INTERVIEWS PRINT

Interview: Ayler Young brings the funk & soul to ‘Portal’

Jake Craney
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Ayler Young recently released his new album Portal in September. The impressive album is full of funk, soul, pop, and is bright & creative. GroundSounds recently caught up with Young to discuss his background, travels, and Portal. Check out the interview below and follow Young HERE.

 

How long have you been making music? What did your first song sound like?

I gravitated towards music ever since I was a child. I started playing classical piano at the age of eight. However, I didn’t start writing my own songs until I got my first guitar at age thirteen.  The first song that I recall writing was called ‘The Stoop’. It only took me five minutes to write the entire song. It had a swinging Motown vibe, influenced by Otis Redding’s ‘Sitting on the Dock of the Bay’, which was one of our favorite songs growing up. In our home there were a lot Motown, Jazz, and Folk records constantly in rotation. I was lucky to grow up around a lot of great music.

 

Tell us about Portal. How long have you been working on it and what was your goal for the album?

I started working on new songs for this album in the fall of 2012. I had just returned home from a 8 month tour to over 25 countries throughout Europe, India, Asia and Australia. I had been hearing a lot of fun and inspiring music on that trip so I wanted to write a collection of songs that had a fun danceable feeling to them. Even though I was not in the happiest place at that time, I wanted to challenge myself to overcome what I was going through and try to turn those unfamiliar dark moments into something positive and beautiful.

 

To me, there’s a sense of ‘ease’ to the album, like it came very naturally to you. How was your writing process? Did the songs just flow or did you comb through, edit, and revise these tracks?

Songwriting is very similar to story-telling. Sometimes ideas are easier to decipher and communicate, sometimes they are more complicated, just like songs. On Portal for example, the song “Arms Around You” was a song that came to me on my walk home from a meeting. By the time I had made it home, I already had the lyrics and melody sorted out in my head. Luckily I was able to write them all down before they escaped me. Of course there are cases where songs can take months to properly mold together. The opening track “Let it Go” was originally from a song writing session I did with my friend Simon Katz (Jamiroquai, Gorillaz) about a year prior. When I was looking for song ideas for the new album, I stumbled across that instrumental track we had laid down the year before and then wrote the lyrics and finished the arrangement. Albums are challenging that way because you have to take all these different ideas that you are working on and make something cohesive out of all of them. It takes a lot of work to make something sound easy, or to put someone at ease, so I appreciate that you got that feeling from this album!

 

“You Can’t Buy Love” definitely jumps out of the speakers. What inspired the song?

I believe that the truth is known by most people that love is one of the few things in this world that doesn’t hold a monetary value. It’s not available on Ebay. Rich people and poor people all have the same chance at finding love. It’s something everyone can relate to and it reminds us that we can all relate as human beings, knowing the truth behind the fact that money indeed cannot buy love and that unity is something worth celebrating. I wanted to make a song that would unify people due to the beautiful nature of love and encourage them to look for it in the right places and for the right reasons.

 

At what point did you write “Had It All” and when did you decide to close the album with it?

“Had It All” was actually the first songs that I wrote for the record. It is one of our favorite songs to play live because it has so much emotion and steadily builds towards the final guitar solo at the end. The vocal chant at the end reminding us that “we have it all, we have our dreams” is probably why I decided to close the album with it. No matter how much hurt we may go through in life, no one can steal our dreams away from us. That is the message I wanted to leave the audience with. I’m on a journey just like everybody else and maybe they will want to see where I end up after leaving them with “Had It All.”

I really enjoy the funk-inspired vibe to your music. What musicians/bands inspired your sound/direction?

I have always loved funk music that has soul…James Brown, Funkadelic, Prince, Steely Dan, Stevie Wonder, Curtis Mayfield etc… These days, I listen to my music on shuffle. I find so much new music that I didn’t even know I had that way, music from every genre imaginable. This album doesn’t really fit into one particular genre probably for that reason. I really just want to make songs that people will dance around in their cars to.

 

NYC can be a non-stop whirlwind of a city. Where do you go to get away? Where is your go-to spot for writing music?

I have a little house upstate that I go to. It’s a nice drive up from New York and incredibly peaceful and beautiful. I write a lot of music up there.

 

If I visit NY for one night, what are some things I MUST do?

Expect to clear your schedule the following day, bring an ID and plan on spending twice as much money as you had hoped to.

 

What has been the most memorable show you’ve played?

I was in Thailand once and got asked to come play a show in Vietnam the next night, we packed our bags and made the gig. Hanoi is a fascinating city.

 

What are your plans for the rest of 2014?

I am currently working on opening a barber shop in Los Angeles. It’s called Franks Chop Shop, located at 8209 Melrose Avenue. We hope to be open by Christmas!

 

Ayler Young – “You Can’t Buy Love”