INTERVIEW

What type of music are you influenced by?
The range is kind of big I’ll tell you, and it would start anywhere from back alleyways, to French music like Edith Piaf, to accordions and things like that. To nice and classy stuff like Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole, I really like their voices, their voices have inspired me. Musically like singer/songwriters like Rufus Wainwright, David Mead, as well as a lot of British stuff such as Radiohead.

What attracted you to play the guitar?
Well I can remember visiting my Dad’s friend’s house, when I was possibly 8 years old, and as we were leaving his house my arm brushed up against this thing, this piece of wood that had strings on it and it made this sound and it resonated forever and I just stopped and looked and I’d never really seen an electric guitar up close before til that day and it kind of felt like magic. Ever since that day I was like I gotta get an electric guitar or something.

How many types of instruments do you play?
I play whatever I ended up finding around the house which would include the recorder, spoons, I took piano for 5 years, guitar, I’ve squeaked out a couple of notes on the trombone but I don’t play it, I also love drums.

What’s it like opening for Gavin Degraw? How is this tour different from the other tours that you’ve done?
It’s such a privilege to play in front of packed houses across the nation. It’s fun to travel and it’s great to know when a lot of people are going to be at a show, that’s also a lot of fun. How it’s different is this time we are doing a more stripped down version then what we did last time which was a bit more of a rock act, so last time there was like 6 guys all traveling in a van together, that’s fun but it also gets more tiring because there’s no personal space so for this one it’s just me and Peter on stage, it’s guitar and acoustic and it’s fun just having more of a mellow sound and it’s a little more relaxing.

For those that have never seen your show, how would you describe it, musically and visually?
Musically it’s a little bit stripped down, it’s mellow but its still energetic, and I hope it’s really vibey, I hope it gives something for people to feel, if they felt like closing their eyes to really picture themselves in a different place somewhere, I would love for the music to take you somewhere, make you feel emotion. We do a cover of “Young at Heart” by Frank Sinatra and we do a song in Spanish.

Now being from Nashville, how does the music scene differ there, than any other place that you’ve played a show?
It’s hard to get everybody because it’s different when you look out in the crowd and everybody there is a solo artist and doing their own thing, and their not strictly music fans, they’re kind of like, other artists coming out to support you to see what your up to these days. It’s a different kind of thing, it’s not like people are jumping up and down, their not doing that, you kind of know everybody in the audience.

Your song “Falling in love at a coffee shop” was featured in a diamond is forever commercial campaign, how has your career changed since that song has taken off?
My career has changed because it paved the way to make a record, and have a new sound. Also it helps to have a song that people know because their automatically interested so it’s kind of nice that way and that’s how we got this tour.

What’s the biggest obstacle for you, as an artist?
Just continuing to write songs that make me happy and trying to fit them into the business mold. That’s the biggest struggle, just the art and then just yourself, and see how they fit or don’t fit, and then just kind of let it be, let the cards fall where they may.

What would you say your claim to fame would be?
I don’t think I have a claim to fame, but thank you for asking!!

What are your future plans for your music?
Hopefully we’ll get another cool tour soon, and come back to some of the same cities, I think I’m going to do another show in New York with the girl who is on the macbook air commercial Yael Naim, other than that, making another full length album.

Anything else you wish to share with your fans?
Tell them that I’m wearing the exact same clothes that I wore in Chicago last night, and sometimes that just happens on tour. You have to be ok with going with the punches you sometimes don’t get a lot of downtown and have to wear the same clothes, but we’re excited to play the music every night!

To learn more about Landon Pigg check out his official website at: www.landonpigg.com and myspace at: www.myspace.com/landonpiggmusic. Make sure to drop him a comment and check out the tunes!

(Thank you so much to our new contributor, Sarah Sands, for conducting this interview with Landon Pigg!)