Some artists burst onto the scene, others toil for years until they catch a break and then there are others who start their journeys and due to undeniable talent rise up almost immediately; Taylor Tote falls into the last category.
This uber-talented songwriter/musician/vocalist from the Jersey Shore area has been described as an "Old soul," "Strong," "Naturally talented," "Insanely fun" and each are deadly accurate. Tote is the kind of artist who can pull at your heartstrings with softness and then smack you in the chops with power. Taylor's stage presence and live performances built her reputation and quickly garnered her multiple accolades as a "Must see" show; catapulting her into elite status and leading to eventual mini-tours around the country.
However, much like any artist, Tote had her internal struggles and felt a void despite all of her near immediate success. Maturity in age has a way of maturing one's talent or perhaps a better way to say it is that it gives entertainers confidence. Tote learned much and she did so with alacrity; so much so that she now feels confident enough in herself to make a change. A second chance with her current producer and the realization that she's now unveiling her true self has caused her to change direction with her music and her sound.
"Russell Hayden is my producer; this is what is funny, this sounds different for me from what everyone else is used to but it's something that I have really wanted to do this whole time. I've always wanted to be a pop star versus a rock star. I grew up listening to pop music, I've always loved pop music and that is where I always saw myself and I really think it was when I was with Aardvark Smile that I started getting into more music and more live music and being more inspired by rock and then believing that if I wanted to play out that I needed to have a band and that just kind of morphed into my sound. Honestly, I was never happy with the way my recorded music sounded; all of the producers and musicians that I worked with were great, I loved the live shows and I loved the way the songs sounded live but once I got into the studio there was just something that wasn't clicking; I felt like it was never authentically me. I actually really believe that this is one of the most authentic things that I've ever put out, it just rings really true to me. I would say that from, "Heart's A Boomerang" on is when I really started to feel comfortable with my music and my sound. I would love to go back to the live sounding pop rock and soul music, I would love to go back to what I did with "Evergreen" or with "Quarter-Life Crisis" but the pop stuff has just always been there and I never had the right kind of people to get it out."
"When I was performing live I was happy," she continued; "Specifically recorded music. Anything before "Heart's A Boomerang" didn't feel authentically me and it was really hard for me to tell people, go listen to my music because I didn't really want to tell people to go to Spotify or iTunes and buy my music because it didn't feel like that's who Taylor Tote was and it's not really a great representation; even with my live shows. I would tell people don't listen to my music on Spotify, listen to it at a show. Come to show and see what you think and what we do because it's a lot better than what's online; so that's what I mean, it's not that I was unhappy with it entirely, it's getting into the studio that was difficult."
"21 Min Drive" is her recent EP release and was done with Hayden and as was mentioned earlier; it only came to be through a second chance.
"I met Russell through mutual friends, he's in the music scene a little bit but he's more of a producer, he's also a rapper and hip-hop artist who really loves to produce and write songs for other artists. He came out to a show of mine in 2017 and he and Nick Ryan knew each other and I think it was Nick who said, "You should meet Taylor and you guys should work together" and I met him and he said, "I have some songs that I really want you to sing on" and they were his songs; I was just a feature. I did a lot of songs, I think I was featured on 75 percent of his album and once it came time for us to produce music together; he was going to produce music for me and it really wasn't working out but we still stayed friends and kept in touch. So, late last year he said, "I'd really love to try producing for you again. I've gotten a lot better at it and I've gotten a lot better at hearing what the artist wants instead of what I want and I really want to be able to write for you" and that's how it happened. We started the first song and he wrote half of it for me and he said, "I wrote this based on a conversation that we had the other day so, obviously it's for you" and I thought, OK, that's really cool. I had already written "Lowkey Stressed" and I brought it to him and I said, I think you can produce this really well. So, we had two songs and I said, well, we already have two songs; why don't we just do two more and release an EP? So, we did it completely remote over the course of three weeks; we wrote and recorded all of the songs. I was in my parent's basement, he was in his parent's basement and we were quarantined and we didn't meet once during that time period. So, that's why it's called "21 Min Drive" because that's how long it takes to get to his house."
Tote's high energy stage performances, emotional vocal rollercoaster and clear passion in her craft were always on display and amassed her a rabid following. When posed the question of how the new music has been received and how she intends on creating this new electronically driven sound on stage; essentially a totally different presentation than her fan base is used to, Tote was emphatic in her response.
"Yes! It is being received very well and I would say even though songs like "Fighter," which was something very close to my heart; it's not to say that just because this is electronic that it's not emotional; it's still very emotional and I actually wrote that music in kind of a very low mental state and that's what Russell was saying; I don't always have to be belting or screaming to have emotion. He was saying that I could pull back, I could whisper, I could be vulnerable and let people hear me because sometimes it's distracting when you're belting or screaming; you don't always have to be doing that. So, yeah, the electronic stuff is definitely a part of today's music and it's definitely more modern and I think that it's important being in the industry; keeping up with the times. Maybe my previous stuff would've done much better in the early 2000s when it was pop in the early 2000s but I don't think it makes it more or less emotional; it's just different and it's just in a different way."
"This is also something that I've tried to portray for a long time; your recorded music doesn't have to sound like your live music and your live music doesn't have to sound like your recorded music and very frequently it doesn't. That is something that I really have wanted for a long time, when we were doing it live I'd think, wow I love this, it sounds great as a live track and when we'd get into the studio I'd think OK, I want this to sound produced. I don't want this to sound exactly like it does on stage, it can sound a little bit more electronic, a little bit more polished, a little bit more held back and that was something that we started to achieve more so when we got into "Heart's A Boomerang" because David Ivory did add a little bit more electronic elements to that and some production tricks to that; which is really what I wanted because production in itself is also an art and I really wanted that to shine through. So, it kind of really didn't start to come through until around then but these songs on the EP have light instruments on them. There are guitars, violins and string instruments on them; I haven't performed with my band or as the Taylor Tote Band even before the pandemic in about two years. So, I wasn't really looking to do the band stuff anymore and I'm looking to do more acoustic sets and then get a band together and have a drummer with a drum pad, a keyboard player with a synth, a guitar player with the pedals so that it's live but with electronic elements in it; so, it's not impossible (laughs)."
"21 Min Drive" is a four song reveal of yet another side of Taylor Tote; once again demonstrating her immense talent but what is next?
"My goal is to really focus on writing and recording; Russell and I are actually working on three new songs which should be coming out soon as singles; not another EP. I also just released a song with two of the guys from Deal Casino called "My Dear Friend" and I did that with Telegraph Hill Records and that's definitely more rock U2/Coldplay kind of sounding. I also worked on another song with them and friends of theirs in Russia but I'm not sure when it's coming out; I'm open to collaborating with other people. I've been writing with people, taking piano lessons, a friend of mine has shown me a couple of tricks on the guitar and we have been writing together; I'm really just focusing on the creation end right now. Even if someone came to me and said, you can play a show tomorrow, I would say no because I've not performed in so long and I'm re-branding myself and I'm evolving as an artist and I'm getting older. I really want to make sure that before I play out again that I have a solid collection of songs that I'm happy with and that I'm going to be excited to perform out and that I also get the right people together. I think that was a really tough thing because I was friends with everyone I played with but that doesn't always mean that it's the right fit. I had band members who were very influenced by country, some who were influenced by classic rock, some were influenced by metal and I was over here like, I want to sound like Lady Gaga (laughs). That was very hard and I think as I'm getting older and growing as a musician I'm really focused on what is going to be authentically me and how I'm going to represent Taylor Tote in the future."
To discover more and see the many facets of Taylor Tote, please visit www.taylortote.com.
That's it for this week! Please continue to support live and original music and until next week....ROCK ON!
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