The man behind Spiderhound and the new Dopamine EP release is Sean Naughton, an experienced musician, songwriter, producer and recording and mix engineer. Sean continues to fine-tune his craft after 2 decades in many original bands within the rock genre (the longest running band was YellowDog). Sean has studied under the talented Grammy award winning producer, Charles Dye and is currently working closely with his mentor – the brilliant and legendary sound innovator, ILL Gates. Sean is always evolving his workflow and creative approach by learning from the most innovative producers in electronic music. Although Sean’s first instrument was guitar, his instruments of choice at the moment are Ableton Live 10 Suite, Moog Sub 37, Make Noise 0-Coast, Push, APC 40 MK II, Native Instruments Maschine Studio and Traktor S8.

Exclusive Interview:

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

I grew up on Long Island and have loved music since my very first memories. At age 14, I began guitar lessons and my musical tastes over the years went like this (Top 40, Classical Music, Classic Rock, Heavy Metal, Alternative Rock, Electronic Music, Jazz and then back to Electronic Music). When I was 18 at Fairfield University I finally mastered the skill of playing guitar and singing simultaneously and wrote my first original song, “Shell” which reflected the popular grunge sound at the time. In college I played in quite a few cover bands and actually made quite a bit of cash playing guitar with bands in bars. Soon I became tired of performing other people’s tunes and I began to focus on writing my own music under the alias “Mushroom Spiderhound.” It was quite mental and I remember one of the reviews of my solo live performance used the adjective “harrowing” to describe the experience. Enough said.

I joined a Jazz ensemble in college and at the peak of my guitar playing skills I was able to sight read in an ensemble. My guitar professor told me to learn theory and then forget it. His point was to not get too restricted by theory, because it will suck all of the soul and beauty out of the music and make it too mathematical. Being a lazy punk, I loved this advice and was happy to forget everything I learned about music theory since my incredibly accomplished teacher told me to do so. Let’s say I may have taken this to an extreme…a “harrowing” extreme.

After college, I produced my very first EP on a 4-track tape recorder. I then got involved in collaborating with other bands and projects in New York City and eventually landed comfortably in the band YellowDog where I spent about 10 years or so collaborating on hundreds of original rock songs with my bandmates. Our very first project was a rock musical, “Project: Ground Control” inspired by David Bowie’s Major Tom character. This was a huge endeavor with quite the cast of characters and it had a well-attended run of performances at the Brooklyn Lyceum theater in the year 2002. After this, YellowDog continued writing and performing original music mostly in the New York, New Jersey area. In 2008, the arrival of my first-born daughter closed that YellowDog chapter in my life and the role of being a new parent dominated my focus for the several years that followed.

Frustrated with ProTools and the lack of intuitive creative flow, I began to research the artists that I admired to try to find out what DAW were they using? I remember seeing Four Tet doing a 10 minute song creation challenge on YouTube and the DAW he was using was Ableton. It seemed magical and I had to learn more about it. I purchased Ableton Suite and a Push and my Ableton learning journey began. The learning curve was quite steep and I don’t learn very well from manuals, so I scoured YouTube for tutorials and everywhere I looked, ill.gates was popping up in my feed with these amazing tutorials and the “Ill Methodology.” I instantly vibed with Dylan (ill.gates) and his candid approach and ability to explain complex topics in a way that was easy for me to understand. I was really blown away with how incredibly intelligent and insightful his methodology was and I loved how nothing was secret to him. He shares all of his knowledge and keeps nothing hidden. I devoured all of his videos and purchased his Ill Methodology course. I sent him an e-mail through his website and he actually responded to me! This is when my mentorship with ILL Gates began and my life has changed for the better in every possible way.

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?

When you are starting out you should invest your time in perfecting your craft. If you are like every artist that I know, you will make tons of crap in the beginning. The important thing is to stay focused and resilient. You need to work through the crap to get to the good stuff and this takes a lot of time. You need to have patience and not get discouraged…this is the learning process! It’s also incredibly important to create a daily music making habit. If you practice or focus on your craft intermittently it will take even longer to get better at it. When it comes to getting gigs you should start small and local so that you can build your confidence and performance skills over time. As your skills get better you will notice that the audiences get bigger and then size doesn’t really matter in terms of anxiety level. You naturally become more comfortable with the art of live performance and can easily play to audiences of all sizes. It becomes the new normal. Putting yourself out there and meeting like-minded people will open up various opportunities for you.

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

I played guitar and sang in front of live audiences for over a decade in practically every club that Manhattan had to offer. I learned that if you make a mistake during a live performance the best thing to do is to not outwardly indicate to the audience that you made a mistake. The average listener will have no idea that you made a mistake unless you reveal it to them by making a scrunched face or getting upset. The best thing to do is to just let it go and move past it and not let it bother you. People are there to have a good time and they are not scrutinizing your every move. Just have a good time and that positive energy will be infectious. When I think back to some of my favorite moments at concerts it is usually a memory of my favorite artist making a mistake and then making it a lighthearted, funny, self-deprecating and entertaining moment. This is what makes live performances so exciting and why people love to see their favorite artists in person. It’s not for the moments of perfection, but for the moments that show their humanity.

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

I have not toured yet as an Electronic Music artist, but I think I could write a novel about all of my interesting rock and roll live performance stories. I remember one night we were playing in a bar in Manhattan and the men’s room directly behind us caught on fire. This was shortly after the Great White tragedy in Rhode Island so people were pretty on edge and the packed bar cleared out pretty quickly, but in an orderly fashion. Our band took the approach of the players on the Titanic and we “calmly” played through the incident so that people didn’t get too terrified and start trampling on one another. It turned out in the end thank God to not be a big deal after the staff got the fire under control with fire extinguishers, but it was one of those gray area moments when you look at your bandmates and continue doing what you love to do and wonder is this how we are going out? I think if we stopped playing and freaked out that anxiety would have made the people even more terrified and could have led to people hurting each other as they fled. Be aware of your exits at all times.

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

I recently got the Make Noise 0-Coast and I love it. It’s the happy accidents that produce the coolest sound design. I also really love my Moog Sub 37 and my collection of guitar pedals that I run everything through. I’ll take out my guitars too if the mood strikes me.

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

I think just organically connecting with people is the best way because then they get to know you as a person and they become friends. I think it’s good to pay it forward and stay positive because I firmly believe that you get what you give. My opinion is that you should always be thinking “how can I add value in this situation?” and not think “what’s in this for me?” Building good Karma in the world is the best form of promotion in my opinion.

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

It’s interesting, because if you asked me this question at different points in my life I would have had a different answer for you each time. At this point in my life I would love to perform with Ill Gates at the Shambhala music festival. It just seems like a magical place with incredibly positive and creative vibes. I hear that the Shambhala Experience is unparalleled and it usually happens around Dylan’s Birthday. All of these elements would likely combine to be an experience of a lifetime. Dylan has been such a positive influence in my development as an artist it would mean the world to me if I could perform at his level and reach the pinnacle of creative mastery that I have been pursuing since I was 14.

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

My plan is to continue producing and releasing original tunes and collaborate more with my fellow producers in the Class of 808 and Producer Dojo. I want to continually improve my live performance skills with various midi controllers and set ups instead of the guitar that I became so comfortable with over the years. In addition, I will be contributing as a blog writer for Producer Dojo. I would also like to get into teaching music production to anyone who would like to learn from me. I have learned so much over the years and I would like to share my knowledge so that others can improve their skills quickly and avoid the many mistakes that I made along the way.

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

I actually shared this with the Icon Collective Team when they posted this question and I have to repeat it here, because it is so accurate. Did you ever walk into the kitchen and then completely forget why you came to the kitchen and then you stand there trying to rack your brain…”what the hell am I doing here?” That is what my entire life would consist of.

Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in the next year or so?

On March 9th, My Dopamine EP is releasing on the Producer Dojo label, you can can check it out here https://fanlink.to/spiderhound. On the horizon you can expect more original music, collaborations and live performances.

Exposed Vocals: Any Shout-outs?

Shout out to Dov1 at Muti Music, Shaun Sokalski at Producer Dojo, the incredibly talented producers in both the Class of 808 and the Producer Dojo and the one and only never-ending source of inspiration and positive vibes, Ill Gates.

Randy M

Since 2008, I've been dedicated to supporting unsigned artists through ExposedVocals.com, evolving from platform creation to in-depth music reviews and artist discovery. I showcase talent, amplify voices, and share industry insights from legends to empower the next generation of musicians.