A Conversation with Eli “Papreboy” Reed – HuffPost 4.28.14

Mike Ragogna: So this is your fourth album, but it’s your first on Warner Brothers. What got you to the WB?

Eli “Paperboy” Reed: Well, it’s a little bit of a story. I made a record in 2007 or 2008 for an indie label in Boston called Q Division Records that was called Roll With You, that was my first “break out” record and it allowed me to tour especially internationally a lot. On the strength of that I got signed to Capitol in 2010 and in 2010 we recorded the Come And Get It album and I recorded that with a great producer by the name of Mike Elizondo, and in the wake of the whole collapse of EMI Mike made his move over to Warner Brothers and became a staff producer/A&R guy at Warner Brothers. As soon as that happened he called me up and said, “Would you like to come over to Warner and make a record?” This time he was signed on more as the executive producer and let me and my good buddy Ryan Spraker who I wrote and produced most of this album with take the reins and be the people on the ground producing the album ourselves. This is the first time that I’ve actually produced a record completely independently.

MR: Wow, that’s great. What’s the creative relationship between you and Spraker?

EPR: Ryan and I have known each other for a long, long time. He was my guitarist who toured in my band, we’ve always worked together. We actually got to know each other because both of us were into country music and bluegrass around Boston and we started playing that music together. He comes from a punk and hardcore background, I come from the R&B and soul background, so in a way it’s like we kind of run the gamut of styles between the two of us. Whenever we were on tour or whatever we would share a hotel room and be working on music. It kind of became a natural partnership, that we would start not just writing but also producing. As the years have gone by Ryan’s gotten his own studio setup and he’s kind of made the move into the production side of things as well as touring, he stopped touring with me a couple of years ago to stay at home and really work on music from that side of things. But it’s been a really great collaboration. He definitely comes at things from a kind of broader perspective. When we started working together for this album, before then I had only ever written with Ryan on the acoustic guitars, but we made the conscious decision to branch out and work from different starting points whether it was a drum beat or a bass line or a loop or a synth line, those are different ways to spark an idea, and that opened up a whole new world of the possibilities of writing and producing music for me.

MR: Nice. So how do you describe your style?

EPR: Well I think that I was born and raised with soul music and gospel music and R&B and I can’t get away from that, for better or for worse as a singer and as a stylist that’s kind of ingrained in the way I approach things, especially as a singer. I think we were able to use that to our advantage because we can take things in a different direction, both songwriting-wise and production-wise and when I open my mouth to sing it will still bring it all back home in a way that I think is great and also provides a great juxtaposition in the way the songs or the production might sound. So that was kind of like the basis of the idea, we felt like we could push the limits of what I do as a stylist or an artist and I could still identify as Eli “Paperboy” Reed because of the way that I sound as a singer and the propensity that I have for certain kinds of melodies.

MR: You’re like a mashup of ways to exist in the music business. You’ve experienced indie growth, you’ve experienced being signed to a label, you’ve experienced the collapse of a label, you’ve experienced switching labels, what kind of growth does that add to you?

EPR: I’m kind of amazed at how things have continued to work out, in a way. It was really sort of happenstance, a lot of it. Just to put it into perspective, when I went to South By Southwest for the first time in 2007 the first show that I ever played there was the first show that we ever played as a band outside of the northeast. I played in the afternoon at some weird bar and they were giving out free tacos, and because they were giving out free tacos the editor of Mojo magazine was there and he happened to see my show and like it and happened to buy a CD from me and because of that we ended up getting three or four different features in Mojo, and that really sparked the rise of my career in the UK and I got to go on Later… With Jools Holland and all of this other stuff happened just because of that one crazy coincidence. It’s sort of a series of things like that, but I don’t want to say that I haven’t capitalized on it or worked hard, but in a way a lot of it had to do with dumb luck.

MR: Dumb luck and somebody spotting something they liked.

EPR: Exactly. If we hadn’t been any good, he wouldn’t have paid attention.

MR: You’ve also been collecting a lot of admirers on the way, you’ve been on two major labels in a row.

EPR: Right, which is something that doesn’t happen very often these days.

MR: It’s such a collapse, you are a rare breed. Speaking of rare breeds, I’m not familiar with why you’re called “Paperboy.”

EPR: When I graduated from high school I had this opportunity to go and potentially work for a radio station in Clarksdale, Mississippi. I decided that I didn’t really want to go to college right then, it was not time for me and I was in love with blues and soul music so I decided to just pick up and go and I moved down there. Unfortunately really quickly the whole radio station idea fell by the wayside, but I stayed down there and I got to experience this amazing community of musicians and people that really embraced me and I learned a lot about performing and singing and all this stuff. This was the first time I lived outside of my parents’ house, too. But I used to wear this newsboy scally cap all the time that was my grandfather’s and I’d be waiting by the side of the stage to play in these little juke joints in Mississippi and the guys who were there would say,”Oh, there’s the paperboy again, he’s waiting to play.”

MR: Do you mind that it stuck?

EPR: No comment. [laughs] It is what it is, I’ve sort of learned to live with it. There was a time when it bothered me a little bit but I feel like I’ve got to take it as it is.

MR: Is there a moment on this record that just really shows what you’re all about?

EPR: Yeah, I think there’s a few. There’s a couple of songs that I think really encapsulate the combination of what we were trying to do with a modern pop sensibility and production but also the feel and excitement of soul music. The first song on the album is “Well Alright Now,” which has these really weird electronic drums but it’s also got this gospel quartet feel. The feel of it and the way the harmonies stack up, to me, is like a gospel record. The songs on the album that are my favorites are the ones with that really strong combination of elements of old and new. Another one of my favorites is “Grown Up,” which I think does that, too. It’s got this kind of funkyish hip hop beat but it’s also got this seventies soul guitar line, all these different eras blending together. Then of course there’s “Shock To The System” which is the single that we just put out which I think is really an amazing combination, it’s like a sixties pop record but then it’s got these big booming kick drums from modern music. I think you couldn’t place it in an era, and that’s my goal. I want to have something that people can relate to and not say, “That sounds like 1975” or even 2005, it sounds like now or it sounds like whenever.

MR: What advice do you have for new artists?

EPR: That’s a tough one. Write. Write. Don’t just perform, don’t just sing, don’t just play, write, because that’s going to pay dividends over the long haul. That’s where you’re going to be able to pay the rent; writing; creation.

MR: Have you had placements in movies and television?

EPR: I have.

MR: So you know firsthand.

EPR: Exactly. That’s the way that we pay the rent these days. I think people talk a lot about the demise of the music industry, I don’t think that the music industry is dying in any way, I think there’s actually a lot more ways to be able to exist financially, you just have to find ways to capitalize on them. So for me, I never thought about being a songwriter to get songs in movies and TV, it just sort of happened that way, and because of that I’ve been able to live a very comfortable lifestyle. In a way touring can often be a loss-leader. It’s a strange world that we live in now when it comes to music but I would say if I could give any advice it’s “Make your own thing and put your stamp on it and make sure you submit the paperwork to BMI as soon as possible.”

MR: [laughs] Beautiful. So where are you heading?

EPR: I am leaving for a tour in Europe in about nine days and we’ll be in Europe basically from April 24th through June 10th, something along those lines and that’s the Nights Like This album release tour. I’m really excited about getting over there, I’m actually about to head to rehearsal after I get off the phone with you to start putting the final pieces together with the band. I think it’s going to be great, I’m excited to get back on the road, it’s been almost two years since I’ve done a full tour and that’s really exciting for me, to be able to hit the road again with my guys and play live, because that’s really the most fun for me.

MR: You’ve figured it out, haven’t you?

EPR: I hope so. Ask me in 10 years.

Transcribed By Galen Hawthorne