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Southeast Performer Summary

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Southeast Performer Article

Brian Hartzog
Words by Keith Mikkelson

Brian Hartzog would like to be known as the inventor of funk and roll. Combining indie-folk, rock, and the throbbing textures of Prince and P-Funk, Hartzog creates a blend that is unlike any other. Five years after his debut full-length, The Smashing of Pictures Hartzog has returned with One Way Ticket, an album that finds the artist with far more resources to refine his work.

"My first recording, I did partly at home and partly at a project studio, and between that recording and One Way Ticket, I felt like instead of paying for somebody else's recording gear that I would save up and buy my own," explains Hartzog. "And so, I recorded all of One Way Ticket in my home studio. I played all of the instruments on The Smashing of Pictures, but on One Way Ticket I brought in other musicians from around town. This time, I wrote most of the songs on acoustic guitar. I also worked on the melodies a little more."

Hartzog still has to do most of his own promotion. "I found about fifteen radio stations that might play my music and did some research on how this sort of thing runs itself," he says. "Basically, you send out packages and call back and make sure they got them and took them to meetings. I'm kind of running that end of it myself. Like, major labels will usually hire radio promoters to do that sort of thing. So, I'm still grass roots-ing it."

Settling on his current sound was a natural progression for Hartzog, who grew up on equal parts funk and rock. "Growing up, we got the Raleigh radio stations, and in that part of the state, it was almost all classic radio. So I listened to Bob Dylan, the Doors, and the Beatles, and that's what a lot of my friends listened to. Then there was R.E.M. and other bands like them. And my school was about 80% black, so there was a lot of rap influence and I got into Prince early on."

Hartzog isn't likely to slow down anytime soon, and he remains dedicated to his craft, always coming up with new concepts to explore musically. "Whenever I get an idea, I'm pretty fanatical about carrying notebooks around," he says. "I have a tape recorder I take with me all the time. So I capture all these ideas right away."

Artist’s website: http://www.brianhartzog.com

Southeast Performer
http://www.performermag.com