IBG Interview – 7 Questions With… Ed Hale

To stay in this crazy music industry for any amount of time is quite an accomplishment. To live in the rock star lifestyle and keep it going is even more amazing. We had a chance to catch up with veteran rocker Ed Hale and hear about how he does it. His newest track “Prince Of New York” continues his diverse developement. Enjoy:

With all the wild monikers out there now why did you decide to stick with Ed Hale as your artist name?

Ed Hale: That’s a really good question. Especially now right? Everyone’s got a crazy name. And you know, back when I first started I felt the same way. I get it. Which is why I was Eddie Darling those first few years of my career. (Laughs). Everyone just thought that was my name. That’s’ so crazy. Looking back, I don’t know, it sounds corny to me now. But I came up with that when I was a kid, you know? Still just dreaming about everything… Looking for something that was different or unique I guess. So when I got picked up, they just went with it. Everyone just assumed that was my real name… so I went with it too. The first album was titled just EDDIE. And that was that. Even when I was in the band Broken Spectacles with Matt [Americana singer/songwriter Matthew Sabatella], I kept the name. We all had these made up stage names in the band. (Laughs) But a few years later, after a lot of hallucinogens, we started growing up a little, and there was this strong desire we started feeling for more authenticity. More realness. We became really intense about it… So we all decided to start using our real names. We gave this interview about the new album we were releasing and let it all come out. And that was a trip! Because the press really thought these were our names. Everyone was like “What the hell?!?” But we felt like it was something really important to do, regardless of what our names were. Because it was more real and more honest.

I remember there was this girl, who was like a groupie, like a professional groupie, that was her full time gig. I’m not gonna drop the names of the bands, because that’s their personal life, but we met backstage at a concert and we started hanging out after that. She was older than I was and was really close to all these older artists that I really looked up to and admired. Guys I worshipped as a kid. So I took her advice and suggestions seriously. She said to me one night, while driving like 120 miles an hour down this highway by the ocean with a joint hanging out of her mouth! I remember freaking out, wondering if I’d make it through that night alive, but she says to me “Ed Hale is a cool name dude. I’m glad you changed it back. You did the right thing. Not only is it more real… But it’s a cool name! Like don’t go back to that fake name dude. Seriously.” I’ll never forget that moment. She wasn’t even looking at me when she said it. She was driving! And so freaking fast, swerving all over the road. But she just let that out in that moment and it stuck with me…. I trusted her. 

How would you describe your sound?

Ed Hale: (Laughs) How would YOU describe our sound? That’s the question! (Laughs again) I don’t know man. We cover a lot of styles, you know? I mean, jeez…. We’ve almost done it all now…. We used to always be classified as Brit Pop or Brit Rock. So for a while everyone thought we were British. Which is hilarious. But we just dug that whole British music scene vibe. We could relate to them easier than what was happening in the States. Honestly man once hip-hop and metal and EDM started taking over the American music scene, the only touchstone for artists who still created rock music were the Brits or the French. Bands like Coldplay or Muse or Travis or Air or Phoenix. Even U2. You know? Eventually American bands started playing rock again. Which is great. But by that time, American consumers were done with rock music. At least on the radio and TV. Rock music died. And it still hasn’t come back really. And yeah that sucks, for a lot of people that’s ended their career. Not just artists. But DJs and radio programmers and producers… rock music is a lost art at the moment. Trying to re-find itself.

But right when all this was happening, our record label started urging me to change styles. They wanted me to go more “Adult Contemporary”, in order to appeal to a wider audience, with the solo album. And I didn’t even know what that meant! We had to research it. (Laughs). And to us it just seemed to mean more acoustic and less electric guitar… We did NOT listen to that kind of music personally. Like as fans, ourselves. But the producer was hell-bent on making sure that that new album sounded AC (Adult Contemporary), which is like a totally different radio format that’s still really popular in the States. And that was the Ballad On Third Avenue album, which is crazy, Right? Because that album ended up becoming the biggest album of our career. Bigger than Sleep With You, which was up to that point our biggest seller. Eventually, that album went on to get three songs in the Billboard top 40. Shit we had never experienced before. Total craziness. All just because we changed styles a little. Now, I really don’t know… We’re still surfing that more acoustic wave, you know, but we’ve electrified it a little bit. So maybe Brit Pop is a more accurate description for us now than it ever was before.

Which artists have had the greatest influence on you?

Ed Hale: Well, there’s no sense in naming all the usual names that everyone already knows about, because they’re all so obvious. I love all that classic stuff. Because when I was growing up, for whatever reason, I just wasn’t digging what was going on at the time compared to how much I dug the music from the 60s and 70s. And I don’t really know why. That’s just how it was. And trust me, it would have been easier on me as a kid if I fit in a little more, (laughs), like if I had liked the music that was popular more, like everybody else, I would have been less of an outsider. But I heard this music that came decades before and just really connected with it. It made me FEEL. It was deep. And rich. And intense. And honest. Stuff people don’t even know about now. Like the Mamas and Papas or Dylan or Simon and Garfunkel or Donovan. I would sit for hours and listen to these old vinyl albums, obsessed with the sound and the pictures and the lyrics. Pink Floyd was another one.

I really got into Glam obviously. Everybody knows that. So you know… I mean, look, here’s the thing. Everyone slaps the Bowie label on us, like right out of the gate. Every review. BAM! David Bowie. Or U2. (Laughs) Which is funny, because name dropping U2 is the same as name dropping Bowie, because David had such a big influence on Bono and the other guys. So it’s coming from the same place…. You get no points for that. (Laughs) But I get it. Bowie WAS a big influence. But he’s not THE source. The band and I talk about it sometimes… Like beneath Bowie, there are the other sources that both inspired him AND us. But no one goes there… maybe just because they’re not as big of names… But guys like Lou Reed and Marc Bolan and Iggy Pop were HUGE influences. I mean earth shattering, for me. Brian Eno too. Then you find out later that they were also the same artists who inspired David to become Bowie in the first place… So it’s this circular thing that’s really important to acknowledge. Bono says the same thing. Seeing Marc Bolan on TV for the first time made him want to become a rock star. Well I never got to see Marc on TV obviously… But when I heard his music for the first time, decades later, I felt the same thing he felt. Like “Holy crap I want to do THAT!” And of course there are thousands more… I love all kinds of music…. It all depends on the moment in time… Prince was the KING in my opinion. At least when he was “on”. Way more than you know who. Rufus Wainwright still doesn’t get the credit he deserves. He’s amazing. Jeff Buckley too. Lost. Almost forgotten, like his old man. And of course, Caetano Veloso is one of the greatest singer-songwriters there ever was if you take the time to dig into his catalog. He is just phenomenal.

You seem to travel quite a lot. How has that affected your music?

Ed Hale: (Laughs) Well there’d be no “Ambassador” if I wouldn’t have traveled. I mean that’s where it all came from. When you grow up in the U.S. you don’t even know about music from other countries. It sounds crazy, but it’s true. It’s sad. Totally different from how it is in Europe or in South America. They have these global charts. You’ll hear music from a bunch of different countries. In the States you’ll hear stuff from the UK or Ireland sometimes, or occasionally from the Caribbean if you’re into Latin music, but that’s about it. Once you start traveling and you start to realize that “good music” doesn’t begin and end in America, it’s like KABLAM! It blows your mind! Because America is so obsessed with itself, it tends to ignore everything else that’s going on around the world. In all the arts. Especially music and film. It’s really lame when you think about it. It’s the hubris that kills all empires.

Once you start traveling though, you start to recognize that every country has a foundation of its own unique culture and art, including music. Just look at Africa. There’re over 50 countries in Africa and every single one of them has its own unique cultural fingerprint that they share through their art and music. South African music may be the most popular to western audiences. But the music of West Africa is where it’s at for me, as a listener. Same with Iran. Persian music is an entirely different world! Blows your mind. Same with Indian and Pakistani music. They don’t even use the same scales we do! What it comes down to is that if someone comes up to you and tells you that the music of Brazil is every bit as good and exciting as the music in the U.S., totally on its own, with no U.S. in the mix, most people wouldn’t even know one famous Brazilian artist. But it’s true. And that goes for every country in the world today. They all have incredible passionate thriving music scenes. You just have to start digging in.

Speaking of that, tell us about how your new single ‘Prince of New York’ came to be?

Ed Hale: Well with the song itself, there’s not a lot to tell to be honest. Because that song wrote itself! I swear. That happens sometimes. It’s like magic. And that song was one of those. I strummed a chord and out came the first verse and the melody and the rest of the lyrics, all in one shot. All I had to do was figure out the chords I needed to play and surf inside of it. I added my own ideas here and there… Little pieces from my own life… But mainly that song was just ready to come to earth and needed a place to land. I was more like an air traffic controller. (Laughs).

But the COOL thing about “Prince of New York” is when you listen to the finished product. What we hear is this totally finished and complete song, like its own unique thing, an entity unto itself. As if it’s always existed… But if you break it down, what it really is is this incredibly tight and focused collection of all these different parts, by all these different people who came together in a moment and contributed their own special thing to it. It makes me feel really emotional for some reason when I listen to it… I mean, there’s the opening, me playing guitar and singing… And that’s cool… The lyrics are interesting. Because right off the bat you realize that this is a story… But then BAM the drums and bass kick in and take it up a notch, like a rocket. That’s Bill Sommer and Roger Houdaille. I’ve been playing with them now for like fifteen years. We can read each other’s minds when we play. They just nailed it right from the start. And a few seconds later you hear these guitar riffs come in, after each vocal phrase. That’s Fernando [Perdomo]. Genius. The fucking guy is crazy, but just hands down brilliant. Before you know it, you start noticing there are strings in the background, like a ton of them, violins and cellos, creating all this harmony and counter-melody. That’s Greg Byers. Cello Greg they call him. He wrote these incredible string arrangements and then played all the strings himself. One after the other. Simulated a whole string section on his own. By hand. Crazy. And of course by the time it hits the first bridge you start to recognize that there are horns in the background. This cat named Paul Messina who’s like a legend down in Miami added those. And we’ve never even met him in the real world. Only online. But he played on all the songs. So crazy. And you also start to notice that there’s a lot going on with the vocals… there are a ton of them. In unison, in harmony, doing ooos and aaahhhhs and lah lah lahs…. And that’s all Matt [Matthew Sabatella], who I’ve been singing with for a LONG time. Since we were kids. I tend to not be that great with singing harmonies. The guys make fun of me about it all the time. (Laughs). I’ve just never been very good at it. Even when I try. But Matt is great when it comes to coming up with harmonies and singing them. My sound, our sound, would not exist if it weren’t for Matt Sabatella. And Fernando obviously. And Roger and Bill and Greg… now that I think about it. I guess that’s what gets me emotional about it. It’s not just one guy who wrote a song. It’s a whole group of guys who each contributed something really special that only they can do. And in the end you have this song that sounds like it’s always existed. If that makes sense….

What advice would you give to other artists trying to make a name for themselves?

Ed Hale: Well, since we’re talking about it now, I would have to say, “find other people who you absolutely adore and admire their skills and be really free with them in terms of letting them do their thing with your work. Because anyone can write a song. And hell, anyone can play the guitar or create a beat or record themselves singing a song, especially these days. But that doesn’t necessarily equate magic. Even the best singers and songwriters have producers. And that person can literally make or break you when it comes to the SOUND that you end up creating. Just the choice they make of which mic you’re going to sing into can make all the difference. So you have to LOVE that person. You have to think they are THE BOMB. Or don’t work with them. It can’t JUST be about friendship. That’ll come along later, naturally, as an extension of working together and admiring each other’s work. But the impetus has to come from admiring how amazing they are at what they do. Dig?  Like that’s WHY you work with them. That’s WHY you’re friends. Because you deliberately chose to work with them because they’re awesome at what they do.

I could tell you stories of the first time I saw and heard each of these guys play and how blown away I was. Every one of them. And that’s what it comes down to. Find the best people. People who can do stuff that you CAN’T. If you’re envious of their skills or talent, you’re on the right track. That means they’re better than you. That’s what you WANT! And then trust them to do whatever they want to with your songs. Give them that freedom. And in return, you give them your best. And I’ll add, the same thing goes with your producer and mix engineer too. A lot of artists don’t realize how important the mix engineer is, that he or she is your co-producer. Your main producer helps you get all the paint on the canvas and choose your colors. And that’s important. But your mix engineer is the one who decides what that painting looks like in the end. They’re the one who decides what people see and hear when you’re all done. Our mixer, Zach Ziskin, has been mixing our stuff for fifteen years. He’s part of the band. As important as any of us. Because he helps create our sound just as much as we all do.

What’s on the horizon for Ed Hale?

Ed Hale: (Laughs) Well for now, we’re knee deep in the album release phase. And we’ve got three new albums releasing. That’s a lot. But we’ve done this kind of thing before. In fact, we tend to do it more often than not, for some reason. We always end up recording way more songs than we can fit on one album. Like way more. With this new album project, we just took it to a whole new level. So by the time we were done, we realized that we had at least 3 very different but solid albums worth of material. So right now it’s all just interviews and album reviews and radio promo spots. You know, the usual stuff. Then we hit the road. And that’s when the real fun starts.

Sounds like a very fun road to be on if Ed Hale will be leading the way. Keep up with more happenings on his WEBSITE.