We were lucky to catch up with Golden Blue recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Golden, thank you for being such a positive, uplifting person. We’ve noticed that so many of the successful folks we’ve had the good fortune of connecting with have high levels of optimism and so we’d love to hear about your optimism and where you think it comes from.
Delusion! Just kidding, kind of. I think if you are a musician in 2024, especially an independent one without some secret deep well of money, you have to be just a little delusional to keep going. At the end of the day, I really do believe that among the 8 billion people on this planet surely someone will connect with our music. Maybe it will move them, maybe they’ll share it with a friend, maybe the music will even become a part of their life and memories. That’s the dream. I create music with the hope that it will genuinely move someone and integrate into their lives on a deep level, as so much music has done for me. Music keeps me going, so I have to believe that maybe my music will do the same for others!
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
We’re Golden Blue, a dream pop band from Nashville, TN! Ashley Perez writes, produces, and sings the songs while Johnny Perez co-produces and mixes them (and you can hear his voice on some of the songs if you listen closely.) We have both been making music for other people for 10+ years and finally made our own debut album that was released in October 2023. Our music is for people who are prone to a little bit of existentialism and nostalgia. It’s for people like us who want to connect with ourselves and with others through the experience of music. It’s the kind of music you listen to in the car by yourself, on a walk in the park, or when you’re remembering someone. Our first album was all about big feelings of losing someone and coping with questions that can’t always be answered. Now we’re working on our second project and excited to continue evolving our sound and the themes of our music. You can expect a few new releases from us this year as well as a LOT of live shows!
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Learning how to produce our own music, getting comfortable playing live, and having a wide variety of influences are all factors that helped set us up to win.
Knowing how to produce our own music was probably the biggest factor in our journey this far. We both learned Ableton (before it was cool, man) and never looked back. I (Ashley) was lucky to grow up in a musical household and my dad recommended I learn Ableton when I was in high school because he thought I might have a knack for production. I like to think he was right! Producing my own music in a male-dominated studio arena is something I am passionate about, if only to encourage other women to learn how to get their brilliant ideas out of their head and into a song without having to use a third party.
We both grew up playing music in our local church, and getting those live performance reps has helped us tremendously in our later years. I always find it fascinating how many great musicians had a church or gospel background. We played an hour long live music set 4 or 5 times a week for 6 or 7 years. That’s a lot of exposure therapy! It has helped us tremendously to be more comfortable in a live setting, even if it is very different and more vulnerable now when playing our own original music. It also helped us know how to troubleshoot on the fly and adapt when needed. You wouldn’t believe how many times one or both of us were playing two instruments at once because so-and-so didn’t show up for service that day.
We’re big believers in expanding your horizons, musically and culturally. Both of us come from very different backgrounds, I (Ashley) grew up on 70’s rock, 80’s pop, 2000’s r&b, and indie sleaze. Being born in Nashville, I somehow shockingly avoided the country craze. Living in Houston, Texas in my high school years introduced me to rap, which I also fell in love with. Johnny grew up as a first generation American, and was raised on Latin music (ask him about accordion being his first instrument) before he fell in love with indie/alternative music like MuteMath, Coldplay, Phoenix, etc. I really think that having a wide breadth of influences helps open your eyes to the limitless possibilities of the kind of music you can make, as well as the joy of finding inspiration in surprising places.
What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?
A huge obstacle for any new artist making music in 2024 is over-saturation. Tens of thousands of songs are uploaded to spotify every day. How can you stand out? How do you find the people who will connect with your music? Those are the questions that keep me up at night (really.) This used to really paralyze me into not trying very hard to make social media content or put our music out in front of people’s faces. Once I got past that initial mental hurdle, I decided to post under the mindset that I mentioned in the earlier question about optimism. Someone out there will be glad to discover my music (luckily this has already happened quite a few times and that definitely keeps me going) I just have to find them! Taking up space on the internet is much more fun with that perspective. In this day and age making music and learning how to promote yourself go hand in hand, whether we like it or not. But the end goal is worth it to me!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.goldenblueband.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/goldenblueband
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/goldenblueband
- SoundCloud: https://on.soundcloud.com/Jhttw
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5mQSDaBmvk7Oe1ohGj0fbE?si=E_zc6gp0RcSOTanBObBP3A
Image Credits
Samuel Greenhill
