Welcome to Rockallica, Aaron! Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got started in music?
Hi! Thanks for having me! Well, I’m a guitarist/vocalist, producer, and mix engineer for starters but it’s been a long road over the past 25 years to get here. I was raised in a musical family so it’s always been a huge part of my life. My mom played and taught piano lessons and my dad played guitar. While mom enforced the piano lessons for my brothers and I (which I’m grateful for—came in handy later in life), I ended up going to the dark side and getting into the guitar because of my dad. In fact, he ended up buying me my own guitar because he got sick of me picking up his. Ha! I worked in music stores through my teen years and eventually joined the United States Air Force band as a guitarist. It was in that situation that I first came in contact with professional musicians and it really helped to push me and prepare me for working in Los Angeles later on as a hired gun.
What was your inspiration behind your new EP, “A Little Louder”?
Much of the inspiration in the songs comes from the human experience. We feel and deal with a lot of different things throughout our lives. Some things we share, some things we don’t. I tend to write in an introspective fashion and talk about things that I think many people feel but may not always readily share or even acknowledge.
How would you describe the overall sound and theme of this EP?
Rock vocal/guitar driven but often with a hook-driven pop sensibility.
What was your favorite song to write/record on the EP and why?
Learning to Feel for sure. I absolutely love big choruses and for me that is where it’s at. Now, not every song needs a big chorus, but when it does—it’s go big or go home for me. Most of the time when I’m working as a guitarist, I sit in either hired gun land or studio session player land and so a lot of the influences I have—both on guitar and just overall–are from really slick, big productions. The underlying groove actually came from hearing Paula Abdul’s “Way that You Love Me.” Yep, out of left field, I know . . .but that stuff really pops and it’s often well structured. Adult contemporary pop generally has some of the best players too, particularly in the late 80s and early 90s. While we definitely went firmly into rock territory—the push/pull back and forth between the drums and guitars in verses was definitely influenced by that Paula Abdul tune. The lyrics in this song are really important to me as well and really represents a time within the past couple of years where I was working through some personal things. Getting past those things—slowly unraveling the issues—really felt like learning to feel again. Hence the song.
Are there any specific artists or albums that influenced the sound of this project?
How’s this for a blend? Toto, Sting, Nickelback, Def Leppard, and Bryan Adams.
“A Little Louder” has a very raw and energetic feel to it. Did you intentionally try to capture that energy in your recordings?
Yes, absolutely. I like things that sound and feel exciting. Just like on the stage, if the audience/listener can tell that you’re having fun and you’re excited, then often they will as well. I believe that the same thing can happen with records and as a result, it’s important to pay attention to what you’re doing and try to capture the right vibe and essence to get your point across.
Did you face any challenges or obstacles during the production of this EP? How did you overcome them?
Not challenges per se. I did move the studio in the middle of finishing things up so guitars were tracked at the old studio and vocals were tracked at the new one. That proved to delay things a bit of course. Getting comfortable in a new location is hard too so getting into the right mood to cut things—especially vocals—took a little time. I’m a push through kind of person though so with a little acclimation time, I got more comfortable and the goal was to finish.
The title of the EP, “A Little Louder,” implies a sense of empowerment and breaking boundaries. Can you talk about the significance of this title for you?
There’s a part of me that wants to give the Jack Black/School of Rock answer for this one. Lol But instead, I’ll point back to the “things that excite me and sound exciting” comment I made earlier. There is a reason why many of the pop acts take guitar players out on the road, even when there isn’t much guitar on the record. It’s because it’s exciting to rock out and it fits the “live” big show image. It helps to fill the sound because otherwise, things can kind of sound lackluster without it. With a lot of music, guitar tends to bring an energy that is hard to find elsewhere and it tends to sound more exciting, which in turn also makes you want to crank it up—a little louder. When music makes you want to do that, you know you’ve got something.
How do you feel your sound has evolved from your previous releases to this EP?
For a while, I was going fairly tame with my sound. I tended to hold back a lot on previous releases. While I like things that are subtle and heavily nuanced, I wasn’t leaning in too much to my rock roots. I love the sophisti-pop/sophisti-rock kind of thing that was around for a while in the early 90s and so pulling in some of those elements and working to make them bigger, heavier, and little more modern is where my head was at for this EP.
Can you share any memorable moments from the recording or writing process of “A Little Louder”?
Sure! There is one that sticks out in my memory and you can actually hear it at the end of the song “Only Be Me.” For this EP, I worked with Zak St. John and Victor Broden (drums and bass, respectively) and we tracked in Burbank, CA. When the guys finished a particularly killer take on Only Be Me, I was in the live room and said out loud “Not too shabby!” and the drum mics picked it up. Definitely didn’t mean to say it that loud but it ended up being on the take that made it into the song so I kept it in after the last hit.
What do you hope listeners take away from this EP, and what can they expect from your future music endeavors?
Honestly, I hope the takeaway is some fun, yet meaningful music that folks wish to come back to again and again. As for the future, I have a pair of singles in the recording phase right now that will be released later this spring so be on the lookout for those!
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/aaronkusterer
Website: https://aaronkusterer.com/
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Aaron Kusterer – Learning to Feel (Official Lyric Video)
