Flying Solo – J. Alan Schneider

Inspired by his childhood love for writing pop-punk songs, New York’s newest indie-folk artist, J. Alan Schneider, began exploring the likes of Bob Dylan and other folk, Americana greats and fell in love.

The 27-year-old singer/songwriter takes us through his debut EP, Lo & Behold, life as a solo artist and the inspiration behind his new stripped down sound.

SPF: How did you get your start in music?
JAS: I started playing piano when I was five and that was sort of my entry to that. As I got older I started with band instruments. I was a huge band nerd, and then in middle school I also started playing in pop-punk bands. That was when I got my first taste of song writing. I then went to college in Boston and studied music technology, which is sort of a production degree and a composition degree. At the same time I was also playing in a pop-rock band. I played in that band for a while as one of the main songwriters. I moved to New York about three years ago and when I moved I was sort of moving away from the band. Then I realized a lot of the songs that I was writing were now a lot more personal and more of just me in my living room with a guitar. So it just felt natural to launch a solo folk project.

SPF: How did you go from the pop-punk genre to folk music? Was that something you had always been interested in?
JAS: Not really. My house wasn’t particularly a musical house growing up. I didn’t really have that same forced listening that a lot of kids from musical houses have. That’s how I think a lot of people get introduced to things like Dylan and the Beatles. At my school to be cool you didn’t have to be a jock, that wasn’t what the cool kids were. They were either skaters or in a band, so everyone was listening to Green Day and Blink-182.

I guess the first time that I really got into something you’d consider folk music was when I listened to an Anaïs Mitchell record. She’s this really great folk artist out of Vermont. She has this cool granola folk feel to her and when I heard that it was like ‘oh wow.’ It actually has a lot of similar tendencies to writing a pop-punk song, because it’s really about the simplicity of sticking to a theme throughout the whole tune and that’s what I think pop-punk is. When I heard that, I realized you could do a song that I really liked that didn’t have to have blaring power chords behind it. From there I started exploring Dylan records and Garfunkel records. I also really like a lot of contemporary folk artists like The Tallest Man on Earth. He’s one of my favourites. That’s kind of what came to inspire me.

SPF: So as an indie folk singer from New York, what’s it like being an artist in such an entertainment rich city?
JAS: It’s interesting. I played in a band in Boston for years and Boston is a pretty big market in its own right, but like you said, New York is almost everything. I don’t live in Manhattan. I don’t live in the thick of it. I live in a place called Astoria. It’s sort of this young neighbourhood and so that in itself is its own market. There are Astorian musicians. There are Astoria festivals that go on and there’s that camaraderie. I guess you sort of section off into neighbourhoods when you’re in a band. If you’re in Brooklyn, you have that scene. For me, I think New York just represents a ton of opportunities. There’s a lot of noise you have to sort through obviously because there are thousands and thousands of artists here but I think there are also thousands and thousands of opportunities. Playing some of these famous clubs and really awesome venues is something that I’ve been lucky enough to do and I don’t think you get that same access if you are an artist in Spokane, Washington or something.

I thought it would make a more honest sound if I sat in the living room and just chipped away at the whole thing.

SPF: Tell me about your debut EP Lo & Behold. What was the whole recording process like? You had self-recorded it?

JAS: When I started realizing that I was writing songs that were naturally just me, I decided I wanted to make an effort to do the whole thing myself. I thought it would make a more honest sound if I sat in the living room and just chipped away at the whole thing. I mixed and mastered it as I did have a bit of background in it. I studied it in college and so I had the equipment to suffice making a folk record. I also thought something that was too polished and too clean might hurt the sentiment of it a little bit. There are a couple of tracks that I intentionally left some room noise and some cars honking outside. I think that was the aesthetic goal.

SPF: Well it definitely sounds like you’re just sitting there with a friend playing for you.  So what was the inspiration behind it?
JAS: I think of this album as a debut of just me. Playing in a band you sort of hide behind the name. It’s not just yourself out there but you’re also with five guys on stage that you’re really good friends with. You can move in and out of the spotlight with them. A big part of this record – and even the name Lo & Behold – became me saying, ‘this is what I’m doing now.’ I think from a song-to-song perspective, they are specifically about situations I’ve had in my life and people who have entered and exited my life. A couple of the tracks are as old as a few years ago and a couple I wrote while I was recording. It really is a nice breadth of stories from my life.

There are thousands and thousands of artists here but there are also thousands and thousands of opportunities.

SPF: You mentioned that when you were in a band, you could hide behind the name and the other guys you were on stage with, and now it’s just you. Did you find it hard at the beginning to start playing those songs as a solo artist knowing that this is you and these are your words – like you’re exposing yourself a bit?
JAS: Yeah. This is a pretty new project for me, just a couple of months, so I’m still feeling that a little bit. I actually had my first formal solo show a couple of weeks ago at this cool venue called Rockwood Music Hall. I played in the downstairs area where they set up a lot of tables and chairs like a comedy club. It’s a really quiet room and people are there to listen to acoustic music. That was the most extreme version of what you described – it was just me and 50 other people who are there to hear my songs. It’s sort of nerve-wracking in that regard but I’ve also been a performer for a while and once I get into the groove and get out of my head a little bit it’s easier to perform by myself.