Esterly
Esterly is a producer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and composer based in Nashville, Tennessee.
He’s kicking off 2020 with a new single “Where Is My Mind?” originally performed by American alternative rock band Pixies. The producer brought alternative artist Sø (New Politics) on vocals for his version of the iconic record.
Released via Pray For My Haters, the single will be followed by Esterly’s debut project RESET, a 5-track EP featuring Sø, Austin Jenckes, Jung Youth and The Knuckles.
His past collaborations have been featured in multiple official trailers for "Call of Duty: WWII" and 20th Century FOX's "Assassin’s Creed" as well as commercials & promos for Fortnite, NFL, MLB and television shows with NBC, The CW, FOX, BBC, SkyTV and ViaSat among others.
“Where Is My Mind? (Ft. Sø)” is now available worldwide.
Artwork: Andrea Pesci
Introduce yourself - what's your story?
Hey! I'm Tony Esterly. I'm a producer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and composer in Nashville, TN. I started playing piano at an early age and have been making music since.
"Where Is My Mind? (Ft. Sø)" is your new single. Could you describe us the production process?
I loved producing this version of the song! I tried flipping the guitar riff and playing it on a highly distorted Juno 60 to get the vibe of the song, then it all came together from that. Drums and guitar came afterwards and fit together nicely. Some more distorted strings and bass guitar kind of rounded everything out. I play keyboards, bass and guitar, so there was no need to hire a band for this one. Soren came in after a rough track was laid and nailed all the vocals in 2 or 3 takes. He's such a fantastic singer, and his tone and attitude really brought the song to life for me. For the Esterly project, I try to produce something similar to rock music but without using standard distorted guitars so.. most of the instruments and vocals I record get mangled through guitar pedals, cranked pre-amps or plug-ins. We recorded Soren's vocals though my guitar pedals with delays and reverbs being turned on and off during his performance to highlight certain parts. I spend awhile on the mix and had my friend Nathan Dantzler master the track as well as the rest of the album.
What made you want to collaborate with Sø on this single?
His voice fits perfectly for this song. We'd met a week or two earlier, and he'd talked about his extensive rock background, and I knew he'd do great. He's been writing and performing in his band "New Politics" for a while, so it was a no brainer to ask him to collaborate.
What made you want to cover this particular song?
The ending scene of Fight Club! It was such an iconic song placement in one of my favorite movies.
What was the inspiration behind the lyric video?
The title of the EP is RESET. In a basic sense, I kind of wanted to change the idea that people may have of these songs, and dive into a new place with them. Also, it's kind of a left-field challenge to listeners to think differently about things other than music as well. An extremely talented digital artist I work with in Italy, Andea Pesci, took it steps further with finding the quote: "Remember, man, that dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return," and created the amazing album art for the project based off of that. The visual genius Joe Dietsch took it a step further and added the trippy underwater element to 3D animated artwork to get to the final product. I was floored when I saw both the artwork and the video.
What can you tell us about your upcoming project RESET?
It's a 5 song EP with covers and re-imaginings of songs I've always loved. There's a rap version of Jewel's "Who Will Save Your Soul" as well as covers of Technotronic's "Pump Up The Jam" and a Motley Crue song. It's all over the place.
What was the hardest part about making this project? And what was your favorite part?
The hardest part was making all of the different genres of the songs fit together cohesively into a project. Finding a way to present Jewel's poetic lyrics in an aggressive rap setting showed itself to be a challenge as well. If she gets the chance to hear it, I hope she enjoys it! My favorite part was collaborating with all of the vocalists, instrumentalists, and artists on the project.
As a producer, what advice would you give to young producers?
I hated hearing this as a young producer, but... your success will happen in your time if you keep going! For some people, that's age 17. For others like Quincy Jones, it's your middle age! I have a hard time with comparison and always feel like I could be "doing better" or "making more hits," but I've found the more I've kept my head down and worked towards ideas and situations I'm passionate about, the more fulfilled I've been as a creator, writer and producer.
What makes a "good" production?
If it makes ANYONE feel something.. anything at all, then it's a good production. (It might not sound good or be technically correct haha) but if it affects someone, I'd say it's a good production.
What is your proudest career moment to date?
Seeing my song "This Is My World" premiere in the trailer for the "Assassin's Creed" feature film. I still remember seeing that for the first time.
What biggest lessons did you learn since your very first release?
The more pressure you put on yourself to make bangers, the worst your songs will get! It's all about finding the naivete and wonder you had when you started, but finding a way to combine that with technical skill you've learned over the years.
As a human being, what do you want to accomplish?
If I can do anything to make just one person's life a little better or easier, that's good with me. Maybe ease a little pain or help someone through a tough time - if they happen upon my music, that's great too.
In your opinion, what would make the world a better place?
If everyone just kind of got out of their own heads and put themselves in other's shoes for a while each day, I think we'd move forward in the "better place" department much faster.
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