On Episode 3 of Artist Friendly, Leafar Seyer of the electro-rock mission Prayers joined Joel Madden to speak about his childhood immigrating to the U.S., decade-plus-long profession in music, and extra. The episode simply dropped as we speak and is obtainable wherever you hearken to podcasts, and on YouTube, as nicely.
Seyer launched his profession in music somewhat over 10 years in the past, enjoying in bands together with Baptism of Thieves and Vampire earlier than founding the electro-rock mission Prayers, which has made waves in rock for pioneering the genre-defying sound they name “chologoth.” Most just lately, the Cotija, Michoacán Mexican-born, California-based artist launched the album Chologoth – The Return Of Pluto in 2022, and this yr will see Prayers seem on the upcoming music pageant Sick New World.
In Seyer’s dialog with Madden, he spoke about every thing from how his early years formed him and his artwork to how authenticity has all the time pushed his music. Below, discover six takeaways from the Artist Friendly interview.
He owes his success to his mom
Before Seyer had even realized that he wished to pursue music, he says it was his mom who helped him to really feel particular, and due to this fact, that one thing like that was doable. He says she was all the time “cheering him on” and “influenced and changed the way [he] thinks and sees [himself].” The recording artist even tells an anecdote about how his mom selected his title, which features a second of divine intervention, and led her to inform him as a toddler that she all the time knew he was “special” when he was named Rafael.
Seyer was the primary individual in his household to be taught English
Near the beginning of the episode, the Prayers frontman reveals that he immigrated to America when he was solely 4-years-old, and his mother and father didn’t communicate English. Naturally, being the oldest, Seyer was the primary individual in his household to be taught the language. He quickly grew to become a translator for his mother and father, interacting with landlords and serving to to pay their payments. “For me, I was in survival mode, always,” he says.
Authenticity has all the time pushed his music
Seyer credit his worth of authenticity as being the No. 1 factor that is fueled his music and profession, and the rationale that his followers are alongside for this “journey” with him. He explains that as a result of he was nonetheless popping out of his years spent “on the streets” when he started Prayers, it felt true to his expertise when he explored these themes in his music, which his viewers acknowledged. Nowadays, when Seyer feels as if that is part of his previous and he is grown to be extra of a household man, he feels as if the mission has advanced and matured in an identical means and his followers respect that. That authenticity is what he hopes helps him to make “timeless” music.
He’s a dreamer
When his mom handed away, Seyer says his sister found a shoebox that contained a ton of outdated drawings and pictures from his childhood. Of the keepsakes that his mother collected, one specifically stood out — a drawing of a stick determine on a stage holding a microphone with the phrase “Hollywood” scrawled on the high. “It was already in my subconscious,” Seyer explains. “I think as a kid, I was like, ‘I want to do this.’ But then the road that I was on, and the reality that I was living, that wasn’t something that was accessible.”
He’s a late bloomer however self-funded
Unlike musicians who begin grinding once they’re youngsters, Seyer is completely different from the remaining. He solely began making music a decade in the past when he was 37-years-old (“I came into this as a grown-ass man,” he jokes). Instead of pulling from his personal coming of age, he already possessed expertise and an identification. “For me, the music was really something that I [needed to] get out of my chest. The seed was there, and it took 37 years to blossom,” he says. And as a result of he bought began later in life, he already had the funds to make his desires a actuality by masking the prices of the merch, vinyl, and extra.
You can count on collaborations sooner or later
While Seyer says he isn’t essentially engaged on an excessive amount of new Prayers music, since he simply dropped an album in 2022, he does have a handful of collaborative songs within the work. He instructed Madden he is engaged on a handful of songs with “homies,” from up-and-comers he is enthusiastic about to “bigger” names. He notes the entire songs he is engaged on with different artists developed organically, and stresses that he is all the time right down to work with pals and artists who come to him — calling it “steel sharpening steel.”
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