A chat with singer/songwriter Brad Walsh

Brad Walsh 'Right Now' cover

Brad Walsh has been recording music and crafting masterful remixes of other artists’ work for more than five years, adding kaleidescopic club beats to familiar songs by the likes of Kanye West, Beyonce, Rihanna, Sarah McLachlan, Lady Gaga, and Britney Spears. In fact, his most recent remix was of Spears’ 2011 hit “Hold It Against Me.”

My readers will likely know of Walsh’s work remixing Adam Lambert’s “For Your Entertainment” in 2009 and “Whataya Want From Me” in 2010. Both remixes topped the Billboard Dance charts. Lambert subsequently used Walsh’s “For Your Entertainment” remix to open his international Glam Nation tour shows. Far from just extending the song’s popularity in dance clubs, the arty remix has a prominent showcase on Lambert’s 2011 Glam Nation Live DVD/CD* release.

Brad Walsh, courtesy bradwalsh.com

But Brad Walsh is not just talented at laying the beat down on other people’s tracks. The 28 year old Cleveland native (who resides in Chelsea, NYC with boyfriend, fashion designer Christian Siriano) is an artist in his own right.  A self-produced singer/songwriter (who is also an accomplished photographer and jewelry designer), he has been putting out his own brand of darkly-brooding and infectious dance-pop / electronica since 2006. His most well-known album may be 2009′s Human Nature, available on Amazon.com.

Brad’s latest collection, the aptly named Right Now, is being released tomorrow (June 14) and will be available for free on his website as a one-click download that features all 11 tracks, including a web-only bonus track, and all album art. The album will also be available to purchase on CD at Brad’s web store, and digitally on iTunes, Amazon, and most other digital retailers.

I caught up with Brad today and he was gracious enough to grant me an interview.

PAT: First of all thank you for chatting with me, Brad. I’m a fan of your remixes, especially the ones you did for Lady Gaga, Rihanna, and Adam Lambert.

Your brilliant remix of Lambert’s “For Your Entertainment” went to #1 on the Billboard Hot Dance Singles chart. Did you have any idea then that Lambert would open his Glam Nation shows with that remix? Was it something you talked about, or did you find out after the fact?

BRAD: No, I didn’t know that Adam was going to open the tour with my version until he emailed and told me, which I think was just a few days before the tour started. It was pretty cool! I got to see it myself here in New York and it was really neat. That remix got a lot of mileage with the tour and the E! commercial and the DVD, and I love that he and his people liked it enough to use it so widely. It meant a lot to me!

P: My readers know of your work as a DJ, but we’re here to talk about your new album Right Now. Except for the bonus track, “Memorize,” you wrote, produced, recorded and mixed all the songs yourself. How different was that for you, compared to collaborations you’ve done in the past?

B: I’ve always written and produced all my own stuff but I also usually had a collection of guests on my songs. Last album I had the incredible Emm Gryner on two tracks, and my friend CariDee English made her singing debut on my song “Boy/Girl,” and some other friends and artists I was a fan of. This album is all me, no guest vocals, because it’s largely more personal material.

P: Right Now is a deeply personal album, and the lyrics are quite powerful. Was it difficult to put together because of the emotional aspects, or did you find it cathartic?

B: This was the first album that was really emotional at times to get together. There are a couple songs that are about some real life heavy stuff, and it was easy to write but wasn’t easy to record and then play back and produce for months afterward.

P: I’d like to focus on a couple of very personal songs. First, can you talk about the story behind “Father”?

B: It was about refusing to donate parts of my body to help my biological father when he was sick, because I grew up hearing that he didn’t think I was his, he wanted nothing to do with me. I had never even met him. He didn’t even ask me, he asked someone else to ask my mother to ask me. It was a difficult choice for me to say no, and based in stubbornness, but also I think a deserved moment of empowerment in a lifetime of feeling excluded. This song is about saying no, and why I said no, and it ends with a countdown. The countdown was angry. It was me counting down his life, me having some sort of power over his life, and using that power vengefully.

P: Tell us a little more about “DFWM,” which recalls a situation where you were the victim of a hate crime.

B: “DFWM” was about an incident a few years ago where I was punched in the face and called ‘faggot’ by a trucker in broad daylight without any provocation, in Soho (NYC), surrounded by people and nobody helped, nobody offered to be my witness to the police. So I had to take the power into my own hands again, even if it was just to stand back up, get his license plate number (despite him chasing me down the street when he saw I was trying to memorize it), and go to the police.

Brad Walsh, courtesy bradwalsh.com

Lucky for me I had the means to fight, and I fought for weeks. But what about the many many people that this kind of thing happens to every day who don’t have the means to fight? Who don’t know people in the media and don’t have Twitter followers and don’t have anybody who can go with them to the police station?

So this song is about me dismantling this bigot’s life “piece by piece” but it’s also about trying to warn other assholes out there that we are not going to let them get away with this like we used to. We have networks now, we have NOH8 and we have many people who care. Not just gay people. Not just gay media. “Don’t Fuck With Me,” is the point.

P: Despite the sometimes dark and even devastating subject matter, like the two songs you just discussed with us, the album remains very danceable and even upbeat in places. Can you talk about your choices and how you were able to achieve that balance?

B: I think I just have a hard time writing about happy things. When things are great my music stalls. But I also love dance music and pop music, so I can’t help but combine the two. I don’t know how to write any other way yet!

It was a refreshingly candid and revealing conversation, and I extend my thanks to Brad and his representatives for working with me on it.

Brad has publicly said of the free release of Right Now:

“The idea is that with music, people should be able to try before they buy. If you like it, then pay for it. Share the free download link with friends, go nuts!”

Well, who are we to argue with the artist? Go forth and download as soon as it’s available and listen to it now at Brad’s web store!

Come back tomorrow to read my review of the full 11-track album Right Now by Brad Walsh.

A little hint? It’s pretty damn good.

Read my review of Adam Lambert’s ‘Glam Nation Live’ DVD/CD.

Read my review of Adam Lambert’s “Billboard Aftermath Remix.”

All photos ©bradwalsh.com and used with permission. Click each photo to view completely.

Related articles

• Brad Walsh talks about new album, Adam Lambert remixes, and homophobia (examiner.com)
• Adam Lambert the way he was meant to be experienced – Glam Nation Live CD/DVD (examiner.com)
• Adam Lambert takes fans down memory lane and gets flak again (VIDEO) (examiner.com)