From the way he looks you would think Ashland High frontman Trace Cyrus formerly of pop-rock band Metro Station was this hard core metal playing rock star dude without a care in the world, but don’t let his 23 year old tattooed bod from head to toe fool ya. He has a heart, it’s big and he’s mega talented just like his dad country superstar Billy Ray Cyrus.
“My dad adopted me when I was a kid and ‘Achy Breaky Heart’ his song came out when I was like four years old. And my mom never actually liked to go on tour she was scared of like riding on buses she thought the bus driver would fall asleep and she was scared of flying so she never wanted to go with my dad. So my dad needed a little helper out there. When I was a kid I thought I was my dad’s guitar tech. I always brought his guitar on stage and tuned his guitars and the bands guitars. But in reality I think I was more in the way than a help. He made me feel like a million bucks and to this day I still feel like he’s the most talented singer songwriter in the industry.
All the things I do on stage and shit I’ve learned from him even though I’m doing a different style of music, he is the motivation behind it all. And I don’t think he really realizes it because I am so different but to me he’s the coolest musician out there. He’s cooler than Axel Rose or any rock star out there.”
New York Gossip Gal’s Jolie Schrager caught up with Trace during his nation-wide summer tour at NY’s Gramercy Theatre promoting new record ‘Geronimo’ which had over 146k downloads within the first two days of its release. He told her how he got started, what inspires him and who is biggest inspiration is.
“It all started thanks to Myspace. Me and my boys from Metro Station back in ’06 started putting songs onto Myspace- that’s how a lot of bands were doing it back in that time and all of the sudden we had Columbia Records- they were the first label to contact us but we had many more labels contact us after that and I remember Columbia flew out the A&R agent and we played a little rehearsal space and they really weren’t still convinced so we went to South By Southwest like many bands do and that’s when Columbia Records came up to us.
The show was a disaster I’m not gonna lie – I was 17 at the time and we performed and they came up to us and made us feel like a million bucks. They told us (“our dicks were made out of gold”) they told us they really wanted to sign us. A lot of the things that happened with getting into the industry with my major label I wasn’t happy with but still I have to appreciate how fast they worked. They got my music out there very fast and they got us into the studio very quickly, so I appreciate them for that.”
Inspiration behind the new record?
“Every song is honestly just about a girl. I always try to make every song somewhat of a love song. Girls inspire me. Love is something that anyone can relate to. When you make it about a relationship, older people can relate to that, younger people and everyone in between. Every song is about a girl but I still like to put subliminal messages in my music. There’s a lot of different drug and party references. If you know me and my personality you will hear– like one is “you are my princess but we’re sharing a crown.” I like to drink Crown Royal whiskey. It’s all about girls but still about the things I like to do in my spare time like having a good time, hanging out, smoking and drinking.”
Favorite place to tour?
“My favorite place I went to with Metro Station was Malta, a little island off Europe. We played there with Lady Gaga and Black Eyed Peas. We only played there once so I can’t say I have too much experience but the one show we played there was for 60 thousand people, it was so cool. It’s a whole party town and they made the show free for the whole city, it’s something they do every year where they give out a free show so for me that was the coolest experience.
Besides Malta, some place that I’ve been a lot is Florida. It’s always a good time – I love touring the South –I’m from the South, from Nashville. I love touring the South, they have all these grimy little bars. That’s where I feel most at home.”
Why pop music?
“I would say because I kind of want to shock people. I’m about that and I’m always about surprising people. I like to make catchy pop songs. I feel like pop music is timeless. A pop song that is popular now can be popular fifty years from now. I just want my music to live on forever. Mainly I just want to surprise people. I don’t want to be just like everyone else and do what people expect of me.
I listen to hip-hop more than anything. In my spare time I like to listen to hip-hop but I like to make pop music. I don’t listen to pop music much. I listen to pop music to get guidance and direction and to know my competition because I wanna be the best at what I do but I think hip-hop’s the most fun music to do. I feel like they don’t care, ya know? They can say anything.”
Biggest musical inspiration?
“I’d have to just say my dad.
Trace is the real deal. Check him out.
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