Jeb Havens is an international recording artist and songwriter based in Los Angeles, and one of my favorite out musicians.
His music is a blend of catchy pop and raw emotional therapy. His YouTube channel, featuring his popular “Closet Covers” series has over 650,000 views, and captured the attention of Reddit, BuzzFeed, and the TV show “Right This Minute”.
Jeb Havens recording a session for his “Closet Covers” series
Jeb’s new album, HOME BASE, produced by Grammy-winning producer Andy Zulla, is being released today and you can find it on all digital download vendors.
Jeb shares many of the songs from HOME BASE, and talks about the creative process involved in creating the new album.
Jeb will host and perform at a record release party at Rockwell in Los Angeles tonight. Plus, it’s his birthday, so much celebrating to do!
This Valentine’s Day finds out singer/songwriter Kenyth Mogan in a wistful mood with his new single, “It Was Love.”
Mogan talks on the inspiration for the song:
“It Was Love” is a very personal song for me.
I wrote the lyrics after finding a photo of me and my first boyfriend in high school. He passed a few years ago, and without even realizing it, all these memories and emotions came rushing back that I had to sit down and write. The lyrics just kind of poured out.
So much happens the first time you fall in love. Everything is new and exciting and in those moments, it’s perfect. But, things change and people grow apart, regardless of the promises we made. It’s no one’s fault. It just happens. I think a lot of people can relate too.
I previously wrote about Mogan last February when he shared his take on The Wizard of Oz and a Tin Man who couldn’t see love right in front of him.
Just got word that one of my favorite singer/songwriters, the very talented/handsome Jeb Havens, is releasing his new solo album, titled “Home Base,” on February 17th!
Los Angeles gets to share in the excitement with a release concert + birthday celebration at Rockwell on the date.
Look for an upcoming exclusive interview with Jeb on The Randy Report radio show, plus some early teases of some of the new songs from the CD.
I’ve previously written about Havens here and here and here.
I really enjoyed talking with internet music sensation Brandon Skeie last night on my online radio show, The Randy Report.
Brandon Skeie (SHAY-AH) is an LA based singer-songwriter/artist with a strong presence among the industry’s creative community.
At the age of 22, Brandon Skeie has been featured in Billboard, Ryan Seacrest and MTV, over 3M SoundCloud plays, an active online fan base of 350K+ followers, a 15 week synch on E! and more.
After developing a huge following on his YouTube channel (almost 9 million views) including his spectacular cover versions of songs like Adele’s “Hello,” Brandon is poised for a strong 2016 with the release of original music, beginning with his new single “So Bad”.
I spoke with Brandon about his creative process in the recording studio, his amazing vocal range, and how he views being an out musician in today’s musical landscape.
I’m a fan of the new song, so I asked about where the inspiration for the song came from. Brandon’s response:
Basically, “So Bad” is based on a previous relationship of mine. I had met a person. It was actually my first love, which made it a little bit more interesting. I was deeply, deeply in love with this person, but around six, seven months into the relationship, it just became evident that love wasn’t enough.
We had many, many differences. We didn’t get along a lot of the time. It just created this feeling like, “Man, I just want you so bad all the time, but I can’t.” It’s just you falling so in love with somebody or the idea of somebody, and then you really get to know them, your personalities clash, and there’s nothing you can do, except for that feeling that lingers. Wanting somebody so bad, but knowing it’s not the right time or the right place.
That’s basically the full inspiration behind it. The same situation actually was going on with my co-writer Hillary Bernstein at the same time. Both of us were going through this really rough relationship period and just came up with this concept. It just flew out of us really quickly.
The songs attached to James Bond films always seem to have some kind of musical magic.
I think of those songs as huge hits. And, in truth, many were.
So I’m a bit surprised to hear that Sam Smith’s new track – “Writing’s On The Wall” – for the upcoming James Bond flick Spectre is the first-ever Bond theme to reach #1 the British pop singles chart.
Surprisingly, Adele’s “Skyfall” and Duran Duran’s “A View To A Kill” both topped out at #2 in the UK.
According to JoeMyGod, seven James Bond theme songs have charted in the US top ten:
Duran Duran’s “A View To A Kill” is the only #1. (The only #1???)
Paul McCartney & Wings and Carly Simon both reached #2 with “Live And Let Die” and “Nobody Does It Better,” respectively.
Sheena Easton peaked at #4 with “For Your Eyes Only.”
All landing at #8 were Shirley Bassey’s “Goldfinger,” Madonna’s “Die Another Day, “and Adele’s “Skyfall.”
“The idea for the promo came very clearly to me. I pitched the idea of John being surrounded by men and objects that would be temptations or distractions from a monogamous relationship.
“This concept then developed into the camera becoming distracted by these temptations, and for John to be steadfast: addressing the viewer, often appearing, as if by magic at the beginning and end of long, flowing camera moves. It’s been fun to treat the camera as an entity in itself: not quite a person, more a point-of-view that continually veers away from John and go down a rabbit hole of a gay sauna.”
One of my favorite indie artists, out singer/songwriter Jeb Havens, shares the latest in his Closet Covers series.
This time we get “invited” to Havenss take on Alanis Morissette’s “Uninvited.”
Havens cites Morissette as a huge influence on his own music, and for good reason. This sits right in the sweet spot of Haven’s musical wheel house. Sincere, complex lyrics and melody in a stripped down setting leaving the emotional life bare for the audience.
I’ve shared other music from Havens here and here and here.
Definitely head over to iTunes to check out more of his music. But first, hit the play button below and enjoy.
Out singer/songwriter continues his cover song series “UnCOVERED” with this sensitive reading of duet from A Great Big World & Christina Aguilera – “Say Something.”
