Sonny Falls is a seasoned singer-songwriter based in Brooklyn, NY who’s spent the last decade releasing some of the most inspiring records you’ll hear anywhere on the planet.
I caught up with Sonny to talk about his early musical experiences, how he started playing music and the making of his latest album “Money Questions And More”.
CMM-What was the first music that really made an impact on you as a kid and what artists or bands did you enjoy the most?
Sonny-When I was a kid I took guitar lessons in a dusty old used record store and after the lesson I’d explore the shop, looking around at all the cds and posters. I remember seeing 80’s heavy metal album covers and loving the art and then listening and at first I think it kind of went over my head – it was cool but sounded impossibly difficult to play and at the time I was in the headspace of trying to jam along with albums.
One day I came across Insomniac – the Green Day record. The cover had sort of a heavy metal look to it but when I put it in my Walkman I was like,”woah now this is different” it had the edge of what I had been listening to but was way more melodic and sounded like I could probably figure out how to play along with it. So Green Day started a rabbit hole for me; I would get on AOL and load these early 2000’s Green Day fan websites, reading interviews with the band. Similar to this question you just asked me; they would be asked about their influences. Billie Joe mentioned a lot of early punk bands: The Germs, X, Black Flag, Circle Jerks etc
And then I would go and try to find those CDs at local record shops – Reckless Records in Chicago being the main one. Like anyone else who gets into punk, it just felt accessible and like I could do it too. And so I did, I made a punk band and was lucky enough to grow up in a really awesome punk scene that was happening in Chicago and northwest Indiana. Eventually I came across Bright Eyes, Elliott smith, Neil Young, songwriter stuff. And that meshed together in my head to influence what I wanted to try and make myself and what I’m continuing to try and make.
CMM-How did you start playing music and crafting your sound?
Sonny-One Christmas I was gifted a guitar by my grandparents; I was in 5th or 6th grade. I started taking lessons really quickly and then by 7th grade was proficient enough to jam with other people. The place I took lessons at put together a cover band of the students they thought would be most able to play a set of covers. I ended up starting a punk band with my 10 year old drummer when I was 13. We’d play VFW’s, backyards, garages, basements. Got really into the Liberty spikes, bullet belt, patches on your pants, using dental floss to make The Germs t shirts skin tight. We were freaky looking little kids. Started drinking and partying too young, just really being little animals. Stole a lot of lawn gnomes. Between petty theft and getting drunk we made 3 or 4 EP’s as The Have Nots. Those recordings have mostly been lost to the MySpace crash, unfortunately. From there I just kept playing in different kinds of bands and figuring out how to write songs. Eventually got an acoustic guitar and that shifted my writing to a more solo approach.
CMM-I’ve been enjoying your latest release “Money Questions And More”. What was the writing and recording process for those tracks like? Any particular gear or instruments you used during the recording sessions that helped inspire you?
Sonny-I wrote the songs while I was laid off, unemployed and completely broke. I’ve never had any money but I really had no money. It was a very vulnerable and uncomfortable feeling, was definitely not in a good place. But, I managed to stay busy with writing and came up with this record. I went into my friend Michael Macdonalds recording studio in Chicago, it’s called Bim Bom, with 3 of my friends as the sort of backing band. We recorded 8-9 songs. At the same time I was messing around at home with a drum machine. It’s an RD-6. I had never played with a drum machine before, so I was having a good time with that.
I ended up getting hired working in New York City so I moved here and kept working on the drum machine material. Michael Mac had sent me all the stems from the sessions with the band because I wanted to mix and master something from scratch for the first time. So I was working on the drum machine stuff and mixing the full band stuff.
In October there was a crazy rain storm in the brooklyn neighborhood where I live. At the time I lived in a basement and my computer was underneath my bed; it ended up getting totally destroyed. So I was left with the tracks that were the most finished between the full band material and the drum machine material. It ended up being a blessing I guess because it resulted in combining the two into what the album is now, which I think is pretty cool and cohesive. I wasn’t sure the two different recording processes would work as a single record but I like how it came out. The flooding also forced me to stop mixing the full band stuff, which I was starting to get a little nuts about. There’s some little imperfections that I would have probably gotten rid of if I had the choice, but now I’m happy they’re in there.
CMM-If you could score any film director’s movie who would it be and what would the film be about?
Sonny-Definitely a hypothetical Martin Scorsese film, made in 70’s New York City about a detective trying to solve some kind of mystery. That would be very cool. I wish I could be a detective and not have to be a cop.
CMM-What do you have coming up next?
Sonny-I’m working with a band here in Brooklyn. We’re going to play a record release show at a place in Bushwick called Rubulad on 6/4. My best friend Alex Reindl has a project called Old Joy, he lives in Austin now, and he’s going to be releasing a great record. He’s visiting me so he’s going to play that show as well.
I’m halfway done making another record by myself at home with the drum machine and I’d like to write another record with the band here in New York as well. Maybe someday I’ll tour again but right now I’m liking just writing alot.
