Exposed Vocals Interviews Tempest the Storm
Ever since 2012 Tempest the Storm’s life has seemed to revolve around music. He was born in Fort Lauderdale, March 24, 1998. He moved to Olathe, Kansas the summer of 2004, where his first taste of music came around. In 2010, his best friend Jacob Snow (Blizzard) introduced him to Eminem’s The Real Slim Shady, and just like that, he was hooked.
He wrote his first song in 2012, and loved the feeling he got. Two years later he wrote the first song he would record, Two Dollars, and in 2015, he made his first EP, named after the track. In the later months of 2015, he made his own label with his two friends, called Back Pack Productions. At the end of January, 2016, he released his second album, The Excellency Project which featured a few songs with singer Reilly Boyd and Blizzard. It was a concept album about the creation of a way to get the “Excellenct” song. He has continued to improve, and is showing his progress as a lyricist. He is currently working on an EP with Blizzard, called Skin Color.
Exposed Vocals: So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you decide to become an artist?
Tempest the Storm: I was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and lived there for the first six years of my life. My dad got a job and we moved up to Olathe, Kansas. I lived up here ever since. I have really only started to like music around high school, but I had dreams of becoming a famous singer, little did I know it would end up being a HipHop artist! Why I decided to chase my dream was because I started writing a random rap and I loved the feeling of it.
Exposed Vocals: How did you come up with that name? What was your inspiration behind it?
Tempest the Storm: My friends and I were just talking about Latin words that sounded cool, and my friend
Alex said “tempest” and I joked around saying, “that would make an awesome rap name,” and then I added
“the Storm,” which admittedly is a little redundant, but I added it to make it somewhat my own.
Exposed Vocals: What do you think about online music sharing? Do you ever give your music away for free? Why?
Tempest the Storm: I love online music sharing, and since I am still learning how to make music production,
I use free beats online to get myself out there, but since I didn’t make the beats, I can’t sell it lawfully.
Exposed Vocals: Since everyone was a startup once, can you give any smaller or local bands or artists looking to get gigs and airplay some tips?
Tempest the Storm: Since I am still a start up and not well known at ALL, I just recommend to keep putting material out there and keep promoting yourself. If you are enjoying your music, someone else will too.
Exposed
Vocals: Where do you usually gather songwriting inspiration? What is your usual songwriting process?
Tempest the Storm: I just start listening to the beat and I’ll randomly say a line that I really enjoy and I write around it. Sometimes I’ll be on a search for a certain type of beat so I can write a certain song. Where I get my information I usually just look to how I’m feeling or listen to some of my favorite artists to see how they
performed the same type of song. Exposed
Vocals: Do you have a band website? What online platforms do you use to share your music?
Tempest the Storm: I do! It’s aleksandarhughes.wix.com/tempest . And I mostly use soundcloud and my own website to put my music out there, though I hear that Dreammy is pretty good, along with Band Camp.
Exposed Vocals: If you were given half a million dollars and a year off, what would you do? How would you spend it?
Tempest the Storm: Honestly if I’m not gonna be producing or writing music, I would spend all of that time and money listening to music, and living with music. I may spend some money on getting great food and going to a nice place to grab inspiration. Also sketch a bit while out, that’s one of my hobbies.
Exposed Vocals: How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best for you? Tempest the Storm: I’m still a senior in High School, just turned eighteen, so I spread the word to my classmates, and I promote myself on twitter.
Exposed Vocals: So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about?
Tempest the Storm: I am currently working on making a duo album with my friend Jacob (Blizzard) called Skin Color which will be a seven track EP. I am also mostly working on my music production and putting my writing on the side as of now. On the new EP I have produced everything. I will also be helping some other friends with their projects.
Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?
Tempest the Storm: If I wasn’t making music I would be miserable. I would actually probably try to be a movie director or something along those lines, but music is honestly my life. I can’t live without it.
Exposed Vocals: How do you juggle the rest of your responsibilities while trying to stay ahead in your music life?
Tempest the Storm: To me, music is the most important thing in my life, and honestly doing everything isn’t the worst thing in the world. While I was at work I actually came up with my idea for my last album The Excellency Project which is a concept album. I will also be working on my flows and freestyles over the music that plays at my work.
Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in 2016?
Tempest the Storm: Fans should definitely be excited about the Skin Color project that’s coming out soon.
That should be an extremely fun and interesting project. Other than that there is a chance of another album, EP, or Mixtape by the end of the year. Let’s hope.