Exposed Vocals Interviews D.R.E

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

D.R.E: I was born in Lowell, MA. My family and I had moved around shelters in Cape Cod and Newton in my Early Childhood; but majority of my life I’ve spent living around Lowell.

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

D.R.E: Well its an abbreviation of my real name Andres, but the twist to it is I use each individual letter as a different representation. The “D” stands for Destroy. The “R” stands for Rebuild, and the “E” stands for Enhance. Meaning in order to better yourself, you have to change your ways, and make yourself into who you want to be.

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

D.R.E: Online music sharing is great to do. It allows people to be heard. Its cool how i can listen to someone in Cali who may never have the chance of physically handing me their music, and when it comes to giving out music for free, personally I have given all my music away for free at this point, but am hoping to start making some sort of money soon.

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?

D.R.E: All I can really say is grind. Grind until you’re undeniable. They may not want you now, but once they see all the work you put in, and the success your reaping from it; I can almost guarantee they’ll change their mind.

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

D.R.E: I haven’t had any big performances, but I have rehearsed my music in front of a couple crowds. Either way my best advice is to roll with it. You cant change it, but will definitely learn from it for next time.

Exposed Vocals: Do you tour? Anything interesting happen on tour that you think our readers would enjoy hearing about? 

D.R.E: No i Haven’t toured, but I definitely see myself sometime in the future doing it.

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

D.R.E: I take all of my inspiration from my life. whether or not it is something I have gone through personally, or a story told through the eyes of somebody I know. Everything is Fact, and is from within.

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

D.R.E: I Share my music on Facebook, Twitter, and Soundcloud. As i further my career. I plan on trying to push my music on whatever platforms I can find.

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

D.R.E: In all honesty I’m not sure, but you’ll find the Beyonce and Rihanna radios on my pandora Lol.

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

D.R.E: Half a million and a year off? I’d have to dedicate the year to setting my family up for the future. I’d either begin to build my family a house, or take us on a trip somewhere exotic so my mom can keep her work shoes off for a while.

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

D.R.E: My home studio is a pretty basic set up. Currently I use Ableton Live along with a Scarlett Focusrite 2i2 Studio bundle. Along side that I use a Novation Launchkey 25, 2 bx5 Monitors, and a sE RF-X reflector. I want a Mac Book pro in the future so I can use Logic Pro and Pro tools

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

D.R.E: As of right now i spread my music 4 ways. Twitter, Facebook, Soundcloud, and Word of mouth. Sometimes I feel like twitter works well because it is consistently active.

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

D.R.E: As for current artists, I feel like it’d have to be with J. Cole. My very first concert was to see him in March 2012 in my hometown. The energy of his concerts truly are something else. Not to mention hes one of my favorite rappers in the game right now. As far as Deceased artists, there are just too many to name.

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

D.R.E: As of right now I’m finishing up a projected titled “D.R.E SP to Infinity”.  It’s a 7 track project made of my top choices from Lord Finesses’ ” The SP1200 Project: A Re-Awakening”. My cousin gave me the idea, and i just couldn’t resist.

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

D.R.E: I’m not 100% sure, but i’d definitely want to get a degree within Audio engineering. So i’d Probably attempt to open my own public music studio.

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

D.R.E: The first album I ever bought was the Marshal Mathers L.P. Still to this day I know the album word for word. I can remember bringing it to school in my cd player nearly every day; So you could just imagine how much it meant to me. Although I was only 5 or 6, I still hated Censored music.

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

D.R.E: It’s hard. I just try my best to stay on top of things really. I smoke a lot too so that probably helps.

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

D.R.E: Be on the look out for “D.R.E SP to Infinity” coming this Fall; and I also have another song im going to release soon. Stay tuned for that too !