What are you most excited about right now?

Well I’m going on tour in January from Chicago to Boston, New York down the east coast, so I’m excited for that. That’s cool.

How did you get where you are today?

I’ve been in bands my whole life and when I was about fifteen or sixteen I started doing my own solo thing. After a little while of that, I met this dude at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass who was starting this App called DeliRadio, which is kind of like an artist sharing platform like SoundCloud but during a time when SoundCloud wasn’t very popular. So I put my stuff up on his site, he was a local from Berkeley and has a record label so I was like alright sure, why not? And about six months later, I got called up and they were like “Yo, your stuff’s being listened to so we want you to come in.”…I ended up going into their studio in Berkeley and I met this producer that they had on file named Jim Grier, who’s actually still my producer today. So him and I clicked really well and we kind of started working with each other from there. We recorded an EP right before the end of my junior year of high school but it was never released. After that, I took about six or seven months to get my chops out and kept recording and put out three or four demo records and by that time he was trying to find me a production deal and so we put out two records…After that we got in contact with all of the people we know now and am waiting for shit to get rolling. So yeah, that’s how it all happened.

What’s the coolest venue you’ve played?

I’ve played at some really cool venues. I played Great American Music hall right after I graduated high school, which was a big thing for me because I saw my first show there. And then in San Francisco I played the Mezzanine, which is a ridiculous venue, really rad, pretty crackin place.

What was Urban like for you?
I don’t remember (laughter) I screwed around a lot. I went to class and did my work I think, not too much of that but yeah. I had some really tight friends who were really stoked and so I was stoked on my friends. Some of the teachers were rad. I don’t know, I kind of always knew what I was going to do so I got my outlet out in music. I played in the jazz band which was fun. A lot of my friends were playing in it so that was a good outlet. But Urban’s a rad place in hindsight, a cool spot. I don’t think I totally realized it when I was there, I was a little bummed out about having to go but they teach you a lot of cool things. A lot of things you don’t see people knowing, like when you go to the East Coast, even out of high school, really well respected educational institutions. So Urban was rad for what it was. Very rad.

What advice would you give an Urban student?
I’d say for anybody, if you have something that you want to do, don’t be persuaded by people if it’s a stupid idea or if they’re trying to tell you it is. Like for a long time, people didn’t think that my music career was ever going to be like an actual thing, you know what I mean? But I never listened to them, never cared to listen to them and as a result I’ve made it as a career so far, and that’s really exciting and cool. You know, people are never going to believe in you until you make it happen. If you have a gut feeling about something you want to do and how you want to do it, then you need to just go for it. Keeping thinking it’ll come through and you can end up succeeding.

Why music?

I feel like a lot of people who are artists they kind of have to do it, you know? It’s kind of my main interest, if not only interest. Really ever since I was a kid I’ve been tripping towards music. And it’s funny because my father was a professional musician as well as my siblings from him. So it’s almost genetic in that way, where I really have no choice. When I was fourteen or fifteen going into highschool, I kind of knew I was gonna end up doing this. I was always kind of stubborn and just did my own thing because I’ve always kinda known.

What’s your writing process?

Generally I’ll be doing something and an idea will pop in my head. So I’ll record that idea on my phone and if I’m inspired I’ll play that idea a bunch and start to diagram it out. Then I’ll start recording it and layer in the track one piece by one piece. And then I’ll write the lyrics… Generally my producer’s the only one who will help occasionally to refresh my shit but the creative aspect of the music is all me. But of course I need people to be on stage with me playing the parts I’ve recorded to the track. But yeah, every song I record is all me.

Where can people find your music?

Google me. I’m on Spotify, iTunes, SoundCloud. I’ve been working to vamp up my media so like me on Facebook, follow me on Instagram or Twitter, look at andrewstjames.com and you can find my articles and shows and what not.