Interview: Stuart D'Rozario on 4/18/09
By: David Rachac
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Stuart D'Rozario - Photo by Paul Erickson
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How Was The Show: When did you get started playing music? Did you take lessons or are you mostly self-taught?
Stuart D’Rozario: I started when I was 12. I’m mostly self-taught, but I’ve also taken lessons. Studied some finer picking techniques and learned a bit of music theory.
HWTS: You’ve worked in the advertising business since you got out of college – how much impact did your music interest and background have on your career?
SD’R: It’s helped a lot. And vice versa. Both involve ideas, writing and production -- as well as getting a message or emotion across to people.
HWTS: You are a partner at Barrie D’Rozario Murphy, an advertising and marketing firm headquartered here in Minneapolis. Talk about a typical day at BDM.
SD’R: A normal day is a mix of being serious and having fun. You’re serious about solving business problems for clients, but you have to come up with fun, engaging and entertaining ways to do that. I spend a lot of time going through ideas that teams in our creative department come up with. I’m on planes a fair bit, to present work to clients and get closer to their business. When we are in production for a commercial, it involves being at shoots, edits, and music recording.
HWTS: You’ve lived and worked around the world -- what do you enjoy most about the Twin Cities that makes you want to live here?
SD’R: I did love it until the last winter. Now I’m on the fence. Seriously, it’s a great city, especially if you have a family, as I do. My wife and son like it here too. It’s big enough and small enough. You’re in the center of the country -- two or three hours from both coasts, which is convenient. I like that it’s culturally rich and has four seasons, including winter.
HWTS: Tell me about your songwriting and recording process -- how does a song go from idea to finished form?
SD’R: I’ve learned that it’s important to capture ideas as you have them. Whether it’s words or music, I immediately record stuff. I have a small old-fashioned tape player with a record button and I keep it handy and travel with it too. These days I also use an iPhone recorder app that I sing, hum or talk into, which syncs with iTunes.
For me, a song is mostly about capturing an emotion. If you get that right, the song works. I rewrite lyrics a lot until they feel right and look right typed out. It might sound a bit odd, but I actually feel the look of words typed on a paper is a good judge of how well it’s going to work in a song.
My recording process is pretty typical -- we get the band together and record basic tracks, then work on overdubs, vocals and harmonies in the weeks after. On American Love, Ken, Tommy and Jim all helped me produce different tracks. It’s really a team effort.
Once we’re done recording, of course, we mix. I’ve mixed both records with a great engineer, Charlie Paakkari, at Capitol Studios in Los Angeles. That’s a more reductive process, where we sometimes leave things out as we finalize mixes.
HWTS: American Love is your second CD – how has your songwriting evolved since the 2006 release of Songs About Now?
SD’R: The songs for American Love are a bit different from Songs About Now. The main difference is that I wrote them with the band in mind. The first record was more about me and a guitar.
HWTS: You’ve worked with some serious heavyweights on both of your CDs , including Tommy Barbarella (Prince), Jim Anton (Jonny Lang) and Noah Levy (Honeydogs). How did you come to work with such a high-powered group of people?
SD’R: They are a great bunch of guys and a pleasure to work with. I met them while working on the first record. We all seemed to connect and get along both musically and personally. So it’s been easy and fun. We’ve also become good friends over the past few years, which helps the music and the process.
The reason it works is because we share a common goal of creating music that we can be proud off. We set the bar high and we work hard. And most important, we have fun. At the end of the day, if you can’t have fun making music, it’s probably not worth doing.
HWTS: You have a show on Monday, April 20th at the Guthrie Theater. What are we going to see there?
SD’R: This is part of the Monday Night at the Guthrie Series. We’ll have the whole band playing and will also have a string quartet join us for a few quieter songs. Artist proceeds will be donated to a grassroots non-profit in St Paul – Lift Kids.
HWTS: Thanks for taking the time to answer all these questions. Any final comments?
SD’R: A pleasure. Thanks for doing this. Hope to see you at the show.
Artist Info: Stuart D'Rozario
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