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Russell Taylor Interview

RUSSELL TAYLOR: A Truly Live Soul by Kaypri RT is not just another soul artist. This revolutionary gives his audiences everything he’s got, despite an occasional badly promoted show like the one I attended. The crowd had thinned, but his passion had not. When Russell performs, he takes you to Soul Church. His exceptional band including his powerful backup singer Octavia, accents every note and emotion, further feeding the hungry. Experiencing RT’s vibe, it’s shocking to find out this man not only holds a Masters Degree, but was once a Wall Street suit! Until fate had it's way and he got sick and tired of being Somewhere In Between a “good” job and his musical mistress. Thankfully for us, he married his chick on the side and the road less traveled has never sounded so good. I don't stand alone. An inspired congregation of soul seekers grows behind me, for the RT experience. Nu-Soul: Who is Russell Taylor the Soulstar vs. Russell Taylor the person? RT: Well, we are really one in the same; the singer and the day to day. I take all of my life, day, hour, minute of experiences on stage with me, just as I do in the studio to record, or in my writing. I am thoughtful, moody, playful, fresh, oh and I got a temper…man the list could go on and on. I’m afraid at what could happen if I didn’t integrate. HAHA. Nu-Soul: Do you come from a line of singers?  Musicians? RT: Well, I have some singers and musicians in my family. I can remember my Mom and both of my Grandmas making up songs for me when I was a child. They are hilarious, but staples nonetheless. My cousins are singers, I have a cousin that’s a rapper and my Dad plays the piano. My Grandfather and great uncles were prolific guitar players and blues singers. My Grandpa Emmett was instrumental in me wanting to be a musician. Nu-Soul: How did your family, upbringing, culture, etc influence you as an artist/person? RT: My Mom and Dad have always been very progressive parents. They believed in getting the education first, but wholly encouraged me to explore all of my interests. Theater, music, art…many nights and weekends, I was carted to classes and groups as a youngin'. As far as my family, I have vivid memories of my Grandpa playing songs for hours just to keep me occupied during my visits. I was fascinated by how he transformed from being my Poppop to a magician instantly when he sang and played the guitar. I wanted to do the same thing. Nu-Soul: Who do you consider your musical influences?  Did Gamble & Huff have anything to do with you as an artist? RT: Ahhh..How’d did you know about Gamble & Huff…is it the Philly connection? I have such an eclectic and diverse lists of influences: Donny Hathaway, Marvin, Stevie, Chaka, G&H, but then Crosby Stills and Nash, Seals & Crofts, Sade, Neal Young, Dave Mathews, Michael Jackson, Commissioned, Nina Simone…list goes on and on. Nu-Soul: So Russell tell me about the day you decided your Wall Street persona had to go? RT: Well, I didn’t let him go completely. I just re-appropriated him. (laughs)  It all changed when I was working at Dreyfus Financial. I was making really good money, I was out-producing the rest of the folks on my team, I had money in my pocket. But, I was so uninspired. It was brutal getting up in the morning, after being in the studio the night before and going to work with 3 hours sleep. I remember thinking: if you people only knew. One morning, I was on the train at the ass crack of dawn (and I was still late) (laughs) and I just “woke up”. It was like I was in a sea of white sheep, and I was the sole black sheep (no pun intended) and we were all being herded to the slaughterhouse. It was crazy. I started getting sick as I went through the security in the building, and by the time I got to my desk, I was having a panic attack. The wet shirt, damp brow thinking…WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING???  That was the last day that I went into the office. Now, the Wall Street Persona comes out when it comes to the business of RT! I like him so much more there. Nu-Soul: “Somewhere In Between” is a very personal song. When did you write it? What were the circumstances? RT: It was not too long before my last day at Dreyfus. One of the musicians that I worked with on the album, Tim Kvasnosky, often just played the Rhodes to set off the vibe of our sessions. This day something he played, struck up something in me, and it was like, wow, we both are feeling this way…keep rolling. About an hour later, the song was DONE. Nu-Soul: You are originally from Philly. What do you feel it is about Philly that has inspired the likes of Jill, Roots, Jaguar, Vivienne Greene, Kindred, etc?? RT: Philly is rich with culture…its very own culture. It is not quite as metropolitan world as NYC, and it’s far from having that southern sensibility of the DC/Baltimore corridor. It has its on swagger reminiscent of soft pretzels, cheese steaks and water ice, Penn’s Landing and the Liberty Bell. Culture breeds art. Nu-Soul: What brought you to NYC?  How is the flavor different from Philly? RT: I went to NYC for a change, and for grad school. NYC is a melting pot of… everything. Adult playground. You can do whatever you want, when you want, at any given moment. To a creative person, there is so much potential, so much inspiration. Where I live in Harlem, there is kinda this undercurrent of relevant African American Culture that fuels the artist there: The Harlem Renaissance. It’s cool to be able to walk the streets, and visit the places that some of our culture’s greats have graced. Nu-Soul: What sets you apart from other Soul Artists? How do you feel about the term Neo Soul? RT: In this Soul/Neo Soul aesthetic, we all share the same tradition. There are going to be some inevitable things that we have in common. But, I work hard to write and perform drawing from my own unique experience. And since there is only one Russell Taylor, and as long as I am true to my experience, I am bound to stand apart in some way. I only perform to live instruments, EVER, so that ensures that each show, even recording will be unique and very much my own. And since its Soul music, hey, I gotta make sure that at least some part of my soul is in it. Neo Soul, whatever…I don’t care really. Though, I don’t feel there is anything NEW about what I do. Just something that is my own. Nu-Soul: What experiences have you had in Europe as an artist? Any particular cities that you resonate with? RT: I really enjoy performing overseas. The UK was great, and I have been there several times, so I am/was already familiar with the vibe and energy. It is always a great experience. But, Paris? Whoa!!!  It exceeded my expectations. The culture, the artistic inspiration, the romantic pastoral vibe of the city. I mean, you REALLY want to sit on the corner at 3 am smoke a cigarette and drink a bottle of Merlot. And I don’t even smoke. Nu-Soul: Do you think a time will come when more independent artists will get the exposure they deserve?  Like back in the day when there was a variety of musical artists on the radio? Or do you think that time has past and technology is the only hope? Whew…I could write a paper on this question…but I will keep it short. (laughs) RT: The music business as we used to know it is imploding. The money making equation of old has disintegrated due to a drastically changing distribution model that now includes the Internet. There is the growing popularity of subscription radio, and Internet radio, live shows as well as Mom & Pop record stores. These all give the indie artist a bit of an edge that has not existed for a long time. Indies are the way of the future and technology has evened the playing ground. Everything is gonna be just fine a few years. Nu-Soul: You’ve had some challenges (like the LA show).  What other challenges have you encountered? And what keeps you going? RT: (laughs) Now see, I thought that I would get away with not showing my temper i.e. not going off on folks. You know, I don’t think that my experience of dealing with bad situations is all that unique. We all deal with crap. The crap with this business runs the gamut: folks wanting hour long shows for 5 dollars, no hospitality-your “green room” is the hallway and you get dressed in the public bathroom, you have to pay for your food and its full price just before the show at the 5 dollar show, your artist fee isn’t met because the promoter did not advertise and you take the loss, shows running LATE, sharing the bill with difficult artists, standing in the rain waiting for hotel accommodations to be worked out after traveling for 10 hours, and the final winner, sleeping in the car because the hotel is too sketchy to sleep with a clean conscious. YOU HAVE NO IDEA! But all of that has made me so grateful, to still be able to do what I absolutely love to do. In hindsight, I wouldn’t change it for anything. I keep going because music chose me, I didn’t choose it. And I am soooo ok with that. There is no greater feeling than doing what you feel the universe wants you to do right now. www.myspace.com/russelltaylor Purchase Russell’s music at Itunes

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