Post by Heather on Sept 23, 2009 10:13:21 GMT -5
Evan Taubenfeld - On His Own - Envy Magazine
His fame is a sleeping beast. The world has yet to witness his individual talent. He is on the verge of stardom and yet before the tape recorder is even turned on, before the questions begin, this 26-year-old lyrical machine, is already full of interesting things to say with the utmost humble intent. He sits, open to conversation, ready to spill the beans of excitement stemmed from a fresh solo career – just on the cusp of an upsurge.
Luckily, ENVY was able to steal some time with rising star, Evan Taubenfeld, in the Foundation Room at House of Blues in Dallas right before he hit the stage, Tuesday, September 8th. Immediately, he tells us the air conditioning on his tour bus is not working and that he and his band have been traveling around in a sauna on wheels. But this singer/songwriter, could not have been more cool about it. We find out that Taubenfeld doesn’t need anything fancy, just as long as he has his guitar and musical mind chockfull of lyrical melodies.
Taubenfeld – former lead guitarist and songwriter for Avril Lavigne – left Lavigne in 2004 to try it solo. He elaborates on the vast differences of past and present: “We were playing in front of about 50,000 people a night on average. At one point we played in front of 1.8 million people in Times Square. You can’t get any bigger that that. But, it was her band, it wasn’t mine. Last week when I got on my bus – it’s an old bus, ya know, it’s a 20-year-old bus – I realized that I’ve been on busses that have been a thousand times nicer, but this is my first bus. I can’t really explain how cool that feels.”
His intelligence and articulate speech impresses all bodies in the room, including the cameraman. “I read a lot of books. I downloaded the Harvard curriculum syllabus, bought all the books and started putting myself through it. From then, I just started reading what I liked. I’m studying for the General Class Amateur Radio Operators licenses exam right now. I don’t do drugs or drink so I’ve got a lot of extra time.”
Welcome to the Blacklist Club, Taubenfeld’s debut album, has a theme that surrounds the essence of falling in love and the importance of having fun. He modestly admits to ENVY that personal experiences in love and relationships can be heard through his lyrics. “Well, you know, the record is my personal experience. I mean I’m a songwriter and a storyteller, but it’s like if I hadn’t lived through everything on the record, then I wouldn’t have been able to write any of it. ‘Evan Way’ is very personal and ‘It’s like that’ or ‘Cheater of the Year,’ is straight up stuff that happened to me,” he explains.
He divulges his natural writing process and unlike the typical stigma attached to songwriters, he has a friendly personality to boot. “I think everybody everywhere has some sort of natural skill. For some reason my whole life I have been able to just sit down on a guitar or piano and make things, make a song, make a structure and a melody, and it’s really easy. I don’t have to think about it. It’s just what I do. I am not the smartest guy in the world. I probably wouldn’t have been a good lawyer or something but, I can write songs pretty easily.”
For someone with such a packed schedule, Taubenfeld, spends roughly three hours a day blogging and connecting with his fans online. ENVY asks him about his blog and he is quick to correct us. As he doesn’t call his supporters “fans,” he kindly refers to them as friends. “The reason why I am intimate with them is because I don’t believe in fans. I really don’t. I don’t like the concept of fans. They’re my friends. Any kid who likes my music, who supports me in any way shape or form … is my friend.”
As our intimate conversation comes to an end, he lets us in on what we can expect from him as 2009 comes to an end and 2010 approaches. “It’s kind of the calm before the storm. I think the people that have been around early are going to have a lot of fun, because I can feel that things are really about to explode. I spent the last five years lining up dominos, and I’m just ready to (smiles and makes a clicking soung) flick it at the end of the year.” He reveals that he’s got some great follow up songs that he “could not feel anymore confident about.”
“I think come the end of this year and the beginning of next year I would hope that the sentiment would just be, ‘Where did this Evan Taubenfeld guy come from and why do I keep hearing about him.’”
- Melissa Kabilio
His fame is a sleeping beast. The world has yet to witness his individual talent. He is on the verge of stardom and yet before the tape recorder is even turned on, before the questions begin, this 26-year-old lyrical machine, is already full of interesting things to say with the utmost humble intent. He sits, open to conversation, ready to spill the beans of excitement stemmed from a fresh solo career – just on the cusp of an upsurge.
Luckily, ENVY was able to steal some time with rising star, Evan Taubenfeld, in the Foundation Room at House of Blues in Dallas right before he hit the stage, Tuesday, September 8th. Immediately, he tells us the air conditioning on his tour bus is not working and that he and his band have been traveling around in a sauna on wheels. But this singer/songwriter, could not have been more cool about it. We find out that Taubenfeld doesn’t need anything fancy, just as long as he has his guitar and musical mind chockfull of lyrical melodies.
Taubenfeld – former lead guitarist and songwriter for Avril Lavigne – left Lavigne in 2004 to try it solo. He elaborates on the vast differences of past and present: “We were playing in front of about 50,000 people a night on average. At one point we played in front of 1.8 million people in Times Square. You can’t get any bigger that that. But, it was her band, it wasn’t mine. Last week when I got on my bus – it’s an old bus, ya know, it’s a 20-year-old bus – I realized that I’ve been on busses that have been a thousand times nicer, but this is my first bus. I can’t really explain how cool that feels.”
His intelligence and articulate speech impresses all bodies in the room, including the cameraman. “I read a lot of books. I downloaded the Harvard curriculum syllabus, bought all the books and started putting myself through it. From then, I just started reading what I liked. I’m studying for the General Class Amateur Radio Operators licenses exam right now. I don’t do drugs or drink so I’ve got a lot of extra time.”
Welcome to the Blacklist Club, Taubenfeld’s debut album, has a theme that surrounds the essence of falling in love and the importance of having fun. He modestly admits to ENVY that personal experiences in love and relationships can be heard through his lyrics. “Well, you know, the record is my personal experience. I mean I’m a songwriter and a storyteller, but it’s like if I hadn’t lived through everything on the record, then I wouldn’t have been able to write any of it. ‘Evan Way’ is very personal and ‘It’s like that’ or ‘Cheater of the Year,’ is straight up stuff that happened to me,” he explains.
He divulges his natural writing process and unlike the typical stigma attached to songwriters, he has a friendly personality to boot. “I think everybody everywhere has some sort of natural skill. For some reason my whole life I have been able to just sit down on a guitar or piano and make things, make a song, make a structure and a melody, and it’s really easy. I don’t have to think about it. It’s just what I do. I am not the smartest guy in the world. I probably wouldn’t have been a good lawyer or something but, I can write songs pretty easily.”
For someone with such a packed schedule, Taubenfeld, spends roughly three hours a day blogging and connecting with his fans online. ENVY asks him about his blog and he is quick to correct us. As he doesn’t call his supporters “fans,” he kindly refers to them as friends. “The reason why I am intimate with them is because I don’t believe in fans. I really don’t. I don’t like the concept of fans. They’re my friends. Any kid who likes my music, who supports me in any way shape or form … is my friend.”
As our intimate conversation comes to an end, he lets us in on what we can expect from him as 2009 comes to an end and 2010 approaches. “It’s kind of the calm before the storm. I think the people that have been around early are going to have a lot of fun, because I can feel that things are really about to explode. I spent the last five years lining up dominos, and I’m just ready to (smiles and makes a clicking soung) flick it at the end of the year.” He reveals that he’s got some great follow up songs that he “could not feel anymore confident about.”
“I think come the end of this year and the beginning of next year I would hope that the sentiment would just be, ‘Where did this Evan Taubenfeld guy come from and why do I keep hearing about him.’”
- Melissa Kabilio