EXCLUSIVE: JOHNNY GATES 'SUCKER PUNCH' VIDEO PREMIERE + Q+A.

JOHNNY GATES, FORMER FRONTMAN OF ROCK BAND, RUNAWAY SAINTS, ON HIS RETURN TO MUSIC CITY AND WHAT TO EXPECT FROM HIM. CHECK OUT THE EXCLUSIVE PREMIERE OF HIS NEW STRIPPED RELEASE “SUCKER PUNCH” - RECORDED LIVE IN HIS APARTMENT IN GERMANTOWN.

‘SUCKER PUNCH’ STRIPPED VIDEO

JOHNNY GATES Q + A

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR SOUND AND WHO HAS INFLUENCED IT?
I came up in the DIY "Emo" scene, so that world will always be a part of me.  But when I moved to Nashville, I started to really dive into the alt country, singer songwriter world, and I became obsessed - I think I sit somewhere in the middle of all that.  My favorite moments during my sets, are when it's completely quiet, and everyone is just in that moment together.  Whatever genre that is, sign me up!

And as far as influences go, Bob Dylan is probably the best to ever do ‘the singer-songwriter thing’.  And I'm a massive Butch Walker fan.  I saw him play a set at Hollywood Forever, and it kind of changed my life.

TALK ABOUT BEING CONSIDERED A ‘ROCK’ ARTIST IN NASHVILLE
A lot of people hear the word ‘Nashville,’ and they automatically think Country music. - Which isn't a bad thing.  That’s what drew me here, to be honest, and music row has taught me how to be a better songwriter.  But, being a "rock" artist in Nashville, means that your road could be a little bumpier than others, as far as finding where you fit.  I've hit walls in the music industry here, because I looked a certain way, or didn't sound a certain way - but that's just part of it.  I think at the end of the day, being an outlier has forced me to double down on exactly who I was.  There's a great scene here for everything else, and you find it every night in East Nashville.

ANYTHING YOU’RE BINGING ON QUARANTINE - SHOWS, PODCAST, MUSIC, ETC?
I just finished season 3 of Ozark.  I’m obsessed with that one. It took me like two days to finish it, haha.  Zero Zero Zero is another one I’ve been really into. The Watch is another good one too.

I'm a sports nerd when it comes to podcasts, so I'm all about the Bill Simmons podcast.

Regarding music, I'm really into the new Phoebe Bridgers stuff, and the new Ruston Kelly.

I’m basically just trying to not watch the news and get petrified.

TALK ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCES LIVING AND MAKING MUSIC IN BOTH NASHVILLE AND LA
Each city has left a major mark on me, so I’m definitely the wrong person to pick a side. 

Nashville fulfills the songwriter in me - and the community aspect is incredible. This city has those special nights where, you’re at a writers round, and you hear a writer like Natalie Hemby or Hillary Lindsay play a song, and it just hits you - this place, and the music made here, is unlike anywhere else. You immediately drive home and want to write a million songs. I’m obsessed with those nights. 

LA fulfills the other part of me. It’s beautiful, weird, diverse and crazy. Everything seems impossible one minute, and totally possible the next. I can honestly say LA woken me up as an artist. It has such a scene, that’s hard to find in other cities.  I made some best friends there. Also, the Hotel Cafe is probably my favorite venues to play.

ANY ARTISTS YOU’RE LOVING RIGHT NOW?
I’m a big fan of what Ruston Kelly is doing. His take on the Singer-Songwriter genre is super refreshing. I was obsessed with the Boygenius record ft. Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus and I’m really looking forward to the new solo Phoebe Bridgers album! I’m a fan for sure. 

FIRST THING YOU’RE GOING TO DO WHEN YOU GET OUT OF QUARANTINE
Play a damn show! The awkward silence after the live stream songs is starting to get olddd - haha. But really, I’ll probably head home to Rhode Island for a bit to see family. Or just hit a bar with some friends. It’s weird that it all seems so foreign now. 

TALK ABOUT YOUR NEW PROJECT AND WHAT YOU’RE EXCITED ABOUT
So my new project is something I’ve been thinking about doing for a long time.  I came up playing in bands, with my best friends from home, but life, the road, and moving to different cities, started to get in the way. Eventually, I started writing more solo stuff and playing solo shows around Hollywood.  It's been a wild ride to get to this point, but I'm just really excited to be making and releasing music that totally represents me, as a person and an artist.  The thing i'm most excited about is getting back in the van and touring, with these songs. 

TELL US THE BACKSTORY ON ‘SUCKER PUNCH’
I don’t have the best resume when it comes to successful relationships, and I guess you can say I’ve got a guard up. With Sucker Punch - I had the hook. It was about a certain situation where, she just kind of hit me out of no where, and I was okay with it. 

I wrote it with my buddy Jake Ohlbaum, from The Foxies, over at his spot in East Nashville. The plan was to fully record it for my next EP, but then this whole quarantine thing happened, and I wanted to just record something quick and live-ish and release it ASAP. I threw down a guitar/vocal at my spot, emailed it over to my pedal steel player in LA; Dan Wistrom. He tossed some pedal on it, sent back, and we were done. I think a lot of people right now are just creating with what’s around them, and I wanted to be a part of that. 

LISTEN TO ‘SUCKER PUNCH’ ON SPOTIFY'HERE

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SONG BY SONG - BREAKING DOWN THE BRAND NEW SAM VARGA EP

EMO ROCKER KID, SAM VARGA BREAKS DOWN HIS BRAND NEW EP “LIGHT ME UP” TRACK BY TRACK EXCLUSIVELY WITH YMC!

1. MAYDAY

“Mayday” is an emo-anthem ridden with pedal steel. I wrote the song in the middle of a bad bout of depression. I had the opening line for a bit but no one in Nash wanted to write it with me. Then one day in the darkest part of that bad time I just heard the chords and the song was written in bout 30 minutes. 

2. WHEN SHE FALLS

“When She Falls” is my favorite song to date.

"There's a hammer in my head, there's an anvil in my heart, and there's a song they sing in between the hits that’s lighting up the dark".

I kept on getting whispers from the universe/cosmos/whatever that I needed to go to Bozeman Montana. After a psychedelic experience convinced me, I booked a tour out to Montana and after a week and a couple thousand miles, I found myself in the middle of the canyon during a blizzard. I stayed there by myself all day. When I went back down the mountain I was already writing the song. Then Will Stone helped me finish her up after a midtown bender.

3. SEX AND WHISKEY

“Sex and Whiskey”...it's a song about sex and whiskey;)

Killer road trip tune. Written w/ Kacey Velazquez.

4. LIKE I NEVER LEFT

“Like I Never Left” is about my relationship with my hometown at the time it was written. I realized that the day you leave your hometown...that version of you is who you are to that town...forever. Which can be troubling and grounding. I'd go back home after accomplishing so much here in Nashville and it wouldn't matter, I was only who I was in high school to them. It didn't matter what I had accomplished, how much I had grown, how much I had changed as a person. But there's also the good in that. Where you’re from is where you're from and you should get knocked down a couple of pegs every time you're back.

"It's all I've ever been, might be all ill ever be, but for better or for worse they know the best and worst of me"

(Written w/ William Stone)

5. IF YOU DON’T KNOW

“If You Don't Know” came about from a call with my mom. I had been seeing an amazing woman and had fallen in love but hadn't told her because I didn't want to scare her or myself. My mom, who was in the middle of losing her father/my grandpa and said: "if you don't tell her the tragedy won't be that you didn't say it, but that she never got to hear it". There's a lot in this song; just say what you need to while you can.

I wrote it with Patrick Murphy on our first write.

6. A BETTER WORD

“A Better Word” was conceived in my favorite writing room with Lauren Weintraub and William Stone, who are my two favorite writers in the world. No story to this one that I recall. Lauren brought in the idea and we just really tried to fuck people up in the emotions; which is normally par for the course with that room. The two of them are a master class in writing and there's always high proof bourbon.

CHECK OUT SAM’S SOCIALS FOR MORE!

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