William Austin INTERVIEW
Photo By: Naoki Fukada
Written By: JoAnn Snavely
William Austin’s journey into music was one seemingly aligned by stars itself- starting as a fan, immersing himself into music at every step when a quick twist of fate turned him into the rising star he is now. Growing up in Tennessee, music was always the backdrop to his life, from local concerts to country and pop anthemic sounds. But it wasn’t until a life-altering experience after moving to New York, where he battled both COVID-19 and pneumonia, that Austin found himself not just listening to music, but creating it. What followed this experience was an exploration of sound, vulnerability, and a commitment to both his Southern roots and the gritty, raw energy of Brooklyn’s indie scene. With his debut EP Landlocked out in the world, Austin is navigating this newfound sense of self-expression, blending genres and storytelling to create something intimate and inviting. In this interview, No Regards got the chance to catch up and chat about everything from the evolution of his voice and sound to the sacrifices and revelations that have come with embracing music as not just a passion, but a calling.
Let's start with your music journey. It seems to have an interesting backstory following COVID-19. Prior to the events of COVID-19, how was music a part of your life?
Before COVID, I was always a huge music fan in general. I loved going to concerts as a kid and growing up in Tennessee, I was always around folk, bluegrass, and country. I think I’ve always just been someone who dove into music, I would listen to albums relentlessly whenever my favorite artists would drop a new project. For me, it was an escape from everything and the world. Before moving to New York, and before the stuff with COVID, I didn’t feel like I had a seat at the table with music. I was just a fan watching from the other side of the room, and wanting to be a part of it, the experience was just as a listener for a long time.
After COVID and catching COVID-onset pneumonia, how did that translate into you creating music?
I got COVID when I first moved to New York and then it turned into pneumonia, and my lungs and vocal cords were very damaged so my doctor told me to do some exercises basically to bring my strength back up, and one of those things in the program was to start trying to sing- to speed up the recovery of my lungs. So I did that every day, he told me to sing for an hour to help as exercise. I was no singer, but it felt like an excuse to go for it, I would look up lyrics to songs I liked, and try to belt out the notes that I couldn’t hit. I did it for so long that eventually I started to see some change, and my voice not only got back to normal but it actually felt stronger than it was before I got sick. I was able to start hitting those notes, and I kind of freaked out. So, I doubled down and started writing songs and playing music, and it sort of evolved into facing this passion that I hadn’t had an outlet for yet. I started learning guitar, all of these ideas that I had been sitting on for so long, I finally had something to do with them. I started writing songs and it led to where I am today.
You mesh your musical inspiration with the indie scene of New York and your southern roots in Chattanooga. Were there any specific influences from either of those scenes that inspired your work the most?
There are so many from both places. Growing up in Tennessee, music was so much of my environment constantly, going to restaurants and hearing live music, or country or pop, whatever playing on the radio. The feeling of a singalong song was something I grew up with, and always really liked- when people would play music in stadiums, and everyone would sing their words or you’d go to concerts and everyone would be singing along. Pop and country felt like there were so many anthems and I liked that- being able to hear something and get the gist of it quickly was always really cool. On the flip side, in Brooklyn- where I live- the indie scene is so intense, and it feels like the average musician is so mysterious, you don’t know much about them and they just drop music and release these indie songs. I feel like that was something I liked because the style of songwriting is so personal and intimate but at the same time, I liked and missed the big, bold, and exciting music that is so out there, you know who the artist is. I feel like you can get to know them from their online presence or when they’re at a show, they feel very inviting- like a friend or something. I wanted to do both- [I wanted to] write very honest and vulnerable songs, in the style that a lot of the Brooklyn indie scene is but then also do it in a way that felt very approachable and people were invited to get to know me if they wanted to or listened to my music, either through my music or who I am as a person. Those two scenes merged to where I’m out now.
Your EP Landlocked came out last month. Were there any new production styles or sounds you experimented with in making the EP?
A lot of that project was new for me. I had just dabbled in making music on my own, or with friends before that. Landlocked was the first time it felt so real to me that I had a duty, or responsibility to see the songs through, and take them seriously. I think as far as production goes, I worked with a lot of new instruments. Before writing Landlocked, I couldn’t play any instruments, but I learned guitar to be able to write that project. So the acoustic guitar was the foundation because of that, but then being able to pull new instruments and new players for banjo or slide guitar, and things like that. Being able to bring other people to expand the kinds of sounds was cool, in a very practical way. Also, we got very granola and off the grid with it. For “These Woods” for instance, I wanted it to sound like how the song felt to me so I recorded it in the woods and we put a mic stand out while I was by myself, around all of these birds. For “Oaks”, it was very reminiscent of my neighborhood growing up so we recorded it out in the driveway, I just wanted it to be as true to the emotion of the process as possible. There was a lot of trial and error, in figuring out what the best context would be to record each song.
With Landlocked what was one feeling or story you wanted fans to take away from it?
I hope that for every person it’s different. My favorite song changes whenever I listen to the project, I’ll have a new one stuck in my head. So to me, my biggest takeaway is always changing, but I wanted to capture that feeling- these songs are all memories that I hadn’t gotten off my chest until music was an outlet for me, and the reason it’s called Landlocked to me is because it’s driven by this feeling of looking back on your past self and feeling less open, or a more caged version of yourself. Using the metaphor of a birdcage for it. To me, music was always an escape as fan of music, so now as an artist, I hope with my music [fans] can find some sort of escape to my project, so they can feel some sort of escape to my music, and feel seen to those. Or if they want a more fun song like “Sunspot” or “Intersection”, [fans] can feel like they can step back and escape for a couple of minutes
What’s something you’ve had to sacrifice for your music, and would you do it again in retrospect?
Honestly a lot, I think I felt like the world was pushing me to do music, and I felt that I was answering some sort of call of fate. I kind of changed my whole mindset, I’ve always been artistic but with music, I’ve become someone who feels like these songs need to get out I need to honor them as much as I can. A lot of those sacrifices have been financial, in the beginning stages. Figuring out how to afford to make the music, and put it out there on my own. A lot of it is just time too, spending so much time on music is tough figuring out when to work. Logistically too, it’s so much time and there are so many people involved. I feel like the biggest sacrifice, strangely- it’s a good thing after all, but writing music and putting it out there, being as honest as I can about the way I feel about things has been tough just by thinking about the experiences and forcing myself to be ok with those existing in front of everyone I know, and whoever wants to listen to the songs. So maybe this feeling of false security and privacy, of keeping those things to myself has been really hard in the beginning to write, record, and press the button to upload to streaming. It’s weirdly been an incredible thing in my life because it pushed me to be able to process a lot of those things, but in some ways, it does feel like a sacrifice to be able to think that these things that I’m keeping- my secrets, my past, that I’m keeping so protected, and to tell them to everyone for the sake of art.
What's the best piece of advice you’ve been given since pursuing music?
It’s very cliche, but the way it was told to me has specifically resonated with me. The idea of just being yourself as an artist, but specifically the way that I believe as an artist, the songs that I’ll write and be a part of bringing into the world- the things that I’m writing and putting out are things that if done properly, that the world is inviting to be out there and those ideas can only come from my head or whoever’s on the project, so I think the idea of being yourself because if you don’t make the music that’s true to you, or you can’t make your music, or your art whatever it is. If you don’t make your art, then your art won’t exist, and I think that shifted my perspective in a way- feeling insecure about whether my ideas are that good, or if anyone wants to listen to my music and what I have to say. I think everyone has something to say, and every artist has some specific perspective that’s unique to them, and so your power is in tapping into that uniqueness, and that honesty. So that would be my advice that whatever you want to talk about and feel compelled to share is something only you can do, capitalizing off that uniqueness.
If you had to describe your sound using any inanimate object, what would it be and why?
That one pair of super worn-out jeans that you should probably get a new pair of, they’re so tattered, destroyed, and frayed but they kind of look cool even though they're destroyed, and every time you wear them you can remember how long ago you got them, and they feel comforting to you in that way.
Inspiration can come out of nowhere, what’s the strangest place or idea you’ve ever come up with a new song idea?
I feel like I’m always coming up with ideas all the time, and sneak away to the bathroom and make a voice memo. This isn’t super strange as a place to pull inspo from, but it’s strange because of the context. A lot of times I’ll come up with an idea on the subway, like when I’m underground. I’ll have AirPods in and I’ll want to take a voice memo so I don’t forget the idea of the melody or lyric, and the subway is so loud that in the past when I’ve done it, I can’t hear what it sound like, I just hear the rattling of the subway car- so I’ll walk to the edge of the subway car, where fewer people are around and I’ll have to loudly sing the idea quickly to my voice memos. I’m inspired on the train so much because I’ll see so many people that will remind me of something, or someone I used to know but I’m always listening to music on the train. I’m always inspired but it’s really brutal because I’m one of the maniacs who’s singing loudly for 10 seconds, and I’ll just get off and go to a different car so no one thinks I’m insane, but I’d probably say the subway.
Finally, are there any upcoming events or projects that fans should get excited about?
I’ll answer for projects, at the beginning of the new year I’m going off the grid for a week with some of my friends and collaborators and we’ve been working since before Landlocked was even finished on a bunch of new songs. I’m unbelievably excited about it, the people on it were all my first choice and I’m so happy that everyone said yes to work on it. I’m not sure what details I can say besides I’m putting so much into the next batch of songs and I can’t wait for people to hear them next year.
William Austin’s latest EP Landlocked is out now!
