Where did your passion from music come from and how did you know you wanted to be involved with it?
I've loved music for as long as I can remember. I remember wanting to
be involved with it at different steps in life. Playing piano,
switching over to guitar, becoming an engineer. There were certain
bands I saw or studios I visited, and I just knew, no matter what, that
in some shape or form I wanted to be involved.
What do you enjoy doing more, playing and creating music or engineering?
That's
a hard question. There's nothing like the feeling of playing a great
show, and there's nothing like having completed a CD. Both things are
very therapeutic for me. Whenever I play a guitar, I am calm. In the
studio it can get stressful at times, but it's so rewarding.
Have you produced anyone of note, and who would be your dream production job?
I've
been blessed to work with so many great artists. I've worked with
everyone from They Might Be Giants to people on Blue Note, local NJ
bands, and more. I really don't care who the band is, I take every
session seriously, because who knows who's going to blow up next? My
dream producing job would probably be producing someone like Metallica,
The Chili Peppers, Taking Back Sunday or anyone really who looks like
they have a good time in the studio. Makes the process so much easier.
Tell me a little bit about your band life? What were your bands, where'd you tour, how successful were you?
While I've been in a bunch of bands, I've been in two that have really done
some special things. My biggest two were Fakeknife and Emergency Now. Fakeknife was a punk rock band in the style of Fat Wreck type bands. We toured the country twice, played all the biggest places in Jersey,
including the Warped Tour. With that band, we were just 20-something's
travelling the country as best friends and constantly playing shows on
the weekends. That was my favorite part of that band. I still really
consider everyone in that band some of my best friends.
Emergency Now
took this a step further. Me and one other guy from Fakeknife met a
singer/songwriter and we started doing pop rock. Emergency Now had some
great songs, and I loved creating with those guys. We played Maxwell's
in Hoboken, my hometown at the time, and it was tons of fun. Somewhere
down the line, I see myself working with members of both bands on some
project. We shall see!
What do you do now as a profession, and is it hard to balance a music life with that of a professional/husband/father?
I'm
actually doing social media for this company Wine Library. One of my
heroes in the social/entrepreneur field, Gary Vaynerchuk was nice enough
to have me on the team, and I am eternally grateful for that. Everyone
who works there is extremely talented and amazing. I really enjoy
connecting with people every day. I do my best to balance my day job
with my true love, music. I try and combine the two in my own blog. Being a new Dad has it's challenges, but my wife is amazing, and I
couldn't live without her! Every week I still mix, record, and work on
projects. So far, so good!
Is your blog a good outlet to keep your creativity flowing and have any opportunities come from it?
It
helps in such a major way. The main reason I started the blog is
because I hate people in professions who keep secrets. That's the total
opposite of what I'm about. I want people to learn from me. The more
people know, the better music people they will make, etc., and maybe I'll hear that music one day, and directly benefit from it. I'm a huge
tech/social nerd. I'm trying to combine the best of both worlds on
Chasing Sound. The blog has been giving me opportunities here and
there, and I think it's on it's way to becoming something really
special.
Where do you hope to see yourself in the next five years? As a blogger? As a engineer/musician? As a person?
I
hope to see myself with a happy wife, and happy son (and maybe another
kid?...ssshh!) I see myself writing a lot of music at home, working on
tons of projects. I want to keep blogging, not only for Chasing Sound,
but guest blogging and more. Music saved my life, and is in my blood,
so in some shape or form, I'll always be doing something musical. If
time permits, I'd like to mix as much as possible each week.
How do you feel about the state of music today, and do you think it's heading in a good direction or a bad one?
I
think the state of music is great. What I really think is that bands
and labels have to change their strategy, and change it now. They
should have changed a while back seeing where the industry was going. Labels complain that people aren't buying CD's in stores. Direct your
songs to iTunes and Amazon, where people most definitely are buying
songs. Bands have to engage with their fans. They can't just put out a
CD and hope for the fans to come to them. People want to interact with
you, so go for it. Make a FB page, make a Twitter account, and really
interact with people who like your music. The state of music is 'great'
for bands. They have more opportunity than ever before.
Top five bands or or artists?
Another
really difficult question for me. I'm legitimately into pretty much
every genre of music. I'm always trying to find the good in every
style, so it can inform my mixes in interesting ways. Plus, I feel like
if you limit yourself to liking only one style of music, you're really
missing out. I can tell you what bands I'm listening to a lot this
week, and some are my all time favorites. Listening to a lot of
Soundgarden, Taking Back Sunday, Porcupine Tree, The Roots, and
Deadmau5.
Thanks
so much for the interview. Anyone who wants to catch up, talk about
music, or more, should hit up ChasingSound.CO or follow me on Twitter -
@BSutich Plus I'm literally all over the web. If there's a new social
app, search my name, and I'm probably on there. Today, rather than
worry about yourself, do something nice for someone else, teach someone,
help somebody out! It's good for your soul.
