love co-writing and I love playing with guys that enhance not only my sound but my show. I don’t put the musicians offstage, in the background. Their names are known, their personalities are very clear to the audience.

AM: Making this record has been really hands-on and grassroots for you. Is it ever scary to have been so close to it for this long and then release it to the public?

CP: Yeah, you’re always a little nervous. Especially, you know, when you’re grassroots, the fan base is very loyal and it means a lot to them because they’re the people that discovered you, they didn’t just hear you on the radio or see you on a tv show. I may have risked a little bit because I did step up the sound. I took it out of the acoustic realm and made it more of a rock/pop thing. I was nervous about that but I’ve kind of been preparing people for that. I’ve tried to make my whole thing more fun, and I talk a lot about Van Halen, and Journey, and arena-rock, and all these things in my shows and in my blogs and bulletins just to kind of show off that part of my personality, so I think people were ready for it. When you see me vibe with my band it’s a big rock show. It’s a big, fun show. I think people were more prepared for it than I thought they were going to be.

The funny thing about it, too, is just… all my friends joke about the fact that I kind of act as a non-hired A&R guy for a lot of the musicians around me. But really, it’s something I really love and people respect my opinion. [If] they have a record, or they’re working on a video, or working on photos, a friend of mine will send them to me or be like, “I want you to see this. I want your opinion.” I want to give them an honest opinion, and I’m looking at it not only as a friend or another artist, but I like the music business. I find it fascinating, and I feel like I have something to offer. When I was making my own record I feel like I was able to work with the producer and work with the label and my manager and objectively make decisions that were best for the whole thing. It’s nice because I got to have a say in it because it’s so grassroots. I got to be a part of the song-picking process and a part of the imaging. Someone didn’t just go, “No, you’re going to look like this.” But at the same time I’m looking up. I want it to get to a bigger audience. I’m always looking at it in that way.

AM: Now that you are becoming more known as a musician, can you feel your career growing? Is that something you’re aware of?

CP: No, I don’t. I’ve wanted to do this since I was a kid. I’ve really had no other job I’ve ever wanted to do– except I wanted to play baseball when I was like, ten. But other than that this is all I’ve ever wanted to do, and I’ve always had high aspirations. I don’t have to sell ten million records to be happy with my career, but I like exciting people. I like doing something that’s fun and special and means something to people. When I play live, I want people to feel like they’re a part of something. If I feel like I’m doing my job, I feel that energy that people are like, “Okay. I feel like I’m with this guy. We’re going somewhere with this.” I’ve felt that more and more [as] more people get into the record. When we made the music video for “Back Where I Started“, for the single, that was the coolest thing. It wasn’t just me and my roommate shooting a video, it was lighting people and hair, and makeup, and wardrobe, and all this stuff. I was like, “Alright, this is cool.” [laughs] I’ve worked very, very hard at this so if something good happens, I’m grateful. I just try to rise to the moment. That’s how I feel every day, with every new show. I’m trying to play preserve what I feel like my CD sounds like if that makes any sense.

So I do feel it a little bit. I wake up every day and I get on the computer or I grab my guitar. There’s no day off– in my mind– for what I’m trying to accomplish. I just try to make sure I enjoy it. The hardest thing for me has always been appreciating it and not just looking at the next thing ahead.

AM: I recently spoke to Ernie Halter about how independent artists benefit more when they operate as a community, but Los Angeles can feel like a pretty competitive place because of the influence of Hollywood. Do you feel as if you have a different outlook on the city as a musician who is part of that community than, say, an actor who’s always competing for his next gig?

CP: Yeah. I have a lot of friends who are actors and that is the toughest thing out here. It’s like, musicians in Nashville and actors in L.A. It’s just a crazy, competitive wash. There’s just too many… There’s too many. [laughs] Maybe I’ve just had a good experience and got in a good community but there’s a group of, like, twenty or thirty of us that are good people-to-play-with artists or just artists themselves that just really are behind each other. There’s a friendly competitiveness, but the truth of it is that if one of us succeeds, it benefits everybody. It in no way hinders anybody’s success. If I suddenly sold 100,000 records, the first people I would take on tour with me– if I had a bigger crowd– would be the same guys that I’ve been touring with already. It’d be Ernie Halter, and it’d be Tony Lucca, it’d be Keaton Simons, it’d be Tyler Hilton and they would do the same. Tyler Hilton has been a giant asset in my career. He’s always included me and supported me and I’ve supported him. It’s really, really nice.

At the same time, if I go, “Yeah, I’m doing this interview with Audioholic Media,” the first thing I know Ernie or Keaton would do– as I would do, too– is go, “Oh, cool!” and then they’d call their publicist and be like, “Get me on this website.” Everyone’s trying to get the opportunity. But it’s a pretty cool, supportive group, which is why we always tour together. We’re all friends. We’re all behind each other.

AM: That makes it easier for the fans as well. I initially heard of Ernie Halter because of Tony Lucca, then came Keaton Simons, then I learned about Curtis Peoples… It makes it easy for the fans to find new music when the artists make it so accessible.

CP: We all offer something different but when we do these tours together it seems to work. I like that. I like that there’s so much discovery and that people are so willing and open to– If they like Tony, they’re like, “Well, he’s got Curtis touring with him. I should check him out, too.” They don’t just go, “I like Tony. Moving on.” It’s really awesome in that way.

AM: I know that some of your songs start out as being stories about specific things and then sometimes end up evolving into love songs, the most obvious example being “All I Want” which began as a song about your career and ended up becoming a song about love. Is that an attempt at allowing the songs to appeal to a broader audience?

CP: It’s a little bit of everything. I write about specific things but I’m not the kind of guy who writes about the red lamp, you know? “I was looking at the red lamp and it was a Tuesday night…” I don’t write like that. I’ve always just kind of wanted to make those bigger messages and, truthfully, the songwriters, the lyricists that I look up to kind of write that way. Bono always kind of leaves a little bit to the interpretation. A lot of his songs are like, “Are they about God? Are they about a woman? What are they about?” And I like that. It lets people take it for themselves and it becomes their song. That way whatever moment in life hits them doesn’t have to specifically be the same moment that happened to me. I guess I do it on purpose. I guess I do it to offer an opportunity for people to embrace it.

AM: It seems as if I’m constantly just missing your live shows up and down the West Coast. I’m always just behind you or right ahead of you. I’ve heard a lot about your show but how would you describe your show to someone who’s never been out to see you play?

CP: I try to have a real, polished, professional rock show and a completely improvisational feel. What I mean by that is, you know, the songs are the songs. They’re pop songs. We play them like they’re supposed to be played, and we give it as much energy and life as we can, but at the same time when it comes to talking to the audience, I’ve never planned what I’m gonna say– ever– to the crowd. People do [plan ahead] and it works, especially when you’re playing for different crowds every night. Unless people come to multiple shows, it’s new material so it’s okay. But it’s not my style. [laughs] I have to go up there and either… something funny happened in the last couple days and I talk about it, or something funny happened in that moment, or something random pops in my head. I love throwing in pop culture references. That’s the way that I’ve always operated, and I feel like people get to know me because of that. I’m very honestly happy to be where I am, no matter where I am playing because it’s the coolest thing in the entire world.

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Curtis Peoples is currently available on iTunes.
Visit Curtis Peoples’ MySpace page at myspace.com/curtispeoples.