I wanted to make a blog post about Freeway. The making of this song has been the best experience of my life!
Today is Tue, Jan 16th and I'm in my studio.
I AM SO HYPED.
I went to LA for the time with my cousin and my best friend. It was all our first time there, and we experienced, and did as much as we could.
I had this song 'Freeway' that I wrote a few years ago, when I was 23. I'm 26 now. I was with my ex, in a band, in college.
I met a dude named Neil back in college who I ended up going on a few trips with, and working on some film sets with. He showed me the first three chords of Freeway. When I heard it, I was VERY inspired. I played it for a while, went home, added some chords for the bridge and.. the lyrics came to me in the car with my ex a few days later..
Here's neil's original idea:
Here's the moment the lyrics 'came to me' in the car: (phone mic was a little broken lol)
And here's when I put the words with the chords:
After that, I didn't touch the song for years.
Until I showed it to my cousin Rashad before we left for LA. He really liked it and kept saying "You gotta make Freeway man, I like that song.."
A lot of other stuff happened in those years, but that's a whole other story for another time. I moved back home from college, and my mom passed away suddenly from cancer. So, I felt called to go to LA for the first time. I've always wanted to go.. and I'm still chasing my dream, and after seeing my mom dead I realized that I'm going to die someday. It's something that we all know, but seeing it flipped a switch in me. So I might as well live fully while I'm here. So, we went. Me, my cousin Rashad, and my best friend Jordan.
It was the best experience of my life.
Halfway through our stay, (One week turned into THREE weeks..) I called up Paramount Recording Studios, and tried to set up a session. I google'd "Best recording studio in LA" and called. He asked what I needed, any producers or engineers, and any instruments.. Got it "Locked In" as he said. And that they would e-mail to confirm the appointment. No email for a day or two, or phone call, and the day we agreed on came up. So, we just drove there.
We showed up, and they didn't know who we were:
And then we recorded Freeway:
After driving away from the studio, it was a crazy feeling. We did it. I went all the way across the country with my cousin and best friend, and recorded a song at a major label studio (Paramount) in Hollywood CA, drove a Benz, stayed in Beverly Hills. It was the dream. And I'm so grateful. It's crazy how one tragedy can turn into a blessing depending on how you react to it. Somehow it all worked out. And, people love the song. I just wish my mom could have seen it all.
I made a music video with all of the footage I recorded in LA, (thanks Jordan for a lot of these shots too) and recorded some footage in a parking garage in my hometown, Jamestown NY:
And that's FREEWAY.
I'll have some merch dropping in the next week or so here, and if you support me and what I do, merch is quite literally the best way to support. The music industry is much different than it used to be, and music streaming services like Spotify do not pay well at all. A total of 12,000 streams I had, netted me about $50. So, us artists have to find other creative ways to support ourselves. And making sick merch is one way of doing that. I'll be dropping a FREEWAY hoodie very soon :) I will only release things that actually are cool and that I would buy myself.. If I wouldn't wear it, I wouldn't sell it.
Thanks for reading, if you've read this far. I really appreciate it. I'm so glad everyone likes 'Freeway' I got even better music coming for you guys. The vault is overflowing... if you wouldn't mind sharing this article, or the music video, or the song to your friends and on social media, I would really appreciate it. That's what's helps the most. Thank you.
Best,
Brett, a.k.a. PUTL
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