A Conversation with Eric Hutchinson – HuffPost 4.18.12

Mike Ragogna: Hi Eric, how are you?

Eric Hutchinson: I’m good, how are you?

MR: I’m pretty well. So you were on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno performing “Rock ‘n’ Roll,” a song from your new album, Moving Up Living Down.

EH: Yeah, I’ve done a couple of late night shows with Leno, Conan, Jimmy Kimmel and actually did one with David Letterman which was really cool because I’m a big fan of his. That’s stuffs a lot of fun to do.

MR: “Rock ‘n’ Roll” also was in the movie Sisters of the Traveling Pants 2.

EH: That’s true, yes. It was cool, I got a lot of good feedback from that.

MR: You’re having a big career in Australia and New Zealand where that song was a big hit.

EH: Yeah, I got to go there a couple times and that was really cool. To go somewhere I’ve never been before and have a roomful of people singing my song is really, really cool and hearing people on the streets singing it was fun.

MR: In print, you have been called “…one of the most talented singer/songwriters.” What do you think about that?

EH: Sounds good! Not sure where that came from, but it sounds like something somebody might say.

MR: (laughs) Yeah, it’s one of the things that floated around the internet that you come across when doing research. Now, you’ve been on tour with all sorts of acts like Jack’s Mannequin, Jason Mraz, G. Love, Joe Jackson, Matt Nathanson, Matt Hires, and Anya Marina. Will there be touring to support this project?

EH: Yep, tours starting April 17th and there’s a full national tour. We’ll be everywhere and I’m really excited. I’m going to be headlining and the album comes out right then too. That’s my favorite part, when people finally get to learn the songs on their own and the songs start to take on another personality from when the fans discover them.

MR: Let’s talk about your songwriting. You definitely lean to the pop side of things, so who are you influences?

EH: I definitely am pop, I don’t think “pop” is a dirty word. I grew up loving people like The Beatles and Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, and Billy Joel. Pop music wasn’t a bad thing, and I think I learned a lot about how to put a good melody into a song.

MR: “The Basement” seems to show off these influences a bit, as well as having a retro feel.

EH: Yeah, “The Basement” was cool. Did a show out of Boston and afterwards, the promoter invited me and the band out and it was this club that was playing all’ 50s and ’60s soul music, a personal favorite of mine. We went there and the DJ was playing all this music on 45 records and it was really, really cool. I wrote this song as an homage to that music and the club called The Basement.

MR: Some of the artists you namecheck in the song are spinning Stevie Wonder, James Brown, Michael Jackson…

EH: …yeah, good stuff that everybody likes.

MR: Cool. “Watching You Watch Him,” give us the story behind that.

EH: I think it’s one of those songs, for me, about one of those relationships where you love somebody and they don’t love you. They are in love with somebody else and that person doesn’t care about either of you and it’s a huge effed-up love triangle. But it’s cool because when I play it, there are always people that come up to me and say, “You see my life right now, thank you!” We’ll hug it out and so it’s always cool to have a song connect with somebody.

MR: Love can be a tricky, effed-up thing.

EH: I was always interested in that in my songs because I think that a lot of songs are very cut and dry about a lot of things, and I always try to exploit that gray area that I think a lot of life has but doesn’t show up in a lot of art. To me, it’s not always just, “I love you,” or “I don’t love you.” it’s, “I love you but you drive me crazy,” or “I can’t stand your mother.” Whatever it is, there’s more to life, and relationships aren’t always so easy.

MR: Right and that gets further explored with “The People I Know,” right?

EH: Yeah, definitely. That song is exploring those relationships, which for whatever reason, you can’t get close to somebody now. That’s a pretty personal song on the album and again, it’s really nice to have people come up to me and say that they really relate to it.

MR: Though your songs have universal themes, you personalize them. How much “thinking” goes into your writing?

EH: All thinking goes into my writing. When I finish touring, I go into my studio at home in New York and I just write every day from 9 till 8 at night. I’ll just write and write and write, and even when I’ll stop and go out to dinner, the lyrics are jumping around in my head. Or I’ll go to the gym and let it work itself out. But I’m working on that song until I sing it on the record, pretty much. I like that attention to detail and I like other musicians that do that too.

MR: Another song on your new album is “Living In The Afterlife.”

EH: That was the last song to go on the record, actually. That’s about a couple things. One is that these days, you go to a show and everyone’s watching their phone, watching the show through their phone. They have their show turned on, taking a picture, and I realized how much of my life I was living through my phone. I’m doing something but I’m just staring at my Twitter page or my iPhone or something. It’s about the idea of what happens next when you get to a certain place.

MR: I wonder if there’s Twittering in the afterlife. Another song I wanted to get into was the opening track, “Talk Is Cheap.” All we do is talk, it’s true, right? Like right now. (laughs)

EH: (laughs) That was coming from a time when I felt like I was having the same conversations over and over again. I was tired of hearing talking heads. I felt like my generation needs a little more action, I guess. It’s partly a political song, it’s the closest I’ll ever be to being Bob Dylan I guess.

MR: Is there anything out there that has got your eye that’s in the news, politically, right now?

EH: Yeah, but I don’t really talk politics. I don’t really think it gets anywhere for me. But I do follow all that stuff, and it is interesting to me.

MR: There’s also “Best Days,” as in these are the best days in our lives.

EH: That was a fun song to write and it’s a fun song to sing. It’s about that moment of getting to take a look around and see what’s actually happening and just to be grateful for it. It’s a real privilege to get to do what I do for a living and even when I’m challenged or struggled, that’s just the ups and downs of life. That’s what I say in the song, it’s sort of a give and take.

MR: How it’s presented here it seems like a neutral approach, it isn’t like you’re making an anthem out of it, you’re not beating people up with that.

EH: Well, I don’t think I’m any wiser than my fans. Usually, my songs are about questioning what is going on as opposed to answering. I’m usually looking for answers in the songs, so I’m not trying to preach to anybody.

MR: Then there’s “I’m Not Cool,” which, sir, I disagree with.

EH: That song is a little bit fictional, but it’s about one trying to fit into a situation before and doesn’t really feel like it’s working right now. That was a fun one to write.

MR: Can I ask you who some of your favorite contemporaries that are out there right now are?

EH: I like The Shins, Empire Weekends…The Black Keys’ new album is really cool. I also really like Kanye West, he’s really imaginative and pushes the envelope a lot.

MR: Bruno Mars is another artist I thought you might like considering your sound.

EH: Yeah, he’s cool for sure, I liked his performance at the Grammy’s.

MR: It was great. I loved the split screen that showed the winner and his pretending to be all PO’d about it.

EH: Yeah, totally!

MR: Eric, what kind of advice would you have for new artists?

EH: For me, the stuff that’s been most helpful is to just keep getting better, to keep writing as much as possible. I think if you’re not a songwriter, you should start trying to be as soon as possible because that, to me, is always keeping one hand on the steering wheel. Even when things are out of my control, I can always go and it really helps to shape the kind of artist that I want to be and what I want to say.

MR: You have some stuff to back that up, you placed 2nd at the 2002 Los Angeles Songwriter’s Grand Slam.

EH: That’s true. That was about ten years ago, but I did come in 2nd. I lost to a girl that had an actor playing cello and they won 1st. I always felt like it was because he was playing the cello.

MR: (laughs) You’ve had another wonderful perk, your “Okay, It’s Alright With Me” was featured on American Idol.

EH: Yeah, that was really cool. I was working on the new album in London and I got the word that this guy was going to sing my song on …Idol and that was really, really cool. I couldn’t watch it because I was in London, but the next morning, I got up and watched it on YouTube. People were emailing me and writing me and that was cool, they did a really good job with it. As a songwriter, I’m always really happy when someone else sings a song and see what they do with it and they think about what I’ve done to do it. Kelly Clarkson has one of my songs on her new album and that was a huge honor. She did a great job with it.

MR: Kelly Clarkson was someone you toured with, right?

EH: Yeah. Kelly and I toured about six months together all over America. We went to Australia together and I got to know her and her band and her crew really well. She’s super fun and exactly the way you’d think she’d be like…laid back, easy going, and she’ll invite you to do a duet with her every night on her show, which was really fun. We did Michael Jackson’s “Rock With You,” which was awesome. I didn’t tell her that I’d won a karaoke contest with it one time, so I was sort of an old pro at that one.

MR: We also need to mention that you, sir, were in the 2010’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

EH: Yeah, I was. That was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done, period. I live in New York and to get to ride through it, with so much of the city shutdown… I rolled through Times Square on a huge Turkey. All of Times Square was deserted, and it was one of those lasting images that I don’t think I’ll ever forget. It was really fun and people were in a great mood and my mom was happy, so there you go it’s a win-win.

MR: I’m sure mom and dad loved that.

EH: Exactly.

MR: Wait, I forgot a song. How about “Watching You Watch Him,” the single that was in Grey’s Anatomy?

EH: That was really cool. They called because they wanted to put it in the show and I said absolutely. They wanted to put it as the opening to the season premier and I said absolutely. Again, my mother was very happy and it was a really cool way to premier the song, so that was fun.

MR: What other ways will you be pleasing mom in the near future?

EH: Well, I’ve got a hometown show in DC, and I think she’s going to come out to that one, which will be fun. And, you know, just working hard and being busy.

MR: All the best with your hard work, Eric. Thank you very much for your time.

EH: Absolutely, thanks for having me. Hope to see you guys soon.

Transcribed by Narayana Windenberger