Coming from a musical family, it was destined for Tandy to one day become a star of his own. He was influenced by his father George Tandy, showing him true musicianship at a young age. In our conversation, we talked about his debut album, feeling pressure from his father, and the current state of music. It was honestly a great pleasure chatting George Tandy Jr. His intellectual conversation and enthusiasm about music could have kept us there all day! Tandy makes sure that the each individual that hears his music, will be able to match a face with a complete understanding who he is. Trust me when I tell you he's an artist that has no plans of going away anytime soon. Read the full interview below.
Tell me a little about yourself and
how you first got into music
I started getting into music
because I wanted to be like my dad. That’s the main thing I knew about him
growing up. I would listen to his tape (at the time), sit at the carpet and
pretend like I was playing the keyboard just like him. From then on, my family
saw that music brought something out of me. My dad brought me my first keyboard
when I was eight. He put me in the band when I was in sixth grade, I played the
clarinet and a couple of other instruments. From then on I couldn’t leave music
alone, even when I was playing sports, music was always a part of my life.
Were you the singer on the team?
Actually no, I was very
introverted. I was more task-driven than I was outwardly about my passions and
my opinions early on. I was a closet singer. I didn’t let anybody know really
that I liked to sing. I was the one beating on the table or if there was an
instrument around I was the one figuring it out, kind of low-key off to the
side. People would discover me; I wouldn’t really be big about it. As time
progressed, it started to make sense that I was able to channel my emotions
into some of that introverted stuff would come out through the music, and I was
able to develop my confidence through arts.
Did you ever feel like growing up
wanting to be like your dad, you felt the pressure of becoming a good musician?
No, I never felt any pressure. The
only way I would’ve felt that pressure is if he would’ve put that sort of
pressure on me and he never did. My whole family is very good about saying “it
doesn’t matter what you do, just make sure you’re passionate about it and that
you’re good to people. Do your work and don’t expect anything to be handed to
you. If you want to do it, learn your craft and stick to it, follow through.”
I’m very fortunate to have that
support because its honest and it holds me accountable for whatever I’m trying
to do.
In saying it’s important to perfect
your craft, do you think a lot of artist these days aren’t really perfectionist
at their craft or do they just make music that’s trendy, sometimes lacking true
musicianship and instrumentation?
I feel like I have a long way to go
in terms of my skill set. I could learn a lot more musically as far as theory
is concerned, I just happen to have an ear it. I play keys by ear. I think we’re
all in a different spaces so it’s not really my place to say where everyone
else is. I think everyone has different interest. Someone was asking me how they
could get their music out the other day, he was like “I don’t play an
instrument. I don’t do this, I don’t do that” and I was like focus on what you
do.
Show people that. If all you do is sing and write lyrics, sing,
write lyrics and do it to the best of your ability! If you have trendy music, capitalize
on it. At the end of the day you want to be happy with what you’re doing and people
have to eat. If you’re able to do that, that’s fantastic.
I do appreciate however, the artist
that write their own songs, play an instrument and really sing without using any
type of technology as a crutch. I appreciate that because that’s what I grew up
with you know what I mean? It’s easier for people to feel that organic thing
because people like to feel something. To each is their own.
Who were some of the artist that
you grew up listening to?
My dad primarily. Outside of my
family, I really enjoyed Michael Jackson, Boys II Men, Dru Hill, Jill Scott
& India Arie when they came out. They showed how impactful it is to be transparent
through your lyrics, because it last a long time. I like Jay-Z, Eminem, John
Mayor, Kendrick Lamar, Mali Music. I could really be here all day! (Names several
other artist)
Out of those people you named at
the state of your career and your style of music, who could you see yourself
working with?
All of them, except for Michael
Jackson. Well these days you can still work with Michael Jackson if you talk to
the right people! Honestly I could work with any one of them, but I would want
the song to lead based off the idea and not hype. I don’t want it to be an
image-driven song. I want the idea driving the song, like it actually works and
makes sense. I would want to work with any of those people, because I think I could
really come up with something nice.
During your time of working a 9-5
job, were you making any music? Do you think your time working a standard job helped
get you to where you are now?
There were phases. I was a
professional Hip-Hop dancer for 7 or 8 years, so I was touring, doing
competitions and teaching. I got tired of dancing around the music both figuratively
and literally. It wasn’t enough artistically, I wasn’t satisfied. Music was
always a part of my life so I decided I really wanted to do music; I had to eat
so I got a 9-5.
Dancing was paying well, but I then
pulled back. I got the 9-5 at working at Starbucks but I was making demos,
performing at spoken word spots, open mic spots, just trying to get people to
associate me with the good music or the song I had made. I’ve been singing some
of the same songs for like 8 or 9 years, some of the songs are on this album. I
used to say everybody’s gonna come around to me at some point in time I know
it, not just to me, to the music. It seems to have happened that way.
That means you make timeless music,
if 9 years later you can still perform the same song, is that something that’s important
for you?
What we have to do is create a
balance. Trendy is relative to supply & demand. If artist are supplying,
then the demand goes up. It’s up to the artist to sacrifice the immediate
gratification, I’ll be honest the “big money” from that trendy music. It’s all
up to the individual. I want to be able to live with this. I want to be able to
meet as many people around the world with this music as possible. I don’t want
anyone to associate me with just a couple of years, so I appreciate you
recognizing that.
Your album is entitled The
Foundation. What is a solid foundation to you?
A solid foundation album speaking
is meaningful lyrics, nice cord changes, and live instrumentation. I feel like that’s
a very solid foundation because everyone around the world loves that, everybody
loves musicians. In life in general, having strong faith no matter what the
religion is. Faith and religion are two different things; faith just believing in
yourself, a confidence that can never be compromised by any external
circumstances; keeping the family together, friendship, having fun and enjoying
life. I think all of those things can set us up for success from one day to the
next.
You’ve had tremendous success with your
single “March.” It’s a very powerful song. What was the message you wanted people
to get when you wrote the song?
My intention behind the song was really
to remind myself that relationships can only be sustained if we are willing to
face our obstacles from one moment to the next honestly. Accept ourselves and accept
our failures, but not as a plateau saying this is what happened, this is how I’m
going to get out; be solution oriented.
There’s a phrase that I say a lot “heart
over mind over matter,” a lot of people say mind over matter. The mind is unreliable;
the heart however is always reliable. That song represents that idea for me. If
your heart is right everything else will come around and you will be able to
sustain those relationships that you care about.
How did you come up with the
concept for the album?
I always said if I do one thing in
life, I just want to make one album. There’s a chance the whole world will hear
it or at least it will be accessible to the world. I wanted to call it the foundation
because it feels right, based off of everything we talked about and what The Foundation represents. As far as
the songs, I was loyal to the ideas. Four or five of the songs have been in
existence for about 10 years, and they have a relationship with each other, you
can feel that they were written around the same time.
I wanted to keep them together and I
filled them in with new experiences. There’s a song called “Gravity” which is
the first song, you can feel my growth production wise. I threw a little
bonfire music in there, with a chill vibe, me rap-singing.
I feel like the CD flows. You can
just put it on and let it play; you don’t have to worry about anything. If you
really zone into it, you might be moved in some sort of capacity. It’s
emotionally demanding, it’s a little subdued, but my energy in person is
totally different.
(Photos: FARRINHEIT 411/Calvin Thorburne)
CONVERSATION