Exposed Vocals Interviews Laidback Manner
William Fuller (A.K.A. Laidback Manner) was born on December 27, 1984 in the classic city, Athens, Georgia. Growing up, “Will” (as he like to be called) was constantly surrounded by music of all types. He grew up next door to John Keane (an American record producer based in Athens, Georgia, who has worked extensively with R.E.M., Indigo Girls, The B-52’s, Widespread Panic and many more) and his recording studio. “Usually I would find myself falling asleep to the faint sounds of music coming from next door, I loved that”. William’s father, an artist at heart, loves drawing, playing guitar and writing original music. His Father’s vast collection of music albums ranging from Beethoven to Eric Clapton to Talking Heads introduced Will to the Idea of enjoying and being open-minded about all genres of music. William’s mother was a cellist for the Athens symphony orchestra for many years. She also taught Piano and Cello in her spare time. “I remember sitting down at our grand piano as a little kid and just pushing keys not knowing what I was doing except having fun hearing the notes I was playing… I guess you could say that was my first free-styling experience with music”.
William (who is completely self taught in everything he creates musically) started playing guitar, singing, and writing original songs when he was 11 years old. “My dad bought me my first guitar and would go on to be my biggest supporter and main the reason behind how I was able to learn, grow and evolve as a musician”. “I owe a lot to both of my parents because of their unwavering support”. With his dad’s help he began learning how to record and Produce his songs. Starting out around 12 years old with a four track recorder and “PC drum pro” it would be the first time he would produce his songs as a one man band.
“I’ve been in a band only once in my life and It was fun, but did not really fit with me because now I had to split the songwriting process five ways. When I had a new song I was creating I honestly could not stand hearing different band members tell me their ideas and opinions on what they wanted to contribute/change to my song. When I have a new tune in my head I know exactly how I want every instrument to sound and beat to flow and hearing members trying to push their different ideas for the song drove me crazy. I guess I’m greedy when it comes to my music and the way I want it to sound. Being in a band you have to know how to give and take with others when working on new material and I am a control freak(when it comes to my original music)… That doesn’t work very well being in a band”.
So, Feeling held back by that thought he decided to go completely solo. William writes, sings, plays guitar, bass, bongos, records, mixes, masters and produces all his music today. Everything that you hear in his songs are all written, played, sung, mixed, mastered and produced by William Fuller.
If you are looking for one specific genre in which to label William Fuller’s music, don’t waste your time… William writes and creates many different genres and styles, all with his distinctive upbeat yet Laidback twist throughout. He might write a blues rock song one day, Electronica, Hip-hop, Metal, Techno, trance, Alternative or pop rock
the next day. “It all depends on how I’m feeling when I come up with the beginning of a new song and what kind of mind frame, thought or opinion I want to try to express”. ” I never plan to create a song in a certain genre… I just write out of abstract inspiration and when I’m done I may have something that is considered to be Trance or Hip hop or Blues, etc and that’s awesome. Bottom line is no matter what ends up eventually coming to be, all I know, is that it is a literal piece of who I am and I had a great time creating it”. A down to earth Perfectionist, Never shy to laugh at himself, William lives and loves music and everything around it. “I love hearing sounds I’ve never heard before. I sometimes build an entire song just on the way a single sound made me feel or think when I first heard it”.
So, with the many different influences of music and the many different styles of writing, I can only think one thing about William Fuller and his Laidback Manner… And that is, what in the world will he come up with next?!
Exposed Vocals: So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you decide to become an artist?
Laidback Manner: I was born, raised and still reside in Athens, Georgia. Both my mother and father are musicians. My mother is a guitarist, pianist and cellist, and is a former member of the Athens Symphony Orchestra for many years during my childhood. My father has been a guitarist for most of his life and has written and produced original songs. Besides being raised in a musical family upbringing, the main reason that helped me realize my passion for creating music was when I was eleven years old and a watched a movie called “Camp nowhere”. In a few scenes of that movie I saw I kid that looked to me to be around the same age as I was, whale on the guitar. Watching him, I thought to myself “Well if he is as old as I am… then I can totally do that too!” I proceeded to asked my father If I could play one of his guitars and the rest is history.
Exposed Vocals: How did you come up with that name? What was your inspiration behind it?
Laidback Manner: I thought of the name after some friends and I watched the movie “Cheech and Chong’s Nice Dreams”. I was a freshman in high school and in one very short seen of the movie they talked about investing in a “Retirement home for old hippies”. Cheech said they could name the place “Laid-back Manor” and my brain immediately thought “ya know Will, if you changed “Manor” to Manner” you have a name that describes who you are… and it rolls off the tongue pretty well also. So, minus the proper grammar, I became Laidback Manner.
Exposed Vocals: What do you think about online music sharing? Do you ever give your music away for free? Why?
Laidback Manner: If it’s done legally, I support it. I’m also noticing that more and more artists are distributing a lot of their music under Creative Commons licenses which is awesome. So far have made a few of my songs available to download for free, but plan on making more songs freely available to download. I don’t want to make my music available only through monetary gain. That doesn’t feel right to me.
Exposed Vocals: Since everyone was a start-up once, can you give any smaller or local bands or artists looking to get gigs and airplay some tips?
Laidback Manner: I think the most important thing is to have your music produced professionally and then create an E.P.K. (Electronic Press Kit). for your or your band’s music. You will be taken more seriously and have a higher chance of booking shows and getting radio airplay the more professional you present your or your bands music in my opinion.
Exposed Vocals: Where do you usually gather songwriting inspiration? What is your usual songwriting process?
Laidback Manner: Inspiration to write a song comes from so many places. I can never predict where the next urge to write will come from. I can say that a lot of my songs begin when I’m just freestyling on my guitar not trying to do anything in particular. Beginning a new song almost always begins with a few notes or chords on my guitar which I then immediately add lyrics to. I grow the song from there until I have a finished song. After that I either record it or swap what I have written on the guitar and lyrically for different sounds or instruments that really catch my ear. From that I will create the drum and bass tracks along with any effects and automation I feel is right for the song.
Exposed Vocals: Do you have a band website? What online platforms do you use to share your music?
Laidback Manner: I do not have an official website yet. I have put my music on almost every site out there that has a platform for artists share their music. The main sites I use and actually keep up with/update are YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/laidbackmanner) Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/ laidbackmanner) and Sound Cloud (https://soundcloud.com/ laidbackmanner)
Exposed Vocals: If you were given half a million dollars and a year off, what would you do? How would you spend it?
Laidback Manner: I would definitely build a professional studio first of all and then start checking off all the things on my “equipment/software/instruments I need and want” list.
Exposed Vocals: How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best for you?
Laidback Manner: Besides just Putting my music anywhere and everywhere I can online, the best way I find to promote my music is simply to have a conversation with people. Mainly in music related groups on Facebook or elsewhere online.
Exposed Vocals: So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about?
Laidback Manner: The absolute main thing that I am working on is being able to preform live as a one man band. Learning how to actually play all the parts of my music and not just “Push play” (for lack of a better term) is my main goal this year.
Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?
Laidback Manner: That is a very hard question for me to answer. Besides writing and audio production I also love photography, cinematography and understanding/fixing electronics… All three of which I am still teaching myself the skills I need to know in order to be able to do them like a professional.
Exposed Vocals: How do you juggle the rest of your responsibilities while trying to stay ahead in your music life?
Laidback Manner: Right now, I consider myself a very lucky individual. I take care of any needs my parents may have that I am able to do for them and in return I am able to completely focus on making a career in songwriting and audio production while I live at my mother’s house.
Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in 2016?
Laidback Manner: A new album and most of all You can expect to see me perform live.