In this interview spotlight, I chat with Green about their latest (self-titled) album, technology, listening preferences, challenges and more.

Full Q&A along with links and music below.

Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)

Well, we all met in Los Angeles, California in 2018. Rafa Hadad (Vocals/Lead Guitar) moved from Mexico and met Bobby Carpenter (Rhythm Guitar/Backing Vocals) which is from the US as well as Gabe Conover (Drums), Jairo Garcia (Bass/Backing Vocals) who was born in Puerto Rico but raised in the US and Manuel Alvarez (Keyboard/Synth) from Peru. It is a very multicultural band and we love that. We feel enriched with all that we share and learn about the difference in culture, we think it definitely gives us a special vibe when jam together. Green is an Alternative Blues/Rock, at least that’s the genre we think we fold into but its better if you can listen and judge for yourselves. The biggest influences that drive and shape the sound of the music are Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, Arctic Monkeys, The Black Keys and Jack White, among others.

What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to keep going?

We think that the people that decide to dedicate their life to music are driven by pure love towards it, it’s something you cannot fight, that drives and affects a huge part of your life even if you are doing another job or activity for a living. In the case of Green we can take Rafa as an example, he graduate it from a Bachelor’s in International Business in Mexico, worked in that field for around 5 years and yet the music kept taking most of his attention, tried to fight it for a long time until he decided to give it a shot and moved to Los Angeles to pursuit it. The attraction force of love towards music has is very strong. That same love and passion is the flame that keeps us all going through. Being a musician is a beautiful but not easy path, if you don’t love it, its very likely that the life style is going to change your direction in life. 

How is this new release different than previous ones? Were you trying to accomplish anything specific?

So far we have only released 1 studio album and the idea is to make a combination of the good old blues and the new digital sounds of our era. This project talks about situations that humans have to go through in life.

With our debut album “Green”, we present a concept based in life itself, life situations with a hint of a spiritual awakening message. The project has a feel of chill vibes combined with tasteful blues guitar licks along groovy and sticky rhythms. The overall message from this album is trying to spread the word of being free, finding and accepting ourselves despite what other people say. Songs cover topics such as love/relationships based on some of the band members experiences with language that everyone can relate to.

From tracks like “Slow Blues” and “Crawling” that delve into breaking through the noise of thoughts and fear in order for us to pursue our dreams and goals. To the first single “Time Machine” that expresses in a futuristic way the “moving on” process from within the eyes of someone stuck  in the past, without being able to go forward because of a significant other. This album brings some bluesy grooves like “Albert” and the upbeat “Feels Like Rain” that talk about relationship situations.

Name one or two challenges you face as an indie musician in this oversaturated, digital music age? How has technology helped you (since we know it does help)?

All things in life have a positive and a negative, it depends on how we look at it. So the hardest challenge so far is to break through the noise and stand out. The fact that anyone can promote their product, music, life, etc, makes it harder to stand out due to the enormous amount of information we are exposed to. So I guess that has been our biggest challenge so far. As the positive side of technology, it’s because of it that we are able to make music and record it, technology made it easier for the independent artist to express themselves and put their art out in the world with the power to reach more people. 

What was the last song you listened to?

The Thrill is Gone – B.B. King

Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?

We would definitely go for Vinyl because is a very romantic interaction between the process of laying the record down and lightly letting the needle touch the record. It actually creates a connection between the music and the listener and that’s why we choose Vinyl. 

How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why? 

We use Spotify because it was the first streaming service that we got to use and it just grew on us. Plus, we love the weekly discovery playlist, it keeps showing and exposing us to new genres of music and it actually shape us and makes us better musicians by the fact that we are listening to new sounds and approaches to music thanks to it. 

Where is the best place to connect with you online and discover more music?

Instagram is a very good way to get in touch with us through DMs. As for the music here are all our social media links:

• Website: https://www.greenmusicofficial.com/
• Youtube Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqmTIEewkCLIYDbhFFk4sNw
• Instagram https://www.instagram.com/greenband1/ or @greenband1
• Facebook https://www.facebook.com/GreenBand-181651489356096/
• Tunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/green/1393729060
• CD Baby:http://store.cdbaby.com/cd/green6

You can listen to the music pretty much in all streaming services including Napster, Weezer, Amazon Music, etc.

Anything else before we sign off?

We want to thank Middle Tennessee Music for the interview and help to get us out there. Green’s journey has been very interesting and beautiful and we would like to get to touch as many people as we can with our message. 

https://soundcloud.com/rafael-hadad-844671212