Riviera, Palm Springs w/Mark Ballas, etc 6-13-14

[Miguel]

Mark Ballas on his musical background and his new single:

I grew up in a very musical family. My dad was a great guitar player as well. As a kid that was father-son time. He was a great flamenco guitar player, so that's kind of where I started. We would listen to Paco de Lucía and the Gypsy Kings — that's how my road as a musician started. Also in the house he was really big into Earth, Wind & Fire, Michael Jackson, and Prince. These are the kinds of records I grew up listening to.

I have a very extensive record collection. I love rock music as well, and funk, and all that kind of stuff. I wanted to do a record that feels like today, but still feels classic, a timeless kind of feeling, and I feel like we were able to capture that with the records on this EP. It feels good, it definitely feels like today but, like you said, it has elements of throwback. We use a lot of live instruments. I just love live instrumentation. In my opinion you can't beat it, it's one of those things, that no matter how advanced we get with computers, that's one thing you're never going to be able to beat, the sound of live musicians.

...I kind of want to be the artist right now who can really dance, but who has also mastered their instrument. I've been playing guitar for a long time, I went to music school. I feel like there's a hole in the pop market for that right now, and that's the area I'm aiming for.

...The song just came out, so we're obviously going to keep pushing it for a little bit. We're going to be playing some gigs over the summer. We'd love to some point jump out on a tour. We're going to come out and play some shows.

...The live show is better than ever. You got to hear the band that I play with on the Dancing With the Stars performance. They're just first class, incredible, incredible musicians. And when we do our shows they're just fun and entertaining. We have the dance element, we have the live music element. You really get to see me play guitar, and play to my full potential, as well, which you don't always do on the records. You do want to keep it simple, somewhat, on the record, so there aren't all these crazy guitar parts all over. But in the live show you can let it rip a little bit more.
http://www.wetpaint.com/dancing-with-the...gle-career

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“Usually when we do records I come in [to the studio] with guitar riffs or a melody or a concept idea for a song. The day we hadn’t come up with anything for two days. We’d been in the studio, hanging out, thinking something would come organically. If it doesn’t come, don’t push it,” he said.

But then, Ballas came up with the basic beat of the song, a single two-note beat that would be the backbone of the tune. “Within three hours we had the whole song done. It just flew out. It really happened organically, came out of nowhere,” he said.

http://www.bustle.com/articles/27452-dwt...en-talents

No label, but a music publisher:

“The day we put it out, it debuted at No. 24 on the iTunes Pop Chart,” Ballas recalled proudly of May 5. “I’m doing this all independently: no (record) label. So considering that, I’m really excited.”

The song is a fun pop track – Ballas croons over a bouncy beat infused with a bit of jazz. His “DWTS” cohort Derek Hough directed the song’s music video, a total throwback to the era of the ‘50s and ‘60s. “Get My Name” is the first single from Ballas’ forthcoming LP.

“This is the first full studio album I’ve done,” the singer said of the project. “I’ve done acoustic EPs and I’ve done acoustic stuff before, which has been a little more stripped back because I hadn’t had the resources or the access to amazing producers in the genre that I wanted to go into.”

That changed when Ballas signed a music publishing deal with Nashville-based BMG.

“(BMG) put me in the studio with some great producers like Jim Beanz, The Stereotypes, and then the producer that’s done a majority of my record’s name is Wizz Dumb,” Ballas revealed. “He’s Timbaland’s protégé; he works in that camp.”

It certainly makes sense that an artist who has drawn comparisons to Justin Timberlake and opened up for Robin Thicke would be working with someone on Timbaland’s team. But Ballas pulls no punches about the fact that he wants to create his own lane as an artist who can sing, dance, and play guitar. He hopes to educate the masses that he possesses all of those talents with an album release tentatively slated for late summer.

Ballas is also looking to jump onto a tour for a major artist as a supporting act. The singer says that while he is undecided on a return to “Dancing,” he will have four months off regardless.

http://timesleader.com/news/WK_Ralphie/1...sic-career