Interview: Michael Stosic
Q: Your new self-titled album doesn’t suggest someone who has just entered the field, but a professional musician with a confident outlook and an established vision. How long have you been doing this?
A: I started playing music in bands when I was twelve years old playing all original music that I wrote. You must remember my mega-hits “Fun In The USA” and “Loving All I Gotta Do?” No? My first songs. I wrote and released my first album in 1986. It was a Gospel album called Brand New Love. I did the album when I lived in Seattle at Triad Recording Studios. I was in Studio B and next to me was Steve Miller in Studio A. Yes, his recording did better than mine.
Q: What artists would you say largely influenced your style? I can easily hear Boz Scaggs and Van Morrison.
A: I loved Boz Skaggs; in fact, my wife and I were going to name our first daughter after one of his songs called “Georgia,” but my wife had a miscarriage at 5 1/2 months so it didn’t work out. Kenny Loggins has been a favorite of mine for a long time, too.
Q: What songs are the most personal to you and why?
A: Although I normally write all of my songs, certainly all my Gospel recordings, I got all of these songs from acquaintances of mine. I listened to lots of songs and picked them out, probably more for the feel than the lyrics. Lyrically “Easy Come Easy Go” is personal because who doesn’t have a good break-up song? And “Be Easy Love” because it is just a great love song.
Q: I hear an ’80s aesthetic in your music, especially in the production which, to me, recalls everything from Hall & Oates to Bruce Hornsby. Was that a conscious decision?
A: What’s that saying, everything old is new again.
Q: How have you evolved as an artist since you began? What have you learned, professionally and creatively?
A: When I first started in music I played every little smoke-filled bar and night club, as well as some cabarets in casinos just to have a chance to play. I remember playing this little bikers bar, four one-hour sets a night. My fingers started to bleed from playing my guitar so much but I just had to keep going and do it all over again the next night, but that is part of growing up in the music business. I have learned that this is an extremely hard business to make it in, and I’ve learned that if you give up you will never make it. I think so many artists are just one break away from a great career. I don’t want to play the little bars anymore and that is why I decided to hire a radio promoter, Harry Watters from Wavelength, to see if we can take this recording and do something special with it.
Q: Who are the musicians backing you up on the record and how did you meet them?
A: Very honestly, they are all great studio musicians that the studio put together for me. I only knew one of them before the recording. I play piano and guitar but all I did on this album was sing. It was a treat for me.
Q: There’s a misconception that pop music is made by youths, which doesn’t take into consideration that Billy Joel, Joe Jackson, and Bruce Springsteen had hits when they weren’t kids anymore. Do you feel that age is no longer a factor in attracting an audience these days?
A: I don’t know, I think the music can speak for itself today a lot; however, age is a factor in what audience you can attract. For example Justin Bieber’s fans wouldn’t be coming to my concerts or buying my music.
Q: Do you have any plans for another album? What can people expect from it?
A: No plans as of yet. I want to see how far we can take this and not make the mistake of doing something else before this has completely run it’s course.
Website: http://michaelstosic.net