Photo courtesy of the artist
These days, independent artists are dropping albums left and right on platforms like SoundCloud, Bandcamp, and even iTunes and Spotify. It's easier now more than ever to DIY record, produce, and release your own album into the ever-expanding musical stratosphere. However, that doesn't mean people will listen to it.
Independent acoustic funk artist Frank Viele took his time gradually and organically building his fanbase before putting out his first full-length solo album, Fall Your Way, which premiered in the Top 100 New Release charts on iTunes, featured Joe Bonamassa on lead guitar on the album's single, and was followed by a country-wide tour opening for Zach Myers of Shinedown. Through several years of hard work on the road playing over 100 shows annually, he learned the "rules of the road" and made sure to really cut his teeth as a performer before making his first big statement in the studio. Just last year, the Connecticut singer-songwriter's dedication and hustle was recognized at the 2014 New England Music Awards when he was named "Best Live Act" in all of New England. We caught up with Frank to learn more about the strategy behind it all.
You really put a ton of work into honing your live performance before you decided to release your first full-length solo album. What was the reason for waiting as long as you did?
I had met a producer, Vic Steffens of Horizon Music Group, while performing in 2010 at the Dewey Beach Music Conference in Delaware, which I booked through Sonicbids. He was from Connecticut like me and was kind of a legend where I came from – so much so that I had never really had the courage to introduce myself to him back home in Connecticut. Well, he approached me after my set at Dewey Beach, and looking back now, I can say that the beginning phases of this album probably started that day.
Vic had made records with everybody from Sly Stone to Harry Connick, Jr., but one of his major passions was the art of the song. He taught me that I not only needed to perform live at an extremely high level, but that my songs had to truly speak whether I was backed by a big, funky band with a horn section, like I was at Dewey Beach when he saw me, or I was by myself on a stage with an acoustic guitar. So I decided that it was best to continue to grow both my songwriting and my live performance before I put the finishing touches on the record and released it.
That being said, part of making this record was the personal and artistic growth I experienced during the process. By the time the record came out, I felt more ready than ever to go onstage and bring this album to the world one club at a time. Fittingly enough, the day the record dropped was the first day of my first solo acoustic national tour opening up for Mack, Myers, & Moore featuring Zach Myers of Shinedown.
How do you think taking your time with your solo album affected the reception of it?
This world is a big place, and there seems to be an almost infinite number of potential music fans once you hit the road. The hard part is getting them to listen. I'm a DIY, independent artist at this point in my career, and have been since the beginning. I personally booked myself over 100 gigs a year, networked, used Sonicbids, made almost every mistake in the book, and just kind of kept punching. I made EPs to give away at shows, and eventually developed a family of club owners, music fans, and other performers in the cities I frequented. As a result, I think there were people actually waiting to hear the record when it came out, which is an unbelievable feeling. It kind of got the record off the ground, gave it a chance to hit peoples' ears, and from there I guess it's up to the record to do the talking, so to speak.
I'm so excited for this album and the doors it's opened for me so far. Every day, it seems like a new person is reaching out to me asking me to send them lyrics to a track, asking for the chord charts to a song, or simply wondering when I'm coming to play in their town. Many of these people are friends of friends of people who probably first heard me play in the corner of a smokers' lounge in Virginia, or outside of a brewery in upstate New York. Getting to where I am today has certainly been an arduous task, and every day I'm faced with new challenges as an independent artist. But I'm loving the journey, and I'm humbled by the amazing people who have allowed my music to be a part of their lives.
In what ways did being on the road for over 100 shows a year prepare you for this solo album?
As much as experience in the studio can be important for making a good album, I feel like playing live really helped me to find my voice. When everybody in my old band, Frank Viele and the Manhattan Project, split up and went their own ways in 2011, I knew I had to find my own voice as an artist, and that I needed to not only grow my ability as a performer and songwriter, but also understand myself better as a musician to eventually be able to get my story across to an audience. Playing all different types of shows, sleeping on strangers' couches, and sharing festival stages with amazingly talented artists gave me so much to absorb, and in time it led to lots of new material, a broader perspective on life and music, and eventually the crafting of Fall Your Way.
So during the recording process, how did you know when the album was truly finished and ready to be shared with the world?
Recording the album was a fun process, because I recorded it in phases in between mini-tours. We looked at every song as its own individual entity and built the instrumentation and lineup around each of them. I guess I finally knew it was done when all 13 individual tracks fit together like a puzzle in the end to make a true album. Also, since a lot of the final crafting of the tunes took place in the studio while simultaneously being road-tested at gigs, I felt that the structure and style of the final recorded versions of the songs were already being performed live, giving me a good idea of how people would connect with them. Seeing how tracks were being received live, when mirroring many aspects of the studio record, gave me a lot of confidence in knowing that the record was ready.
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How did legendary guitarist Joe Bonamassa end up playing on your single?
One more benefit of hitting the road, playing every club that'll have you, and cutting your teeth in places that may sometimes make you feel like you're in a scene from one of the Blues Brothers movies is that you cross paths with a lot of amazing people. By chance, I guess my music had been bouncing around the blues and rock world. After some urging by a fan, on a whim I sent an email to Joe Bonamassa, sincerely not expecting a response. Long story short, four months later, my 63-year-old record producer called me at 3:30 a.m. as if he were seven years old and just met Santa Claus to tell me I needed to check my email box. I opened my email, and there was a .WAV file of Joe Bonamassa wailing on a song I wrote on my beat-up old green couch about my ex-girlfriend. I cashed in all the change I could find in my car at the Coinstar machine that morning and went to the store to buy new headphones so I could listen to Joe's guitar track over and over again on my phone.
When I recorded the initial part of the track, I knew I wanted really dirty slide guitar on it, and my goal was to find a player who could do his or her best Joe Bonamassa impression. I never thought I'd actually be able to get Joe Bonamassa himself. It still blows my mind most days.
What are the top three pieces of advice you would give to independent musicians thinking about releasing their first album?
First, don't hide it from the world. Get other people's opinions as you progress in the studio. And not just the opinions of other musicians, but also the opinions from regular music listeners. Don't take them all to heart, because art is a truly objective thing and there is indeed a thin line between absorbing input and losing your artistic vision. However, as an artist and entertainer, we make music for others to enjoy, so it's important that other people can grasp what you are trying to say and can find something in your work that connects to them.
Second, absorb it all! I have a collection of over 7,000 CDs and countless vinyl records. I feel as an artist, it's important to understand the art being created around you. You don't have to like everything, and sincerely I personally don't, but in this crazy industry, if somebody is making music and people are truly enjoying it, then there's something to be absorbed there. I've learned so much about songwriting, and I think I discovered my personal approach to music from listening to a wide spectrum of genres and hearing other indie acts on the road.
Finally, find your own voice. While my first two points may seem contradictory to this one, they should both actually lead you to the notion that being an artist is not an end goal. It's the beginning of a journey. I began looking at my music career as a journey and not a destination a few years ago. It changed my perspective on everything and helped me to truly absorb the wonderful little things that can happen every time I pick up my instrument or hit the road. Absorbing great music all around you, hitting the road, and performing for crowds of all different shapes and sizes in all different types of environments, and seeing how others react to your music is all part of this amazing journey. I feel like eventually you find your voice and you learn how to deliver your artistic message.
I'm still diving in every day, growing as an artist, and shaping my music based on the perspective I gain every time I hit the road and absorb the world around me. I'd like to think that when I look back in a few years, listen to my old records, and remember all of the things that I've learned, that maybe I will have truly found my voice. However I'm beginning to think that this, too, is all a part of this journey I'm on, and my voice as an artist will continue to evolve as I experience more and more along this path.
