Today we’d like to introduce you to Ariel Levine.
Ariel, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
I remember an evening from when I was about 2, and I was crying in my crib. My parents did the proper parenting thing by ignoring me. It was summer. The air was humid. My window was open and the cicadas were chirping…or whatever it is you call the sound a cicada makes. (At the time we were living in the very suburban town of Fairfield, CT.) Anyway, cicadas everywhere. The light in my bedroom had a darker, yellowish tint, emanating from the clown/balloon light that every baby my age had. (You know who you are). The thing I remember most of that night is when the crying subsided. When I began to give up, and that post-cry snivel took over. There was an extraordinary sense of melancholy serenity that came with it. A calmness that I still try to look back on if ever I’m feeling restless (which is a lot). I remember that night well. Too far back?
My parents were both artists, working artists. This taught me a lot, but more on that later. They had a graphic design firm, which in the 1980’s meant my sister and I – children of artists – were not going to starve. My father was also an amateur musician. Woodwinds. Flute and Clarinet. He would play around the house. We would listen to records. My father would pick me up and dance me around the room to Talking Heads’ ‘Stop Making Sense’ and Huey Lewis’ ‘Sports’. We later moved from the suburbs, deeper into the sticks of CT.
My father died when I was 4. My mother continued to be a working artist and still is to this day. We are very much alike.
For my 5th birthday, I got a red My First Sony Walkman. With it, a cassette copy of the Ghostbusters soundtrack, dubbed over from the vinyl record. I still have the Walkman and it still works. I also still have the cassette as well as the record from which it was dubbed.
When I was 6, my mother got remarried to the man I never called step-dad, but simply, Dad. He was the one who really gave me an appreciation for music. Taught me about bands, how to read lyrics, etc. We listened to a lot of Pink Floyd together. He took me to see Beach Boys, The Who, The Pretenders, Roger Waters and… of course…MC Hammer.
I consider myself fortunate enough to have experienced my childhood in two polar opposite environments. Half was spent in the woods of Connecticut, the other half right smack dab in the heart of Manhattan, from about age 10. The city gave me all my inspiration. Still does, even though I no longer reside there.
…Learned lots of instruments, played in a lot of bands, wrote lots of songs bla bla bla booooorrrrring!
I dropped out of high school at 17 and moved in with my older sister. We shared an apartment in Washington Heights, the northern tip of Manhattan. As young adults, we would still fight like we were little kids.
All I wanted to do was play in bands and be a musician. But I decided to pursue a brief education in audio engineering and music production. My plan was to be a recording engineer while waiting for my music career to take off. Figured it beat digging ditches or waiting tables. Besides, I was a terrible waiter.
A quick stint in trade school and a few internships later, I was working as a recording engineer. Not only was this decent supplemental income, but it taught me a lot about being a better musician. How to use my ears, how to write with recording in mind, how to record with writing in mind, how to work with other musicians, produce my own records and so on.
The studio business has changed a lot since I got started (it’s virtually non-existent now), but I’ve been a multi-faceted working musician ever since. I continue to produce records, compose music for a variety of mediums, gig regularly with a number of different bands, and still offer my technical engineering/mixing/editing services. Like my parents, who were graphic designers as opposed to wild and free starving painters, I learned how to apply my passion for an art form and find joy in the working side of things.
It’s not always easy. The money doesn’t always flow. And yes, there are times when it is difficult to find the right balance between Ariel the working musician and Ariel the recording artist. But I’m hoping with my new album, my new band, the upcoming recording projects and tours, that the two aspects of my career will become one.
Ok, that wasn’t brief. Apparently brief stories and Fernet do not mix.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
My own “art” is heavily influenced by my professional technical experience. Creating art to me is a very technical process. I work on a schedule, I write at a desk. I make things fit, and if they don’t fit, I use an analytical approach to rearrange the pieces until they work. I see chord changes as shapes, I see melodies as squiggly lines. You know…stuff like that.
I write a lot of heavy, dark songs, but ironically, I’m at my happiest when they’re written. When I am actually in a depressive state, (which is often), I won’t have the energy to write.
There’s no ONE way I write. Sometimes songs come farting out of me in moments. Other times it will take me years to finish a song. Often, I hear a song first as a series of contrasting rhythms and grooves. Like “what if the guitar was doing this thing while the bass was over here doing something completely different” Then I mash them together until they get along.
I’m trying to bring something new and exciting to the table, as are we all. But I’m also well aware that there are only 12 notes in the scale, and pretty much every combination of said notes and chords have already been used. So, I wear my influences proudly on my sleeve. I let my music harken back to the past, paying homage to amazing bodies of work, while hopefully bringing it forward into the future.
In every piece of music, I write, I try to incorporate something quirky, obscure, almost uncomfortable…tense. But then I bring it back to something comfortable and familiar. So, when you reach that cadence…. you’ve heard this before….it felt good then….it feels good again now. Even though more impending danger is just around the corner.
I also love heavy metal, funk, soul, folk, punk/new wave etc. So, I like to try to just mash it all together where applicable.
I hope people like my music enough to listen more than once. If not, that’s ok too. At least I like my music.
How much time do you have? How much Fernet do I have left?
We are living in a DIY world, where it’s everyone for themselves. Record labels are no longer in charge of what makes its way to the public. Labels no longer dictate who “makes it”, what you can listen to and what to buy.
The beauty part about this, is it gives everyone a chance to have a platform. And there is some amazing music out there that you or I would have never heard without the power of the Internet, or if the labels were still in charge.
The downside to this is that there is no quality control anywhere. And it is difficult to sift through millions and millions of artists to actually find something that really is special. It’s very easy to get lost in a sea of over stimulation, as both an artist and a consumer. There are artists out there that are really good, but if they don’t have the know how to rise above all the internet static, they’ll never be heard. The flip side, of course is really savvy folks who might not be the most profound artists. Influencers, I think they’re called.
As for me, I’m still learning to strike the balance between being a good artist and a tech savvy social media whiz kid. I’m still trying to find a platform, a medium that satisfies my needs as a creative person, but also is something that will get noticed by people outside of my immediate circle.
I love making albums and playing rock shows. I want to continue to do so, but I am also aware these are no longer the preferred mediums of the average modern music consumer. If I can find a way to continue doing what I love (making albums and playing rock shows), but also do something outside of that to satiate the needs of the general public, then I think I’ll be okay.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
I am a car carrying member of a variety of social media platforms. The Facebook, the Instagram, Twitter, etc. All of that can be found via my internet homebased, www.ariellevine.com.
There you can find links to either download my new album “Let the Machine Get It” or order a copy on vinyl, shipped to your door. It can also be ordered through my label, Bleeding Gold Records (bleedinggold.com/ariel-levine/)
I also play regularly around San Diego and Los Angeles with my band Ariel Levine & Mechanical Royalty. We hope to expand to other regions of the US and Europe in the not too distant future.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.ariellevine.com
- Instagram: theariellevine
- Facebook: facebook.com/ariellevinemusic
- Twitter: theariellevine
Image Credit:
Kyle Kenehan (beach photo). Ryan James Abribat (all others)
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