Comfort Club – Better Than Me
ARTIST NAME: Comfort Club
SONG TITLE: Better Than Me
ALBUM TITLE: Lone Cactus Motel
RELEASE DATE: February 8th, 2019
GENRE: Singer-songwriter / Rock
Spotify
Share your life story with us.
I grew up as the younger of two in an incredibly supportive household.
I’m from Michigan in the United States and I think growing up there impacted me so much because it’s a little bit slower pace than California (where I live now).
You have time to observe rather than just be running and that’s something that I never want to unlearn.
I dedicated my life to hockey for the majority of my childhood but once I realized I didn’t love competition too much, I transitioned into something more expressive in music.
I always loved art classes and music classes so I tried to fill my curriculum with that as well as anything that had to do with English.
I eventually went to Michigan State University, fumbled through that, and ended up with a degree in advertising.
In less than a year of being part of the work-force, I’ve realized that I want to chart my course in life more towards my passions and less towards financial success…
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Share your press release.
Comfort Club released their debut EP “Lone Cactus Motel” on Friday February 8, 2019 in what is promised to be a year full of releases from the Southern California outfit.
Available on all streaming services, “Lone Cactus Motel” introduces Comfort Club’s, for lack of a better term: comforting, insights to the world.
The 4-song project reflects on the subtleties of relationships that make them so hard to navigate yet so fulfilling when handled with care.
“Lone Cactus Motel,” written originally as a short story then later accompanied by music, is a narrative of trial, error, and reflection. While the timeline is seen from afar, the snapshots that Comfort Club zooms in on share imagery of heartbreak and optimism.
The coming-of-age EP cuts from scene to scene in a relatable monologue of youth and maturation that recounts the pivotal moments of growing up.
Comfort Club has been writing contemplative, melodic ballads since 2016 with the overarching message that everything is going to be alright. Growing up as a soft-spoken kid from Michigan, he started writing from the perspective of the eager boy who spent Friday nights by the phone writing about situations that other people were actually experiencing. He finds it interesting to address feelings that people tend to suppress¬ and he hopes that his music becomes part of people’s lives.
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List the names of those that have supported you so far in your music career and use this opportunity to thank them.
I want to thank Bret Tracey, Beth Tracey, Brendan Tracey, Connor Flynn, and Leon Canoe.
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Narrate your experience while recording in the studio or while touring.
I recorded this EP at home so for me it was really an experience of being the sound guy, the producer, and being the artist. While this lead to very little arguments between me and myself, I think when I finally passed it off to be mastered, I saw how valuable having a second set of hands on the project was.
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Discuss your songwriting.
Writing this EP was a huge lesson between what works and what doesn’t work – both musically and lyrically. The subtleties in lyricism make or break songs in my opinion so getting the lyrics right, down to the inflections of the syllables was always prioritized.
As far as getting the songs structured to a point where I was comfortable with the interest level of the instrumentation without overpowering the lyricism, it really came down to underplaying and letting the lyrics shine.
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Elaborate on your future projects.
I’m trying to focus a little bit more on groove in these future projects.
I wanted to come out the gates with a lyric-driven EP because that has always been the most important aspect of music to me but I also want to cater to a larger crowd. I’m never going to sacrifice on lyricism but I think I’m paying way more attention to melody and vocal layering to create more vibey tracks!
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Tell us what you are doing to increase your fan base.
I always have and always will be a fan of friendship through music. At the end of the day, I really want my friends to like my music so I try to do grassroots marketing as much as possible.
No show is too small and no person has less influence than the next so I try to get my music in the hands of people who I know will appreciate it because one loyal fan outweighs ten fair-weather fans. Maybe that’s an old school train of thought but authenticity will always prevail.
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Tell us that point in time you wanted to give up on your music career.
I think this thought process always surfaces when I’m writing songs because it’s a struggle to verbalize how I feel. But that battle of being face-to-face with yourself is incredible because it’s self-exploration in its most basic form. I want to give up one day and then I land it and it’s pure euphoria.
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Go into detail on how you make your instrumentation or melody.
I’ve started playing direct into my recording software and recording everything because when you finally circle around to a good idea, it’s already recorded and you can try anything over it.
I try to get a melody without just having a chord progression because I think chord progressions are just false-hope. They sound awesome but they’re not really an idea until there’s a melody over it.
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Tell us your complete understanding of music licensing.
My definition of licensing music would be monetizing your music for use in some other purpose than just pleasure.
It could be a commercial or an event or even someone else releasing it for their personal gain.
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Tell us your favourite genre of music.
Singer-songwriter.
Any genre in which people have something to say and prioritize that.
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Tell us the theme of most of your songs.
The theme is that everything is going to be alright.
A lot of the songs reflect on relationships but the core of the concept is that whether or not the relationship works out, you’ll land on your feet.
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Elaborate on this song.
Better Than Me is about being involved with someone who is out of your league.
There are two types of relationships: the one’s where the people are meant for each other and then the one’s where people turn their heads and go “she’s with him?”
The latter is the relationships I like because they really are perfect for each other if you look deeper. I think people tend to just make those judgment calls based off looks and that is the most narrow-minded approach.
And being that I’ve been in those relationships, you definitely start to project that opinion on yourself and get self-conscious but that’s where her confirmation helps a ton.
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Discuss digital distribution and streaming.
I use Distrokid because I weighed my options and felt like that was the best bang for my buck.
I love the fact that people can put their music out into the world because money shouldn’t be a prohibiting factor in sharing your art.
I truly wish everyone made art and shared it with everyone they know and I think digital distribution has brought out so many more creative spirits. It’s wonderful in my opinion.
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Tell us numerous ways that artists can boost their revenue.
Merch is key and probably the most fun.
Busking is a great way to make money and if you record it as a session, it’s a great marketing piece too. (See Alec Benjamin’s “Can I sing for you?” on YouTube).
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Tell us your opinion on self-training and enrolling in an educational institution to study music.
I think institutions are the best way to do it because you’re committing your life to music and that’s way more rad than having a fallback plan.
And I think in an educational institution to study music, there is still a large amount of self-discovery outside of the classroom that gets overlooked.
If I could have a do-over, I’d go to music school for sure.
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Go on at length on what it takes to write a hit song.
If a hit is something that is largely popular, I think it is all about hiding things that people already love in the songs and repackaging it.
Simplicity is huge because the majority of people don’t care about the complexity, they want something that makes them hit repeat.
Hooks come in all shapes and sizes but if the music is too complex or scattered, the hooks get lost in all the noise. Figure out the hooks and don’t bury them.
If the hook is a vocal melody, get it out in front of the instruments and let it breathe.
I think a lot of people, myself included, don’t know what the hooks are until after the song is finished so we don’t really have the foresight to prioritize them.
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State your artist’s name and elaborate on it.
Comfort Club is my name because comfort is what music is all about to me.
I spend a lot of time listening to music in sweatpants and it’s reminding me that everything is alright.
Then when I’m out in the world doing whatever I have to do, the music is there to remind me of that feeling. It’s like Classical Conditioning to feel alright and that’s what I want to offer to the world too.
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State the title of the song and the meaning.
The song is called Better Than Me and it’s one of those things that slips out of your mouth when you’re down on yourself and that’s when I wrote the song.
I was talking to this girl and I really liked her but I felt like I wasn’t good enough for her so I kept telling myself that and I think she picked up on that and realized that I needed some me time.
Relationships require confidence and I definitely didn’t have that in this one.
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State the title of the album and the reason for choosing the title.
I titled it Lone Cactus Motel because it was this short story concept I had of growing up.
There’s a lot of time that you’re growing up and you don’t realize it.
Similarly, I pictured driving in the desert and a lot of it is just open road but then you pass through towns and those are the memorable moments–good or bad. The open road is the majority of the drive but coming through town is what you remember.
And that’s what this album is. It’s my whole “emotional life” for lack of a better term and a lot of it is forgettable, but you remember the key people and the key moments just like you remember that 60s looking motel you drove by in the dusty old town when you were crossing the country.
