Exposed Vocals Interviews Phazedd

I’m an independent singer/songwriter from Cartersville Georgia, located on the outskirts of Atlanta. I live in Sebring Florida, a small town in Central Florida a few hours from Orlando. I’ve always loved music that was possible to actually relate to. I began engaging into songwriting back in 2013 when I made a song called “Only Human.” It shows how much I’ve grown in comparison to my latest songs. I’ve always written songs about real life issues, situations, expectations and such. I never had an interest in rapping about a Bugatti I never drove or one-hundred grand I never had. Instead of yelling and fighting or going out an doing something dumb, I rather get an instrumental and vent with a piece of paper and a pencil. I mix, master, and promote my own music, but I’m fine with that because the more I do on my own the more I learn. I hope to make it, of course. But the music industry is definitely a competitive career.

Exposed Vocals: So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you decide to become an artist?

 

Phazedd: Well I spent part of my childhood in Georgia, Cartersville to be exact, which is located on the outskirts of Atlanta. I moved to Sebring Florida when I was ten years old.. When I was younger I always wanted to be in the NBA and never really even thought about becoming an artist. But back in around 2013 I joined a website called LetsBeef, which was a online battle rap community. I spent quite some time there doing audio and video rap battles, it was quite entertaining at the time. Then towards the middle of 2014, I decided I wanted to spend my entire tax return on studio equipment and make a transition from rap battling to song writing. I made one song called Only Human and, to be honest, lost inspiration after a while. I recently began writing songs again and taking my music more serious, I’ve got local club promoters that I’ve spoken with, yet haven’t booked any shows due to more important issues I’m having to deal with unfortunately.

 

Exposed Vocals: How did you come up with that name? What was your inspiration behind it?

 

Phazedd: As a teenager I experimented with drugs quite a bit, it put me in a hole I felt I couldn’t climb out of. After looking back at the times I’ve made stupid irrational decisions, I thought it was just a phase I was going through. Now I’ve learned that everything you do impacts your life, giving me the idea of “Phazedd” in past tense, bringing meaning to how my past effected me, and continues to do so.

 

Exposed Vocals: What do you think about online music sharing? Do you ever give your music away for free? Why?

 

Phazedd: I believe online music sharing is a great way to promote your music, especially living in a small town like I do. I let people download my music off my soundcloud for free because I believe it shows they enjoy the song, along with maybe they want to be able to show their friend(s) my music having it in their library or such.

 

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?

 

Phazedd: Well to be honest, I’m still a rookie learning myself, haha. But I would definitely say any musician wanting to land a gig or get airplay should promote their music on every social media website possible. That is, every social media website that is music related of course. Soundcloud, Reverbnation, Youtube, Facebook, pretty much any music community you can find you should put your work on. Some people say paying for promotion is like cheating, in all reality, paying for promotion is investing in yourself.

 

Exposed Vocals: Where do you usually gather songwriting inspiration? What is your usual songwriting process?

 

Phazedd: All of my songwriting inspiration comes from what I’ve dealt with, what i’ve done, what i plan on doing, or what I thought I could do. Basically, all of my inspiration comes from real life situations I see all around me everyday. It doesn’t have to be about myself personally.. maybe my sister, my mother, anyone close to me that still effects me on a personal level I enjoy venting about through my music. My usual song writing process usually starts with a thought I’m stuck on from my past, or just something that’s on my mind in general that I need to vent about. I search for a beat that matches the emotion I feel inside about the topic, which is kind of hard to explain. Although I never have and never will write a song about a Bugatti I’ve never driven, or a thousand dollars I’ve never had. I tend to think making stories up about stuff like that takes beauty away from the art.

 

Exposed Vocals: Do you have a band website? What online platforms do you use to share your music?

 

Phazedd: I have a Reverbnation band profile, but I tend to use Soundcloud and Facebook mostly, although I’m starting to use Youtube and Twitter also. I’ve used S.Y.M. (Showcase Your Music) and a few smaller communites like Letsbeef as I mentioned to share my music, Letsbeef is a great place for showcasing your music also, its not only a battle rap community.

 

Exposed Vocals: If you were given half a million dollars and a year off, what would you do? How would you spend it?

 

Phazedd: With half a million dollars, the very first thing I’d do is buy my mother, father, brother an sisters their own house. I’d use the remaining money to build my own studio, take as many classes available that involve furthering my music career and promote like I’ve never promoted before. I’d use the money to have my songs professionally mixed and mastered insteaad of doing it myself until I feel I’m on a professional level. Also, with a whole year off, I do believe there would be quite a few albums made and I’d be happy knowing my family along with myself were doing good. The rest of the money would most likely go to a banking account for future needs.

 

Exposed Vocals: How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best for you?

 

Phazedd: Honestly, Soundcloud has helped me a lot with promotion. My Facebook artist page I’ve made also has helped quite a bit, I’ve got around six-hundred fifty plus likes, which is a decent amount compared to other local artists in my town. Reverbnation I’m a bit disappointed in considering you have to pay for their services while I’ve recieved more of an audience through soundcloud and facebook, which are both of course free.

 

Exposed Vocals: So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about?

 

Phazedd: I’m working on a single right now called “Walk Away” which should be released later on today. I plan on making an EP in the near future once I feel comfortable with the songs I want to use.

 

Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?

 

Phazedd: If I wasn’t making music, I’d probably be working or learning graphic design. I really don’t have a passion for graphic design like I do music, but at the moment I’m independent as an artist and I’ll do what I have to do to further my career. We all know a good cover art or banner makes a big difference.

 

Exposed Vocals: How do you juggle the rest of your responsibilities while trying to stay ahead in your music life?

 

Phazedd: Well I tend to use my daily responsibilities to my advantage when it comes to my music, what I see, do or don’t do remind me of what I want or what I’ve seen or done. Inspiration comes from everywhere when you’re talking about making music, you just have to look in the right places and think outside of the box.

 

Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in 2016?

 

Phazedd: All of my fans and future fans will notice a lot more music coming from me this year, along with better quality music as I get better. I’m always studying and learning something new that helps me with my music everyday. So definitely expect a lot more music coming from me, along with my youtube being more active. I plan on doing freestyle videos in the near future also.