The Voice – Blind Auditions Night 5

By starrymag | October 14, 2018

By: Jamie Steinberg

 

 

Q) Hey Erika, your Voice bio talks about your involvement in something, Youth Arts Foundation.  I was hoping you could tell us a little about that.

 

Erika Zade:    Yes.  So the Young Arts Foundation is a foundation for kids in the arts between the ages of 15 to 18, I believe, and it’s theater, musical theater, photography, songwriting, etc. and it has alumni such as Kerry Washington, Josh Groban and Viola Davis.  And so I just started songwriting and found the organization and submitted three songs and then I was lucky enough be picked for my songs. So then I went to a showcase and wrote a score for a band and we put on that showcase and it gives you scholarship money to colleges you want and introduces you to other artists and it’s such a great foundation.

 

Q )Cool.  And could you tell us a little bit more about your own music, how you would describe your sound and whether you’ve released anything to this point?

 

Erika Zade:    Yes.  My sound is so weird.  I try to classify it as best as I can so I usually say like dark pop.  If I had to kind of state artists that are similar to me, I would probably say like Jorja Smith or Billie Eilish because I song-write basically every day.  And I haven’t formally released any music yet but I have like a couple originals on my YouTube page but I mean it’s just me and my guitar so they’re nothing too exciting. But, yes, my music is so hard to put into a category, it’s just so weird.  So that’s me..

 

Q) Where did you grow up in Miami and who are some of your musical influences from South Florida?

 

Erika Zade:    So I grew in Broward.  I don’t know if you’re familiar with Broward County?  But I’m living in Pembroke Pines and around here I obviously listened to a lot of Selena growing up and a lot of country music as well so, I listened to the Dixie Chicks.  My parents were really big on Fleetwood Mac and that kind of shaped me as a songwriter and then I kind of ventured out into different genres.

 

Q)  Jared, if your music (really) picks up, would you be willing to leave science behind or would you try to develop?

 

Jarred Matthew:    Yes.  I get that question a lot.  I think my objections in pursuing the show was really the time we put my music in the forefront since it’s been in the background for so long. I’d definitely be willing to give my music a shot and to see how it goes.  So I think that, science is always something that I love and I’m passionate about and I always want to be involved in.  But if pursuing this show means I get to go out there and sing then I’m pursuing it 100%.

 

Q)   You know, I think Brian May, the guitar player for Queen, has a degree in astrophysics so you’d be in good company.

 

Jarred Matthew:    Yes.  That’s actually really interesting because I know a lot of physicists that are really talented musicians.  I don’t know what the link is there but there seems to be a connection with music.

 

Q) Mike, did you ever get a chance to participate in any college football?  Because I thought somewhere I read that you accepted a scholarship to play for the University of Maryland?

 

Mike Parker:      No.  So Maryland was the first commit that I made my junior year.  I first committed to Maryland, and then through sequence of events, I de-committed.  Committed to Virginia Tech — de-committed from Virginia Tech.  Committed to Arizona State and then they pulled the scholarships at the last second so, no. The only school that I went to after high school was Atlanta Metropolitan.  It’s a sister school of Georgia and I played football for a prep school in Atlanta.  But, no, I did not play football as a NCAA athlete.

 

Q) And then can you tell us when you first got interested in music and how that happened?

 

Mike Parker:         Yes, for sure.  My parents — they were in a band when they were younger in the 80s and I guess music has just always been a part of my family, my lifestyle here at home. So it’s tough to pinpoint exactly where, you know, I realized that I had my musical ability.  But I know I started singing at church around nine years old.  And, yes, from there I was always playing football in high school.  But every single year I did a talent show.  I don’t think I ever missed a year of a talent show in high school so that definitely played a role in how I view music now.  It’s something that will always be in me no matter what I’m doing.  No matter what I think I’m doing, I know that I’m always going to be singing and making music.

 

Q) Hey Kirk,  I really enjoy your style.  I wanted to know, because you’re a singer, I actually also grew up listening to country.  I’m curious who were your strongest influences growing up?  We have a lot of country singers we haven’t really heard on this show yet — Charlie Pride being one of them. So I’m curious, which country artists are you wanting to reintroduce to the public through your singing on the show?

 

Kirk Jay:    Right now I love Gary LeVox, lead singer  of the Rascal Flatts but he has been one of my biggest influences – one of my biggest inspirations coming up so like I listen to him all the time so definitely Gary LeVox.  “Bless The Broken Road” was actually one of the first country songs I ever heard and I was so attracted to the points and the sound that he brought.  So yes, definitely Rascal Flatts — definitely Gary LeVox.

 

Q) Kayley, only Blake turned for you but Kelly seemed to have some regrets.  Who were you hoping would hit their button?

 

Kayley Hill:    I was definitely hoping that the two of them would hit their button.  Obviously, you only need one chair to get to the next round and so I was, honestly so happy with how it turned out.  It didn’t matter to me that it was just Blake that turned but, in a perfect world, Kelly would have turned for me too.  But I think she regretted it, at least I hope.

 

Q)  I was surprised she didn’t.  She almost did.  Who were some of your favorite artists?  You seem to have a real affinity for those 70s singers.  Who do you like?

 

Kayley Hill:          Well, you know, I love Dolly Parton.  I love Alison Krauss and Union Station.  I listened to a lot bluegrass and definitely have my own music inspired by bluegrass and rockabilly.  And during the last five years is when I really started getting into Fleetwood Mac and I love Stevie Nicks and her sensibility as an artist. And so I’ve incorporated a lot more of rock, I guess, into my sound as well but I listen to everything.  I mean give me some Motown and, you know, Celine, I just have a lot of respect for fantastic artists that have put a lot of effort into their instruments and their writing and their performance.  That’s who I really model my own after.

 

Q) Kirk Jay, you mentioned your band in passing during the bio package, I was wondering if you could tell us a little bit more about it.  When you started it?  How long you’ve been performing?  Whether you’ve opened for any big names?  That type of thing.

 

Kirk Jay:  Well me and Kuntry Funk started about maybe two years ago and we’ve been playing everywhere, man, all over the place — country clubs, venues, coliseums, casinos — all kind of great places.  I got a chance to open for Lou Combs at the Rock Bottom in Montgomery last year – may have been two years ago.  I’ve got a chance to sing with Alabama at the museum in Fort Payne.  That’s probably it though.

 

Q) Okay. And is it mostly a cover band or do you do original music, too?

 

Kirk Jay:    We definitely have original music but, for the most part, we’re doing covers but we do have original music.

 

Q)  Okay.  Okay.  And why’d you go with Blake?

 

Kirk Jay:   We’re the same height — I’m definitely kidding.  Blake’s – man, he’s a country guy.  I mean he loves country music, I love country music.  He definitely can help me as far as pursuing my country career and that’s what I need.  I need somebody that can guide me and help me along my journey so Blake’s definitely the guy for that.

 

Q) Jared, what is some advice you can give to your fellow UC San Diego students who are also interested in science but also interested in pursuing music at the same time?

 

Jarred Matthew:    I think the biggest problem that I had was I wanted to be taken seriously within the physics community.  And I felt like if I was playing music and advertising it and talking to people about it that maybe that could tarnish, in some ways, my reputation I guess in the physics community which if I’m honest, it’s not a thing.  If anything, what I’ve experienced from being on the show and being a part of the music scene in San Diego is that everybody is just incredibly supportive.  It’s been really beautiful and wonderful and it’s been a great experience. My advisor at UC San Diego, Steve Boggs, is the best.  He’s been so supportive and so awesome and everybody on campus in the Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences has been super excited and cheering me on and sending me texts about how excited they are for me.   So I think the advice that I would give them is that academics obviously takes up a lot of time and a lot of hard work and effort goes into that and but the thing is it’s really good to have a balance.  If it wasn’t for music — if it wasn’t for writing and performing — I just would have been miserable so it’s really important. I think my advice to students would be to find that thing that you love that’s outside of your field and work at it and try to get good at it and do things that you enjoy because sometimes you need a break.  I guess that’s it.

 

Q) Zaxai, how do you feel about Jennifer using the block on Kelly and what did that feel like?

 

Zaxai:   Honestly, I didn’t even know what happened till like maybe halfway into the song.  And after I realized, oh wow, she blocked Kelly, because I was really nervous and honestly, just really exhausted and tired.  So I guess when everything kind of hit me, I was pretty much just ecstatic and thankful that they turned around.   But the fact that JHud used her only block, I mean it felt kind of good. So special because she could have used that with the plethora of artists that you clearly see on the Season 15 roster.  And when I say the Season 15 roster’s amazing, it’s amazing.  So the fact that she did that, shows that I’m doing something right, that she sees something good in me and I’m just thankful for that.

 

Q) Yes.  What has it been like working with her?

 

Zaxai:   Oh, she’s a riot and she’s a true musician. I love working with her. She’s a sweetheart.  She just knows what to do, like little ideas, and she’s just overall sweetheart and a really hard worker.  She means what she says by when she calls somebody, you know, JHud Productions, working to the last minute, working to the bone.  She’s awesome and I appreciate that because that’s just what I’ve instilled in myself and musically, at least.

 

Q) For OneUp, you were both doing your own things musically prior to the show.  I was wondering what prompted you to form a duo and if you see it as something that extends beyond The Voice?

 

Adam:    Yes.  Well we met because we were doing a video shoot together for a vocal group that I have been working with and then we fell in love pretty much immediately, probably within a month, and then we wrote together.  And because we spend all of our time together and we both love singing so much, we just started making Instagram videos together.  And I think that we both realized through that how much we loved singing together because we have similar sensibilities as far as musicianship goes and the style of music that we love. So at this point, we are ready to make this our endeavor for the rest of our careers.  We really want to build something together so that we’re touring together and that we’re creating together.  So, yes, this is a beginning of a very, very long-lived thing, we hope.

 

Q)  And the blind auditions were obviously filmed a while back, had you performed much together out in public prior to that?

 

Jerome:  Actually our first public performance was for our blind audition on The Voice, which made it even that more important for us because we had sung, you know, on Instagram and made little videos but we had never actually shared a stage together.  So that process of putting choreography together and learning where our voices are strongest and how we should highlight those parts of our voices, that’s what made this experience so incredible. We’re still just learning each other every day and we learned new things about each other musically and it’s been awesome.

 

Q) Okay, and why Kelly?

 

Adam:     We knew going into it that Kelly was one of our top choices because in watching previous seasons, she’s the one that we resonated with the most, just her energy, her personality, her excitement and passion for singing.

 

Q) And she’s from Texas.

 

Adam:   Yes, she’s a Texas girl and so is Jerome – well Jerome’s not a Texas girl but, yes.  And the primary reason, (the day of), because even JHud kind of threw us for a loop getting up there and being so lovely and wonderful but Kelly was the one that observed and stated something about what a beautiful picture of love it was seeing us up there with our family and that was at the heart of what we wanted to get across to America is just seeing love in a new way.

 

Q) Colton, it’s cool that Jennifer turned around, that’s initially who you were hoping for.  I was wondering, what are you hoping to get out of JHud – out of Queen JHud?

 

Colton Smith:       Oh my gosh.  Yes.  I was really hoping that Jennifer would turn around initially just because I kind of see my personality in her.  She’s just larger than life and, you know, over-the-top. So I guess that’s kind of what I’m hoping for going forward and what I was expecting after my blind — getting to work with her was just kind of that over-the-top personality and going above and beyond to pull-out the biggest parts of my personality and my voice — so, yes.

 

Q) What have you learned so far?  Like what’s the most surprising thing you’ve learned about yourself or your singing so far after being on her team?

 

Colton Smith:       Oh my gosh.  I guess the biggest thing is just to not put myself in a box genre-wise.  Yes, she’s really big about living outside of what people think you should or shouldn’t do and that’s kind of my mantra as well so, yes, that’s a huge thing.

 

Q)  Zaxai — when Jennifer turned around you looked like you were just so shocked or thrilled.  But after that, what were you expecting or hoping to learn from Jennifer?  And also what has been the most surprising or unexpected thing that you’ve learned about your voice or your singing style so far?

 

Zaxai:    I guess I’ll work backwards.  So, what I’ve learned I guess about myself singing and my voice would just be the little places and placements in my voice I was just too afraid to use.  I’ve always been known as the smooth singer, the melodic singer and for the most part I do a bit of that, but like taking risks and just going places I didn’t feel comfortable, you know. And being on a show like this, of this caliber, you have to go somewhere that you’ve never been before.  Playing it safe will get you nowhere, so working with JHud, she’s big on that.  She’s big on just letting you be a musician but at the same time pushing you. And like Colton said, she’s a larger-than-life singer, artist, person, and I knew she could do that.  She fills up the stage with just her presence alone, her personality alone, her voice — like she’s just epic — epic, epic, epic.  And Kelly too, she’s also been through this whole singing competitions so she understands the pressure that we’re all going through.  So that was just a major plus in itself. And to go back to your first question.  I was shocked but more just grateful and excited and thankful.  And like I said, I didn’t know what happened up until, you know, I think when the dust settled and I looked down, she’s like, “She blocked me.”  And I looked down, I’m like, oh whoa, so I was honestly just excited, elated that I got a turn, and that she chose me and then she blocked Kelly and all that, it was just awesome.

 

Q) For OneUp, you have talked about your love of Motown music and you sang a classic Motown song.  But as a duo, will that be strictly what you sing?  Songs from the Motown catalogue or will you stretch out to other genres?

 

Jerome:   We will definitely stretch out to other genres.  And basically, what we were saying about the Motown sound or Motown music, is all of these songs were timeless.  So the type of music that we want to make is something that is timeless and I think that that doesn’t have to be married to any specific genre of music.  We listen to literally everything from country to rock to alternative.  And through all of these genres, there are timeless songs that people will remember forever.   So I think that’s our goal is to continue performing and trying to make timeless music but Motown is a great example of that.

 

Q) Do either one of you write songs?

 

Jerome:   Yes.

 

Adam:    Yes, we both do actually.  And we’re starting to write more together now and we’re going to be working on a full album.  We’re collaborating with another duo that’s based here in New York City.  They’re a powerhouse writing team so we’re really excited to release some music probably over the next year.

 

Q) Mike, so Jennifer didn’t turn around until pretty much the end of your song.  Who were you expecting to turn around?

 

Mike Parker:    Well I was hoping all of them would turn around but you know, nerves kind of get to you when you get up there.  It’s a scary stage and, things don’t go as planned sometimes or as you practice because you really can’t practice for a stage like that or just really the emotion. But, yes, I expected all of them to turn around but when she turned around at the last second, it was wild, it kind of freaked me out and, it was nuts — it was as nuts as it looked.

 

 

Q) Natalie, you auditioned with a classic rock song, but I was wondering how that compares to your original music?  If you can tell us a little bit about that.

 

Natalie Brady:      Yes, sure.  So my original music, up until this point, has been a little all over the place because I’m pretty diverse as far as what my palette is tasty for, you know? I grew up with my dad being such an eclectic artist himself and so, you know, I started out writing Motown; I started out writing country; I started, rock – it really wasn’t genre-specific for me coming into being a songwriter because it didn’t really come naturally for me. So when I started writing, I just started writing whatever felt good at the time.  And now that I’ve gotten a little further into the discovery of who I am as an artist and who I am as an artist with my band because I really try to not identify just being a solo artist because I’m not, you know, my band is what has helped define me as an artist and give me the sound that really speaks to me and speaks to my soul.  And so, myself, Mike Spurgatt – which is one of my guitar players – and John Sathe, they’re both from the Midwest like myself and we really just connected.  And, we’re writing songs that are more like a gritty southern rock-blues-country kind of fusion.   If you could think along of the lines of maybe a female Blackberry Smoke or something along those lines.  A female Black Crowes, just a lot of soul, a lot of grit.  A wide range and variety just stacked with harmonies because we all sing in our band.  I have five lead singers that could sing in my band.  So, yes, to answer your question in a nutshell, it would be just that southern gritty rock-blues-country kind of swag-thing.  It’s something that I think could appeal to everybody, so, we’ll see.  We’re working on it now.

 

Q) And have you released anything or where are you in that process?

 

Natalie Brady:      Well, everything that I’ve been working on for the past two years I’ve been working on with Kent Wells.  He’s produced Dolly Parton and he’s been with her for over 20 – 25 years.  And I just wasn’t really happy with the direction of where everything was going just because it was kind of all over the place.  And musically speaking, with my band, we record as a band primarily and I just really wasn’t set on where things were headed and I went through this evolution and got my band together like where I have it now and it’s great. We haven’t released anything formally.  I’ve done a couple testers here and there and I have a few songs on my ReverbNation that I’ve written but nothing formally yet, so we’re getting really close.  We start full production next month on our new album. We’re actually working along with Randy Kohrs; he’s a Grammy award-winning artist and musician and producer and hopefully we’ll get that wrapped up before the end of the year and look at the new year with new music.

 

Q)  Okay, and then why Adam?

 

Natalie Brady:      You know, my top two picks were actually Blake and Kelly and neither of them turned.  And when I saw how quickly and excited Adam had turned around, I guess I just had it within me to just go with him. And I really had immersed myself in each of the artists that are the judges and, I love Blake, he’s from Oklahoma; you know, Jennifer is phenomenal, she’s a powerhouse female singer and then Kelly, of course, she’s just ridiculously good.  But Adam, when I started getting into his influences of, you know, the Motown, the rock, the classic rock, even as far as going into, like, James Taylor route, those kind of things, he has a little bit of everything.  And so as an artist, for me and my love for all genres of music and kind of incorporating that into my shows and my performance, he really spoke to me the most.  And I guess in that moment, when I saw him turn around, I was like, you know what, let’s go with Adam because he obviously – he heard something that he really thought he could cultivate and he enjoyed.

 

 

*CONFERENCE CALL*