Interview — Tony Ferrari
The New Old School
This West Coast's hunk embodies everything we miss about the '50s: Heartwarming soul-pop beats with a gentle country attitude, cheeky swiveling hips – and the classic Elvis hairstyle. On the road with Tony Ferrari.
31. August 2014 — MYP N° 15 »My Homeland« — Interview: Erin Stegeman, Photography: Max Motel
There's a saying that a soul never dies, it only transforms. If that's true then the souls of Marvin Gaye, Elvis Presley, and Buddy Holly have taken up comfortable residence in that of 22-year old Tony Ferrari, a self-taught singer/songwriter and YouTube star from Thousand Oaks, California. With a throwback-dipped, soul-pop sound, lyrics that go straight for the heart, and a style of phrasing synonymous with greats like Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, Tony's latest album title "Gentlemen" seems befitting.
We meet in the back corner of a busy Beverly Hills Starbucks. Tony arrives with perfectly parted hair and a retro t-shirt. There's a warmth and confidence that bounces off of him as he politely refuses to let me pay for our chai lattes. We sit and discuss his Italian-American dad's recent struggles with no longer being able to enjoy the pleasures of his mom's pasta due to a prescribed gluten free diet.
His family is everything to him, that is clear from the start. In fact, he and his younger brother, Ryan, performed a duet cover of The Lumineers "Ho Hey" and his latest album features a track titled "Mothers" – a song, he says, is his way of expressing his extreme gratitude for his own. He is a couple years younger than me but I have a guttural instinct that this artist, who speaks with militant honor about having Journey's Steve Perry sing on his album, is indeed an old soul.
Erin:
Your passion for music stemmed out of a somewhat traumatic event that I think a lot of kids can relate to. Can you tell me a little bit about that?
I had gone to a small, private middle school growing up, and then I transferred into a large high school and it was such a shock. I didn't know anybody. It was just this weird thing where I ended up eating in the library by myself for three months. It wasn't the worse thing in the world, but I was pretty devastated. I'll always remember this one day I was sitting there, missing all of my junior high friends and I'm getting super emotional, so I put on my headphones thinking, "I gotta get out of this." I put my iPod on shuffle and Nat King Cole's "L.O.V.E" came on, and it was just a moment of THIS IS IT. I was never really into music as a kid, but that moment – it felt like something had saved me. That led to me wanting to play guitar.
You're completely self-taught, correct?
Yes. I've never taken a formal guitar or voice lesson. I went with my uncle to get my first guitar. I remember picking it up for the first time and I figured out how to play three different songs immediately, and he looked at me like…sort of angry (laughs). He and my cousin taught me a lot and we just jammed all time. They taught me the finger patterns and chords, but other than that, I just watched videos on YouTube. My favorite thing to do is listen to songs and just figure it out.
How did you get into songwriting?
I always wrote. As a kid I was always writing poetry with my grandpa, who's a published poet. As a teenager I started to think, "OK that's not cool", but once I started getting into guitar and singing, I had asked my grandpa if he had written anything lately because it had been a while. I'll never forget what he said – "I lost my heart for writing when I lost your grandma." It hit me then that it's my cue to take the torch now.
You just gave me chills. There's a certain wisdom that you have to possess to comprehend that.
It's evident from your videos and blogs that family is very important to you.
It's unbelievable how encouraging they are. Most of my extended family is out here in California. I feel like I wouldn't be doing it if it weren't for that. Same with my friends. Everyone has been supportive since I started.
Will we be seeing more duets of you and your littler brother?
Tony: (Laughs)
It's funny because playing the guitar did not come naturally to me. I had to study it, learn it, really practice to get to where I am now. But, Ryan was actually taught piano by another uncle of ours, and he just absolutely shreds it. He's 13 years old and I don't really want to expose him to the world yet. He keeps saying he just wants to be my keyboard player, and he's just the most fantastic kid. But my parents are like, "You got to go to school!". I love playing with him, and I can just see it in him that's he going to start songwriting soon.
I thought, oh, God, you were terrible. I was ready to run, but then the school went crazy!
Once you had a few songs written, how did you get started with building an online presence?
When I started, MySpace was the thing.
We both laugh.
I had this little anteater microphone and recorded some songs and put one up. This was a time when I still didn't know anyone at my school. The first time I played for someone was actually for my girlfriend in high school. I was so nervous I put my head down the entire time and was shaking. After the song was over, I was thinking she's gonna hate it so I look up and she's sobbing. It was the coolest thing to move someone like that. She encouraged me to do the school's talent show. I don't know where the courage came from but I tried out and got in. There were about 500 people in this auditorium. My song ended on a cliff-hanger so when I hit the last chord, nobody clapped. I thought, oh, God, you were terrible. I was ready to run, but then the school went crazy! That was the moment for me when I just knew this is what I wanted to do. Being on stage was my drug. That's when I started to write and record even more. I would just go to school thinking of ideas. Then YouTube came, and it really is such a great resource. I got everything up online. A year later I had written enough for an album and had been saving and saving. Some awesome people got together and we created my first album "Signs". The response has been insanely positive, which is amazing.
Behind every great musician is a great management team. How did you come to work with yours?
One of my friends was working at a restaurant chain in Thousand Oaks, California. He sent my first album "Signs" out to a woman he knew at their corporate office to try to get me on their playlist. She loved it and put two of my songs on the list. At the same time I was playing this regular gig in Hermosa Beach, California. I was really sick one night, so I told all of my friends and family to not come to that performance. I was performing to a completely empty house except for this guy in a suit sitting in the back. And, admittedly, I just was not playing or singing anything close to my best that night. I finished, and he comes up to me and introduces himself as a manager at ROAR (a successful talent and music management company) and I'm like, "No! Why are you here TONIGHT?" It turns out that the woman from corporate told her brother about me and this guy was his business partner at ROAR. I told him to come back next week and he totally did. My manager's support means a lot to me. To have someone like that who believes in me, is just the coolest thing.
Obviously the 50s and that retro Americana style has a lot of influence on you and a lot of musicians today. What about that style is so appealing to you?
For me, I lean more towards the soul of that era. Sam Cooke is my biggest influence and he is just the king of it. They didn't have technology back then. It was just a band and a melody, but they had that talent of just making you feel it. The lyrics are simple but you get it. That's my favorite part. When I listen to that music, I don't hear it. I feel it. I think that that's gotta be something that appeals to everyone. I mean, there are a lot of things I like about today's pop, but there are a lot of messages in some songs today that are just horrible. I listen to the radio sometimes and it makes me sad. If a little kid turns on the radio it's like, "Oh no, what are you hearing?!" I think that's something that will one day fade. That's my hope.
Is there an artist today that you particularly admire?
I really like Bruno Mars and Sam Smith. Sam came out of nowhere and is just insanely talented. I listened to his album recently and thought, what am I doing?
I do this for me. No matter what happens, I will already have these stories to tell my kids one day.
So what helps you get through the self-doubt?
I've been riding this roller coaster of doubt since I started. The biggest thing for me is just the support of other people and knowing that everyone goes through it too. The thing is that I just love it so much. I do this for me. No matter what happens, I will already have these stories to tell my kids one day. Music has helped me immensely. I feel like I've grown up because of it. I like myself more because of it.
So what do you see for your career in the future?
My goal right now is to get my music out to as many people as possible. I'm working on getting on the road and touring with similar artists. I want to play stadiums one day. Writing and performing are my two loves. I hope that I'll be able to continue writing for myself, writing for other people, and performing whenever I can.
Do you see yourself going crossing over into acting at all?
Yes. I love the idea of creating and embodying a character. A couple opportunities have come up that are still in the works, and I'm dying to talk about them… but I can't.
Johnny, one of Tony's managers comes over and embraces him like he's a brother he hasn't seen in years. They're off to Joshua Tree, California, and 43 degree heat for a photo shoot. Tony jokes that it'll be "Bikram-style" and embraces the challenge and four-hour drive with a smile.
Tony Ferrari is a 22-year-old musician living in Los Angeles, California.
www.iamtonyferrari.com
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