Today on Auxoro, I sit down with Ryan Meyer (@Ryan_Suspect), the drummer and backing vocalist of the band Highly Suspect. The LA-based band Highly Suspect has been nominated for two Grammy’s, worked with legendary producers like Joel Hamilton and released their latest album in the fall of 2019 called MCID, which stands for My Crew Is Dope. The hip-hop-infused album contains features from Young Thug, Tee Grizzley, and Nothing But Thieves to name a few.
Read MoreThis time, we sat down with SHY Martin (@shy.martin), a bada** singer-songwriter who has collabed with people like Bebe Rexha, Kygo, and The Chainsmokers. She broke onto the scene as the featured artist and songwriter on Mike Perry’s The Ocean, which has nearly 600 million streams on Spotify alone, and her songwriting catalog has generated almost 3 billion streams. In this episode, we talk about SHY Martin’s songwriting process, going to school in Sweden, dealing with anxiety, and more. She is a beautiful soul and I'm grateful to be able to bring this podcast to you. Without further ado, here is our wide-ranging conversation with SHY Martin.
This time, we sat down with the Noah Kahan, who has described himself in the past as the Jewish Ed Sheeran. The Question is, does Ed Sheeran describe himself as the Christian Noah Kahan? That’s the real mystery and we have to see if we can get some footage on that. A couple weeks ago I had the pleasure of watching Noah play a small, private show at the Gramercy Park Hotel in NYC and it was a beautiful evening. We were surrounded by some edgy artwork, like a picture of Eminem holding a firecracker to his crotch and Tupac naked in the bathtub, and you what, Noah still stole the show.
That’s right Eminem, Noah looked your crotch right in the face and said, Slim, I love you, but this is my night and you’re not gonna take this from me. It was truly a divine showcase of sound. Noah has an album that just dropped, called Busyhead, and on this episode, we spoke about the creative process behind his debut album, as well as The Office, first date tips, dealing with anxiety, and more. Without further ado, here is our deep and wide-ranging conversation with Noah Kahan. It's dinner time bitches.
This week, we sat down with Picture This (@bandpicturethis), a band hailing from Athy, Ireland comprised of members Ryan Hennesy, Jimmy Rainsford, Owen Cardiff, and Cliff Deane. Back in 2015, lead singer Ryan Hennessy posted the song ‘Take My Hand’ on Facebook which caught the attention of drummer and producer Jimmy Rainsford. “Take My hand reminded me of a summer romance and that song explained it properly,” says Jimmy. Ryan and Jimmy then reworked the song. Soon, the song took off immediately and the four-piece band Picture This formed. Picture This’ debut gig was held The Academy to over 800 people. It sold out in under 30 minutes. Things took off pretty quickly.
Since then they’ve supported The 1975 on tour, gained millions of fans, played 5 nights straight at the 3 Arena in Dublin which holds 15,000 people, and traveled across the world. I saw them a few weeks back at Irving Plaza in NYC and the performance was absolutely electric. I’ve never felt an energy like that. In this conversation, the band talks about launching their latest album MDRN LV from the top of the Empire State Building, the beginnings of Picture This, the difference between Irish and American fans, Good Craic, and more.
And if you don’t know what “good craic” is beside the stuff you smoke, You know because there’s good craic, but then there’s also good crack, well then you’re about to find out. Hopefully, this conversation is good craic. Even if you haven’t yet discovered Picture This, there’s a lot of great learning moments and insight packed into this conversation. Whether you’re struggling to find meaning in life or you think you’ve found something, I think you’ll definitely get something of out this podcast. So without further ado, here is our wide-ranging conversation with Picture This.
Welcome to another installment of the Heart Beats Series. This is a series we explore the stories of those making an impact outside of the music industry. I started this podcast in music, and while music artists will always be the foundation of Auxoro, I felt that I was watching fascinating stories outside of music pass me by. So, I created a space for these stories to exist called Heart Beats.
This time we are going to do things a little bit differently. But first, let me tell you about our guest this week, Sam Brunell who started a company called Little Sam’s Art (@littlesamsart). Sam draws vivid, colorful, and striking sketches of music artists, actors, cartoon characters, and others. He makes some of the best artwork I’ve seen, and I don’t say that lightly. These aren’t just portraits. Sam incorporates elements from each person’s life into the artwork.
For example, in a recent sketch of Ariana Grande, Sam included a mini sketch of Mac Miller covering his face and peaking through one eye (from the Vulture profile, the last interview he did before he died). Sam also included an Eevee, one of Ariana’s most recent tattoos, in the portrait. He describes this style as “portraits within portraits.” Sam, now 26, has been drawing since six years old. He’s done some epic collaborations, including one with Justin Bieber, and his drawings have even been featured on Will Smith’s Instagram. As a kid, Sam endured multiple, serious surgeries to address spinal problems and extremity issues. On his website he says “life was a big struggle for me when growing up, undergoing many serious surgeries from a young age. Drawing and creating characters I wanted to be around seemed like an escape from it all. Ever since I remember putting pencil to paper, I knew I wanted to do this for the rest of my life.”
I think Sam makes amazing art and I reached out to have a conversation with him on the podcast. He responded, saying “I’d love to do it, but I have really bad speaking anxiety. One of my worst fears is giving speeches. I broke down in college before I had to give a presentation, and ever since then I can’t do it.” Even though Sam felt uncomfortable speaking, I still wanted to have him on the podcast. So I sent him some questions over email, and he sent me back his answers so I will be reading them for Sam. Without further ado, here is our latest installment of the Heart Beats series with Sam Brunell.
Welcome to another installment of Off The Record where the artists themselves tell stories, share experiences, and answer questions about the moments that matter. This time, Bryan Sammis, formerly of The Neighbourhood and currently of La Bouquet and Olivver The Kid, shares a clip about how finding who you are, how finding your purpose, can help you manage the harmful cycle of anxiety, depression, and this crazy fucking thing called life. Bryan had a breakthrough, catharsis moment when he woke up half-drunk in a widow’s attic in New Orleans, and that’s all I’m going to say about that. So without further ado, here is Off The Record with Bryan Sammis.
Welcome to our first installment of the 'Off The Record' series where the artists themselves tell stories, talk about experiences, and answer questions about the things that matter most all while having some fun. This week, Call Me Loop answers questions that deal with anxiety, her tips for the "casual hookup," her best purchase under $100, calming nerves before a show, and more. She just dropped her latest EP, Drama, which you can stream now wherever you listen to music.
In honor of the late Mac Miller, we started the Self Care Series as a place to discuss physical, mental, and emotional well-being. In this first episode, Zach Grossfeld, the founder of Auxoro, goes into his struggles with anxiety attacks the past year and a half, as well as some methods and mindsets that have helped him deal with anxiety. If you do suffer from anxiety, please get the proper help and attention that you need. You are worth it. Hopefully, this series can help at least one person feel better and let them know that they are not alone.
This week, we sat down with gnash, a recording artist from Los Angeles who burst onto the scene with the smash hit 'i hate you, i love you' featuring Olivia O'Brien. We spoke about the finer details of meditation, gnash's songwriting process, making music for dogs, his latest single 'dear insecurity,' and other intimate topics. Thank you to the team over at Atlantic Records for setting up this interview. It was an honor to record this at Atlantic's home base in NYC. As always, I hope you can gain a new perspective from this conversation, and please let us know what you think. Hit us up on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or you can reach out to us directly at zach@auxoro.com.