#my dad preferred making cassettes over listening to CDs because he liked to pick and choose his songs

[d-criss-news]

20 Questions With Darren Criss: How Acting Has Helped Him Make New Music

While Darren Criss has graced our TV screens with a range of characters, from high schooler Blaine Anderson on Glee to serial killer Andrew Cunanan on The Assassination of Gianni Versace, he was last spotted just being himself, on our For You Page on TikTok. “I’m walking to rehearsal with a guitar on my back with a Trader Joe’s bag ... I did not bring an umbrella because I forgot that it was raining. I’m rocking that NYC musician life,” the Glee alum explained in the hilarious clip posted three days ago.

While Criss’ acting work has earned him acclaim and stardom, he leaned into making music during the pandemic. On Aug. 20, he dropped a new EP, Masquerade, featuring five new tracks that Criss says were inspired by the different characters Criss has embraced throughout his career. After Criss wrote songs for his musical comedy web series Royalties and Apple TV+’s animated sitcom Central Park before the pandemic struck the United States, he then used those experiences as a precursor to his new EP. As Criss continues to promote his new music, he answered 20 of Billboard's questions – giving us a peek into how his new EP came together, and how growing up in San Fransisco shaped him as an actor, singer and all-around artist.

1. What inspired your latest project, Masquerade?

Although I would have preferred that it come at a far less grim cost, I finally had the time. Before the pandemic, I had written 10 new songs for my show Royalties -- along with an original song for Disney and another for Apple’s Central Park. These were all assignments in which I was writing for a certain scenario and character. Go figure. It was the most music I had ever written in a calendar year. This really emboldened me to rethink how I made my own music— to start putting a focus on “character creation” in my songs, rather than personal reflection. The latter was not proving to be as productive. The alchemy of having this time and having set a new intention with my own songwriting and producing made me put on a few of my favorite masques and throw myself a Masquerade.

2. How do you think your background as an actor complements your music?

They are one and the same to me. I treat acting roles like musical pieces— dialogue is like scoring a melody; there’s pace, dynamics, cadence, tone. Physical characterization is like producing -- zeroing in on the bass line, deciding on the kick pattern. Vocal characterization is like choosing the right sonic experience, choosing the most effective snare sound, and mixing the high end or low end. It goes without saying that it works in the complete opposite direction. Making each song is taking on a different role literally and employing the use of different masques to maximize the effectiveness of the particular story being told.

3. On Instagram  you wrote that “Masquerade is a small collection of the variety of musical masques that have always inspired me.” Which track do you identify with most in your real life?

Everybody absorbs songs differently. Some key into the lyrics, some into the melody, some the production, some into vocal performance. When I listen to songs, I consider all of their value on totally different scales. So it’s hard to say if there’s any track I “identify” with more than any others, since I -- by nature -- identify with all of them. I think I just identify with certain aspects more than others. If it helps for a more interesting answer, I will say I enjoy the slightly more classical, playful -- dare I say -- more Broadway-leaning wordplay of “Walk of Shame,” but that’s just talking about lyricism. I enjoy the attitude of “F*kn Around,” the batsh--t musicality of “I Can’t Dance,” the relentless grooves of “Let’s” and “For A Night Like This.” All have different ingredients I really enjoy having an excuse to dive into.

4. What’s the first piece of music that you bought for yourself, and what was the medium?

Beatles audio cassettes: “Help” and “Hard Day’s Night.” I just listened on repeat on a tape-playing Walkman until my brother and I got a stereo for our room with a CD player in it, which was  when I just bought the same two albums again, but this time as compact discs.

5. What was the first concert you saw?It’s hard to say, because my parents took us to a lot of classical concerts when we were small. But I guess this question usually refers to what was the first concert you went to on your own volition, and that my friend, was definitely Warped Tour ’01. My brother and I went on our own— two teenagers going to their first music festival, in the golden age of that particular genre and culture. It was f--king incredible.

6. What did your parents do for a living when you were a kid?

My dad was in private banking and advised really, really wealthy people on how to handle their money. My mom was, by choice, a stay-at-home mom, but in reality, she was my dad’s consigliere. They discussed absolutely everything together. They were a real team, and I saw that every single day in the house. They both had a background in finance (That’s how they met in the first place.) and were incredibly skilled at all the hardcore adulting things that I absolutely suck at. They were total finance wizards together. So of course, instead of becoming an accountant, I picked up playing the guitar and ran as far I could with it. Luckily, they were all about it.

7. What was your favorite homecooked meal growing up?

My dad was an incredible chef. For special occasions, I’d request his crab cakes. They were unreal. I’ve never had a crab cake anywhere in the world that was good as my dad’s.

8. Who made you realize you could be an artist full-time?

I don’t know if I’ve actually realized that yet.

9. What’s at the top of your professional bucket list?

The specifics change every day, but the core idea at the top is to continue being consistently inconsistent with my choices, and to keep getting audiences to constantly reconsider their consideration of me. But I mean, sure, what performer doesn’t want to play Coachella? What songwriter doesn’t want to have Adele sing one of their songs? What actor doesn’t want to be in a Wes Anderson film?

10.  How did your hometown/city shape who you are?

San Francisco. I mean, come on. I was really lucky. The older I get, the more grateful I am for just being born and raised there. It’s an incredibly diverse, culturally rich, colorful, inclusive, vibrant city. By the time I was born, it had served as a beacon for millions of creative, out-of-the-box thinkers to gather and thrive. I grew up around that. The combination of that with having parents, who were unbelievably supportive of the arts themselves, laid an incredibly fortunate foundation to consider the life of an artist as a legitimately viable option. It’s a foundation that I am supremely aware is not the case for millions of young artists around the world. I was absurdly lucky.

11.  What’s the last song you listened to?

I mean probably one of mine, but not by choice. I know, lame. But I’m promoting a new EP, what’d you expect? But if you wanna know what I’ve been listening to, as far as new s--t is concerned: a lot of Lizzy McAlpine, Remi Wolf, and Charlie Burg.

12.  If you could see any artist in concert, dead or alive, who would it be?

The Beatles is an obvious "yeah, duh." Sammy Davis, Mel Tormé, or of course, Nat King Cole. I would’ve loved to see Howard Ashman give a lecture on his creative process and his body of work.

13. What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen happen in the crowd of one of your sets?

I feel like just having a crowd at all, at any one of my sets, is pretty wild enough.

14. What’s your karaoke go-to?

The real answer to this I’ll write into a book one day, because I have a lot to say about karaoke etiquette. I have two options here: I can either name a song that I like to sing for me, for fun, or I can name a song that really gets the group going. The answer depends on what kind of karaoke night we’re dealing with here. So I will say, after I’ve selected a ton of songs that services a decent enough party vibe for everyone else, then I would do one for me, and that would be the Beatles’ “Oh! Darling.”

15. What’s one thing your most devoted fans don’t know about you?

What I have up my sleeve.

16. What TV show did you binge-watch over the past year?

Dave is a stroke of genius. There are episodes that I believe are bona fide masterpieces. Also, My Brilliant Friend is a masterclass in cinematic television.

17. What movie, or song, always makes you cry?

It’s A Wonderful Life.

18. What’s one piece of advice you would give to your younger self?

Get used to sharing everything about yourself and your life now, or more astutely, to the idea that you don’t necessarily get to control how your life is shared. I know it’s not really your thing, but you’re gonna have to get used to it, so start building up those calluses now. And don’t worry, all the stuff you love now will be cool again in your mid-thirties, so keep some of those clothes because you’ll be a full-blown fashion icon if you just keep wearing exactly what you’re wearing. Oh nd also, put money into Apple and Facebook.

19.  What new hobby did you take on in the last year?

I’ve always been a linguaphile. My idea of leisure time is getting to study or review other languages. This past year, I took the time to finally dive into learning how to read, write, and speak Japanese. Other than making music, it was one of the biggest components of my 2020-2021.

20. What do you hope to accomplish or experience by the end of 2021?

I hope I get to play live shows again.

[bbbrianjones]

i was tagged by my babe mia (@officialglenntilbrook) to answer these question!! thank u honeybee!! <3 hope you are well!! i took this way too seriously and answered them like i was getting interviewed so read below <3

1. what is the first song you remember hearing? i mean let’s be real it was probably something by the wiggles, possibly one from the wiggly safari with steve irwin as that one was my favourite <3 first actual rock song i remember was ‘lunatics have taken over the asylum’ by fun boy three because my mama loved the band!!!

2. what is the first band you got into? like many people, the beatles! they have always been apart of my life, starting when i was five and going to see a stage production my brother was in and they played i want to hold your hand! but the big influence was my teacher when i was around eleven, who viewed yellow submarine as a christmas song and played that song on repeat towards the end of the year. i did a bit more research into them and fell deeply in love with them, particularly with george <3

3. do you collect any physical music?

yes!!! one of my favourite memories i had as a child is going down to the the local music/dvd store to buy a cd, though they weren’t anything very exciting. when i got into the beatles, i would buy their cds so i could play them in the car and then transferred to getting records. i don’t know how much records i have but it’s gotta be at least over 100! i love them all so much but i’m broke because of it :^((

4. what is your favourite piece of music memorabilia? any of the posters that come with records i have bought. obviously the beatles white album with the four pictures of the boys and the collage i find pretty cool. 

5. what's your favourite concert you've ever been to? the church always has a special place in my heart because it was the first concert i went alone. i nearly passed out when i saw steve!!! the lady next to me said ‘it is as if the beatles are on stage for you’ and i mean she wasn’t wrong! i guess also the stone roses but i don’t really remember much about it besides john, he smiled at me and it was true love really <3

6. if you could see one artist who is no longer alive in concert, who would it be?

babe. i can’t answer this one. there are too many. obviously the rolling stones with brian but again, i could make a list of the ones i wanted to see!!

7. have you met any musicians?

i met peter noone and karl green of the herman’s hermits becuase they recognised me from instagram. and i also met jarvis cocker because my auntie is friend with his ex-wife and i made myself look like such a fool in the most sexiest way possible <3

8. what is your go to album when you're feeling sad?

there are many but i will name the top three to make it easy; 

crowded house’s self-titled debut which i just realised i didn’t include on that list on my favourite debut albums and i’m going insane how could i forget it!!!!!!!!

the stone roses’ self-titled debut. it’s so full of angst and love and every emotion that i have ever felt.

aftermath by the rolling stones. this is just the album i listen to when i need a pick me up, always make me feel so much better.

9. what is your go to album when you're feeling happy?

again i’m going with the top three because i can’t narrow it down!

odessey and oracle by the zombies. just pure sixties baroque pop that you can’t help but bop your head along to.

hums of the lovin’ spoonful. again for the same reason above, all the songs are just pure ‘good time music’ as steve boone would say.

get wet by the mental as anything. this was an album my dad really loved and some of the songs are just so funny like !! what are they thinking i wanna know!!

10. what is one music documentary you love?

i’m gonna go with the obvious and say the spark brothers (2021). it was basically an excuse for edgar wright the fangirl over his favourite band and i find it very sweet!!

11. what is one concert DVD you love? the rolling stones rock and roll circus!! again obvious but for someone who doesn’t really watch movies often, it’s one i always seem to go back to!

12. do you prefer listening to playlists or albums? oooo toughie!! as you can see by my spotify, it’s practically littered with playlists however a lot of them as just band playlists so in some way it’s album. i will have to go with playlist because i end up listening to them a lot more than albums because i want to listen to a collection of my favourite songs compared to albums but i still think they are groovy!!

13. do you prefer to listen to albums in order or on shuffle? in order! i often feel very strange when i’m listening to one song and then the next song is not the song which would follow on the album. i literally feel so lost!! 

14. what is your favourite deep cut song by your favourite artist? this will be our year by the zombies. no song has created such an uplifting yet very very depressed bar this song and i don’t blame it <3

15. what is your favourite cd/cassette/vinyl you own in terms of packaging?

i do really like their satanic majesties request by the rolling stones with its 3D image on the front. also pulp’s different class. i mean, that’s what vinyl was meant to look like!

i will tag @60sgroove @ohdarlings & @carygrantdyke - of course don’t feel any pressure to do this, i’d just love to know your answers to some of the questions!

[angidescent]

Tonight I'm seeing Iron Maiden live for the 5th time. It's always an emotional time for me and I started thinking about a blog post I wrote about it in 2016. Figured I'd copy it here just in case anything ever happens to my Wordpress blog.

A Musical Memorial

April 21, 2016

“And in a moment the memories are all that remain, / And all the wounds are reopening again” – “Blood Brothers” by Iron Maiden

I firmly believe that a life without music is not worth living. It reaches into the deepest parts of our souls and allows us to process or feel every emotion imaginable. It makes us relive moments. Music has the ability to break all cultural, societal, economic, and language barriers to make us feel something powerful. And no person experiences or hears a piece of music the same way. It is also a well-known fact that in the metal community, there is a deep connection among the members. Some say there are no strangers in metal, just friends we haven’t met yet. While music has always had this magical hold over me, Iron Maiden in particular has the power to make me feel every emotion and relive almost every moment of my life. Especially the most painful ones. It has taken me a while to write this, but earlier this month, I attended my fourth Iron Maiden concert. To understand the significance of this, you need to understand why this band in particular is closely tied to my relationships with three important men in my life. After I get those details out, I promise to rip your heart out with a very emotional story.

I am very fortunate to be a second generation metalhead, hence my common use of the phrase “from the womb to the tomb” to describe my metalhead status. It can be argued that metal music always brought me comfort because Dad would sing metal songs to me as lullabies. Yes, Enter the Sandman and Screaming in the Night were excellent lullabies! And when I became a properly sentient larvae, I would pick CDs to fall asleep to. I essentially stole Iron Maiden’s Somewhere in Time and Twisted Sister’s Big Hits and Nasty Cuts from him. Some of my favourite childhood memories are sitting in the living room while Dad acted like a DJ. He would play all sorts of records, cassettes, or CDs and tell us trivia or memories associated with them. He’d also quiz us on what band or album it was, a game Sister never excelled at and hated! I am happy to report that she is much better at it now. Perhaps it was partly due to me always being a daddy’s girl, but metal has remained my primary genre of music throughout my life. He was so damn proud of me when I started my metal and punk radio show in university!

Growing up as a metalhead was frustrating at times. I’m not usually one to pull this card, but being a girl didn’t help. Other than liking the odd song or band, most of the other girls didn’t listen to metal. And the boys? Well I stopped even mentioning my music preferences because most of them would claim I was lying or quiz me to prove my authenticity. Hell, even Spike didn’t quite believe me when we first met, but I soon made him see the truth. What didn’t help my case was the fact that I was a shy kid and tried to blend in to avoid being bullied. I wore casual, bright clothes while at school and got straight-As; I didn’t fit the stereotype. I will never forget the look on my Literature 12 teacher’s face the day he played Iron Maiden’s “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” in class. He hated metal and lectured the whole time he was setting up the CD player about how much he hated metal and expected the students not to enjoy it, but he was going to play this anyway because it was an example of how old poetry can still be relevant in modern culture. He was obviously shocked and disappointed in me when he noticed I was quietly drumming on my desk and lip syncing while pretending to serenade my ballerina friend.

That moment in Literature 12 was also a significant one for Ragehorn and I. You see, although Ragehorn and I had known each other since elementary school, we weren’t close. In high school we ended up in two of the same social circles, but remained friendly acquaintances at best. During grade 12, after the majority of one of those circles had graduated, we finally became proper friends. Maybe it was just out of loneliness. For the first time since elementary school, we had classes together and were both on the Scholarship Team, so we got better acquainted. But when he looked over during that moment in Lit class and I noticed his foot tapping along, we had a sudden realization that we had more in common than we thought. After that, our bond continued to grow and developed into full-fledged best friend status when we started university.  And Maiden continued to be the soundtrack of our friendship: driving around town, sitting in the campus hallways, or passionately arguing when we had different opinions about individual songs or albums. Through me, Spike and Ragehorn also became close friends and it wasn’t long before people started cracking jokes about me having two boyfriends or calling Ragehorn Spike and I’s boyfriend. We were quite happy with our platonic threesome whatever way you sliced it.

The first time Iron Maiden announced a concert near me in my lifetime, I told Dad we were going. He didn’t even have a choice; he was bringing his daughter to the slaughter! I was 19 at the time and also asked my boyfriends if they wanted to come. Of course they did, it was Iron fucking Maiden! By Eddie that was a magical night! It was Spike, Ragehorn, and I’s first big concert and we were excited!  Ragehorn was a really shy, quiet guy during this stage of his life and didn’t know Dad well yet, so he almost pissed himself the first time Dad let out a scream. While the three of us were head banging and yelling, Ragehorn quietly rocked out with foot tapping, head bobbing, and the odd horned salute. And he definitely pissed himself when we were driving home and “scary” Dad told my uncle over the phone that he had to switch spots because Ragehorn wouldn’t stop grabbing his ass. It took a while for him to get used to Dad’s humour. Two years later, Iron Maiden returned and Dad, Spike, and I bought tickets! Ragehorn originally declined our invitation, but decided to come last minute and bought a spare ticket my uncle had right next to us. In those two years, he had become much more outgoing and knew Dad quite well so he threatened to grab Dad’s ass outright. Thankfully his head banging had also improved. At the time Cupcake and I had this shtick where we would send “snexy selfies” to one another. The point of them was to be unflattering or downright goofy. The night of the second Maiden concert, we took this snexy shot:

I will always be so thankful that Ragehorn decided to join us that night because less than a month later, he was dead. Yep, the night of his birthday a whole group of us were celebrating. We had a designated driver (me) and left his ride at a totally different location blocks away from where we were. No one thought anything of him and Orange going for a walk around the block to sober up because that is what they had done for years without incident. For whatever reason though, they decided to walk to the bar we left the car at and drive that night. If there is anything positive to this heartbreaking and traumatic experience, it was that it was a single car crash and they both died painlessly on impact. The only people that suffered were those left behind to grieve. When Ragehorn’s mother wanted his guitar played at their funeral, we knew it had to be an Iron Maiden song. It was decided that his bandmates, Spike and Saiyan, would perform. Dad, Spike, and I spent hours deciding on what song to choose before “Blood Brothers” hit us like lightning. Leading up to the funeral, even more hours were spent in my parents’ living room arranging and rehearsing a shortened, acoustic version. And crying…lots of crying. Saiyan couldn’t touch Ragehorn’s guitar at first, so he used my guitar; which he had to retune because Ragehorn had decided to tune it drunk a couple weeks before. I’ll never forget the moment he unconsciously grabbed Ragehorn’s guitar and Mom quietly saying “Saiyan…don’t panic, but do you realize what’s in your hand?” He almost dropped it, but from that point on he used it. Every minute from the moment we realized Ragehorn and Orange were missing to the day after the funeral is burned in my memories, but the performance at the funeral is a particularly vibrant one. Watching Saiyan hesitate picking up the guitar, Spike singing every painful emotion, me gripping Cupcake and Toxic’s hands when I saw my ever strong father crying. It was the only performance Thanatos Instinct ever did; the band couldn’t go on after losing Ragehorn. Further on the Maiden theme, the shirt Ragehorn bought at one of the concerts was turned into a stunning memorial teddy bear.

Not a day goes by where I don’t think about Ragehorn and Orange at least once, but as the Maiden concerts approach it becomes almost unbearable. The first Maiden concert without Ragehorn was two years after he died. I cried for days leading up to it; it was the first one without him and the universe didn’t seem fair. Assholes will argue that he somehow deserved to die for driving drunk, but Spike and I didn’t deserve to lose our best friend when we were all so young. We didn’t deserve to lose our best man before we even got engaged. The first song that got to me that night was “Afraid to Shoot Strangers,” a favourite of ours to blast in the truck while driving around in the middle of the night. Then came “Wasted Years,” the ringtone I had assigned for his calls. Along with “The Evil That Men Do,” which they played later, these were the tracks I played on repeat when I couldn’t control my grief. With lyrics like “And I will pray for her, I will call her name out loud/And I will bleed for her, if I could only see her now” and “Too much time on my hands, I got you on my mind/Can’t ease this pain, so easily/When you can’t find the words to say it’s hard to/make it through another day/And it makes me wanna cry and throw my hands up to the sky,” they struck all the right emotional chords. As Hans Christian Andersen said, “Where words fail, music speaks.” But even with the tears, it was cathartic. Yes, it was painful, but it was also a perfect time to remember him and all the crazy adventures we had. It made us feel like a piece of him was still with us if only for a few moments.

It has been over 5 years since we lost Ragehorn, so as the lights were going down and Maiden was taking the stage this time, I thought to myself “let’s see if I can do this without crying! Tears are not metal!” I’d have thoughts like “Ragehorn would be so mad because these seats are amazing,” but I was keeping positive. I was doing fine…until the encore. The front man, Bruce Dickinson, was doing his little speech between songs to introduce the next one, and then he caught me off guard with a song I didn’t expect: “Blood Brothers.” Sure, they had played it at the second concert we attended, but I didn’t expect them to perform it again. As soon as Bruce said the word “blood,” I started tearing up. As the music started, Dad looked back at me and said “Ragehorn’s with us.” At that point, I fully broke down crying. Spike hasn’t been able to listen to the song since the funeral, so I wrapped my arms around him, buried my face in his chest, and just cried as I sang along. I started to compose myself as the song ended, but they followed it up with “Wasted Years.” I texted Cupcake “Fuck they’re doing Blood Brothers” followed by “And they fucking followed it with Wasted Years.” Then I sent her a snexy selfie of me all teary-eyed giving the horns, haha! I belted the song out as loud as I could, tears still streaming down my face. And what went through my mind when this happened? I just pictured Ragehorn standing with us, laughing at me and too proud of himself for making me lose emotional control; for making me cry in a METAL concert! As much as he hated seeing me cry, I know a piece of him would love that we still miss him so much. That we still think of and celebrate him at every Maiden concert, throw a little birthday party for him, and tattoo our bodies because we loved him so much.