Hi, Michael. It’s been a while. What are you up to now?
I am excited, I am releasing an a series called CHRONICLES OF AN UGLY SUPERSTAR. The first part was just released with 14 songs called CHRONICLES OF AN UGLY SUPERSTAR: THE INSTRUMENTALS. Though it has vocals on 6 songs. I did a pre release because I noticed over 50,000 times in less than a week people listened to a lot of the instrumentals I put at almost a 99% ration which is huge. And a lot of the songs musically tell a story as much as they do with the lyrics. The songs I did IM A PROUD AMERICAN, CHRONICLES OF AN UGLY SUPERSTAR, ART, I AM A ROBOT, were actually all done with no lyrics, no melody, I just played the music back and went with it and whatever I had i saved. Plus I have an autobiography coming out next year, a graphic novel and part two of CHRONICLE series comes out this DECEMBER and third part comes out next SUMMER. But, I have never been as happy with a project as i am this.
Chronicles of an Ugly Superstar is one of your current singles. What does it add to the story that is Michael Blaney?
The title song I put the music together in like less than twenty minutes and like I said I had no lyrics but a concept. The whole CHRONICLE series is a concept. The song deals with me saying I AM HATED/I AM THE FATED/I AM OVERRATED/ NO COOPERATION/ Then, the chorus, then the last verse I do kinda rap where I explain who I know i am as the first verse is how people see me when I don’t jump up and run to their aid. I am someone who helps everyone without wanting anything in return, but I have noticed in my life, a lot of times if I can’t help someone right away or I have an off day, people put me on blast cause they always expect me to do the right thing. And I am basically saying don’t cause that can only lead to failure. The second part of CHRONICLES which will have 20 songs all with vocals deals with dark days past from major robberies, attacks, a fatal attempt at suicide on my part and a lot of personal things and demons. The part I am releasing next summer will have 20 songs as well. And deals with the a uplifting songs; a new beginning. But people who get that I was having fun with the song understand why I kept the vocals the way they are. I am so friggen happy with the lyrics and music on this album I am planning on releasing 15 of the 18 songs as singles and videos. In 3 years I been through over 1000 cases of robbery and idenity theft against me. Brutal attacks by neighbors where I lived in VEGAS. And a domino just tilted one day and it was like a sea of`ugly came at me, I never had one credit card issue ever until I was robbed, I went to the police, went right channels, but no one wanted to help. And here I was being me helping everyone hand over fist with money and emotional stuff even with all that was going on. I can’t even get into everything that happened, the point of my ranting, I am happy person who asks for nothing and I do things with not wanting anything, yet so much happened, that I had to harness all of it in and had no outlet until I started putting this album together. And finally I feel at peace and I love love this album so much I think its a bomblastic adventure from start to finish. I want to everyone to hear it cause I think there is a lot of beauty in the rawness and darkness and I’d love everyone to understand how important creative expression can be in your life. It saved me. Oh, and James thanks for letting me rant and rave. You don’t know important and smart your question is to an artist and most often that direct question isn’t asked. So thank you. And not to make light of what I went through cause it was pretty hardcore, but I have the second part of my autobiography coming out next month and it deals with everything and I mean everything, I tell it like it was. And all the songs on this album are autobiographical and am posting all the lyrics at www.michaelfblaney.com and the origin of how each song came to be.
We talked about your current music briefly, but what is the one song that you still go back to and think “man, I’ve done it”? Why is that?
I think EYES WIDE SHUT of my last album HAUNT is one I go back to because its different than my other songs which are punk oriented or industrial. EYES WIDE SHUT I sing from my gut and hit notes I never knew I had in me. I am a huge fan of GRACE JONES, and I adapt a lot of her styles in singing, more performance art,but EYES WIDE SHUT is my proudest vocal moment.
You are a renaissance man. What sort of fields would you like to try your hand in before you retire?
You know I am now just hitting a stride where I love all the stuff I am doing. I have worked in the industry for a while, but right now, this moment, I am so happy with the CHRONICLES franchise, my graphic novel, my two part autobiography, my kids novel franchise FROGULEY, that I feel this part of my life now ’til i die I am gonna create. I have so much I want to do, and helping others, that my heart is very into all creative cookie jars and that’s where I want them to stay. But, I get my biggest thrill pushing other people to get their dreams going.
What steps do you take from the initial thought that you have about a composition to a finished track?
Well, on this new album its different. I scraped over 15 songs over the summer cause as I started getting into it I noticed this amazing new transition starting. Songs like LOVE GRAVE, THE LINE, ME, DEVIL KNOWS MY NAME, UGLY, WRECKING BALL MAN and MGR started take on this whole new style for me and were more like MACHINE and CHRONICLE song verses songs I scraped, and I just knew that settling wasn’t an option cause when these songs were done I looked at them and said, I know for me, this is magic,
Your latest composition is thirty tracks long. What process do you utilize concerning the ordering and ultimate decision concerning whether you put a track on the album?
CHRONICLES will end up being about 70 songs long in total when done. And for the DECEMBER release there will be 20 songs,, and I actually did put them in a specific order. For this album the first track is WELCOME TO THE SHOW, which is one of four theatrical songs on the album. WELCOME TO THE SHOW, ART, I AM A ROBOT and I CAN STILL HEAR HIM all weave in and out of the other songs, together the 20 songs tell a story. I will be posting all the lyrics and the story behind the album there. It’s exciting cause as I have been creating the album its already been getting a lot of play and attention. I was number one in LAS VEGAS for alternative music, #4 in usa and #6 overseas on reverbnation just from people finding the demos and playing the hell out of them.
Which sort of social media website have you had the best successes with? What about these online services are different from the traditional face to face meeting that musicians traditionally utilize?
Facebook, fanbridge, twitter have done well for me. There are some great online services to help musicians, but online will never capture the connection people have face to face. A lot of is because there is so much information out there and so many people trying to do the same thing, there is no real investments socially being made in the sense that online you have only a few pieces of the puzzle “whatever being discusses new album or single or book or whatever” and with that everyone has limited time to devote to anything unless it’s really making headlines so I think there is a human element missing in a lot of online conversations. And for people like me that can suck cause a lot of my stuff is personal or trying to discuss what your project is can get lost in translation which really bites.
We asked initially how the end of 2014 was looking for you, but how have things changed from May to now? What sort of things are you planning to do for 2015?
I would love to get a tour going. I have the FROGULEY kids franchise, my graphic novel DEVIL AND THE HELLHOUNDS, a couple scripts I am working on with my manager/producer Michael Meltzer and another script MOONSHINE I want to direct written by SPUNKMEYER BROWN. Second part of my autobiography comes out next month. There is so much going on, all these projects were started at different times and they are kinda all oddly coming together at once. And I’ll have all my projects at www.michaelfblaney.com in DECEMBER so people can download them for fraction of what pay else where. I’d also love to work with or see SPUNKMEYER BROWN AND HALF DEATH do another album this next year as well. It seems like a lot, but all the projects I love and they all actually were conceived from the events that were going on in my life in the last 3 years.
How can interested parties contact you?
I have two two websites www.michaelfblaney.com or www.iwant2behuman.com. To reach me directly: dreamlight@dreamlighthouseproductions.com or people can reach my manager at Michael Meltzer @ mrmelmax@gmail.com
Thank you so much for your time. Do you have anything else to say to our readers at NeuFutur?
I will have regular updates at www.michaelfblaney.com and If you have a dream you owe it to yourself to see it through. And GRACE JONES rules!!!!
Michael Blaney Interviewed
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