Tristan Prettyman

CTG: If you weren't playing music, what would you be doing?
TP: I'd probably still be in school, haha. Before this I was going to school and I was studying Business Communications and i wanted to be in the surf industry, so I'd probably be doing something along the lines of that.

CTG: You've performed with some amazing artist, like G. Love & Jason Mraz, If you could work with anyone who would it be?
TP: Jeff Buckley is pretty amazing. I would love to do a duet with Tom Petty or Carly Simon or Joni Mitchell or Bob Dylan, someone from that era would be really cool.

CTG: So those are the most influential musicians to you?
TP: I really just value music from that era because I think it's when song writing and folk music was at it's purest, like in it's baby-state. It was just so innocent and so real. It hadn't gotten to the point where it is now, where it's very over-produced, it was really natural then, just awesome. It was more about the feeling than it was about writing a hit or having everything slipped out in the studio and that kind of thing.
Tristan Prettyman

CTG: Has working under a record label influenced you one way or another in your writing?
TP: Not in my writing, no. That's something that's very personal to me and something that I don't even understand, it's just something that happens. A label just wants to make money, you know, so of course they sign artists with talent, but they are also going for "the hit," so if that means co-writing with somebody or working with a certain producer to get the kind of sound of 'the now,' then they'll kind of nudge you in that direction. But that's never felt right to me, so I've kind of always been like 'nah... I'm not gonna do that.'

CTG: They give you enough freedom where you can stay true to your own style?
TP: Yeh, definately. The new record that I made... I went to London so nobody could really reach me haha, it was sort of just me and the producers, which was amazing. It just took form. Luckily the record had enough that the label could work with as a label for radio and for promotions and that sort of thing, but it was totally me at the same time and I didn't feel like I was selling myself short or selling-out or changing my style or anything, I just felt a really positive growth for me as an artist and song-writer.

CTG: How does the new record "Hello...x" differ from the last one "twentythree"?
TP: Twentythree was a collection of songs that were both quite old and quite new at the same time, because I've been writing that record essentially since I've started writing music. I think it was a very safe record because when I got signed there was part of me that was totally scared... I had seen it happen to other artists when you're not really aware of what you want and exactly the direction you're going for and what you're trying to get across with your music... I've seen when the label will kind of twist your arm and kind of go in another direction and I just fought and kicked and screamed for that not to happen. I think Twentythree was a very safe record and a learning experience because I had never made a record before, I never worked with a label before, I never worked with a producer before, I never worked with studio musicians before.

Instead of just going for it and making a record and feeling really good about it, there was a part of me that was always like "okay, wait, stop..okay..okay," take a couple more steps, then check it out. It was this really 'chopped-up' process because I was really aprehensive and kind of suspicious of the whole thing. Whereas this record... Well, my first record, my A&R produced the record, it was kind of him and I, so I nevever really knew what a producer did... I went to England and met Sasha Scarbeck and Martin Terefe, Everything suddenly felt like a family, their whole team was rad...they knew exactly where I wanted to go with the songs and everyone was on the same page and once I got that feeling in my gut that 'we ahev to do it here, this is the right thing'-- I sort of just ran into the middle of nowhere... ideas were flying, it just happened, it was much more natural ofa process and was a lot more about the vibe instead of learning about the structures, hooks, and that sort of thing. It was everybody in a room playing music, which was really the most beautiful part about it. There was no going back and changing things. Everyone was learnign the song, have a couple beers, rolled tape and do it a couple times and that's what ended up onthe record. I think in return it make the record very different, but also is more about how it makes you feel and how the songs make you feel than it being like 'oh there's a cell phone going off or there's a guitar flab...' we just left all the mistakes because it was just captured in the moment.