Exclusive Interview and Music Review with Michael McQuaid

Michael McQuaid is an RnB and soul singer hailing from Nashville, Tennessee. Being brought up in a musical household, he started learning the piano at eight then guitar soon followed. With his father owning a large vinyl collection, he grew up with authentic music performed by musicians, and this influence has stayed with him in this electronic age, as he favours this sound over modern artificial production styles.

Vocally, he is similar to other male singers in this genre, such as Sam Smith, Justin Timberlake and Pharell Williams, and possesses a large vocal range with a falsetto that is as versatile as Sam Smith’s. This track, Jane Doe, is a funky RnB track with a strong soul influence, made all the more soulful by some excellent drumming as opposed to a programmed hip-hop beat, like so many RnB tracks.

Starting with a catchy 3-note riff, the track soon builds with a punchy beat punctuated by some great fills and driving piano. McQuaid’s vocals grab the attention immediately, leading to a strong chorus aided by both male and female backing vocals that fill out the sound nicely. In the second verse, he lets rip with an impressive falsetto that gives the vibe a bit of extra soul, and the song as a whole sticks in the mind very quickly.

Overall, Michael McQuaid is simply a stellar talent both as a singer and a songwriter, and the music he is making is perfect for the times, especially with the huge success of Sam Smith and musician-led hits like Uptown Funk. With more songs like this of a similar quality it is sure only a matter of time before he makes an impact on a global scale and I look forward to hearing more.

By Alex Faulkner

I’m 34 and a freelance music journalist, as well as a composer and producer. I’ve written reviews for UK newspapers and music websites. I run my own blog, reviewing the best new bands and artists . I’m very passionate and knowledgeable about music and that shows in my writing.

Exclusive Interview: 

Exposed Vocals: How did you hear about Exposed Vocals? What made you decide to sign up?

I learned about Exposed Vocals from Twitter. I wanted to sign up and support a cool publication!

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

I was born in Memphis,TN and when I was two my family and I moved to Texas. I grew up in Dallas
for the most part. It’s a beautiful city with a great music scene.  So growing up my dad was really into Rock ‘n’ Roll and played the guitar. I remember being a little kid staring up at this dude playing guitar being so mesmerized by it. And I wanted to do what he was doing so bad. So they bought me my first guitar out of a Lillian Vernon magazine. And sadly enough I don’t have that guitar anymore 🙁 . I kept it until I was 16 and then passed on the torch to my little cousin. But before my dad would let me take guitar lessons he put me in piano lessons. Which I thought was so lame, but I’m so happy he did. Piano opened up a whole new world to me. I love piano. It’s such a beautiful instrument. And then I went into am after school program called “School of Rock” where my teachers were these really cool touring, tattooed musicians. And they would put you in these shows like “Best of Corporate Rock” or “Best of Led Zeppelin” and you would study the music and then play a show at the end of three months And that was so cool to me. That really helped me with my stage performance. But I remember I loved writing and I loved performing, but I also loved producing. And for the longest time I just wanted to be a producer. I wanted to be like a Butch Walker. Where you produce all day and then at night you go out and play gigs but you also write songs for other people. And eventually, I was putting that on the back burner and I was just playing shows a lot and writing all these songs and falling in love with the aspect of being an artist. I remember texting my mom and being like “Mom, this is it. This is what I want to do with my life. I want to be an artist.” And she supported me. I’ve been going hard every day from that moment.

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

It’s the name my parents gave me! I’ve always thought about having a stage name or whatever you call it. But I can never think of anything cool enough. So for now I’ll just keep Michael McQuaid.

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

Oh god. I’m so on the fence about this. I went to the Revolt Music Conference where the lady who created Spotify spoke. And the moderator kind of went in on her. Telling her how artists literally make no money off of streaming yet  she’s worth billions of dollars. And it’s true. But at the same time I think streaming services give consumers a massive range of music to listen to. No one listens to just one genre of music anymore. So you can find so much music just at your fingertips these days. But then you have people like Taylor Swift who boycotted Spotify. I think SHE can do that because she has that power. But for the rest of the 99% we just have to play the game because there is so much music out there. If anyone else decided to do that, I don’t think it would go as well as it did for T Swift. You know what I mean? And at this stage in my career I do give my music away for free. I give it to everyone. Yeah, it’s on iTunes and I would love for everyone to buy it. But it’s just not like that anymore. So I do give my music away to people just for the exposure. Hopefully, one day I won’t have to. But at this point in my life I do.

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?

Open up for people. Go to a lot of gigs and find artists or bands that fit with you. And ask if you can play a show with them. More than likely they will let you.

Exposed Vocals: Do you ever make mistakes during performances? How do you handle that?

Oh yeah. I beat myself up after the show for a couple minutes and then I just move on from it. There’s no reason to just dwell on that so much.

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

Generally from other songwriters I listen to. I’ve been listening to a lot of older stuff lately like Patsy Cline and Jackie Wilson. And they sing about
that pain and suffering and you can hear it in their voices. I love it. Usually, the best songs I write are when I’m out somewhere and I see or hear something that sparks a melody idea. I’ll memo it out on my phone right away. And then I’ll go home and find the chord structure to it. Or some other times It’ll be some chords that I play that I fall in love with. And the words just fall right out. I make sure everything I really natural. The song has to be authentic to me and I have to connect with it.

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

Yes! I do. It’s michaelmcquaidmusic.com Soundcloud, iTunes, and Spotify are the three big ones I’m using right now.

Exposed Vocals: What are some really embarrassing songs that we might find on your mp3 player?

I think I still have some Lil Bow Wow on there. Or some Lil Romeo. I remember writing him a letter when I was younger telling him how I was his biggest fan.
Not too embarrassing.. but kind of embarrassing.

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

Half of it I would spend wisely. Like do some awesome marketing and go into a bad ass studio and make a great record. I would give some to my parents and my grandma. And the other half of it I would spend stupidly and go to Hawaii and live it up. Maybe buy
a private jet… I’ve always wanted one of those.

Exposed Vocals: Any planned studio upgrades? What are you working with now?

Not for right now. I have a Profire 2626 for an interface. I run pro tools for my DAW. And I have a MXL Genesis. This gets the job done! I do a lot of stuff
in the box too. I have Komplete 8 Ultimate, which I love. But I don’t focus on production. This is for doing demos and recording some vocal work.

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

I think organic sharing is the best. Like if your music is bad ass and you can get everyone to
share it on social media. There followers share it with there followers and it spirals. Organic growth! I think having a publicist has helped me a lot as well. I recommend finding one.

Exposed Vocals: If you could perform anywhere and with any artists (Dead or Alive) where and who
would it be with? Why?

Is it bad that my favorite venue is right here in Nashville? It’s my dream to play at the Ryman. I know it’s not a very big venue but It’s BEAUTIFUL. I would
perform with Otis redding. We’d sing Try A Little Tenderness. I’m getting goosebumps thinking about this…

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

Yes! I’m working with some amazing people right now. Doing  A LOT of co-writes and writing by myself. I really am going back to my roots but keeping it modern
with this one. I’m going to stray away from the pop sound and more with a Soul/Rock/Electronic sound. It’s going to be awesome.

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

This is such a hard question because I can’t think of anything else I’d want to do. I guess I would be working for a label and making moves with other artists. Or a publishing company. Something music business.

Exposed Vocals: Do you remember buying your first album? Who was it? What was going through your head?

Man, buying my first album… What did I buy?! This wasn’t my first album but… I remember buying “A Hangover You Don’t Deserve” by Bowling For Soup and
listening to it every single day. I knew every word.

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

Well, I will make a list of things I HAVE to do that day. And I’ll  try to wake up early and knock those things out so I can focus on my music.
I’m in school right now so thankfully the only things I have to worry about are school and music.

Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in 2015?

A new EP and a new live show. I don’t want to say too much! But It’s going to be AWESOME.