- MuzicNotez: Being that we’ve now interviewed you more than anybody else before, we’re going to get a little more in depth this time.
Your getting close to releasing your project, In The Q, how’s it coming together?-
Facebook: Facebook.com/Michael.Egleton
Twitter: @MichaelEgleton
Instagram: @megleton7
Website: MichaelEgleton.comMichael Egleton: In The Q is coming slowly but surely. When I started this project about a year and a half ago now, you could not have told me in a million years that I’d yet be working on it. Although it’s in the finishing stages, there is yet work to do.
This project has been a labor of love. During it’s process much has happened and was happening in my life. Especially in the year of 2017. This brought things to a whole new level. I was writing from a whole other place. 2017 brought so much loss to my life. It was by far the worse year of my life. It took so much out of me, emotionally and physically. it started with the death of a younger brother who I was close to passing unexpectedly from complications due to Lupus. You’d have to understand the evolution of our relationship over the years to know why we became so close. A little more than 24 hours later my younger sister was murdered by her lover and left in the middle of the street face down in the snow 2 doors from her home. I had just talked to her the night before at the hospital making arrangements for our brother…. My father became ill and 7 or 8 months later he died. He never recovered from the death of my bother and sister.
During this time my mother was diagnosed with the early onset of Dementia. Another close family member then passed. My heart was ripped into. I had NO desire to continue in anything, including music. For months I just sat by my patio door and watched life go by… My routine was get up at 6am, get a cup of coffee, still in my bath robe, get my chair pull it out, park and look out the door all day into the night until about 12 or 1 am, try to sleep through the nightmares about my sibblings and do it all again the next day. Yes, I also looked pretty bad. This went on for months. No internet contact. No friends stopping by. I didn’t feel it.. Everything got behind including my life. My wife couldn’t do anything but watch me waste away. She would just look in on me every now and then to make sure I wasn’t dead it was so quiet. Tears of a clown, when no ones around…. Didn’t Smokey write that? Life seemed to stop. I din’t work on any music including the project. When I say life stopped, I mean it STOPPED! Of course when it rains it pours. I suffered some serious financial set backs… Then I seriously injured my knee for the second time and tore my hamstring. My knee was so destroyed until my doctor said she wish I had just torn up my ACL. I had no mobility for a while then went to a cain.
-
- MuzicNotez: You just released the single from In The Q enited, “Situations”, it’s receiving rave reviews so far. What were the motives behind this track?
- Michael Egleton: Situations is about a man, or it can be a woman, that has allowed a situation to get out of control. Emotions can be a funny thing. They get high in an argument, things are said in the heat of the moment. The thing about words is once they’re out there you can’t pull them back.” ….had a big fight, said some things that were not right…”. Retaliation, trying to hurt this person like you hurt. Then you walk away from the Situation, go somewhere, calm down and began to think about the whole thing and it’s then you realize, it didn’t have to be that way. Things just “went too far”. Trouble can find you even when you don’t want to be found! Isn’t funny how during these times you run into your cup of tea. Confusion is the word of the day… The catch to this song is at the very end. “It’s morning time…. “The grass is looking greener on the other side. If you water your grass it can look just as good. That person who meets every qualification you may have in a mate. They say ,”study long, study wrong!” Curiosity can be a motha too! That’s what killed the cat! In it all you just want to undo things and try it again. Instant replay because you know you want to be home in your own bed with the one you love. You just messed up…. The catch to this song is at the very end. “….It’s morning time….” Did you go home and it’s morning time in your bed….. Or someone elses? I think the writer at Odd Nugget Music Magazine, describe this song best, you can read it here, https://www.oddnugget.com/moved-michael-egletons-situations/
Situations is the first song that I did everything from beginning to end. Writing, engineering, mixing and mastering. I then sent it out to Sound Labs to do a final mastering. I attempted to capture the very essence of the song in everything I did during the process. I wanted that “raw”, live feel with a few touches of today’s music. Simplicity is sometimes best in capturing emotions which is what I wanted to do, keep it as simple as possible even down to the instrumentation. Finger snaps which gives a spoken word feel and a simple violin for accent. I don’t ever try to hide my Gospel roots. I couldn’t if I wanted to. lol It’s who I am. I want the listener to remember, “It’s just a Situation…”Not long ago I did a little looking back into history, and did something we used to do, open a book, so I read up on the times of Rome before it fell and the similarities of whats going on in America today as compared to then is scary!!! Our politics and some politicians in my opinion, are morally bankrupt and our value system has been corrupted. Compassion has given over to callousness. Seeking what would be good for the whole of the people of this nation has turned to selfish greed and self preservation at any cost or sacrifice. Some seem to be out for themselves or their cliques. Nothing is sacred anymore. Not even our children. I could go on and be even more direct but for now I think it would be wise to stop there. You all get it.
- Michael Egleton: Situations is about a man, or it can be a woman, that has allowed a situation to get out of control. Emotions can be a funny thing. They get high in an argument, things are said in the heat of the moment. The thing about words is once they’re out there you can’t pull them back.” ….had a big fight, said some things that were not right…”. Retaliation, trying to hurt this person like you hurt. Then you walk away from the Situation, go somewhere, calm down and began to think about the whole thing and it’s then you realize, it didn’t have to be that way. Things just “went too far”. Trouble can find you even when you don’t want to be found! Isn’t funny how during these times you run into your cup of tea. Confusion is the word of the day… The catch to this song is at the very end. “It’s morning time…. “The grass is looking greener on the other side. If you water your grass it can look just as good. That person who meets every qualification you may have in a mate. They say ,”study long, study wrong!” Curiosity can be a motha too! That’s what killed the cat! In it all you just want to undo things and try it again. Instant replay because you know you want to be home in your own bed with the one you love. You just messed up…. The catch to this song is at the very end. “….It’s morning time….” Did you go home and it’s morning time in your bed….. Or someone elses? I think the writer at Odd Nugget Music Magazine, describe this song best, you can read it here, https://www.oddnugget.com/moved-michael-egletons-situations/
- MuzicNotez: No matter which side you stand on the issues, nobody can deny that times are turbulent and devisive these days. A lot of times this kind of chaos can result in a lot of motivation for new music, such as the political anthems of the 60’s. Have you been drawing inspiration like this in any way?
- Michael Egleton: I’m glad you ask this question. As a matter of fact I did write a song on this project dealing with the times of today. It’s called “Fight”. It’s a song about the struggle. The fight for regular people to just make it from day to day in these toxic, dog eat dog times. Some of the lyrics talk about fighting in a fight that’s already rigged for me to fail. The chorus says, “I fight, the powers that be, I fight, they can’t handle me, I fight, I won’t let them get a grip on me, I fight, I won’t let them put me back in chains…. These chains are the new day chains of economics, exclusion and being held back and held out. I fight and fighting is my name.
There’s a section in the song that says, I’m fighting a system that’s not fair. It throws the book at me and says I just don’t care. Women fighting for their rights to choose, Men fighting for their rights in a battle they can’t lose, kids fighting for an education to succeed, don’t get frustrated, fight for what you need. This song is hard hitting, and an in your face truth.
- Michael Egleton: I’m glad you ask this question. As a matter of fact I did write a song on this project dealing with the times of today. It’s called “Fight”. It’s a song about the struggle. The fight for regular people to just make it from day to day in these toxic, dog eat dog times. Some of the lyrics talk about fighting in a fight that’s already rigged for me to fail. The chorus says, “I fight, the powers that be, I fight, they can’t handle me, I fight, I won’t let them get a grip on me, I fight, I won’t let them put me back in chains…. These chains are the new day chains of economics, exclusion and being held back and held out. I fight and fighting is my name.
- MuzicNotez: How do you feel music can make a positive impact during tough times?
- Michael Egleton: Earlier I talked about how music can save a life. My own. Music can impact today by first having a message of change. I look at how kids who can’t even read yet will learn a rap song in a matter of 5 minutes! That speaks volumes. I look at how adults reach for music when everything else may be failing. This tells me that music can penetrate all the barriers people are putting up. Break down all of the exclusionary practices being orchestrated today. A simple song will strike a chord within someone and light the flame of change. Change for the better. Simple notes and words. It doesn’t have to be too complicated. Just have a message of hope that strikes to the heart of an issue. Do you know some of your best and longest lasting songs were written during tough times and transcended through time. They are yet as powerful and impactful as they were when they were first written. The essence of the song was captured in the words and music. “Sing a simple song…”
Then it has to be exposed to the masses and those situations that need a musical healing through what ever medium that’s available. Music creeps in like a fine fragrance. Unseen but heard. Many times we have to close our eyes and open our ears to see the way. It’s at the toughest of times people are more open and available to listening and being led to the promise land. To change, one must first admit there’s a problem. To repeat the same processes and expect a different outcome is insanity. Music will be the hammer that breaks down the wall. One could put their fingers in their ears but they’ll yet feel the beat.The tough times of today will cause artists and writers to be more engaged and write from another place in their consciousness and deliver their messages of change directly to the people who can institute the changes that are needed to save lives and make things more equitable.
- Michael Egleton: Earlier I talked about how music can save a life. My own. Music can impact today by first having a message of change. I look at how kids who can’t even read yet will learn a rap song in a matter of 5 minutes! That speaks volumes. I look at how adults reach for music when everything else may be failing. This tells me that music can penetrate all the barriers people are putting up. Break down all of the exclusionary practices being orchestrated today. A simple song will strike a chord within someone and light the flame of change. Change for the better. Simple notes and words. It doesn’t have to be too complicated. Just have a message of hope that strikes to the heart of an issue. Do you know some of your best and longest lasting songs were written during tough times and transcended through time. They are yet as powerful and impactful as they were when they were first written. The essence of the song was captured in the words and music. “Sing a simple song…”
- MuzicNotez: What’s your favorite part about being a musician? Any aspect of the music business you don’t like?
- Michael Egleton: My first favorite thing about being a musician is accepting the fact that God chose me to Bless with this gift and be responsible for it. To handle it with an awesome fear and not abuse it but to use it for healing and creating understanding. My second favorite thing is being able to create. To take parts of sound and put them together and make something beautiful for the special ear prepared to hear it. I know it sounds mushy but it’s true and how I feel. I love performing for the people and reading their faces as they listen and figure out what the song means to them. Then the light comes on and away we go!
If I had to pick one aspect of the music business I didn’t like I would have to say weeding out the bad people, bad businesses and influences from the good. I hate getting played.
- Michael Egleton: My first favorite thing about being a musician is accepting the fact that God chose me to Bless with this gift and be responsible for it. To handle it with an awesome fear and not abuse it but to use it for healing and creating understanding. My second favorite thing is being able to create. To take parts of sound and put them together and make something beautiful for the special ear prepared to hear it. I know it sounds mushy but it’s true and how I feel. I love performing for the people and reading their faces as they listen and figure out what the song means to them. Then the light comes on and away we go!
-
MuzicNotez: You live in Akron, Ohio, what’s the music scene like there?
- Michael Egleton: Actually The music scene in the Akron, Cleveland area is very competitive. There are so many great musicians, artists and bands in this area. It’s a hot bed of talent. They are growing everyday. If you miss a beat you’ll get left behind. New music is born every hour it seems like in this area. Many are being discovered and moving up to the national and world scene. If you’ll just look back over music history you’ll find that many great artists and musicians came from this area. They sang some of the greatest songs ever written. There are places to play here but like everything else, the competition for play dates is also stiff. This can be a good thing because it keeps one on their game. All kinds of music is popping here and believe me the industry professionals do come looking.
- MuzicNotez: What can we look forward to hearing from you next?
- Michael Egleton: Well on that question I can’t say. I’m working hard to get In The Q out. I do plan to release more music from In The Q. I did release more music to That’s Alright The Rewind. You can hear it on Reverbnation.com. When I got back at it, I got back at it. I finished the music I was releasing on it at the same time I was doing the tracks or In The Q. I look forward to getting back on stage. I’ve been away too long. I think this will do my mind and body good. When I do decide, MuzicNotez will be the first to know!!! lol Who knows, I may do a Gospel project.
- MuzicNotez: Anything else you wish to say about yourself or your music? Any messages for your fans?
- Michael Egleton: To you, Mr Nick Galien and the great staff at Muzic Notez Music Magazine, I’d like to send a big bowl of gratitude and luv. You all have hung in there with me through my ups and downs. Good times and bad. When we hadn’t spoken for a period of time and made contact is was like yesterday talking to you. You all have kept my hope alive while navigating this thing called the “Music Industry”. In a day and time when everything seems to be motivated by money and microwave, you and your staff have remained consistant in your dedication to the artist and the artist first. With all that you do there isn’t enough money in the world that could be paid to you all. You go the extra mile for music. Getting the artist out there to the people and letting them be the judge. Heres a heart felt thank you.
To my fans and supporters, there is no me without you! That’s the truth!!! I think about how I can reach you in song every moment of the day. I work hard to give you the best I have to offer. Thank you for being there when I wasn’t there for myself. Please join me at [email protected]. Follow me so that I can keep up with you. Tweet to me, I’ll answer back. Also join me at www.michaelegletonmusic.com and help make the music go to number one at Reverbnation.com. Lastly, you can still reach me at WWW.MICHAELEGLETON.COM. Thank you for your time and talk soon!M. E.
- Michael Egleton: To you, Mr Nick Galien and the great staff at Muzic Notez Music Magazine, I’d like to send a big bowl of gratitude and luv. You all have hung in there with me through my ups and downs. Good times and bad. When we hadn’t spoken for a period of time and made contact is was like yesterday talking to you. You all have kept my hope alive while navigating this thing called the “Music Industry”. In a day and time when everything seems to be motivated by money and microwave, you and your staff have remained consistant in your dedication to the artist and the artist first. With all that you do there isn’t enough money in the world that could be paid to you all. You go the extra mile for music. Getting the artist out there to the people and letting them be the judge. Heres a heart felt thank you.