After spending the last few years building and developing his sound, emerging singer and songwriter Tyler Levs has now returned to deliver his uplifting new single 'Struck'.
Lifted from his forthcoming new EP, which is set to land later this month, 'Struck' sees the artist channel a wonderfully broad and euphoric direction throughout. With its minimal production accentuating his vibrant voice, this one will leave you feeling renewed by the end.
So with the new single available now, we sat down with him to find out more about his background and influences over the years.
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What was the first band or artist you fell in love with?
The honest answer takes a little while to get to. My family listened to a lot of sub-genres of rock in the 90s. I remember a lot of AC/DC, Van Halen, Led Zeppelin, Guns N' Roses, Nirvana, The Offspring, Greenday etc. While my family wasn't necessarily musically inclined they were always listening to something. That being said, the first artist I can remember exploring and listening to for myself is John Mayer. My mom had Room for Squares on CD and I remember hearing No Such Thing for the first time and being blown away. As I listened to the rest of the album it felt as though I discovered a new sound. Being surrounded by so many different styles of rock made his blues-infused pop/ singer-songwriter sound refreshing and relatable. John Mayer's music followed me through my progressively heavier metal phase through high school, into my rap and EDM phase in college and continues to be a go-to today. I attribute my reason for trying to become an artist instead of part of a band to John Mayer's influence. Did you ever form a band when you were younger and if so, what did they sound like?
The only band I was ever truly apart of was 5th to 7th grade concert band. My introduction to music came in the form of the trumpet. I ended up quitting after 7th grade for lack of time commitment and "cool factor". Major regret to this day haha. I always wanted to be in a band, especially in high school. Being so invested in hard-rock and metal, I knew that I needed other members to fill out my sound. However I played sports and never felt like I had close friends who were as invested in music as much as I was. Music was always a passion but I couldn't justify giving up everything else I was doing at the time to push into it. I definitely lacked confidence in my earlier years as well because I was teaching myself to sing and play guitar. What has been your primary inspiration in writing music?
I'd like to site two specific examples. I wrote "Sometimes I Get Lonely" in the back seat of my car at 8:30am, 11 days into a 16 day trip down the east coast of the US playing different open mic shows. This song poured out so fast that I was afraid I was going to lose it. Feeling lonely even in plain sight and surrounded by people is a very personal experience and that song is one of the biggest pieces of me I've ever put into music. On the opposite end of this spectrum I wrote 30 songs in 30 days this past October all based off of single word writing prompts. The moral here is inspiration can always be found but the experience isn't always the same. Sometimes you need to be ready to capture the inspiration as it comes and other times you've got to search for it. I haven't found myself stuck with "writers block" for a long time because I inevitably work through music whether or not it's objectively "good". My writing process is all about the journey and the desire to improve. What is a song you wish you had written yourself?
The joke here is "a" song. I continue to hear songs that I find extremely catchy and interesting and find myself thinking "I wish I would have done that one". Musically speaking I adore Neon by John Mayer. That guitar riff is like no other and the track itself flows so effortlessly with his vocals. Lyrically speaking there are too many to count as well. One of my current favorite bands "Valley" recently released a song called "7 Stories" and the rollercoaster of an ending has me wishing I wrote that one as well. Long story short: there's a lot of songs I wish I'd written haha. If there was any moment in your career you could relive, what would it be?
At this point in time I'm 5 years into taking my music more seriously and 3 years into music as my full-time career. I've been Partnered on Twitch and have had some amazing opportunities, even being featured on the front page to a peak viewership of 23,000. However, I'd love to relive TwitchCon if given the chance. San Diego in October of 2019 was the first (and only) TwitchCon I've been to. At this time I had been streaming almost 3 years and finally made the trip to experience an event with other Twitch streamers / viewers. The 4 day trip was a surreal thing because I met a lot of the people I'd known for years on an online platform face-to-face and made some lasting friendships as well. This event felt like a tipping point into streaming for me and I'm still hoping to go to another some day! Which artist would you most love to share a stage with?
I don't have much of a concrete answer for this one. There are so many situations that feel as though they could work for me that it would be nearly impossible to choose one. If I were playing guitar and singing I'd love to perform with John Mayer, Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift, Valley, Shawn Mendes and countless other pop-heavy musicians. However if I could guest vocal with some bands I'd go in a completely different direction and say A Day to Remember, Shinedown, Bring Me the Horizon, Twenty One Pilots or something more rock-oriented. I've also done some EDM-type features in the past so that would also be an interesting performance venture.. At the end of the day I love music and if I'm asked to perform I would be more inclined to say yes than no! And is there an artist you would love to collaborate with as well?
I see collaborations as a very fun yet intimate experience. There is definitely no one artist that I think I would want to collaborate with. I would ideally want to collaborate with artists who do a lot of their own songwriting. That being said I would give most collaborations a chance because I love the way collaborating in music alters the way that I write and perform. Where do you see yourself in five years time?
My short answer is it's hard to say. I never anticipated that I would be where I am today and I'm eternally grateful for the opportunities I've had. The three realities I see are one where I'm no longer able to pursue music full-time and it remains a passion-project, a second where I maintain the same path I'm on where I stream full-time and continue to write music and a third possibility where things are bigger than I could fathom. While it's interesting to imagine where it could all go I truly am focused a month ahead and I'm doing my best to make a difference with my music in any capacity. No matter the path I'm forever appreciative of the people who believe in and support what I do and I know music will always be a part of my life.
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Tyler Levs' new single 'Struck' is available to stream now. Check it out below.
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