February 2019

Well thanks so much for sharing your time with the Ryze Fam today so we can get to know you better. Delusion is the track that brought you to Ryze and its pretty dope!!! Tell us about the track and what it’s about, and why it was created. Delusion is about waking up to the world around you and seeing the life that you could be living. Being completely cap- tured by an awesome purpose and a rea- son to exist. We get so caught up in our- selves and looking at the way people see us and how we want people to see us we become delusional and forget how amaz- ing the people around us truly are. Things that should be easy to see become almost impossible. Most people think this song is about a girl and depending on what you’re going through at the time, it easily could be. We always try to be very universal in our writing, so it meets people at their point of need. However, when I was writing this song and most of this album in fact, I had just come from another band that was enjoying a lot of success in the Christian Rock scene and it broke up suddenly. It left me feeling desperate and alone. I was con- stantly looking for answers to what had just happened and why. Everything especially a successful music career seemed out of reach, then I began to realize that I had be- come so caught up in my struggle wrapped up in myself that I was missing the world God was laying out before me. I love the message behind that song. Many people including myself do get very caught up and never take the time to stop miss- ing the good stuff. Now you mentioned that you came from another band, so how long has this current group been together? I began writing for this album in Novem- ber 2017. I heard Ricky singing for the first time in January at a local talent show and knew he’d be perfect for this next project. We went in the studio in June and released in October. So just a little over a year. That’s amaz- ing to find such chemistry so fast. I love the style of music you’re dropping. It has this old school southern rock feel at times which is lovely. Who are some of your influ- ences in music? From a writing standpoint I have a huge admiration for artists such as the Beatles and the rocking guitars from AC/DC, but I listen to a wide variety of music from Bon Jovi to Ed Sheeran or John Mayer. As a guitar player I loved how catchy Lenny Kravitz guitar style was and fell in love with Gary Clark Jr’s take on “Come Together”. I also have a love for old trumpet players like Miles Davis. A large pallet when it comes to music very impressive. Those musicians always had great meaning and style behind their mu- sic. Which of your tracks would you say is the one you find to mean the most to you and why? When my first band ended, I remember in my hurt, in my desperation, and in this rock bottom feeling, I ran to a leather-bound journal my grandmother had given me and wrote three simple words: Hit The Restart. Little did I know that would be my launch- ing point into another awesome adventure in House of Rejects. That song has since become bigger than my own restart and has become an anthem for so many who have been in worse places than I ever was,