Ryan Star: First Exclusive Interview with RyanStarFans.com

By Tiffany M. (RyanStarFans.com)

“Boom.” Pause. “Boom.” Pause. “Boom.”

From outside the venue the bass drum pounded through the unusually warm spring air. Moments later, guitar wails followed, along with the standard microphone check. Walking up the steps to the venue, the energy of hundreds waiting in line for the concert was excited, chatty, albeit a bit subdued. Walking through the maze of cream, red, and teal backstage corridors, I made my way up three flights of stairs to a very well lit dressing room, appropriately decorated in a barrage of yellow stars. Taking a seat among the mirrors and lights, I looked around the cinderblock room. Backpacks and various personal belongings were strewn about the floor and on countertops, as a steady flow of people entered and exited the dressing room, including the bass player, and drummer, who I would officially meet later. Readying my questions and recorder, I waited for the arrival of the person for whom I had come.

Moments later, Ryan Star entered the dressing room. He greeted me with a smile, and was very gracious. He took a seat across from me after snagging a bag of potato chips from the aforementioned countertop, and the very first exclusive interview began. After a brief introduction and preface about my questions, I dove in, with a very attentive artist sitting and taking in every word. We began with small talk about current music and one of our mutual loves, Leonard Cohen.

Tiffany (RyanStarFans.com): Something the people on the website want to know is- what are your inspirations for this album?

Ryan Star: ‘11:59’ is about my kind of version of living in the moment, you know? It’s my, my number for that. I feel like it’s about what’s heavy, and what’s happening, so all of the songs are very urgent. “Wake Up,” “Brand New Day,” even “Last Train Home,” “This Could be the Year,” “Right Now,” these are all songs that are like, screaming. So, the message is breathe in every moment, and the question I ask is, ‘What’s your 11:59?’ You know, for me, I know what it is, it’s being on stage and writing, for a football player it’s scoring a touchdown.

Tiffany (RyanStarFans.com): Describe your album in one word.

Ryan Star: Urgent.

Tiffany (RyanStarFans.com): What is success to you? How would you define it?

Ryan Star:I think the bare minimum, the bare bones idea of what you’re asking…I live in New York City, I go down in the morning and my doorman who’s Jamaican…. I say, “Hey man, how’s it going?” And he goes [in a Jamaican accent,] “Eh man, everyday above ground a good day.” I think uh, I think that’s success. I think…realizing that is success…Because a lot of people walk around not thinking about that….

Tiffany (RyanStarFans.com): Define perfection.

Ryan Star: Perfection?

Tiffany (RyanStarFans.com): Because I know you have the song about the braces…

Ryan Star:“Perfection?”

Tiffany (RyanStarFans.com): Yeah, so that’s kind of an interesting take on it, so how would you define it?

Ryan Star: I think perfection is living your…doing what you are supposed to do. Finding your purpose, and being that. And that’s…I think if you have a shitty job, I’m not saying go get a better job, I’m saying if you feel like you are living your purpose, I think that’s perfection.

Tiffany (RyanStarFans.com): What are three “nevers” of your life?

Ryan Star: Sorry?

Tiffany (RyanStarFans.com): Three things you will never do, never say?

Ryan Star: Never?

Tiffany (RyanStarFans.com): Three nevers.

Ryan Star:I will never say never, that’s one, two, and three.

Tiffany (RyanStarFans.com): What’s your ‘song of the moment?’ Your defining song? Your ‘most played’ on your iPod?

Ryan Star:The National, “Green Gloves.”

Tiffany (RyanStarFans.com): That’s a good one. What has been, so far in your life, your biggest defining moment?

Ryan Star:A few months ago, I went to hypnotherapy, and I’ve found there are various moments that define me, that I never realized define me. So that hypnotherapy session brought me back, it was like kind of a regression, because it brought me back to some intense moments in my life that define me. Realizing what my purpose is, a writer and musician, that comfort of knowing I am doing what I am supposed to, defines me.

Tiffany (RyanStarFans.com): Kim wants to know, who also runs RSF.com, what’s it like working with Atlantic [Records] compared to Maverick [Records] years ago?

Ryan Star: It’s like…it’s like being married to a serial killer, and sleeping with one eye open, but at the end of the day they actually kill you. And now you’re with your childhood sweetheart, who was always right for you.

Tiffany (RyanStarFans.com): Kim (also from RyanStarFans.com) also wants to know, is there a live or acoustic album in the works following this one?

Ryan Star: Funny you ask that, after ’11:59’ comes out, I’ve always said, after I fully produced, my fully realized, first produced album, I will right away make a DVD, as quickly as I can without a forethought, with stripped down collection of songs.

Tiffany (RyanStarFans.com): What is your favorite song on the upcoming album?

Ryan Star: “Somebody’s Son.”

Tiffany (RyanStarFans.com): What can you tell us about the album we don’t already know?

Ryan Star: We know it took two years to make, recorded in California, in Malibu, I made it. And I wanted to, as a songwriter and as a singer; I wanted to make an album that didn’t get described as a singer-songwriter album. So I listened to a lot of Springsteen and a lot of Peter Gabriel, and stuff like that, and incorporated modern elements, world elements, into my music. I didn’t want to make a singer, acoustic record. I wanted to a bigger album and be able to go out with a rock band, which is what I’m doing now.

Tiffany (RyanStarFans.com): What do you like about touring?
Ryan Star: I feel, you know, when I’m in New York I’m hustling, it’s a constant hustle. On tour, you really get to be who you…I get to be who I want to be twenty-four hours a day.

With that, we took a few pictures, and it was almost time for the show to begin. We said our goodbyes, and I expressed many thanks as I went to take my seat, reflecting on how well-spoken and down-to-earth Ryan had been. As I sat down in the venue, I thought of three words when I thought of Ryan: Candid, honest, and gracious. I sat among the crowd anticipating the beginning of the show, and with that, the lights dimmed, and the crowded roared, a mix of screams, claps, and sheer excitement, as Ryan Star and his band took the stage. As I watched, I realized, right then, at that moment, Ryan was living his purpose, fulfilling his own definitions of perfection and success which he had just candidly shared, and I could not help but smile.

- Tiffany (RyanStarFans.com)

* Huge thanks go out to Ryan, M, T, and Z, and the band who were amazing, welcoming, and without whom this wasn’t possible. Thank you all so much.