Interview with Tyler Shaw.
Interview by: Gracie Lowes
The well known singer/songwriter from BC has recently released “When You’re Home”. Gracie got the opportunity to chat with him about music, read it below!
G: Hi Tyler, thank you for doing this.
TS: Hi, of course.
G: How are you doing today?
TS: I’m good, how are you?
G: I’m good thanks, let's get started with the interview! What made you want to get into music?
TS: Everything! Life I guess, I don't know it might have been subconscious or conscious I guess a bit of both but what I do remember is when when I was in elementary school my brother who is going into Middle School joined the school band and he started playing drums and I thought that was the coolest thing ever so I remember being like ‘I wanna be like my older brother, I want to play the drums too’ so that was kind of the first introduction I guess into music and everything kind of fell in its own place. Like I picked up the guitar and started playing, then my mom was a piano teacher, she never taught me but there was always a piano in the house and it wasn’t until after this drum kit incident that I was like ‘oh maybe I’ll start playing the keys too’ so it was a mixture of different things but that was kind of the introduction if you will, to instruments and music.
G: Do you think you have a fondest musical memory that really pushed you to become an artist?
TS: I don't think there is one specific memory. It was more so like the feeling I got when I played each instrument. You know I was around 12 or 13 when I wrote my first ever song and I’ve been writing songs ever since. So I think it’s just the feeling that I get when I want to play music, when I write music, when I produce music and everything in-between that made me fall in love with it.
G: You were supposed to be recording a new album in La before the whole pandemic started right?
TS: Yeah!
G: That obviously didn’t end up happening, but have you been creating music without being able to go to studios?
TS: Absolutely yeah actually “When You’re Home” was written in London back in March of 2020 before the pandemic happened, and the day after I got back from the UK that was when the NBA got shut down, the NHL got Shutdown, the JUNOS got cancelled, everything happened. And I was like ‘oh, okay I guess I’m going home now.’ so I went home and much like everyone else we thought it was gonna be over within a few weeks but here we are almost a year later. So that being said, I upgraded all my studio equipment and I've been writing my album from home, from my home studio which has been actually pretty nice if I'm being honest. I can grab a snack when I want, you know I can do whatever so there’s not long transit rides, in transition plane rides and all that. Although I love traveling this is very comfortable to do from home. So it's been an adjustment but it's been amazing at the same time.
G: Do you prefer your home environment now more than the studio?
TS: I mean now that I've been at home writing this album for almost a year I could use a trip, I could use a writing trip!
G: “When You’re Home’ is your first release of the year, congratulations on that! It's amazing!
TS: Thank you!
G: How are you feeling about that?
TS: It feels amazing and the main reason it feels amazing is cause this is my favourite song I've ever written before. This is... like I don't think I've ever felt this way about a song before, or I know I haven’t felt it about a song before. It’s a weird feeling I don’t think I could describe it, but when something amazing happens you just can't stop smiling. That's how you would describe it and that's what I felt after I wrote the song.
G: Did you get that feeling after or during the process?
TS: During and after! The song took only 45 minutes to write so you can imagine the energy in the room, it was me and two other writers in the room and the energy was just so synergized
and it was such an amazing time! And then after, recording a scratch demo we listened back to it and that was when I was like ‘okay this is something special.’
G: You recently had a child, congratulations!
TS: Thank you! Yeah I had a baby daughter back in December!
G: That was so cute I saw the pictures! How has fatherhood been treating you so far?
TS: You know it's been beautiful. Sorry I’m hesitating because there's a lack of sleep involved, but besides that you know when she's not screaming it’s the best thing in the world. So it's been a journey, and it's going to continue to be a journey obviously as she grows and as the family grows so I think it’s a paradigm shift in my entire world, a positive one though.
G: Do you think she might inspire some songs from you?
TS: She definitely already has, you know I've written a bunch of songs for her whether or not they see the light of day for the public that's yet to be determined. But she's definitely already inspired me quite a great deal.
G: Your last album was released three years ago now, and we’re expecting a new one soon you said. Could you tell us anything about that project so far?
TS: Yeah I can let you know that album number three is my best work! I know it’s a bold statement but it really is. I sound redundant but it all comes down to the feeling about the songs that I’ve created for this album. It’s been a different approach especially cause I've written it from home, but early on when I was writing the album and the pandemic hit and it was like ‘oh you're at home now’ I had this good chunk of time to kind of reflect on everything. Everything being myself, my relationships, my friendships, my career, my family, like everything. This is the silver lining in it all for me, I had this moment, these couple weeks where I would go in the morning and just have a cup of tea or whatever outside and just be with myself and just think. And it was such a beautiful couple weeks, and I feel like that really set up the album writing process a lot better than if I weren't to do that.
G: Do you think the album kinda changed with quarantine? Do you think it would’ve been a completely different album if Covid didn’t happen?
TS: I mean I guess so because I just mentioned those first couple weeks like having time to myself, I don't know if I would have found that if I was constantly going. It might have been sound, I could not tell you, I have no idea.
G: Speaking of your music, have you seen your own music evolve through the years, and what's one main thing you think that's really changed throughout it.
TS: A thousand percent yes. From “Kiss Goodnight'' which is the first song I ever released back in 2012, to “When Your Home” like that's night and day to me. I think the biggest difference too is I was 19 when I released my first single, I’m 27 now so you would hope that there would be some kind of growth in how you are as a person, which would reflect how you are as an artist. And I really do feel like I've learned a tremendous amount from everyone around me and from reading and manifesting and just like really reflecting too. Taking that time to understand yourself is super important to the creation of music and art in general in my opinion.
G: Your growth has been amazing, this website has been watching you for a long time and we’re super proud of you!
TS: Thank you so much!
G: You had a cover of “Lean On Me” with a bunch of other artists, is there any more music coming out with them or that group?
TS: I mean the group is called ArtistsCAN, and the main initiative for this group is to support causes through music, so for the Lean On Me cover it was an artists collective, you know we all came together to release the cover of Lean On Me and 100% of the royalties went and are still going to the Canadian Red Cross for Covid-19 relief. So the plan with this group is to help as many people as possible within our nation, and then eventually move globally. We still have to figure out what we want to do next but the collective is there and that’s something I’m very proud about, so we’ll move forward and we’ll figure out the next steps.
G: That’s amazing! Our blog is all about up and coming artists, are there any artists you have your eyes on right now?
TS: I wish I did, I’m sorry. I’ve been so deep into writing my own album I haven’t really gone in to see who’s next. But there are two artists that I’ve known for a little bit now that I really admire, Olivia Lunny and Trevor LaRose are two fantastic artists I think that everyone should go check out!
G: They’re amazing! What advice do you have for any up and coming artists?
TS: Oh man practice practice practice as much as you can! Because you’ve gotta be prepared for anything really, but if you want to perfect your craft you need to work at it. So do as best as you can and don’t be afraid to take breaks as well.
G: If you had an ideal collaboration who would it be with and why?
TS: Ugh so many people to choose from, I’ve gotten this question a bunch of times and I’ve always said Justin Timberlake just because he’s been such a massive influence growing up, I think he’s extremely talented and he’s an amazing person so I think I’d have to go with JT.
G: Do you have a favourite song at the moment?
TS: Do I have a favourite song at the moment? Oh my gosh I have to go on my Spotify because like I said I’ve been so deep into my own album that I just can’t even remember what I’m listening to anymore.
G: I mean that’s fair, you’ve gotta work on you music
TS: Oh Anyone by Justin Bieber his new track is so good!
G: That’s all the questions I have for you, but thank you so much for doing this, it’s really appreciated.
TS: My pleasure, thank you!