This one’s for when you’re in for a walk down that less-travelled path. One of the most interesting records I’ve gotten in a while! You know those 2 a.m. side stage shows at the big festivals? Yeah, that’s the idea 😉

All instruments, vocals, writing, arrangements, recording, mixing, mastering, album art done by Evan O’Malley.

Let’s get to know you, the artist and your music a little better. What attracted you to the or style you practice?
Growing up, I was surrounded by a lot of rock and classic pop music. My dad liked a lot of that stuff. Also my mother would always have classical music on and my tolerance to that was better than most young kids. As I got older my older brother got me into a lot of hip hop from the 80s and 90s and I discovered a lot of electronic music too, like Daft Punk. While ‘Cataclysm’ is a psyche-rock based album, there is definitely all those influences from my life in the album.

How long have you been making music? Have you been performing or sharing it with the public all that time?
When I was 12 or 13, I got a laptop for Christmas and started messing around with FL Studio, Ableton, etc, just making weird genre-less repetitive music for fun, finding weird sounds and learning how sounds work, but not actually doing any recording.

Who or what influences your writing and performance?
Hearing my dad tell stories of his old band really got me into it, he was the reason I first wanted to play guitar. At the moment, Kevin Parker really inspires me as a person just making music. With his recording project, Tame Impala, he does everything himself in the comfort of his own home, and makes everything exactly the way he wants it to be done. That way of making music really inspires me.

It seems all creative people go through rough patches or writer’s block of some sort. What motivates you to keep going?
Hearing that someone likes my music is great motivation. It’s like a pat on the back for all the hours of work you did to make a song.

Were you trying to accomplish something different or specific with this project – creatively or otherwise?
On the new album, I didn’t want to hold back. When working on old EPs I might say “Oh shit, this would sound cool with a phased out guitar doing the main melody during the outro”, but then I would stop myself because the rest of the EP is more electronic and I wouldn’t want to change it too much. But with Cataclysm, I just let the songs and my mind take me wherever they wanted to take me and spread out the color pallet in terms of genre influences.

What was the last song you listened to?
King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard – Invisible Face

Do you prefer a certain medium for listening – vinyl, CDs, mp3, reel-to-reel, Pono,(lol sort of)?
I like vinyls as they require some work to actually put on and they make you appreciate full albums as one piece of art. But I wouldn’t be able to live without MP3s. You can’t bring your record player on a bus or plane and without MP3s and digital music, zero people would have heard my stuff by now, so I guess MP3s/digital music in general is my favorite. On top of that, most of the music I love today was discovered on YouTube, not at a record store.

If you had to choose one place to host your music, would you prefer Spotify, Apple Music, Bandcamp, or … ?
YouTube – you can’t sell your music there, but that’s not a solid way to get by anyways. Everyone knows what YouTube is and has it on there phone.

Do you ever feel as if your tunes are lost in a sea of music? What are one or two of the biggest challenges you face when trying to attract new listeners?
At times it does feel like I’m in a sea of independent musicians, some good, mostly terrible, just screaming louder than the person beside them for exposure of any kind. I guess a big challenge is trying to get music bloggers to hear your music. E-mailing a music blog and hoping for a response is like throwing a dart at a dart board blindfolded and hoping for a triple 20.

Are you playing on live stages, clubs, bars, the local town picnic, festivals?
Not at the moment, not my main focus right now.

Do you ever stream your performances over the net? Where can music lovers see you perform?
Never had the chance to, but would be a good idea.

Where is the best place to connect with you online and/or discover more of your music?
Facebook is good. Twitter and Instagram are good too. https://www.facebook.com/BlistaMusic

‘Last Monday Ever’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WvRX7UKoAU

Can you share an anecdote or tale of woe or inspiration like a story about an out-of-touch club manager, your favorite fan interaction, broken busses, or you know… just some experience in your musical journey you’ll never forget?
One time I sent one of my covers of a King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard song to them and they replied saying it was very cool. That was pretty magical. ([ed: LMAO — yup! it’s a great feeling and such a Real answer to the question :)]

Lightning Round!
What’s your favorite ice cream?
Honeycomb

Dream vehicle?
A car with a working radio

Place on Earth you must visit some day
Japan

James Bond or Jason Borne?
007

Bugs Bunny or Anime?
Bug Bunny

Favorite beer or beverage of pleasure?
Dr Pepper is pretty cool

Movie or book quote you are liable to drop at the wrong moment?
“Fuck off” – lots of books/movies

Left with a choice of one instrument, which would you keep?
Piano

Any last thoughts? Shout outs? Words of wisdom?
If you don’t like something your working on, in any aspect of life, don’t hold onto it just because you spent hours on it.