This week we spoke with Jason Singer of the band Michigander about the Michigan music scene, his first single and musical influences.
Read our Q&A below:
BTS: What should people know about you and your music if they are not familiar with you yet?
Michigander: They should know that it’s different then a lot of the stuff that’s in the local scene, I think. I think the local bands, especially in the Detroit area, has a connotation of being like a certain way…I think it’s different…We try and do something different than what everybody else is doing.
BTS: How did you first get involved with music and what made you what to do it as a career?
Michigander: I think when I was younger, and everybody was getting ready to go to school, I was super against going to school, not super against it, but I didn’t find anything that was interesting to me. For a while I was like, ‘Oh I’ll be an archeologist,’ I love Indiana Jones, and then I was like, ‘No,” and then I thought, I’d be an actor, which is even harder to be an actor than a musician I think, and then I was like ‘No,’ and I sucked at that, so this was kind of the only thing I was good at. So I just thought, I’ll play to my strengths and try to do something awesome. Recently, I think, that’s really starting to catch on, like it’s my only job. Between this, and playing for other people, and random gigs, I think it’s my only job, so I like it.
BTS: Aside from being from Michigan, why did you choose the name Michigander?
Michigander: I was a solo project for like four years, five years, and then I decided it’s easier to tell people you’re part of a band than a solo artist because the connotations of a solo artist, people think you are just an acoustic guy, so I wanted to make people think we’re actually a band. So our slogan is ‘Michigander is a band.’ Like we have shirts that say ‘Michigander is a band.’
BTS: What’s your favorite part of the Detroit and Michigan music scene?
Michigander: I think the cool part about it is it’s like it’s own little country of music scenes. Like there’s the Lansing scene, which is very jazz, and very dancy music, and then you have bands that are, like in Kalamazoo, which is kinda where we’re from, where it’s all like shoegaze and in Grand Rapids it’s very musically interesting, and here [Detroit], it’s more like rock and roll and EDM and pop-rock and stuff. Most people for the most part, at least in the major scenes, are very supportive of everybody, even though at the same time, they’re very competitive and they care about their craft. They also like support everybody around. It’s cool.
BTS: What’s your favorite part of playing live shows?
Michigander: Meeting people after is pretty cool. It’s really cool to get in the car, the van, and see likes on Facebook. Some people are there to see other bands, but the people who like us, it’s cool if people actually care. It’s cool to hear people sing, like tonight, people sang, I didn’t know people knew that stuff.
BTS: What are your musical influences?
Michigander: I started, when I was younger, listening to James Taylor and Bob Dylan and The White Stripes. As I got older, I started listening to more Coldplay, and Killers and stadium rock bands. Now I’m kind of into more chill stuff, I still like all the old stuff I used to listen to, but like The National, and Sufjan Stevens, and Tallest Man on Earth, those kind of bands…Phox…are bands I’m really into right now.
BTS: I know you mentioned something about a single during your set, what all can you say about that?
Michigander: Yeah, April 29, I am putting out my first single. I’m super excited about it, it’s called ‘90s.’ It’s the first song that I’m super proud of, it’s a song that I would actually listen to that I wrote. I decided that this is the song that needed to be a single, so I’ve been recording in the studio that Sam and Leo have, from Rival Summers. So that song is done, it’s coming out April 29. So yeah, I’m really excited about it, and I hope people catch on and like it and share it.
BTS: If you could collaborate with artist, who would it be?
Michigander: I would love to do like a chill, Americana thing with a female vocalist. There’s a lot that I like, but it’s hard to choose. Or something like Ryan Adams. It’d be cool to do a chill, Americana thing. I think I just wanna make an Americana rock album.
BTS: What is your current favorite song?
Michigander: Let me see what I’ve been listening to…My favorite song right now…it’s gotta be good, it’s gotta be a good one. I’ve been listening to a lot of Tokyo Police Club, so maybe one of their songs. They have a song called “Argentina (Parts I, II,III)”. Besides that, “Don’t Swallow the Cap” by The National, that’s my favorite song.
BTS: What is a song you wish you wrote?
Michigander: It’s kind of two songs, but it’s one song, it’s called Sad Case/Happiness Missouri, by a band called EL VY. Their not my favorite band, but I listen to that song and I think it’s some kind of stream of subconscious, I have no idea how they actually wrote that.
BTS: Anything else people should know?
Michigander: They should know that Michigander is a band, and that cool things are happening.
Keep up with Michigander on Twitter, Facebook or their official website.
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