Mobley<\/strong>: OK<\/p>\n KM: <\/strong>\u200b Let\u2019s say we\u2019re doing a Grammy presentation and you\u2019re the model of the category \u2013 what would the category be called?<\/p>\n M:<\/strong> Post-genre pop<\/p>\n KM:<\/strong> Who else do you think would fit in the category?<\/p>\n M:<\/strong> Nobody, that kind of defeats the purpose, doesn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n KM:<\/strong> No one. Well then you would automatically win, right? I also read that you do pretty much everything yourself, you\u2019re a very DIY type of guy. When you are putting an album together \u2013 writing it, recording it, editing it, doing the videos for it \u2013 how is it to be able to have a hand in every aspect and has it always been that way with you? Did you start in one thing and then say, \u201cWell I want to be able to do that for myself too\u201d?<\/p>\n Mobley’s background in film provides some stunning backdrops to his performance.<\/p>\n M: <\/strong>Yeah, I\u2019m gonna answer things in reverse order. It did not start that way. I went to school to study film. So I have some training in that and then, basically everything else has been self-taught. The way that that usually goes is that I have an idea and I want to get it done and I\u2019m frustrated with the process of trying to convey an idea and end up teaching myself how to do the thing. In terms of how it is, it\u2019s a lot. There are times that I wish it weren\u2019t so entirely that way. I don\u2019t know, I think there\u2019s also kind of a unique integrity of vision that can emerge from all of that, for whatever that\u2019s worth. Just knowing and people knowing that if they\u2019re watching a video or listening to a song, that literally every decision of what they\u2019re hearing and seeing went through me and a lot of it is just me, by myself, doing whatever the thing is.<\/p>\n KM:<\/strong> What\u2019s your favorite aspect, what’s your favorite thing to do in the process?<\/p>\n M:<\/strong> Uh, it kind of depends on my mood. I write and produce at the same time. Because I record myself, I don\u2019t really do demos anymore \u2013 I\u2019ll just start working on a song and work on it until it\u2019s done and then I\u2019ll put it out. So that kind of hybrid writing-production process is probably my favorite aspect of it. You don\u2019t have to \u2013 even though I\u2019m the only person on stage at my show \u2013 you still need a lot of other people to have a show. You need a lot of other people to do a video. I don\u2019t really need anybody else to make a song, so I can do that anytime I want and have that. There\u2019s no delay to that gratification the way that there is when it comes to releasing new music or playing shows or putting out videos or basically every other part of it. It\u2019s just an instant, innocent high there.<\/p>\n KM<\/strong>: How does it go in that world of \u2013 do you get other people\u2019s feedback or are you your own worst critic and just keep going back and re-listening and saying \u2018No, I don\u2019t want it like this, I want it like this\u2019?<\/p>\n M:<\/strong> I don\u2019t really get other people\u2019s feedback directly but something that does happen, I\u2019ve noticed this ever since I first started writing songs, and I think probably a lot of artists are like this \u2013 I have the people that are in my life at any particular moment and they kind of form an imaginary audience. So, I might write a lyric and then think \u2018oh so-and-so is gonna laugh when they hear this\u2019. Or I might come up with a shot or a chord and think \u2018Oh yeah, this person is really gonna like that or this person isn\u2019t really gonna like that\u2019 so I\u2019ll have to kind of ignore them (laughs). You know what I mean? So people are definitely having an influence on it, whether or not they\u2019re having a direct say on it.<\/p>\n KM: <\/strong>Fresh Lies<\/em> is super-duper fresh, how long did it take for that album to come together?<\/p>\n M:<\/strong> Technically, it\u2019s not an album, technically, it\u2019s volume 1 of a song cycle.<\/p>\n KM:<\/strong> Ahhh, ok \u2013 how long did volume 1 take to come together?<\/p>\n M: <\/strong>A long time (laughs). So I actually recorded two albums in the pursuit of that one and then threw them away because it wasn\u2019t what I was looking for. So, that process probably started in 2013. And I\u2019ve put out lots of music since then but in terms of landing on the thing that I ended up putting out last week, yeah, it\u2019s been, I\u2019ve been wrestling with that project since late 2013.<\/p>\n KM:<\/strong> And you\u2019re right out, ready to get on the road and do everything.<\/p>\n M: <\/strong>Yeah.<\/p>\n KM:<\/strong> Hard-working man. Of course this is kind of a standard question but who, growing up, were you listening to, who were your musical influences or even now, who do you find yourself singing along with and enjoy listening to?<\/p>\n M:<\/strong> So growing up, I didn\u2019t really listen to a lot of secular music. The first album that I knew all the words to was New Moonshine by James Taylor. Middle school I started listening to some Motown stuff but lots and lots of Gospel and contemporary Christian music when I was growing up. And then, when I was 19, I listened to a Beetles album for the first time and I probably listened to the Beetles for a year and a half after that. Then I had my Radiohead phase and the predictable stuff just like everybody else. Lately though, it\u2019s kind of all over the shop – I really like Bruno Mars last record and Rhianna\u2019s last record and then just lots of indie stuff \u2013 bands that I\u2019ve worked with or played shows with, stuff like that.<\/p>\n KM:<\/strong> You were also a big hit at South by (South by Southwest Music Festival) 2 years ago. You do festivals and then you do stuff like this where it\u2019s a good size crowd but a lot more intimate \u2013 what\u2019s your favorite type of crowd to play for or favorite setting?<\/p>\n M: <\/strong>My favorite setting is dark, narrow, standing. I like completely dark rooms. I like shotgun rooms where the walls are like pretty close on each side so that if you don\u2019t want to be part of the show, you kind of have to leave. Um, and then everybody who is up front and then just behind them are in it. I really like when people are standing, I vastly prefer that. So, we\u2019ll see how it goes tonight (laughs). I hate tables. <\/p>\n KM:<\/strong> Well, you\u2019ll just have to make everybody stand up then. You control the crowd, right (laughs)?<\/p>\n M: <\/strong>We\u2019ll see.<\/p>\n KM:<\/strong> What\u2019s something that you haven\u2019t done yet that is on your musical bucket list, a collaboration or venue? Or something that\u2019s gonna be the next thing you check off?<\/p>\n M:<\/strong> I don\u2019t have a list – maybe I should, if only for situations like these. I don\u2019t know, my disposition has always been, or at least my adult life, has been to avoid forming very sophisticated expectations about anything. Morale is really important for an independent musician and when you form expectations that are too elaborate, you inevitably end up getting let down and that can really kill morale. So I\u2019m just, I don\u2019t have very may expectations and I\u2019m constantly, pleasantly surprised so I don\u2019t have a great answer for that but I\u2019m sure something\u2019s going to happen in the next 6 months and I\u2019ll be like \u2018Oh if I had known this was going to happen, that\u2019s what I would\u2019ve said\u2019.<\/p>\n KM:<\/strong> Ok, well I\u2019ll get back to you on that one then. What\u2019s the song off the new volume that you are most excited to play live in front of people? And see \u2013 either for yourself, just because you\u2019re going to enjoy it the most or to see peoples reaction to it?<\/p>\n M:<\/strong> Um, so I\u2019ve been playing a lot of it live but I guess the one that I haven\u2019t \u2013 I\u2019ve played it live one time \u2013 because I was able to get a bunch of musicians I\u2019ve worked with over the years together – I had like 15 people on stage with me at this festival. I haven\u2019t figured out yet how I\u2019m going to do it as a one-man-band \u2013 I think it\u2019s going to involve a lot of vocal looping and stuff \u2013 that\u2019s it\u2019s just going to take me a while to figure out how to work it into the set, but the last song on the record, it\u2019s called \u2018Native Son\u2019 and it\u2019s going to be really hard to play. The rhythms that are going on in the guitar don\u2019t fit exactly with the rhythms, they\u2019re kind of rhythmic, with the vocal melody rhythms and then there are just a lot of different instruments going on and a lot of different vocal areas at the end so I\u2019m kind of excited about the challenge of figuring out how to pull that off live and then seeing whether or not people agree that I\u2019ve pulled it off.<\/p>\n KM:<\/strong> I feel like, with as many talents as you have, you could probably pull almost anything off onstage.<\/p>\n M: <\/strong>I hope you\u2019re right.<\/p>\n KM:<\/strong> Do you know much about D.C and the D.C. Music scene?<\/p>\n M:<\/strong> I don\u2019t know very much about the music scene. My parents live in Fredericksburg and I used to live in Quantico so I\u2019ve spent a lot of time around here. I mean, D.C has a legendary music scene obviously but no, I haven\u2019t been informed about it too much.<\/p>\n KM:<\/strong> I was just curious, just being where we are, with the go-go scene and this neighborhood especially changing so much.<\/p>\n M:<\/strong> Yeah, it seems like it.<\/p>\n DCMR:<\/strong> Now because you write and do all the instruments, how does that make you feel about all the people that have come before you \u2013 especially, like Prince who could play all of his own instruments but he had a band. You have Elliott Smith who also wrote and played everything but would take a touring band. Even Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails \u2013 and then you go \u2018Wait, I\u2019m doing it all\u2019. How does it make you feel and what is your feeling about those musicians who came before you and going down that road and what you\u2019ve done and accomplished and having that retrospective and going \u2018Man, these guys really worked hard!\u2019 Or \u2018Man, I wish I could blame the drummer for messing up that tune!\u2019<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"\/\/www.dcmusicreview.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/9O6A9090.jpg\" "\\"Mobley")
<\/span><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"\/\/www.dcmusicreview.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/mobley_fresh_lies.jpg\" "\\"Mobley")
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