The Fancy Platypus: Bradley James Skistimas

Bradley James Skistimas of Five Time August.

Indie Music singer and song writer.

If there's one thing that almost everyone does it's listen to music!

Personally when I look for a group I try to find songs that are meaningful, and something I could relate to. In early 2009 I happened to find myself listening to a Five times august song, and I haven't stopped since. Though there were always questions on my mind, like how he does it, and what it's like to write a Cd. So In this interview, I ask him!

Interview With Bradley James.

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Fancy Platypus: When did you get into music?

Bradley James Skistimas: I’ve been into music my whole life, ever since elementary school. On the

bus ride I always had my Walkman on. My interest has been a gradual (and

obsessive) build ever since then. I kept finding more and more music to

listen to and discover, eventually landing at the Beatles who made me want

to pick up a guitar at age 11. Once I started playing guitar it was all

over for me… THAT’s when music really took over my life.

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Fancy Platypus: How did you discover your voice?

Bradley James Skistimas: In high school I played guitar for the choir band. I wasn’t actually in

the choir but I picked up a lot from just being there and watching others

sing. I wasn’t really any good for a long time. I didn’t begin to find my

voice until I started writing the first Five Times August songs around the

age of 17/18. That was when I started developing my own style and tone.

However, listening back to early FTA recordings I don’t think it sounds

anything like my voice now, so it seems to have taken on a life of its

own over time, developing certain nuances and inflection built off my

years of performing. The same goes for my guitar playing and really the

two (my singing and guitar playing) go hand in hand. I don’t like singing

without my guitar.

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Fancy Platypus: What groups/artist would you say are inspirations for your music?

Bradley James Skistimas: When I started Five Times August I was really into John Mayer, Jason Mraz, Dave Matthews… the whole acoustic singer/songwriter thing. These days I’m

listening to a lot of music from the 50’s and 60’s, Jazz, Soul R&B, Blues,

really a whole mess of stuff… so my palette has become pretty broad. I

really like artists that write, sing, and play their own music. I relate

to that and have a lot respect for it because that’s where I fit in. It’s

getting harder for me to relate to modern music because it’s become more

about fashion and trends than true artistic merit.

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Fancy Platypus: Where do you draw inspiration for a new song?

Bradley James Skistimas: I never really know, sometimes it just builds and builds off messing about

on the guitar. Most of the time I’ll sing gibberish melody over the chords

and eventually sing something and think “hey that sounds like I am

saying…” and all of a sudden you have a lyric line that inspires the rest

of the song. I think the main inspiration for new songs just comes from

wanting to write music that I’d listen to myself. If I am happy with it in

the end then that’s great, hopefully most people like it. If not, well,

can’t please everyone!

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Fancy Platypus: What are your rituals for writing a song? When do you feel like your message has been passed?

Bradley James Skistimas: I don’t really have any rituals. I just sit down with a guitar and “feel

it out” as it happens. Sometimes it’s a few chords that sound nice that

lead to some humming that lead to lyrics, sometimes it hits me a whole

other direction. I don’t ever really know if my message gets through to

anyone until somebody tells me. A song like FTA’s “Up To Me” was extremely

personal when I wrote it; I didn’t think anyone would relate to it. But,

out of all the songs I’ve released that one is the song I get more people

telling me they relate to than any other. So you just never know.

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Fancy Platypus: Being an Indie singer, songwriter, what are some of the pros and cons?

Bradley James Skistimas: That’s a loaded question for me. I could write several books on the pros

and cons of being independent. I guess when it comes down to it the

biggest pro is having complete creative control in every realm of my

career. The biggest con is the general public putting you in the same

class as an artist in the Top 40 who’s on a major record label. That has

an effect on how your success is perceived because when people decide

“I’ll just download his music for free” they think “He’ll be okay because

somebody else will buy it.” When in truth every sale matters to

independent artists. We’re not marketed like Katy Perry or Adele, we don’t

have that kind of money. Those artists might not miss a few CD sales, but

every indie artist out there could use that sale to invest back into their

career. The problem is most people don’t take the time to discover the

artist behind the music anymore so we’re all lumped together.

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Fancy Platypus: Where did you get the name “Five Time August” from?

Bradley James Skistimas: The name is derived from my birthday August 5th. I didn’t want to promote “Brad Skistimas” because my last name has always been confusing to some

folks so I thought it would be easier with a band name.

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Fancy Platypus: Why did you choose to drop the band name and continue under your own?

Bradley James Skistimas: I’m writing different music now and I really wanted a clean slate to work

from. I felt if I released this new stuff as “Five Times August” there

would be some sort of expectation based on my previous work. Releasing the

EP as “Bradley James” (my first and middle names) has cleared that

distraction for me. I’m sure fans will still compare it to what I’ve done

before but for me I just wanted a blank canvas mentally.

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Fancy Platypus: How many instruments do you play?

Bradley James Skistimas: Guitar, Bass, Piano, and whatever else I need to figure out for various

bits while I’m in the studio.

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Fancy Platypus: What was your inspiration for “Where did I go?”

Bradley James Skistimas: I’ve been wanting to do a side-project since 2009, something different

from FTA. I’ve grown a lot as an artist and musician and have wanted to

see what else I can do. I wanted to make music that was something of a

tribute to the way it used to be made. We recorded the basic tracks live

in the studio together without a click track, so you’re getting a real

live performance. With FTA tunes a good 60-75% was modern programmable

instruments. Rather go that route again, about 95% of the instrumentation

on the new EP is all performed live by real people.

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Fancy Platypus: What are your hopes for “Where did I go?"

Bradley James Skistimas: Right now I’m just hoping to get through the Pledge Music campaign so I

can release the songs. If I can get the tracks mixed, mastered, and on to

CD I’ll be happy. Once I get there we’ll see what else happens but I don’t

really want to get ahead of myself right now. Just taking one step at a

time.

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Fancy Platypus: What is your favorite thing about writing a new cd?

Bradley James Skistimas: I’m most happy as an artist when I’m moving forward. Making new music and trying new things, releasing a new record, that process always makes me

feel like I am doing that. I usually favor whatever I am working on most

recently over anything I’ve done in the past. I like that if you go back

to the earliest FTA recordings and listen from one album to the next you

hear growth and maturity. My favorite thing is whenever I impress myself.

Turning around one day and getting to say “I made that” is pretty awesome.

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Fancy Platypus: Is there a tour planned in the future?

Bradley James Skistimas: Not any time too soon, perhaps next year. I spent six years straight on

the road with my wife Kelly and we just had a baby this year so we are

enjoying home life for the first time in a long-long time.

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Fancy Platypus: What are your plans for the future?

Bradley James Skistimas: After I see what happens with the new EP I’ll probably dabble in several

other side projects. I’d really like to work on a children’s album or TV show. I also have a lot of ideas for funny film shorts that may eventually get made and posted on YouTube. I’m really just playing it by ear right now. The current music industry is completely unreliable so I don’t want

to bank on keeping my career afloat on the same things I have previously.

It’s a good time to try new things so I’ll have my hands in a lot of

different projects over the next few years.

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Fancy Platypus: What do you do when you’re not writing, performing, or recording?

Bradley James Skistimas: Right now any spare moment I have is spent with my new son Dylan who just turned 6 months. It’s a completely new world being a dad. I absolutely

love it, but I am adjusting my schedule completely. It’s a new challenge

but it’s so nice to not feel like I have to be anywhere but here right

now. We’ve never had time to just be at home so we’re literally just

“hanging out” watching TV or grocery shopping like normal folk do when

they’re not at work.

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Fancy Platypus: What words of wisdom would you give to new coming artists?

Bradley James Skistimas: Be prepared to work hard. Success is not an overnight thing for most

people. It doesn’t matter if you think you have the greatest song in the

world, nobody will hear it unless you rely on yourself (and only yourself)

to get it out there. The one great thing about today’s music industry is

that there are no rules, so however creative you can be in getting your