were made in this building . Gary , who oversees the House of Blues complex here in Nashville , wanted to move the whole building up from Memphis , and they let him do it . It ’ s a great sounding room . Obviously , there ’ s a million choices here in Nashville , and it was important to us to make the record here in Nashville this time . We went and looked at a bunch of different studios , and this one seemed to be the most natural . We go to Prince ’ s quite a bit , get hot chicken , and come in here and work , and we start late as you see ( 2pm studio start time usually ). I ’ m enjoying being off the road for a bit and being in one place for a minute .
[ CG ] Do you have any advice for Collectible Guitar readers and players ?
[ J . D .] As a player , take every opportunity you can to play with other people in front of people , because you ’ re going to learn more from that than by being by yourself . On a human level I just think that we live in a very heavy time right now , and I think that there ’ s a way for us all to voice ourselves in union in a way that is not divisive , in a way that is peaceful and compassionate . I think inherently , and I quote John F . Kennedy , “ We all breathe the same air .” I ’ ll end that quote with mine . “ We all breathe the same air and I feel , having traveled around the globe and having met every race , every age group , every socio-economic background , we all want to lay our head down at night in a safe place . We all want food in our stomach . We all want a better place for our children .” There isn ’ t a human being walking the planet that doesn ’ t want to be liked and that doesn ’ t want to be loved . We are so different … yet we are so the same . I pray for what is going on at the moment ; that we can find a way to realize that we do all truly want the same thing . Hopefully we can find a way to stop focusing on things that are in some way devised to keep us at each other ’ s throats .
Catching up with J . D . Simo for this interview was enlightening . Seeing how he has evolved as a musician and artist over the years is impressive . He has a renewed passion and a laser focus on the music he wants to create and the messages he seeks to share .
Our own Eric Dahl interviewing J . D .
The title for the new album hasn ’ t been determined yet , but a late summer or early fall release is expected . A new direction and beginning for Simo , the band and the man , promises to be refreshing for a music scene that sometimes swims in a shallow pool .
Mar � Apr 2017 CollectibleGuitar . com
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