Cliff Beach + The MB’s – Confident
Artist’s Name: Cliff Beach + The MB’s
ARTIST NAME: Cliff Beach + The MB’s
SONG TITLE: Confident (Featuring The MB’s)
ALBUM TITLE: Confident (Featuring The MB’s)
RELEASE DATE: 5-10-19
GENRE: Funk/Soul
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Funk music artist Cliff Beach has been performing live for more than 16 years in Los Angeles.
The Berklee-trained singer/songwriter/keyboardist and DC native has created a style of music he coins as “Nu-funk”, a hybrid of soul, traditional R&B, funk and neo-soul which he performs regularly throughout Southern California.
In 2013, Cliff released the highly anticipated “Who the Funk is Cliff Beach?” EP, independently, which was nominated for three LA Music Awards including “Record of the Year” and one Hollywood Music in Media award.
Cliff also received national press in a featured live review in Music Connection Magazine in November 2013 and was a featured performer at TEDx Napa Valley in March 2014.
Cliff’s last album entitled “The Gospel According to Cliff Beach,” which was nominated for an Independent Music Award (Funk/Fusion Jam Album); winner of 2 Global Music Awards.
Cliff is a voting Member of NARAS, a Songwriter and Publisher with BMI and an award-winning member of Toastmasters International. Booking by Definitive Talents worldwide. Distribution by California Soul Music. Endorsed by TC Helicon and Nord Keyboards.
His latest single “Confident” has won the John Lennon songwriting contest grand prize for R&B and a Global Music Award. It was featured in Relix Magazine September Cd sampler and is currently on the Spotify All Funked Up and Funk Drive playlists with over 215k streams and counting. Cliff also has a monthly residency at Harvelle’s in Santa Monica, California.
PRESS RELEASE:
Cliff Beach single “Confident” Grand Prize Winner in R&B for John Lennon Songwriting Competition Session.
LOS ANGELES, CA – Cliff Beach is very pleased to announce that his latest single, “Confident” is a Grand Prize Winner in the R&B category for the John Lennon Songwriting Competition Session 1.
Beach explains on making the single “It’s funny, the MB’s saw me play a house concert in Topanga 10 years ago when they were teenagers, then we reconnected when we were both recording at Killion Sound with Sergio Rios from Orgone.
We decided to play a show together which led to making a record. I love when life happens organically that way, the vintage funk/soul world is quite small in LA.
When Lito from the group said he had some rare James Brown 45s I knew we were gonna be good friends.
The song for me was almost a throw away track when I made the demo in GarageBand. I thought it might be perceived as “cheesy”. But once we started laying down the actual basic tracks with the MB’s rhythm section I was “confident” it was going to be great.”
A voting member of NARAS, a songwriter and publisher with BMI, and an award-winning member of Toastmasters International, the Berklee-trained singer/songwriter/keyboardist and DC native Beach has created a style of music he coins “Nu-funk”.
In his fifteen years as a writer, Beach has won two Silver Medal Global Music Awards, and been nominated for three LA Music Awards, one Hollywood Music in Media Award, and one Independent Music Award.
His previous album The Gospel According to Cliff Beach pays tribute to his roots in Gospel music. The album brought to him his nomination for an Independent Music Award for “Best Funk/ Fusion /Jam” category and a Global Music Award win.
Beach was born into a family with strong musical roots, grew up playing in the church and sang regularly at home to entertain members of his family.
His musical journey flourished once he ventured from his home town of Washington, DC to attend Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA.
After graduating in 2002, he relocated and set his sights on conquering Los Angeles with his band, The Moon Crickets. The group released two independent albums; a self-titled debut LP 2006 followed by The Moon Crickets: Live at Universal City Walk in 2007.
The group quickly disbanded in late 2007, and at that time Beach embarked on a series of tours on Holland America Cruise Lines.
Upon returning to Los Angeles, he refocused his energy on playing solo shows, doing some studio recordings and hosting writing sessions with other local artists and producers.
In 2013 Beach released a solo EP, Who the Funk is Cliff Beach? mastered by good friend Peter Rocks (Of Montreal, Lupe Fiasco).
In 2014, Beach headlined “Target Sundays” at the California African American Museum for Black History Month, as well as their “July 4th Extravaganza”, and was a featured musical act at “TEDX Napa Valley.” In the fall of that year he released the Stripped Down and Unplugged” ep.
Beach has most recently recorded live for So Far Sounds LA and has a residency at Harvelle’s in Santa Monica.
His single “Confident” is currently on the Spotify All Funked Up and Funk Drive Playlists with over 133K streams, winner of a Global Music Award and featured on the September CD Sampler for Relix Magazine.
He is also endorsed by TC Helicon and Nord Keyboard, and released Live at Namm, from the Dynaudio Unheard Series this month.
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Tell us what your fans are saying about your music.
Fans of my music has been overwhelming supportive of the latest songs.
They say it is rawer, and more vintage than ever. They are mostly male, and between 35-55, but with the success of Confident, being on multiple Spotify Playlists, it has opened more doors for more listeners to find us and know we exist.
Hearing from people that are not in my immediate circle of friends that they want me to come and play in their city, or they want to perform my music is a great honour.
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Tell us the factors you consider in choosing a song as your favourite.
At the end of the day my favourite songs are passionate, emotional, and groove-oriented.
I listen to an eclectic mix of music, mostly funk, but I like dance, pop, electro, disco, some older country, classical, jazz, neo-soul and everything in between.
Most of the music I listen to and call my faves stem from the same American Root, the blues, gospel, traditional R&B, and rock n roll. If it has heart, feeling, and soul I am all over it.
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Tell us the names of producers you will collaborate with if you have the chance.
Mark Ronson, After Uptown Funk, Pharrell Williams (Frontin,’ Happy, Shake it Fast), Timbaland with Magoo and Missy and others. I also love Babyface, Greg Kurstin from The Bird and The Bee.
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Tell us the names of the songwriters you will collaborate with if you have the chance.
Diane Warren, Burt Bacharach, & Paul Mcartney. I would love to also write with Bruno Mars, Justin Timberlake, Gary Clark Jr. and Ceelo Green.
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Tell us your favourite TV show and state your reasons.
I have really gotten into Disney plus and The Mandalorian. It is funny because I was not huge into Star Wars, but I have always had a soft spot for Yoda and now baby Yoda. I like how the story is almost independent of the other Star Wars so even if you knew nothing you could enjoy it. In many ways it is better than some of the movies, my only issue is that they don’t let you stream and binge all at once like Netflix.
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Tell us your best mood to create a song.
Breakup sadness. That then turn to bitter anger. That is my best songwriting mood. I don’t write when happy. My songs talk about getting over and getting even. They are cathartic in nature. I feel better after and others that hear it feel less alone.
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Tell us your interpretation of fame or success.
Allen Toussaint wrote for Bonnie Raitt:
“What is success?
Is it do your own thing?
Or to join the rest
And if you truly believe it
And try over and over again
Living in hopes
That someday you’ll be in with the winners” I say it is to do your own thing, your own way, and if you can afford to wake up and do that as much as possible and sustain a life, and do what makes you happy, even if it doesn’t make you rich, and complete what you started, turning a dream into a reality then that is success.
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Tell us the names of artists you will collaborate with if you have the chance.
A lot of the Artist I would want to collaborate with are dead, but of those alive I would love to work with Usher, HER, Daniel Caesar, The Free Nationals, Anderson .Paak, Andre 3000, and Jacob Collier, Quincy Jones, Herbie Hancock and John Legend.
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Tell us about your experience performing on stage for the first time or recording in the studio for the first time.
I started performing very young at church when I was a kid. I was told as a teenager by a fellow church goer that I was not very good when I started, but now I sounded great! I am glad they waited to tell me when I was better, or I may have been discouraged and never reached my full potential.
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Tell us how you approach songwriting.
I try to come up with some chords, then a loose melody and then some initial lyrics. I am happy with a simple verse chorus. I usually show that to a few people or record an iPhone demo of it and then flesh out the rest within the next few days to a week.
I try not to labour too long on songs, though some have taken years to finish.
I enjoy collaborating with other songwriters as I think you get more ideas faster and it speeds up the process. I always tell them, we don’t have to put all our ideas in one song, we will write another one.
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Tell us your opinion on blending genres or experimenting with sound.
I have always been a hybrid of my influences blended together, I like blended wines and blended whiskeys for this same reason. The best of all worlds. I think it is always an experiment, figuring out what works and what sticks, and after desegregation all genres started to fuse based on access.
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Tell us how you deal with rejection.
Rejection therapy. You go out literally trying to ask for things, hoping people say No, and finding that many they say yes. It is the same way when dealing with fear. The more you confront it and face it the smaller it becomes.
I don’t always take rejection well, but you must shake the dust off your feet and keep it moving forward. All the greats were rejected from J.K. Rowling to Dr. Suess and look where they ended up. They didn’t want poor Rudolph until they needed him. They come back or you move on.
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Elaborate on what compels you to sing.
It is hard wired into my DNA. I love to sing in its purest form, with a crowd or just to myself. I find it very soothing. I come from a huge extended family of singers. It is my one true self-expression, my one true love. I would do it for free. It is one of the things I like about myself. I was blessed with a gift and a talent and I must share it.
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Tell us the comparison between digital recording and analogue recording.
I have been marrying the two. We have been recording to tape and then dumping into Pro Tools to finish digitally. I like the warmth of tape, but I like the ease of digital.
Again, the best of both worlds. Some people are purists. I can record strictly in digital and be OK with that too, I think the song dictates the sound and method.
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Tell us how you record your vocals.
I have a very simple approach. I am not the most technical person and leave that to my engineers, but I like to only record a few takes, and comp from that. I like to use as long from one take as possible. I try not to overthink it and want it to be as natural and organic as possible.
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Tell us the software you used mostly for recording.
Pro Tools. It has become the industry standard. I am sure, other systems are used in different aspects of the recording, mixing and mastering usually happen using Pro Tools.
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Discuss the selling of CDs and selling of digital files through digital stores.
I sell my CDs and files using CD Baby to distribute to all the streaming platforms, but most of the physical CDs still sell through live shows.
People do not buy physical CDs as much, so it is exciting to see all the streams on Spotify. Primarily due to being added to their editorial playlists. Not sure how the algorithm decides what will make a playlist but I’m happy ‘Confident’ did.
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Elaborate on the song.
This song happened very organically. The MB’s from Mestizo Beat, wanted to work on a song together. I originally thought the song was kinda cheesy, but they loved it. I wanted to lyrically write something that explained how to “fake it until you make it.” I was not always confident, but being a performer, I have to exude that, even on the days I don’t feel it.
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Elaborate on your artist name and the title of the album.
My artist name is my real name Cliff Beach, but people always think I made it up, since it is two, natural landforms. I was teased a lot about my last name growing up, but that is mostly because kids are stupid, but as an adult it never comes up. Go figure.
