Soupe – Your Love is Gonna Be Right Here

Check out the new song from Soupe – Your Love is Gonna Be Right Here

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Exclusive Interview

Tell us about where you are from and how you got to this position today?
It’s an interesting story to say the least. We all met musically in the Southwest which is a beautiful place to be creative, tons of culture.  But each of us are from different parts of the country. Jonny, our guitar player is from NYC and had quite a musical career there. Dmitri, our drummer is from Venice Beach, CA and brings that whole culture. Jaco is actually native to New Mexico. And I am from New England, Boston, mostly having played in many bands out there.  We all came to the Southwest for different reasons, and love this band.

Tell us more about the current song you are promoting to everyone.
The song we are promoting “Your Love is Gonna Be Right Here,” it really defines our sound right now.  It’s full of different elements that give it that big raw garage rock sound peppered with hip hop and funk.  But I originally wrote it as more a funk tune, and then realized it sounded better with an edge to it.  It’s all about certain relations with women that matter so much it’s like the tide, a strong one that will never let you back to where you started. Raw emotions and no room for regret. It defines us.

What are you currently working on and what can we expect to see?
We are currently working on two polished singles to be released in the fall when we go on tour.  We will be making small trips to Austin, Denver, Fort Collins, and all over the Southwest for a regional tour.

Tell us about one of the hardest challenges you had to face in the industry?
I think the hardest part was always being asked by producers and promoters “who was I going to replace in the industry?”  The industry always wants to find some artist that is similar to another artist of the past that made money because then they have a fan base and just need to tap into that similar sound.  For example, I entered a hip hop competition in Atlanta while I was living there and it was similar to The Voice, but less of a budget.  I was backstage listening to the performer in front of me who was a male, twenty something, doing his thing, like a gangsta thing, and they tore him apart telling him he needed to write about women.  I was next. I did an acoustic hip-hop number of my own which they loved, but then preceded to tell me it didn’t fit into the industry at this time.  Disheartening, but I never looked back after that.

What was one of the biggest setbacks in your career and how did you bounce back?
Our guitar player, Jonny was deep into the scene in NYC in the late nineties recording in the same studios as Quest Love, Lenny Kravitz and he was friends with all of them.  His band Yo Mama got picked up by a subsidiary of Sony for a three album deal, and then it suddenly went sour because boy bands and gangsta rap rock took over and killed the R&B/funk scene.  It set him back quite a bit, but he took tons of knowledge from it and brought it here to Soupe.

What are some things artists need to be careful of?
Artists in general need to know when to compromise and they need to know when they are being taken advantage of.  I see so many services and promotional tools, some of which are great and some that are just scams.  It amounts to knowing the industry standards for contracts, and what’s expected. Be extra careful about throwing money down on a single. I think that is not necessary. It has to be of high quality, but if you’re spending $10,000 on two songs in the studio it’s not necessary.

What suggestions do you have for other artists like yourself?
It amounts to this.  Live performances are the best way to get to your fans and keep them.  They will come back and invest in you if they love your music.  Therefore we always make it a point to love what we are doing and have fun on stage.  The “Spirit of the group” is another band member.  It’s when everything is clicking live and you enter the void, the zone.  Pure joy in what you are doing and that in turn makes the fans eager to be there, involved.

What are the best ways to sell your products as an artist?
Some of the best ways are at your shows and door to door to each business you want to solicit to.

What is one of your favorite ways to promote yourself and your music?
Our favorite way is playing live. In your face raw fusion of rock and hip-hop with undeniable comic twists.  I love the internet for promotional tools, but that is just a small piece of the pie.  Live to play live!

Where can people visit you?
www.reverbnation.com/Soupe