INTERVIEW WITH SHAWN HLOOKOFF

CONFRONT: What drove you to become a singer/songwriter?

SHAWN: I never thought I would become a singer/songwriter for a living because I was always told that only 0.5 % of musicians actually make it anywhere. It was ingrained in my head that school was the only ticket out of mediocrity and if I wanted a great career, education was the only way to get it. So I did what I was told and went to college for 2 years. Although my grades were good, I knew there had to be a better way to get ahead in life. Thankfully music has always been a constant in my life and is something I’ve always excelled at. It was my old piano teacher who really influenced me to pursue my music as something more than just a hobby. So I moved to Vancouver to pursue my music career and now I’m doing what I’ve always dreamed of doing. I can’t say it’s been an easy road, but the support from my family is a biggest reason I’m able to do what I do.

CONFRONT: You seem to have a close relationship with your fans (you manage your own myspace…) How do you plan to maintain that relationship as you get bigger and your fan base grows thus making it more difficult to please everybody?

SHAWN: I think it’s important for every band/artist to have a connection with their fans and MySpace friends for a few reasons. Fans listen to the music and they are the supporters. But beyond that, everyone has a different story and their stories can be quite inspiring. I’m surprised at some of the things people will tell me. As my career grows I’m starting to notice that MySpace is taking up more of my time. I’m at the point now if I wanted to, I could just sit in front of a computer and answer MySpace messages all day. Obviously I can’t stay as close to my friends as I’d like, but I still try to keep in touch with all my friends from time to time. My fans are the greatest fans out there and they are quite understanding when it comes to my time. I will try and keep my close connections with them, but the frequency of online convo’s will most likely go down.

CONFRONT: As your celebrity grows, people start to delve into your personal life, how much of yourself do you think it is necessary to share with the public?

SHAWN: I’m pretty open about my personal life and don’t really hide anything from the public. Ask me a straight question, I’ll give you a straight answer. There aren’t many skeletons hiding in my closet. Aside from the time my buddies and I prank called a pizza place and ordered 12 pizzas for pick-up, I’m pretty clean. In the future my privacy may become an issue but right now I’m far from celebrity status, so I’ll cross that road when/if I get there.

CONFRONT: Your new album is out October 1st, what can we expect from this record?

SHAWN: This record is titled “Both Sides” for a reason. The first half has more up-tempo, Pop/rock songs while the second half has more of a laid back acoustic feel. The 10 songs on this album were picked from 40 demos, so a lot of work went into it. I play piano on the record as well as guitar. Something most people don’t know is that I also play the trombone on 3 of the songs on the album (I’m a closet trombone player).

CONFRONT: What’s the creative process that goes into the making of an album for you?

SHAWN: Like I mentioned before, the 10 songs on the album were picked from 40 demos that I recorded with just piano and vocals . It usually takes me 8-10 months to come up with 40 songs so it’s quite time consuming. My creative process is different with each song. Some songs I can finish in a day, some take weeks/months. It all depends how disciplined I am and how full my MySpace inbox is at the time. It’s important to me when someone listens to my album they can listen to it from beginning to end and feel like they’ve been taken on some sort of journey. It’s harder to come by these days with most albums being single driven, but as a fan of great music I prefer the whole album experience as opposed to the hit singles.

CONFRONT: How important of a tool has the internet been in your success prior to being discovered?

SHAWN: The internet is the future of the music industry. It has proven to be a very powerful tool, not only for up and coming artists like myself, but for major recording artists as well. MySpace has revolutionized the entertainment world. It’s allowed me to connect with music fans from all across the globe. Because there are so many bands/artists looking to get discovered on MySpace you have to be smart about the way you promote yourself on the internet. I’ve noticed that most people on MySpace are quite annoyed by the amount of random friend request they get from bands/artists per day. You can’t just “add” someone and expect to have a loyal fan, you have to be polite and actually take the time to find out who your target audience is.

CONFRONT:Although there are great advantages to sites like MySpace music and being on the net in general, it also opens the door for countless other musical acts out there. How do you separate yourself from the crowd?

SHAWN:I try to write great music. MySpace and other sites are just ways to deliver music to people, but if you write great music, people will talk about it and eventually word gets spread around that you’ve got something worth listening to. With that said, I still promote myself on the net and when I do, I come across as a nice guy looking for honest feedback on my music. I’ll find other artists who have a similar sound as me and send out messages to their friends saying “hey if you like so and so you might like me” and then give a brief description about me. So far that’s been the best approach. As soon as you try to play the numbers game and just try and add random people in an attempt to build up you’re friends list, you’re just wasting time. The key is the songs. If they’re great, people will talk about them and will tell their friends to check you out.

CONFRONT: Is there a band that you yourself have discovered through the internet or whose internet approach your admire?

SHAWN: There’s an artist named Jared Lee, who kind of has a similar approach to me. He first sent me a message explaining who he was and why he was sending me a message. I went to his site, listened to his songs and thought they were pretty good. It was refreshing because most bands/artists think they’re on a higher level than everyone else because they write/play music. I guess I’m attracted to bands who take a humble approach to getting their music to the masses.

CONFRONT: If you couldn’t make music anymore what other way of expressing yourself would you choose?

SHAWN: I started acting a while back and it’s something I wish I could put more time into. Maybe in the future if the music ever slows down, I can venture into that world.

CONFRONT: They say that the music you listen to as a child and a teenager will form your musical standards into adulthood. Who did you listen to as you were growing up?

SHAWN: I don’t’ know if I agree with that, my parents were big Country fans and I listened to a lot of country music. Country songs are the best for telling stories, but I can’t really say I have many country style songs in my catalogue. Bryan Adams was probably the biggest singer/songwriter I listened to growing up.

CONFRONT: What’s your favorite song to play live and what is it about that song or that moment that makes it memorable?

SHAWN: Usually my favorite song to play live is the newest one I’ve written. Probably because it’s fresh and I’m excited to see the reactions from the people I play it for. Out of the songs on my album, it’s a toss up between “Jealousy is Killing Me” and “Addicted”. They’re both fun to play/sing, I’d probably lean towards “Addicted” because of the piano solo.

CONFRONT: Many tend to think of celebrities as being somewhat two dimensional. They tend to not see beyond the thing said celebrity is known for (singer/songwriter in your case). What are some of the things you wish people would know about you that aren’t music related?

SHAWN: I love sports!! I like to stay active and work out. If I wasn’t a musician I’d probably be a personal trainer. I’m always a little hesitant to say this but I hold a Guinness World Record for Standing on a Swiss Exercise ball. A Guinness World Record was something I always dreamed about having as a kid, and when the opportunity came up to get one, I couldn’t pass it up. I’m also very close to my family. It’s hard living away from them in Vancouver but they are really supportive of me and I’m very thankful for that.
The idea to interview Shawn Hlookoff was suggested by Emmeli. She had these next questions for him:

EMMELI: You’re from Canada, a country that although patriotic isn’t as blatantly vociferous about their beliefs as countries like the US. What inspired you to write the songs “Soldier” and “Rested Guns”?

SHAWN: My background is Russian and in particular Doukahabour. Doukahbours came to Canada at the turn of the century to get away from the wars and violence in Russia. A lot of the Doukhabour men were sent to prison because they didn’t want to fight. Peace was the main goal of the Doukhabours. I guess that’s were the songs “Soldier” and “Rested Guns” came from. There wasn’t one particular event that inspired “Soldier” or “Rested Guns”. They were both really organic. They’re both written with peace as the theme. “Soldier” was inspired by all the negative news stories that I’ve heard/seen in media with regards to soldiers. With the song “Soldier” I didn’t want to take a political side and say whether or not war is right or wrong. I simply wanted to focus on the fact that soldiers are human beings first, not killing machines and should be treated like you and I would want to be. It’s amazing the sacrifices they make in order to protect us. There are a lot of families across the U.S and Canada right now who are missing a Mom or Dad because they’re away fighting a vicious war. These families deserve our respect.

EMMELI: “Part of Me” is a song about violence in the home, a subject that isn’t touched on very frequently. What was the inspiration behind this song?

SHAWN: I met a guy one day who asked me for a ride downtown for $10. I was going downtown anyways, so I told him to get in and not worry about the money. When we were heading downtown I started asking him the usual who, what, where, when, how questions. He then decided to tell me all about his childhood and how much of a prick his father was to him and his brother. I could tell by the anger in his voice that he’d been through some serious pain. He told me that he and his brother always planned to pay their dad a visit one day and beat the crap out of him. But their dad ended up getting sick and could barely get around on his own steam so there was no point in beating up a helpless old man. I took that story and wrote the song “Part Of Me” but at the end of the song/story I added the though of forgiveness. There’s no point in beating an old man up, but if you forgive him for something that he know’s he’s guilty for, that’s a very powerful statement.

EMMELI: On your site you write that you wish to make music that makes people think, and that says something about the state of the world. How do you feel you will be able to maintain that goal, something that has been difficult for other artists in the past?

SHAWN: I keep my writing honest and try to be inspirational. There are too many songs out there that are written because a record company knows people will dance to it at a club, and it will sell in stores. The problem with that is most of those songs have no meaning to them and the kids and teenagers all sing along to them. Music has a huge influence on children’s desires, so we have to be careful with what they are exposed to. To maintain that the goal of writing songs with a positive message, I’m going to keep writing from the heart and hopefully people will continue to relate.

EMMELI: “Let Her Go” is about reminding parents that they need to let their children (daughters specifically) go into the world and discover things on their own yet you are barely 21 yourself. What drove you to write this song?

SHAWN: My sister is 24 years old and until recently was trapped in an environment where everyone in my family was telling her what to do and how to do it. She’s has self-esteem issues and struggles at finding something she really likes to do. It was sad to see because my family really loves her, but it was frustrating for my sister because everyone had an opinion on what she should do and it was really blocking out her own voice. Even thought I’m only 22 now, I wrote that song from a parent’s perspective. As parents there comes a time when you have to let go and let your child find out who they are on their own. I’m sure my perspective will change once I start having kids of my own, but from the outside looking in, letting your child experience independence is a good thing.
Thanks a lot to Shawn for his time and generosity.
His Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/hlookoff
His website: http://www.hlookoff.com

Thank You to Emmeli for the questions and the suggestion!