Ryanhood: Q & A with Cameron Hood

It's great that the two of you made the decision to be true to yourselves by taking time off and coming home to regroup. Are y'all native Tucsonans?

Yep. Born and raised here. Went to University High together, and then I went to the University of Arizona while Ryan moved out to Boston to go to Berklee. We pretty much got our start as a band street performing together in Boston, and Boston still feels like a second home. But there's nothing like having the Catalinas to set you straight when you get turned around.

How long were you back in Tucson when inspiration struck to write again? What were some of your muses?

I don't think either of us ever burned out on writing music. Just selling it. I think we had to give ourselves permission to stop thinking about how we would market ourselves, how we were going to succeed and all that. Within a few months of being home, we were both feeling a lot more creative. We stopped asking, "How will we market this?" and only asked, "Is this beautiful? Does this moved me?"

How long was the recording process?

The whole thing took just under a year. We started it at Christmas, and we're essentially getting it out by Thanksgiving!

Who are the other musicians on the album?

We have our live band playing with us on this record, which is really cool compared with the last one we did, in LA, with a bunch of studio gunslingers. They were great, but we didn't personally know any of the guys who played on our record. This time we just made a record with our friends, and had some fun. We also got The Silver Thread Trio to sing a bunch of harmonies with us, and they sound really beautiful. (Song credits are at the end of the Q&A)

How did the two of you meet?

High school. We would compete against each other in assorted Battles of the Bands. We were like friendly rivals, I'd say.

What is your music background - early memories of being bit by the music bug and how old were you when you started playing guitar & singing? Do musicians run in your families?

Yeah, Ryan's grandpa played and composed big band music, his mom sings and his dad used to crank guitar solos on car rides. My mom is a fierce music lover who used to dance around the living room while my brothers and I groaned. And my dad would play us to sleep with acoustic folk songs.

I knew I wanted to play music seriously when I realized how moved I could get by listening to certain songs by R.E.M. and Gin Blossoms and Pink Floyd when I was in high school. Plus, I probably felt like I had to prove to girls that I was more than just a chubby kid with glasses. I became a chubby kid with glasses and a guitar!

Do y'all play other music instruments?

Ryan plays guitar, mandolin, and banjo. Oh, and he once sat in with my band on bass in high school, even though we were still rivals. That's when I knew he was a keeper! I play all manner of guitars and pretend to play harmonica.

Is this album self-released?

It is. We're open to the possibility of partnering with a label at some point. But most of our older-brother type artists have been trying to get off of their labels for the past 5 years. So it's still not clear what the best approach is. Currently our approach is to record music that we like and then figure out how to make a living with it later.

What was the process of asking your fans for the financial support to record the album? $10,000 is an impressive amount of money! Did the funds come from all over the U.S.?

Yeah, we ran a Kickstarter campaign, where people from all over pledged different amounts of money in exchange for different kinds of goodies. Some of the prizes were getting to sing background vocals with us on the record, getting custom written songs, being guest-listed for life... that sort of thing. We were only asking for $3,000 total, so for people to rally and raise $10,000 was pretty emotional.

Is the 2011/2012 tour self-funded or supported by a label? I see you are currently booked through December. Are you coming back to Tucson for the holidays or are you touring during that time as well?

We're still doing everything independently. Again, we're open to a partnership, but for now we just want to get this album that we're really proud of out to everyone on both coasts that helped us make it. So that's priority number one. We should be home for Christmas and a little mischief at the Great Cover-Up.

Is Ryan Alfred's studio in Tucson? Who produced the album?

Ryan Alfred produced it. His house, which has been affectionately dubbed Super Pro Studios is tucked into a neighborhood by Time Market and he let us bring drums into his living room for 3 weeks while we were recording basic tracks. A few instruments and vocals were done in our bedrooms or garages, but most of it was at his house.

As a production rule, he was generally unconcerned with getting "perfect" takes. He just kept pushing us to make our performances as real and emotional as we could make them. I'm really grateful to him, because he got a lot out of us, and he kept it fun the whole time.

"Second City" is such a cool song, why did you choose to cover the Chicago fire musically?

I spent a lot of time in and out of Chicago dating a girl long distance and I just felt this affinity for it. I was pretty taken with the concept that almost the entire city had burned completely to the ground, and then had been rebuilt even bigger and more beautiful the second time. When the relationship ended, I had that over-dramatic feeling like everything in my life was falling apart. But I thought, "You know, if a whole city can bounce back..."

"The Meaning in Me" is wonderful, totally a universal song. Does this tune elucidate the burn out y'all experienced from constantly working?

Absolutely. I remember Ryan played me a demo of it on a home-stretch drive from Albuquerque at the end of a tour. Normally I'm Mr. Introspective, and so I remember being floored by how honest he was with his lyrics.

I mean, it totally spoke to that feeling of being all about appearances and selling things, but losing your heart in the process. We're both really proud of all the music we've written and recorded, but some of the touring was so brutal. College cafeterias and shows that weren't promoted. We just got so fatigued from meeting with labels and managers and big wigs who would basically say, "Yeah, you guys are really talented, but we don't know how we would sell you."

Title track, "After Night Came Sun," also sounds like it could have been written after having a reprieve.

We wrote the lyrics after we had finally gotten our CD The World Awaits out. It took three years to make, and we had lost faith at times that it would ever see the light of day. So it did feel like, "a sight for seeing," like we'd finally made it up from underground into the light.

Who do you rip off the most?

Ryan rips off Chris Thile from Nickel Creek, and I rip off Jon Foreman of Switchfoot. And also Katy Perry.

Anything else you'd like to add?

I'm just happy that we got to drop the business part of music for a while and make a big, colorful art project. We're better at songwriting than spreadsheets.

AFTER NIGHT CAME SUN

1. Second City

2. I Didn't Put Anything Into Your Place

3. Stay (You Know That I Would)

4. Golden I

5. Something More

6. Whenever I Hold Onto You

7. Golden II

8. The Meaning In Me

9. After Night Came Sun

10. Remy

11. Always Love You

12. Golden III

SONG CREDITS

SECOND CITY

CREDITS

PRODUCED BY