Founded by Martin Jarl, Swing’it Dixieband takes the music of the swinging 20s and brings it to the modern era. Travelling back in time, Swing’it Dixieband brings you to New Orleans 100 years ago. Their music tells the stories of the roaring 20’s about jazz, about “bootleggers, speakeasies and illegal parties during the Prohibition and flappers and dappers partying their nights away in the opulence and decadence of the Golden Era!”. They’ve performed for jazz festivals throughout Norway and the UK, including over 60 concerts at the Kongsberg Jazz Festival, Molde Jazz Festival, Edinburgh Jazz Festival and Sildajazz. Fun Fact: In 2018, they made it to the semi-finals of “Norway’s Got Talent” with their performances of Jazz Disney covers. “We were inspired by how Postmodern Jukebox was so successful covering pop songs in various genres, so we decided to try something similar – and there are just so many good Disney tunes to choose between. We already had a couple in our repertoire and thought, ‘who doesn’t love Disney?'” explains Martin Jarl, the band’s founder. They were known for their music available on Spotify and YouTube, as well as concerts worldwide. In 2019, they released their first single, Party Like It’s 1923, which describes the life of flappers and dappers within the era of the ’20s. It was also their first music video. This single brought them massive success as it hit 1 million streams on Spotify. Later in 2019 and then again in 2020, they released two more singles, Booze Cruise and Champagne. “Our songs are based around historical people and real events in the 1910s and 20s in America. They draw inspiration from the Prohibition Era and Great Gatsby’s glamour, but with our twist. We released the EP in April 2020 and have now recorded a full album due to be released in 2021. The album is a concept with an overarching story that takes the listener through New Orleans and the music from the early 20th Century,” explains Jarl. This musical group has become one of Europe’s most successful jazz bands. They’ve made quite an audience for themselves worldwide, with their YouTube channel hitting 732,816 views and 5.27K subscribers since joining in August of 2014. Swing’it Dixieband Playlists “These guys are a firework of a band! The atmosphere has been perfect every time Swing’it played at our bar! Highly recommended! (and the girls love them, too!) Review from Cecil’s Cocktail Club Here are some of their highlighted music for your listening pleasure. “Bare Necessities” Vintage 1920’s Dixieland Jazz Cover By Swing’it Dixieband Originally By Phil Harris, Bruce Reitherman From Disney’s The Jungle Book (1967). “Everybody Wants To Be A Cat” Vintage Dixieland Jazz Cover By Swing’it Feat. Eloise Green Originally By Floyd Huddleston, Al Rinker From Disney’s Aristocats (1970). “I Wanna Be Like You” Vintage Jazz Cover By Swing’it Dixieband Originally By Louis Prima, Phil Harris, Bruce Reitherman From Disney’s The Jungle Book (1967). “Under The Sea” is a Vintage 1920s New Orleans Jazz Cover By Swing’it Dixieband, Originally By Samuel E. Wright From Disney’s The Little Mermaid (1989). “Hakuna Matata” Vintage 1920s Styled Dixieland Cover By Swing’it Dixieband Originally By Jason Weaver, Ernie Sabella, Nathan Lane, Joseph A. Williams From Disney’s The Lion King (1994). Let us know what you think in the comments below!!

Switching Styles is bringing you an exciting Q&A with Adrian Sutherland for your reading pleasure. Photo of Adrian Sutherland Introducing Sutherland Adrian Sutherland is not just a musician but also a Singer, songwriter, writer, speaker, father, grandfather, and advocate for First Nations. There’s more to his work than just mere activism. from Attawapiskat First Nation on the James Bay, he’s a traditional knowledge keeper, fluent in Mushkegowuk Cree, as well as a respected cultural leader. Starting with the rock band Midnight Shine, Sutherland has since 2019 shifted to solo projects. Over the years, he’s been creating increasingly fantastic music. Some of his most popular songs include “Once That Was You”, “Politician Man”, “Right Here”. As described on his SoundCloud, his “Debut single, Politician Man, hit #1 on the Indigenous Music Countdown and won Best Performing Arts & Entertainment at Canada’s oldest film festival. The second single, Respect the Gift, debuted in January 2021 on The Strombo Show and American Songwriter Magazine and reached #1 on the IMC. Right Here, the first single from Adrian’s upcoming album, was released in June and has been earning national attention for its music video made from 1600 selfies”. Q&A Interview Below is an interview between Adrian Sutherland and Dylanna Fisher of Switching Styles How would you describe your music’s sound? I would describe my music as “out of the woods” Phil Spector era. It’s different from most music out there today. How did you start in music? My mother played guitar and organ, so I was always around music growing up. What impact has music had on you personally? Music for me has always helped me through some tough times, I would describe it as therapy. Why is music important? Music moves in ways other things can’t, it can lift us when we’re down and transcends through barriers. What is the typical process for creating your music? I usually write on the guitar, mostly in the late evening or at night – I feel more open to receiving music this way. What are you most looking forward to once the pandemic is over? Once the pandemic is over, I look forward to performing again. What advice would you give to new and young musicians? Build your team and don’t waste time on chasing things or people who don’t get your music. What are some of your future projects? I’m working on my first book and would like to keep writing and recording soon. In conclusion He describes himself as a Roots-Rocker, songwriter, advocate, hunter, and hockey player. He supports many different roles as a musician. As a musician, he can convey such emotion and beautiful lyrics that are fantastic to listen to. Learn more about Adrian Sutherland at www.adriansutherlandmusic.com.

As a proud Latinx, Chicago native, and pre-service teacher, he didn’t start out as a musician. “I didn’t consider myself a musician,” he explained. Although he was friends with many musicians growing up, it never quite stuck with him. Until one day, it did. Adan is a relatively new musician. Adan began playing music about 2-3 years ago. It wasn’t until 2015, that he started creating music. Starting his music career 2 – 3 years ago, he’s gained online traction with the band “Almost There But Not Really” between 2017. He’s shined as their bassist. Recently, he left them to focus on his projects. He learned more about himself and more about the art of music itself. Adan M. Music Key Projects to Date Current projects that he’s working on include continuing his studies at the University of Illinois Chicago, as well as teaching bass to music students. As a bassist teacher, he’s bringing a lot of experience and expertise to the next generation of musicians. Though Simbi, he’s teaching people from all around the world with topics including proper playing technique, the names of notes on the fretboard, practicing short basslines and finally digging into the scales. Using Ariane Cap’s Music Theory for the bass player as a base, he brings his expertise and simple music theory to each lesson. As a bassist, he considers it an important part of any song. There is a difference between the guitar and the bass. For the rhythm of a song, “bass and drums are so monumental.” Adan Meza’s Academic Journey Bass lessons aren’t the only thing that Meza does with his time. Meza brings forth his experience and his heritage into all his projects. He has quite a range of experience beyond that of a musician with experience as a debate coach at Chicago public schools, a volunteer assistant at neighbourhood schools program at the University of Chicago and a graduate student that studied international studies at the University of Chicago. Adan is a dedicated graduate student at the University of Illinois Chicago, where he is pursuing a degree in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. His passion lies in becoming a high school history teacher within Chicago Public Schools (CPS). Adan's academic interests include modern Spanish politics, the Cold War, and Mexico-U.S. trade relations. He believes in the importance of fostering cultural engagement among his students, encouraging them to explore various perspectives on history. Outside of his studies, Adan has a vibrant artistic side. He plays bass in a band, showcasing his musical talents and love for performance. His involvement in music not only serves as a creative outlet but also enriches his teaching approach, as he often draws connections between historical events and contemporary cultural expressions. This unique blend of interests helps him create a dynamic learning environment for his students. In addition to music, Adan enjoys performing stand-up comedy, participating in small shows around the city. This hobby allows him to connect with audiences in a different way, using humor to engage and inspire. Adan’s diverse interests and talents contribute to his overall mission: to educate and mentor the next generation, fostering critical thinking and cultural awareness through both history and the arts. Final Thoughts; What’s Next for Adan Meza? Keep up to date on his upcoming projects via his online presence on LinkedIn, or Simbi.

Merging the '20s with the ’20s, the Swing’it Dixieband's music blends modern sounds with a vintage vibe. It’s a fantastic way to celebrate the 2020’s with the styles of the 1920s. Traditional jazz music was party music, and that’s what they deliver in their songs and their concerts. Their versatility allows them to play for a range of audiences from jazz clubs and speakeasies to weddings to corporate events to festivals. Swing’it Dixieband has travelled all over the world showing off their musical talents to shows with a successful and passionate following in Norway and throughout Europe. “Swing’it is one of the most popular bands to have played at the Candlelight Club. The combination of toe-tapping rhythms, effusive horns and five-part vocals created the perfect vintage mood and kept people on their feet all evening. I think I had more positive comments from guests about this band than any other”. Review from Candlelight Club Known for their music available on Spotify and YouTube, as well as concerts throughout the world. In 2019, they released their first single, Party Like it’s 1923, which describes the life of flappers and dappers within the era of the ’20s. It was also their first music video. This single brought them huge success as it hit 1 million streams on Spotify. Later on in 2019 and then again in 2020, they released two more singles Booze Cruise and Champagne. Below is an interview with Martin Jarl, Swing’it Dixieband’s founder, and Dylanna Fisher from Switching Styles. How did Swing’it Dixiebandget started? It was actually my trumpet teacher that started it in the first place. I was only 12 or myself at the time and joined the band with some friends of mine. We were very cute, but not so talented at the time, so it fizzled out after a while. Then a couple of years later I decided to pick up the idea again and started the current band with some other friends of mine. Why did you decide to be known as Swing’it Dixieband? We wanted something that was short and catchy and went for “Swing’it”, which is the name we mainly use. Adding Dixieband is just a mixture of making it clear what we do while also being a historical reference to bands from that era. How would you describe your sound? We have a very vibrant, energetic and playful sound. There are different members and different instruments from time to time, so the overall sound varies from a 20s marching band towards a more 30s swing sound. But I’d say energetic, vibrant and playful are very describing. Who are your musical influences? Lots of different people, ranging from 20s musicians like Louis Armstrong, through 30s, 40s and 50s jazz to current jazz and pop singers like Jamie Cullum. Personal favourites are among others Chet Baker, Jamie Cullum and Armstrong. Who is all included in Swing’it Dixieband? We’re a big group of people, around 17 in total – so more of a collective of musicians than a band. This is because the group has been living separated in Trondheim, Oslo and London since it was founded and flying in people for every gig is often not financially possible. You mentioned that there is a different one’s time to time as a kind of a collective, could you tell me about that? As I mentioned, I met the band members in various places. Three of us moved to London at the same time, but we couldn’t afford to fly the rest over for every concert. Therefore, we got some friends from our University to join us instead, and suddenly we had a whole band in London. Similarly, we needed more members in Norway and suddenly we had enough members for 2-3 bands. We’ve actually done several concerts at once in various cities (or countries) with different line-ups! How did you meet the current band members of Swing’it Dixieband? We actually met in different situations. Some are friends from my hometown, Tønsberg, where I grew up, while some of the members I met during the time I studied in London. A couple is just friends of friends that I’ve met at parties or similar over the years. Were you known as the Swing’it Dixieband back then? Yes, we’ve been known as that back to maybe 2013 or 2014. However, we recently changed our name to Swing’it after the BLM movement, due to the fact that dixie has some racist connotations and we wanted to take a stand against racism. What inspired Swing’it Dixieband to have a kind of vintage sound? It started when my mum used to take me to the local jazz club when I was a kid. Every week we would go to the jazz club listening to traditional jazz bands. That interest and motivation have just grown and blossomed over the years into a passion. Why choose to have a 20’s/30’s style? The energy in this kind of music is so fantastic. We’re also big fans of the 1920s and the idea of optimism and freedom. There are also very few people at our age doing this kind of music and we thought that people need some Dixieland in their lives. Lots of people have never heard it before, so we really hope we can bring the 20s vibe back to the streets! Why do covers in particular? It’s very standard in the Dixieland and swing jazz scene to do cover songs, but mainly the standards from the 20s and 30s. We decided to do a twist and choose songs that people would have heard before but in a different format. That said, we do increasingly more original tunes at the moment and are currently recording our first original EP. How would you describe the songs within your EP? Our songs are based around historical people and real events in the 1910s and 20s in America, from the Prohibition Era and Great Gatsby’s glamour, but with our own twist. We released the EP in April 2020 and have now recorded a full album that’s due to be released in 2021. The album is a concept album where there’s an overarching story that takes the listener through New Orleans and the music from the early 20th Century. As your first EP, how are you feeling about it? We’re really excited about the EP and even more about the upcoming album! We’ve worked on this for several years now and presenting our first full album will be very exciting. Just imagine holding your own, freshly printed vinyl! How do covers tend to compare to the originals? Some of the tunes are not so far away from the originals, like Bare Necessities and I wanna be like you, while others have a completely different style, for example, Can you Feel the Love Tonight. What’s the draw for Disney covers for Swing’it Dixieband, as a band? We were inspired by how Postmodern Jukebox was so successful covering pop songs in various genres, so we decided to try something similar – and there are just so many good Disney tunes to choose between. We already had a couple in our repertoire and thought to ourselves “who doesn’t love Disney”? What is the typical process of creating a cover? We have this thing where we joke about every song with a swing feel. Suddenly sometimes it just sounds very right, while most of the time it is just good banter. If we think it sounds good as swing, we just jam until it sounds the way we want. What was the process of collaborating with other musicians? It was partly because we tried doing the Postmodern Jukebox thing and partly because we wanted to mix the videos and sounds up for the listeners. We don’t really do that anymore and lately, we stick to the same group of core members. Are there any specific ones that stick out as favourites? Ami Oprenova is a brilliant singer and arranger and has become a really good friend of ours. The clarinet player Gustavo was for a brief while a member of the band before he got too busy doing other projects, but he was amazing to play with. Last, but most important: Jonah Hitchens! From the very first time he sang with us he’s just been incredible on stage and is the funniest guy. Now he is one of the most important members of the band. Why did you start on YouTube and Spotify? We were big fans of Scott Bradlee and the Postmodern Jukebox and thought it was a good idea to do a similar thing. For those who don’t know them, they’re making vintage and retro videos of pop tunes. We decided to do the same, just with Disney songs in the 20s or 30s style. With more than 400 000 views on YouTube and participation at the semi-finals of Norway’s Got Talent, it seems like it was a good idea. How do you think YouTube functions as a platform for musicians? It has ups and downs. To get lots of views and followers you have to post content very regularly, which for some types of entertainment is very easy while recording, arranging and filming music videos are very costly. It is still a very good place to get seen, but not the most important for us. What advice would you give to musicians just starting out on YouTube? To be honest, not really. It is just having an original idea and create good content, which is easier said than done. Are you available on other music streaming platforms? Our Disney music is only on YouTube, while our original songs can be found on every streaming platform. Is there a preference? Personally, I use Spotify, which is very common in Norway but can’t say I’ve used many else so can’t really answer this one . How do you feel about the internet in the music business? I’m very mixed about this. I think it’s great that it’s easier for musicians to get their music out there and fantastic that you can discover artists from other parts of the world that you otherwise would never hear of. On the other hand, it’s very hard to make good money out of streaming, and it’s really just the big artists that get the money from streaming. At the same time people seem to get used to getting music for free and these days it’s almost expected not to pay ticket prices for smaller bands. This makes it increasingly hard to be able to live in music which we all do. How has the internet affected your music career? I think less than the average band. We are more of a live band than anything else, and most people know us from our live performances. But through the internet people from other parts of the world have discovered us and booked us to France, Spain, Netherlands, UK and more, which is amazing. What are some of your fondest memories throughout your music career? There are so many to choose between! Playing big stages at festivals are the best thing in the world. We’ve played some great gigs at for example Edinburgh Jazz Festival and Kongsberg Jazz festival. We played support for Dr. John once, and also for Aha! We’ve also started our own Prohibition parties called “1923 – Oslo Prohibition Party” where everyone comes in outfits from the 20s and there are dancers, music, cabaret and all that jazz. We’ve had two sold-out shows which both have been among the best nights of our career What are some obstacles throughout your music career? There hasn’t really been many, to be honest. We’ve become steadily better and more popular getting more gigs along the way, just how it should be. Obviously, it’s hard work trying to live off your music and at times it has been tough, but that’s something you expect when going into this type of work. Another thing living as a musician touring around it can be hard keeping up with friends and family as you’re never there when things happen. Luckily, we’re all really close friends, so playing together is both works and like being with your best friends. How can your fans best support you and Swing’it Dixieband? We’re a live band, and the most important thing is to go to live concerts. Obviously, that’s not ideal just at the moment, but when the pandemic is over: Go see your local bands and support them! The big artists often get all the attention, but there are so many great bands out there waiting to be discovered. Rather than doing like everybody else, wouldn’t it be fun discovering a great band before everyone else? Where do you see yourselves in 10 years? Hopefully touring the big stages and festivals around the world. While the music we currently making has great potential, we think the electro-swing sets have the potential of reaching bigger masses and can be played at much bigger stages. Hopefully, that will catch on! How could smaller bands make it when they’re competing? I think the most important thing is to try and do your own thing, instead of copying what everybody else does. Do your own thing and believe in it will differentiate you from the other thousand bands trying to accomplish the same thing. What advice would you give to bands just starting out? Have fun! Life in the music business is not luxurious and you gotta love it to be happy. My teacher once told me that if there’s anything else in the world you’d like to do, then you should do that. If music is the only thing you want to do, only then is music the right option.

Are you ready? Are you sure you’re ready for this? We don’t think you are, but you better get ready. Switching Styles has the answers you need with this interview with Notedead. Introductions All Around! Max Preuss (drums) and Trymer Martin (guitars/vocals) combine to form the band, Notedead. It all started where all great bands start, with a passion for music. The band found their start during the 2020 global COVID-19 pandemic, despite the hardships. Everything was rough. That didn’t stop them. For Notedead, this was a new beginning. The band formed in 2020 and has been rocking the world since. Q&A Between Switching Styles and Notedead! In an interview with switching styles, they’ve opened up about their band, their process, and their goals. Read below to get to know Notedead even better! What is it about music that makes you feel passionate? Music emits emotion. I long to feel what the artist felt when they wrote the song and kind of experience it together. Music is also everywhere, from malls to elevators. And rhythm is in footsteps and your heartbeat, it’s everything. The emotions a song can put you through makes me feel alive How did Notedead start and how did the Covid 19 Pandemic impact your band? Early on in Covid times when everything stopped and when we couldn’t jam with our bands Trymer started writing his own stuff and asked Max to write drums along with it. We both quickly realized that our writing for our respective instruments clicked together. We started ripping out songs super-fast, so we decided to continue writing under our own band together which is Notedead. How is being an Edmonton-based band impacted Notedead? It’s funny because only half of the band (Max) is Edmonton based and the other half (Trymer) is from Lacombe so it’s almost a long-distance type band relationship. The local music scene in Edmonton has a great group of people who support and encourage us, and we are forever grateful. What inspired you to start playing and making music? Trymer: Before I got into my own music I listened to my dad’s classic rock/metal, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Foreigner, ZZ Top, etc. Anyways but I’m in grade 5 I had some project to do at school and there was another classmate who did his project, but his was on Sum 41 and it caught my eye, so I got the CD “all killer no filler” at a Walmart in Manitoba, and that cd changed me. From there I adopted my first taste of music away from my parents and it inspired me to want to play guitar, the ball started rolling from there! Max: Rock band. I loved the game because I was able to some of jam along to my favorite songs while simultaneously learning a basic version of the drums. I got very good at that game, and it made my transition into real drums very easy. My music teacher in junior high band class then asked if anybody knew how and I volunteered to learn some percussion. The rest is history, between drum lessons, drumming for my high school jazz band & winning jazz artist of the year, it’s safe to say I’m a real drummer now What bands or genres inspire your sound? Counterparts, Napoleon, Dance Gavin Dance, to name a few… but it’s really so hard to say what inspires our sound, so many bands growing up shaped us into the musicians we are and what our preferences are as well. We also use it a lot! Of dead notes haha Describe your creative process when you write new music. We both write our music on Guitar Pro. being as we are far away from each other, and we both enjoy the punctualness we can read. Trymer usually comes up with the first riff and then sends it to Max and Max writes the drums and then we work together from there, writing the song section by section. Sometimes there will be a pre-discussed idea before we start on our next track, but we always write song by song and never add too much to our plates. What’s your favorite venue for performing? Why? We don’t play shows as we are only a 2 man band writing songs to share with people, but if we could Trymer would want to play the St. Andrews United Church in Lacombe as he used to play local punk shows there growing up (it’s kind of odd I know, but it was so much fun!) and Max wishes we could play at Polar Park Brewery in Edmonton but it unfortunately just closed down. What are some of your current projects? Currently, we have some new music in the bank but nothing to confirm aside from our new album “Separate Paths”. However, Max is in 2 other bands, Withered Days and Sol Runner. What advice would you give to musicians just starting? Listen to music as often as you can. Find something that you wish you could make your own and take that drive to make your own with your inspiration and feelings Don’t give up, you’re going to suck at times, but music is a lifelong partner if you let it be. Is there anything you wanted to mention that I didn’t ask about? Yes, our new album ‘Separate Paths’ is out September 9th

It’s about time for some Christmas music! Christmas is a time of joy, family, and of course creativity. Switching Styles has reached out to our very own guest writer, Jason Greiner to get his take on Christmas cover songs. Article Contains Paid Content. Learn more Photo by Kristina Paukshtite on Introducing Jason Author Jason Greiner has written several printed books as well as eBooks. Jason, who is originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, currently resides in Mebane, a tiny but rapidly expanding city in central North Carolina. He has experience as a professional blogger and writer in the communication industry. But there’s more! Additionally, he offers freelance graphic design and photography services. He’s been a longtime music lover and enjoys finding new talent and discussing their creation. But that’s not all; he is also a musician in his own right. Jason’s Christmas Songs What are you listening to during the Christmas holiday? Something hip and trendy or something more traditional? Switching Styles has so much to offer in terms of holiday music. Check out our traditional Jingle Bells Covers Songs, Punk Goes Christmas: Deluxe Edition, Classic Silent Night Covers, and of course, Metal Christmas Songs. He has given the holiday tunes a fresh sound with songs like “I Want a Lobotomist for Christmas,” “Jingle Bell Spock,” “Frosty the Glow Man,” “Circlin’ Around the Parking Lot,” and “Silver Hair.” To add to your Spotify Christmas playlist, choose from the selections below. Visit here to listen to these songs and many more. Interviewing Jason Below we’ve dived deeper into the meaning of Christmas Covers from an interview with our musical guest writer, Jason Greiner. What inspired you to cover Christmas songs? To be honest, I can’t remember how I got started. I guess part of it is having been a long-time fan of the nutty stuff from Weird Al Yankovic. In high school, I made some attempts to write my own mainstream songs, but I found it wasn’t for me. I thought that if I could make people laugh (hopefully) and do so with creative writing, why not give it a try? Some of the original inspirations to try my hand at Christmas songs come from the classic “Grandma Got Run Over by A Reindeer” and newer titles like the work of Bob Rivers in “Walkin’ Round in Women’s Underwear parodying “Walkin’ Round A Winter Wonderland” and “Didn’t I Get This Last Year?” parodying “Do You Hear What I Hear?” Which one of these cover songs was your favorite to write? Why? I’d say my favorite, which was also probably the most difficult one to write, is “Silver Hair.” First off, it was one of the longest ones so far which made it more of a challenge as opposed to simpler songs like “Fleas on My Dog” for example that have a lot of repetition in a very small number of lyrics. Personally, I just think it flows well and provides humor in a high-brow sort of manner. I know high-brow and comedy may not sound like concepts that mesh well but you need not look any farther than classic plays to know it can work. Tell me about the process of creating a Christmas cover song? I start out with either a song I want to focus on or a concept and work around that. It is different every time I do it. I usually start off with one line and build the rest of the song around that. Sometimes it is the title of the song like in the case of “Frosty the Glow Man” and in other’s it’s a theme. What was the process of writing your newest one, “Santa Claus Is Blitzed Tonight”? I was trying to figure out which song to use and my mother actually said, “you haven’t done ‘Here Comes Santa Claus yet have you?” I had the wheels in my mind start turning right away. The first line about being drunk on cheap champagne came to me almost instantly. After I had that I simply needed to build around it and keep the same rhythm. Is the process different from other non-holiday covers? While I have joked around with non-holiday covers, in terms of titles and lines here and there, I have yet to write any. One of the ones I have toyed with is “French Fries” instead of “Fresh Eyes” by Andy Gammer. I assume the process would be very similar. Why is Christmas music so popular when compared with the music of other holidays like thanksgiving, or Easter? To be honest, I’m not sure I’ve heard any Thanksgiving songs. There are songs for Halloween, but the quantity is small compared to the options for Christmas. I tend to avoid primarily religious-themed songs so that is really all there is for Easter. I think the secular and child-friendly element of many Christmas tunes is what makes them so popular. What benefit does music bring to the holiday? Holiday music is one of the many things that come together to give people the full and wonderful experience of the season. Decorations, food, gift giving, they all have their part and music is no different. What is next on your list of projects? No idea in terms of parody tunes. I usually get on my annual holiday-themed tune in late November, so I probably won’t give that much thought until around this point next year or so. As far as other creative ventures, I am always working on poetry when I have something that inspires me to do so. And I work a lot with photography and graphic design. What would you like to say to your listeners? Thanks. Thank you for being as goofy and silly as me, or at least to the point that you can appreciate my efforts. What advice do you have for other musicians? I certainly don’t consider myself a musician. I can’t play any instruments and my voice leaves a lot to be desired. I’m a writer at my core and much of my writing is poetic. Poetry lends itself to music. For those pursuing careers or even serious hobbies in music, I would first say to be realistic about what you have to offer. Don’t take on too much and develop the area(s) you excel most. You will most likely be your own worst critic at times so make sure to be as confident as you can without hitting the point of cockiness. Christmas Music Conclusion Photo by Laura James on Want to learn more about Jason Greiner? We’d love to share it with you. His work includes a wide range of fantastic music and writings. Check his work out here.

Bringing you covers with an anime flair is the band I Am Justice. For those that are anime fans, yes, their band name is inspired by Death Note. “My original artist name is The Kira Justice and it’s still my artist name in Brazil. The Kira Justice is a direct reference to the Anime Death Note. However going by the same artist name in different languages was often confusing, so I decided to have separate artist names for different languages. I Am Justice was the alternative for our artists’ name back when we were still a band. It’s also a reference to the same anime, and it sounds just as good as the other name, if not better,” explains the band. This band’s style is a rather soft combination of pop and rock. Their unique style is shown beautifully through their original songs “We Will Be Heroes”, “Tale of The 7 Seas”, and “Executioner’s Song”. “While Rock is my favourite style by far, I’m constantly trying to learn from every song I hear, no matter what style,” they explain “It’s a blend of pop and rock, with heavy influences from 2000’s bands. I enjoy intensity”. They’ve created quite a fanbase through their music. Joining YouTube in June of 2011, their channel has gained over 9,624,909 views. Those views continue to their Spotify account where they have nearly 600 monthly listeners. “Covers are a great way to help people – especially those who don’t know you too well yet – get a glimpse of what you’re about,” he explains. Highlighted Covers by I Am Justice Here are some of their top covers highlighted by Switching Styles for your listening pleasure! Check them out on Spotify. “Unravel” From Tokyo Ghoul “The World” From Death Note “Snow Fairy” From Fairy Tail “Hello, Hello, Hello” From One Punch Man “Netsujou No Spectrum” From The Seven Deadly Sins Let us know what you think in the comments below!

Guest Written by Barbara Joens Ask any music hobbyist whether they prefer CDs or vinyl records, and you will likely be given a number of reasons for their format of choice related to sound quality, aesthetics, and collectability. Some people may purchase music on only one type of format, while others buy both. However, when it comes to the environment, a new set of questions arise. The first music records produced were less damaging to the environment than the ones we are familiar with today. Shellac, a sticky natural resin secreted by the female Kerria lacca insect, was the material used to produce gramophone records (George, S., & McKay, D., 2019). However, the beginning of World War II changed this. The US War Production Board, established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, called for a 70% reduction in the production of new records (Gray’s Auctioneers, 2021). This was because shellac was also used to produce war materials, such as signal flares, explosives, and shell coating for artillery. Americans were also encouraged to donate broken and outdated records so they could be recycled into weapons or given to soldiers as a means of boosting troop morale (Gray’s Auctioneers, 2021). As records created from shellac were phased out, ones made out of PVC (polyvinyl chloride) resin gained popularity, in part because of their superior durability. PVC can be found in other everyday items, such as pipes and credit cards. When records are produced, PVC comes in the form of pellets, which are then heated, stamped, and pressed into the circular “record shape” music-lovers are familiar with (Parmenter, 2021). Shellac records were vulnerable to damage from liquids. They were also more breakable. In contrast, vinyl records were more physically resistant to damage. This made the switch to vinyl more attractive. Vinyl records can also contain more songs than shellac records, another point in PVC’s favor. Soon, PVC resin became the foundation for the vinyl records that we know today. An alternative to vinyl records, the music CD, first became available for buyers in 1982. CDs are a digital storage medium and are more transportable than records, since they can be played with a portable CD player. CDs are also less likely to skip or encounter other playback errors than records. They are easy to store, care for, and transport. Because of these advantages, CDs rapidly became the most popular medium for recorded music. However, vinyl records have made a comeback over the last 15 years. Since 2007, there has been a 1,427% sales increase of vinyl, which comes out to approximately four million LPs in 2018 in the UK (George, S., & McKay, D., 2019). This increased demand is reflected in other countries as well. Music-lovers are purchasing vinyl for many reasons. There is a developing demand for owning physical media rather than digital media. People enjoy collecting records for the nostalgia factor and the cool, retro look that rows of vinyl records can add to your shelves. There are people who enjoy the unique sound of vinyl records, saying that vinyl produces a “warmer” sound while more modern formats sound digital and artificial. Unfortunately, vinyl poses a significant threat to the health of the environment and human lives. Unlike records produced from shellac, vinyl records are derived from fossil fuels, meaning that this material has a higher carbon footprint than shellac. A higher carbon footprint means that there is a larger total amount of greenhouse gases produced directly and indirectly to create vinyl records than with shellac records. The black color used in many records is also not good for the environment, since it comes from carbon. Modern-day records are estimated to contain approximately 135 grams of PVC with a carbon footprint totaling to 0.5 kilograms of carbon dioxide (George, S., & McKay, D., 2019). When additional factors are considered, such as packaging and transport, the amount of carbon dioxide per record is even larger. PVC’s durability means that it is harder to break down when it ends up in landfills. According to one source, “Scientifically speaking, this would take around 1,000 years to decompose” (Parmenter, 2021). Landfill sites have varying environmental conditions, such as oil acidity and temperature. Depending on the conditions of a particular landfill site, this can cause PVC to leak plasticizers, the substances added to synthetic resins in order to strengthen them and increase their flexibility. The chemicals leached by the records can spread into groundwater, soil, and air, potentially posing a threat to the people and wildlife exposed to them. The presence of vinyl records in a landfill can therefore be a source of pollution in the environment. PVC also releases the chemical compound vinyl chloride. Exposure to vinyl chloride is associated with an increased risk of certain cancers, such as hepatic angiosarcoma (a rare form of liver cancer), lung cancer, brain cancer, leukemia, and lymphoma (National Cancer Institute, 2018). Although CDs are more convenient for most music-lovers, this technology has its own environmental drawbacks. CDs are produced from layered polycarbonate and aluminum (Owsinski, 2019). Polycarbonate is a synthetic plastic and aluminum is a metal. Because CDs are a mixture of metal and plastic, recycling them is more difficult. This means that they are often improperly discarded and become a source of pollution. CDs are also viewed as being more disposable than vinyl records. Even after records are no longer usable, many people repurpose them into displayable artwork, such as framing them or turning them into wall clocks. When people no longer find use for a CD, it usually ends up in a landfill. When it comes to comparing the packaging of vinyl records and CDs, records come in more carbon-neutral packaging since the packaging consists of cardboard and paper. In contrast, CDs often come in plastic trays and jewel cases. The polycarbonate cases are fragile and are not widely recycled. They can be damaged and end up in landfills when the owner no longer wants them. Although the packaging for CDs is less environmentally-friendly, records are heavier than CDs, which means that the transport of records leaves a bigger carbon footprint behind than that of CDs. Ultimately, it is up to each individual consumer to decide which format best suits their needs. Which format do you have the equipment to play, and which do you see yourself listening to more often? These are important questions to consider in order to prevent your purchase from being a waste. To avoid further damaging the environment, there are some steps you can take. Instead of buying new records and CDs, look into purchasing ones that are pre-owned but still in working condition. These can be found in places such as secondhand shops and online marketplaces. This is especially true for records, where an older, vintage version of the record may contain less environmentally-damaging materials than a newer version. It is important to keep in mind that vinyl records produce hazardous byproducts if burned or disposed of improperly. See if you can pass your old records on to someone who may want them, such as friends, family members, or a charity shop. As for CDs, there are some companies, such as The CD Recycling Center of America, that can help you with recycling your old CDs. There is also the option of selling your old records and CDs online to people who may be interested in purchasing them and adding them to their own collections. In summary, both vinyl records and CDs can have environmental drawbacks. However, by being a responsible consumer of music and recycling or correctly disposing of records and CDs you no longer need, you can help minimize your carbon footprint. References The Evolution of Records: From Shellac to Vinyl. (2021, March 9). Gray’s Auctioneers. https://www.graysauctioneers.com/blog-posts/2019/1/31/evolution-records-shellac-vinyl George, S., & McKay, D. (2019, February 18). How Streaming Music Could Be Harming the Planet. BBC. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190207-why-streaming-music-may-be-bad-for-climate-change Owsinski, B. (2019, February 19). The Environmental Impact of Various Music Formats Will Surprise You. Bobby Owsinski’s Music Production Blog. https://bobbyowsinskiblog.com/music-environmental-impact/ Parmenter, J. (2021, January 29). How Long Do Vinyl Records Last? Vinyl Chapters. https://www.vinylchapters.com/how-long-do-vinyl-records-last/ Vinyl Chloride – Cancer-Causing Substances. (2018, December 28). National Cancer Institute. https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/substances/vinyl-chloride Join our newsletter for more articles by Barbara Joens, and other Guest Writers!

Joining only a few years ago in 2017, Mako Ray has gained over 2.8 million views from followers following his artistic career. Now he isn’t just a musician and cover artist but also an artist and designer. His YouTube channel consists of art, design, game development content, and of course music. Music, for Mako Ray, is a means to an end, and the end is to listen to something you enjoy and “occasionally that end is supposed to have a specific stronger impact, attempting to elicit certain feelings from people such as happiness, sadness, fear, whatever the situation calls for, and I hope to be able to achieve that in my songs.” Inspired by specifically video game soundtracks, and artists like Toby Fox, Mayo Ray aims to bring more out of the music than just sounds. Currently, he admits to being in the “Following stage,” and creating an audience through social media with the end goal of making a living as a full-time artist. Below is an interview between Mako Ray and Switching Styles’s Dylanna Fisher. How did you start in music? I had a lot of free time as a teenager and ended up taking guitar lessons. Though I forget if it was my or my mother’s idea to do so. Either way I ended up enjoying it, and we eventually got an upright piano that I was very excited to teach myself to play. There were a lot of songs I wanted to learn that people hadn’t made sheet music to, for example, from certain video games. I had to also teach myself how to hear out notes and transcribe music. I ended up doing a lot of amateur piano covers and uploading them to YouTube. What impact does music have? For me personally, it’s mostly just some fun stuff to listen to. I’m not usually all that into treating songs as these hugely important sources of emotional impact. Though, I know many other people feel that way and I understand why. I’m very much an applied arts sort of person, so I typically view music as a means to an end, and that end for me is usually just something neat to listen to. How would you describe your sound to someone who’s never been on the internet? I suppose it’s sort of like…chill beats that are often bass-centric, with some occasional chiptune influence? I think it’s kind of hard as a budding artist to describe my own style, it just seems normal to me since it’s what I’m used to, like a visual art style or a spoken accent. Who are the musicians that inspire your sound? Toby Fox. Number one without a doubt. I’ve been a fan of his since he composed music for Homestuck which also featured several other artists I’d describe as influential to me. He really outdid himself with the Undertale OST. I’ll be very proud of myself if I can become half as skilled a composer as him one day. As for other influences, I think there are four types of music that come to mind. 1: Video game OSTs in general, particularly older games. Back before video game audio technology evolved to be able to create any sound the composers wanted, the sounds they worked with were much simpler, and they had to rely on stringing them together in interesting and memorable ways with lots of catchy melodies in order for them to sound like, well, anything other than some weird noises. I’ve always found that style of song making much more interesting than other soundtrack methods such as orchestral walls of sound that do their job but aren’t really memorable or compelling to go back and listen to again. 2: Songs that aren’t afraid to put their bass line front and center. Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers immediately comes to mind, the bass in their music tends to act as both the basis of the song and a counter melody which adds a nice level of complexity that I enjoy for similar reasons as #1. 3: Atmospheric songs that take you to another world while you’re listening to them. I’m talking anyone from Akira Yamaoka (the Silent Hill composer) to Macintosh Plus (the vaporwave composer). If it makes me feel like I’m trapped in a half-lucid dream that I can’t tell is a nightmare or not, I’m down with it. Most of my music doesn’t fall into that category, but I still find it very important to be able to capture that atmosphere when needed. And #4: Honestly, just those lofi hip hop chill beats to relax/study to songs. You know, the ones that often take no effort to compose other than taking some plundered piano loop and putting some drum samples over it? They just sound nice. I try to go for a similar feel with a lot of my songs but with extra complexity and memorability. What appeal do you think covers have compared to the original songs to a general audience? I think people just like seeing different versions of their favorite songs. They love it so much that they want more of it, and covers are a way to give them more. There’s also the novelty aspect of some of the more goofy covers like my Animal Crossing Africa one. Do you think covers will continue to be popular? Oh, of course! As long as people continue to find certain songs special they will continue to cover them and others will flock to listen. How is making covers different from making originals? Well you don’t have to go through the entire composition process for a cover, you just learn the notes that are already there for you and figure out how to play them properly. I suppose some mild composition is occasionally required if, for example, it’s a song that wasn’t designed to be played on your chosen instrument, at which point you have to make a custom arrangement that may differ from the original a bit but enables you to actually play it while still capturing its essence. Why do you perform covers of songs? There are certain songs I love so much that I want to embed myself in them, physically feel them, do everything I can to pay homage to them and just enjoy their composition first-hand. Learning how to play and sing them is the best way to do that. What’s your favorite cover? Why? My favorite cover I’ve done is a video on my channel called “Barrens, Glen, Refuge”, which is a cover of the three main area themes from a game called Oneshot. I used both a piano keyboard and its drum pad simultaneously and I’m just really proud of myself for managing to perform it in such a manner, especially the third song which was a challenge for me. I could have easily just played a drum loop while using both hands for the piano to make my life easier, but it wouldn’t have felt the same, it wouldn’t have felt like I was really experiencing the entire song. What’s the process of creating these covers? First I learn all the notes; usually someone will have already made a midi or sheet music for the song, but if not I’ll listen to it myself and discern all the notes by ear. Sometimes I’ll even do that if sheet music is available but a midi isn’t, since I’m so slow at sight-reading that it’s often faster to just hear it out. Then I write an arrangement of them in FL Studio designed for whatever instrument I’m playing; if it’s for piano, I fiddle around with the notes to make sure they’re actually physically playable with two hands. Then it’s just the process of practicing that arrangement until I’m able to play it decently enough. Of course, you’re probably curious about my Animal Crossing cover, for which I obviously skipped those last two steps. Instead, I recorded a video of each character playing various random notes on the in-game instruments, brought those clips into Sony Vegas, then placed and pitch-shifted them throughout the timeline to match the notes of Africa. I then did that key frame transparency cutout thingy, I forget what it’s called, to position each character into the same frame despite being from different recordings. You can notice some visual discrepancies and incorrect perspective between each character. And voila. Very tedious, but it was well worth it for the reception the video got. What are some of your fondest memories while making music? I did a piano and guitar cover of a song called “Alphamatic Replacement” that someone made for a music contest. It didn’t win but I liked it enough to cover it, and the composer saw my cover and was really impressed I was able to match its speed on the piano, so that felt nice. Other than that, just being able to play songs I loved on the piano, composing original music that actually sounded good to me, that sort of stuff was and still is really rewarding. What are some obstacles throughout your music career? And how did you overcome them? When it comes to covering songs, I’ve attempted several dozen covers over the years that never panned out because I was never able to actually master them. I don’t regret partially learning and never finishing them, though, because it was still fun, and the little practice they offered me still helped me improve my playing skills. These days I don’t really worry about fully learning every song I love. I just learn little simplified tidbits. When a song comes around that I’m positive I want to cover, I just sort of drop everything and hard-focus in on practicing it until I’ve mastered it, before it slips from the fleeting grasp of my attention span. As for composing? Having the sense of “I know what I’m doing” is an incredibly difficult thing to attain in digital audio workstations like FL Studio. There’s so much garbage everywhere on your screen that you have no idea the function of, you don’t know how to do anything other than make a short 2-second song loop that never gets extended. It’s totally overwhelming. It really just comes down to spending the time to familiarize yourself with everything; it WILL happen eventually, it’s inevitable, you just have to deal with the confusion until you get there. What are your future plans? My ultimate goal is to become a game developer. I’ve spent a lot of time since I was a teenager learning various skill sets such as art, music and writing. Now it’s just a matter of applying them to something, letting them all come together to finally create something big and proper. In addition to that, I’m also currently trying to cultivate an audience for myself, on YouTube, twitch and twitter. I’d like to be able to make a living off this stuff as well as just be an internet personality weirdo in general. I’m working on a 3D model right now and considering becoming a vtuber. I do a lot of weird dumb nonsense and I’m currently collecting a fan base who is into that weird dumb nonsense. How does game development compare to creating music? It’s a MUCH more involved process that usually requires the creation of music but also visual art, coding, writing…in both cases, though, you’re creating a work of art for the purpose of a consumer to get something out of, whether that be a fun little time or a big emotional journey. Also, composing music for games is often different from composing music for general listening, as you’re usually creating something meant to serve as the backdrop to the rest of the game, rather than be the center of attention. Most songs in video game OSTs lack lyrics, for example, because they don’t want to distract too much from everything else going on. Unless you’re Persona 5, in which case you don’t care about that at all and will instead manage to get away with throwing lyric-containing jamming bops all over the place while creating one of the best video game soundtracks ever made. Though that game still contains many songs without vocals, during times where it’d be too distracting for those particular moments. You have got to know how much you can get away with and when to dial it back, I suppose. What advice would you give to new and young musicians? Just do something, don’t just sit there listening to the same short loop over and over trying to figure out how to continue it. Throw a bunch of random notes all over the place and see what you can do with them. You’d be amazed by how much easier it is to work with some weird hastily-composed garbage than a totally blank slate. Don’t worry about those giant crazy synthesizers with the airplane control panels, just use their instrument presets to have a sound to start with. Maybe mess around with a knob here and there to experiment and eventually learn what some of them do. The most important thing is to just get something there regardless of its quality. The quality will improve in time, but you can’t improve something that doesn’t exist.

Thaddie parodies, AKA Thadudette is a parody musician creating Disney, cartoon, anime, and gaming parodies to “make people emit hahas out of their chew holes”. Her take on the genre is quite different than other parody artists. She’s known best for her literal parodies where the lyrics are literally narrating exactly what is happening on the screen. Here is an interview between Switching Styles and Thadudette How did you start in music? I grew up in a musical family, so I’ve been surrounded by it my whole life! I took piano lessons as a child – which I’ve completely forgotten now, of course – voice lessons in elementary school, and started playing drums in fifth grade. Since middle school, church worship teams have also been a big part of my life, so I’ve been singing and playing bass pretty much ever since then. What is the story behind the name Thadudette and Thaddie Parodies? Honestly, “Thadudette” is the name of my first Maple Story character because my brother’s character was “ThaDude.” I’m not very creative with names, so it’s kind of just stuck as my go-to username since then. :P “Thaddie” is just a cute, easy nickname that my friends came up with. How would you describe your sound? Considering I don’t make my own music, it’s a little hard to say. I suppose if I think of this question in terms of my voice, I would think of it as a clear, belty voice that packs a lot of punch when I hit notes right… but easily sounds pretty strain-y if I don’t! Who are the musicians that inspire your sound? AmaLee/LeeandLie for sure—I think singing along with her music so much helped my voice get a little closer to hers; though not nearly as gorgeous, of course! A lot of amazing singers I’ve played with at church have also been a big influence on my voice. What appeal do you think covers have compared to the original songs to a general audience? I love doing covers over original music because I love connecting with people over a common interest. With original music, you kind of put yourself out there and say “hey, this is MY product, do you like it?” whereas with a cover you say “hey, you like Moana? I like Moana! But here’s my little spin on the song, what do you think?” Why do you perform hilarious parodies? As mentioned in the question about covers, parodies give me an established common interest with an audience, and they give me the chance to make people laugh, which I absolutely love! Which one stands out as a favourite? This is tough, but if I had to pick just one, I think I’d have to go with the literal parody for the opening of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate! How come? A lot of reasons: for one, it was my first video game parody that did really well. While I love doing Disney parodies, I actually didn’t grow up with Disney—gaming is where my real childhood is. So, I felt a lot more like I was clicking with “my people” with this parody. The song itself was challenging, but vocally and lyrically I’m pretty proud of it! The success of this literal also led me to create a Discord server that helped me meet and talk to a lot of great friends—including the man who’s now my fiancé! How do you choose the songs to parody? When I was doing this more as a career, it was a mixture of trying to guess which songs would be most popular, which ones were most requested, and which ones hadn’t been done yet. I like to respect the literals that are already out there if I can, so if a popular song is already parodied and I get requested to do it a lot, I make it a patron-only literal. Now that I’m not pursuing YouTube as a career, I just do the ones I want to do when I feel like it. What’s the process of creating these parodies? It starts with the writing, which mostly involves me going through the video line-by-line and drafting what comes to mind first, then combing back over it to make it fit better with syllable count and rhyme scheme. And it ensures that the song is stuck in my head for the rest of the day! After that, I usually record vocals from there, mix it with an instrumental, then slap it on the video and throw some subtitles on and it’s done. The writing and singing are where most of the effort goes; the editing is pretty low maintenance compared to a lot of YouTubers! You’ve collaborated with a few different artists for your parodies, what are your thoughts on collaboration? Collaboration is one of my favourite parts of YouTubing, for sure! It’s just incredible that the Internet allows us to remotely create art together and form friendships through that. What is one of your funniest stories about collaborating? I don’t really have much on this one, unfortunately. The only somewhat related incident that comes to mind is that I was watching Kyle, my fiancé, scroll through his YouTube feed and the You’re Welcome literal showed up. In his goofy, sweet way and completely forgetting that Aaron Camacho was the singer for that one, he said, “Hey, I bet the person who sang that video is really beautiful, sweet, clever, and kind!” I said, “I can’t really say, I’ve only met Aaron in person once!” I’m happy to report that Aaron is indeed very talented, sweet, clever, and kind though—it’s up to him if he would prefer to be described as beautiful or not, though. Do you have a favourite collaboration that you’ve done? Gosh, that’s really hard… I’m a huge fan of everyone I’ve collaborated with! But if I had to pick one, I think I’d have to go with A Place Like Slaughter Race from Wreck-It Ralph 2. When I was in high school, I had Lizzie Freeman’s “This Day Aria” literal memorized front and back, and it’s insane thinking that one day we would actually collaborate together! Jeffry Saenz also sang the male voices in that collab and working with him is always a huge joy. They’re both so freaking talented and the song is from the sequel to my favourite movie of all time! Are there more collaborations in the future? Yes—once I’ve started writing and producing again, I’m still going to need male voices to help me out! I still owe everyone a Lost in the Woods literal! What are your opinions of the industry in the music industry? Frankly, it’s hard. I stopped pursuing YouTube as a career because working on all the things that weren’t fun were making me burn out on the parts I really loved: parody writing and singing. I’m really glad that YouTubing as a career is possible now, but to anyone out there who’s hoping to pursue it, do count the cost: are you willing and able to work four times as hard to make pennies for a long time? Do you have the initiative and independence to basically run your own business? It works great for some people, but I like stability and routine, and I just wasn’t getting that on YouTube, and it was really running down my mental health. I’ll never regret trying to be a career YouTuber, but I also haven’t regretted switching back ever since. How do online platforms like YouTube or YouTube impact the music industry? YouTube is basically our boss, and frankly, it’s not a very reasonable or nice boss. It’s like having a boss who doesn’t care about you, but always fawns over their favourite employees; the corporate creators and the ones who make them the most money, of course. How do those platforms impact Thaddie Parodies? I was never able to monetize my channel because of copyright, and I never received an official play button. My Discord server was sweet enough to shower me with play button emotes, though! Before I write a parody, I usually have to screen the original to make sure YouTube won’t block it entirely, because it’s happened where I put in the time and effort to write a parody and end up not being able to upload it to YouTube because of copyright blocking. My Facebook pages were also nuked because of copyright, with no advance notice. Thank you very much. What are your thoughts on copyright? I’ll try to be professional in my answer to this! Copyright does need to exist, because at the core, yeah, stealing others’ creations is not cool. So yes, a system needs to be in place. What’s really frustrating is that YouTube’s copyright system is set up to corner small content creators and still let people actually stealing content slip by. For creators like me who thrive off of connecting with others on pre-existing creations, it’s really frustrating and often depressing to have to work around a broken copyright system at pretty much every turn. It’s not the main reason I stopped pursuing YouTube as a career, but it is a factor. You’re also on Patreon, how does that impact your career? Patreon is a good platform; it was my primary source of YouTube income while I was career YouTubing and while it wasn’t making a lot, it was amazing to be able to connect and chat directly with the people who were incredible enough to want to support me with their wallets. What are some of your fondest memories throughout your music career? There are a lot, but one of the things that makes me happiest is looking back at my channel and genuinely feeling proud of what I’ve created. My parodies certainly aren’t perfect in a lot of ways, but I’m still really happy with them, and glad that they brought a little bit of joy to so many people. What are some obstacles throughout your music career? I’ve already talked about copyright; the business aspect was another hard one for me that ultimately, I couldn’t manage on top of creating content. I also find running social media very tiring, and I knew I could’ve upped my social media game a lot, but it didn’t come naturally to me at all. What advice would you give to young musicians just starting out? Two things that sound contradictory: One. This is for people wanting to do YouTube or music as a full-time career. Count the cost and consider what you want in a career. If your only reason is to become famous, “you’re going to have a bad time, kid.” most people discover that they hate fame when they become famous. It’s definitely supremely overrated. You need a ton of initiative and drive to succeed in the long run, and you need to be willing to spend a lot of time doing things that aren’t the part you love – creating art. That works great for some people, but I found that that wasn’t for me. Are your core mission and drive going to be enough to keep you going when it’s hard? Two. This is for anyone, whether hopeful career YouTubers or hobbyists. Just start somewhere! Don’t wait to have all the best gear or to be perfectly prepared: just start uploading! Everyone starts out creating sucky content, so just get it over with and you’ll improve faster than if you tried to wait until you had all your ducks in a row. I look back at my old videos and see a lot of things that I could do a lot better now—but if I hadn’t started with those videos, I wouldn’t be where I am now, so I don’t look at them with any regrets. What are your future plans? I don’t have a lot of plans for YouTube right now—once I feel a little more settled in life, I’d like to be able to go back to parody writing, for sure. My husband-to-be and I are also hoping to do some Twitch streaming after we’re married—not totally related, but it would be fun! Do you have any up and coming parodies? I have a really fun Mad Libs parody of The Other Side from The Greatest Showman that’s still been sitting on the shelf. It’s a collab with Shirleydocious, so that’s fun! And I still want to do a Lost in the Woods parody sometime. Besides that, there isn’t a lot in the works since I’ve been focusing on other life things—but I will be back eventually!

Joining only a few years ago in 2017, Mako Ray has gained over 2.8 million views from followers following his artistic career. Now he isn’t just a musician and cover artist but also an artist, and designer. His YouTube channel consists of art, design, game development content, and of course music. Music, for Mako Ray, is a means to an end, and the end is to listen to something you enjoy and “occasionally that end is supposed to have a specific stronger impact, attempting to elicit certain feelings from people such as happiness, sadness, fear, whatever the situation calls for, and I hope to be able to achieve that in my songs.” Music, for Mako Ray, is a means to an end. That end is to listen to something you enjoy. “Occasionally that end is supposed to have a specific stronger impact, attempting to elicit certain feelings from people. Such as happiness, sadness, fear, whatever the situation calls for. And I hope to be able to achieve that in my songs.” Video game soundtracks specifically inspire Mayo Ray. Artists like Toby Fox also influence him. Mayo Ray aims to bring more out of the music than just sounds. Currently, he admits to being in the “Following stage”. And creating an audience through social media with the end goal of making a living as a full-time artist. Below is an interview between Mako Ray and Switching Styles’ Dylanna Fisher. How did you start in music? I had a lot of free time as a teenager and ended up taking guitar lessons. Though I forget if it was my or my mother’s idea to do so. Either way I ended up enjoying it, and we eventually got an upright piano that I was very excited to teach myself to play. There were a lot of songs I wanted to learn that people hadn’t made sheet music to, for example, from certain video games. I had to also teach myself how to hear out notes and transcribe music. I ended up doing a lot of amateur piano covers and uploading them to YouTube. What impact does music have? For me personally, it’s mostly just some fun stuff to listen to. I’m not usually all that into treating songs as these hugely important sources of emotional impact. Though, I know many other people feel that way and I understand why. I’m very much an applied arts sort of person, so I typically view music as a means to an end, and that end for me is usually just something neat to listen to. How would you describe your sound to someone who’s never been on the internet? I suppose it’s sort of like…chill beats that are often bass-centric, with some occasional chiptune influence? I think it’s kind of hard as a budding artist to describe my own style, it just seems normal to me since it’s what I’m used to, like a visual art style or a spoken accent. Who are the musicians that inspire your sound? Toby Fox. Number one without a doubt. I’ve been a fan of his since he composed music for Homestuck which also featured several other artists I’d describe as influential to me. He really outdid himself with the Undertale OST. I’ll be very proud of myself if I can become half as skilled a composer as him one day. As for other influences, I think there are four types of music that come to mind. 1: Video game OSTs in general, particularly older games. Back before video game audio technology evolved to be able to create any sound the composers wanted, the sounds they worked with were much simpler, and they had to rely on stringing them together in interesting and memorable ways with lots of catchy melodies in order for them to sound like, well, anything other than some weird noises. I’ve always found that style of song making much more interesting than other soundtrack methods such as orchestral walls of sound that do their job but aren’t really memorable or compelling to go back and listen to again. 2: Songs that aren’t afraid to put their bass line front and center. Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers immediately comes to mind, the bass in their music tends to act as both the basis of the song and a counter melody which adds a nice level of complexity that I enjoy for similar reasons as #1. 3: Atmospheric songs that take you to another world while you’re listening to them. I’m talking anyone from Akira Yamaoka (the Silent Hill composer) to Macintosh Plus (the vaporwave composer). If it makes me feel like I’m trapped in a half-lucid dream that I can’t tell is a nightmare or not, I’m down with it. Most of my music doesn’t fall into that category, but I still find it very important to be able to capture that atmosphere when needed. And #4: Honestly, just those lofi hip hop chill beats to relax/study to songs. You know, the ones that often take no effort to compose other than taking some plundered piano loop and putting some drum samples over it? They just sound nice. I try to go for a similar feel with a lot of my songs but with extra complexity and memorability. What appeal do you think covers have compared to the original songs to a general audience? I think people just like seeing different versions of their favorite songs. They love it so much that they want more of it, and covers are a way to give them more. There’s also the novelty aspect of some of the more goofy covers like my Animal Crossing Africa one. Do you think covers will continue to be popular? Oh, of course! As long as people continue to find certain songs special they will continue to cover them and others will flock to listen. How is making covers different from making originals? Well you don’t have to go through the entire composition process for a cover, you just learn the notes that are already there for you and figure out how to play them properly. I suppose some mild composition is occasionally required if, for example, it’s a song that wasn’t designed to be played on your chosen instrument, at which point you have to make a custom arrangement that may differ from the original a bit but enables you to actually play it while still capturing its essence. Why do you perform covers of songs? There are certain songs I love so much that I want to embed myself in them, physically feel them, do everything I can to pay homage to them and just enjoy their composition first-hand. Learning how to play and sing them is the best way to do that. What’s your favorite cover? Why? My favorite cover I’ve done is a video on my channel called “Barrens, Glen, Refuge”, which is a cover of the three main area themes from a game called Oneshot. I used both a piano keyboard and its drum pad simultaneously and I’m just really proud of myself for managing to perform it in such a manner, especially the third song which was a challenge for me. I could have easily just played a drum loop while using both hands for the piano to make my life easier, but it wouldn’t have felt the same, it wouldn’t have felt like I was really experiencing the entire song. What’s the process of creating these covers? First I learn all the notes; usually someone will have already made a midi or sheet music for the song, but if not I’ll listen to it myself and discern all the notes by ear. Sometimes I’ll even do that if sheet music is available but a midi isn’t, since I’m so slow at sight-reading that it’s often faster to just hear it out. Then I write an arrangement of them in FL Studio designed for whatever instrument I’m playing; if it’s for piano, I fiddle around with the notes to make sure they’re actually physically playable with two hands. Then it’s just the process of practicing that arrangement until I’m able to play it decently enough. Of course, you’re probably curious about my Animal Crossing cover, for which I obviously skipped those last two steps. Instead, I recorded a video of each character playing various random notes on the in-game instruments, brought those clips into Sony Vegas, then placed and pitch-shifted them throughout the timeline to match the notes of Africa. I then did that key frame transparency cutout thingy, I forget what it’s called, to position each character into the same frame despite being from different recordings. You can notice some visual discrepancies and incorrect perspective between each character. And voila. Very tedious, but it was well worth it for the reception the video got. What are some of your fondest memories while making music? I did a piano and guitar cover of a song called “Alphamatic Replacement” that someone made for a music contest. It didn’t win but I liked it enough to cover it, and the composer saw my cover and was really impressed I was able to match its speed on the piano, so that felt nice. Other than that, just being able to play songs I loved on the piano, composing original music that actually sounded good to me, that sort of stuff was and still is really rewarding. What are some obstacles throughout your music career? And how did you overcome them? When it comes to covering songs, I’ve attempted several dozen covers over the years that never panned out because I was never able to actually master them. I don’t regret partially learning and never finishing them, though, because it was still fun, and the little practice they offered me still helped me improve my playing skills. These days I don’t really worry about fully learning every song I love. I just learn little simplified tidbits. When a song comes around that I’m positive I want to cover, I just sort of drop everything and hard-focus in on practicing it until I’ve mastered it, before it slips from the fleeting grasp of my attention span. As for composing? Having the sense of “I know what I’m doing” is an incredibly difficult thing to attain in digital audio workstations like FL Studio. There’s so much garbage everywhere on your screen that you have no idea the function of, you don’t know how to do anything other than make a short 2-second song loop that never gets extended. It’s totally overwhelming. It really just comes down to spending the time to familiarize yourself with everything; it WILL happen eventually, it’s inevitable, you just have to deal with the confusion until you get there. What are your future plans? My ultimate goal is to become a game developer. I’ve spent a lot of time since I was a teenager learning various skill sets such as art, music and writing. Now it’s just a matter of applying them to something, letting them all come together to finally create something big and proper. In addition to that, I’m also currently trying to cultivate an audience for myself, on YouTube, twitch and Twitter. I’d like to be able to make a living off this stuff as well as just be an internet personality weirdo in general. I’m working on a 3D model right now and considering becoming a vtuber. I do a lot of weird nonsense and I’m currently collecting a fan base who is into that weird nonsense. How does game development compare to creating music? It’s a MUCH more involved process that usually requires the creation of music but also visual art, coding, writing…in both cases, though, you’re creating a work of art for the purpose of a consumer to get something out of, whether that be a fun little time or a big emotional journey. Also, composing music for games is often different from composing music for general listening, as you’re usually creating something meant to serve as the backdrop to the rest of the game, rather than be the center of attention. Most songs in video game OSTs lack lyrics, for example, because they don’t want to distract too much from everything else going on. Unless you’re Persona 5, in which case you don’t care about that at all and will instead manage to get away with throwing lyric-containing jamming bops all over the place while creating one of the best video game soundtracks ever made. Though that game still contains many songs without vocals, during times where it’d be too distracting for those particular moments. You have got to know how much you can get away with and when to dial it back, I suppose. What advice would you give to new and young musicians? Just do something, don’t just sit there listening to the same short loop over and over trying to figure out how to continue it. Throw a bunch of random notes all over the place and see what you can do with them. You’d be amazed by how much easier it is to work with some weird hastily-composed garbage than a totally blank slate. Don’t worry about those giant synthesizers with the airplane control panels. Just use their instrument presets to have a sound to start with. Maybe mess around with a knob here and there to experiment and eventually learn what some of them do. The most important thing is to just get something there regardless of its quality. The quality will improve in time, but you can’t improve something that doesn’t exist. Final Thoughts In conclusion, Mako Ray’s journey from a budding artist in 2017 to a multi-talented content creator with over 2.8 million views on his YouTube channel is a testament to the power of passion and perseverance. What makes his work so unique is his versatility in music, art, design, and game development. Additionally, he creates a genuine emotional connection with his audience. For Mako, music is more than just notes and rhythms; it’s a profound way to evoke emotions and tell stories. Mako draws inspiration from captivating video game soundtracks and iconic creators like Toby Fox. He channels his creativity into both original compositions and covers. These works pay homage to the songs that have shaped his artistic journey. As you reflect on Mako’s story, it’s clear that the key to success lies in taking that first step, staying committed to your craft, and constantly seeking new ways to express your creativity. Whether you’re an artist, musician, or dreamer, Mako’s journey serves as an inspiration for all of us to push past our fears and begin building the future we envision. Thank you for taking the time to explore his story with us—remember, every journey starts with a single note, a single idea, and the courage to begin. Keep creating, and who knows where your own passion will take you next!

Relive the joy of the game even when you’re not playing by listening to Animal Crossing Theme Song Cover Songs. Animal Crossing New Horizons was one of the happy moments of the Pandemic. It brought people together and brought them joy in one of the bleakest circumstances. “Make friends with adorable animal villagers and have fun creating a world of your own in the Animal Crossing series.” ~Introduction on Animal Crossing Official This Nintendo game quickly became the first console game to hit five million digital sales within a single month. The high sales are often attributed to the social distancing orders during the COVID-19 pandemic. Fun Fact:K.K. Slider, the canine travelling musician, is based on series composer Kazumi Totaka, and plays on certain nights in the town’s club. The music of Animal Crossing New Horizon is created by a combined effort of Yasuaki Iwata, Yumi Takahashi, Shinobu Nagata, Sayako Doi and Masato Ohashi. Check out the whole Animal Crossing New Horizons right here on Spotify. Fun Fact:K.K. Slider provides players with a free copy of his songs, claiming that his music, “wants to be free”. Some fans say that this is canon support for music piracy on the part of Nintendo. Though Nintendo denies it saying it was meant as social commentary. Animal Crossing Theme Song Cover Songs An increasing number of fans have uploaded inventive covers of the game’s theme songs, reimagining them in a variety of musical genres and styles. This vibrant engagement with the franchise underscores the strong sense of community that Animal Crossing has cultivated, where players not only enjoy the game but also showcase their creativity and appreciation for its world. Whether through art, music, or fan theories, the game’s influence continues to resonate long after the player logs off. In the end, Animal Crossing has proven to be much more than just a game—it is a global phenomenon that nurtures joy, creativity, and connection, establishing it as an enduring treasure in the world of gaming. On that note, here are some covers of the theme song for New Horizons. “New Horizons Theme” SKA-Jazz Cover by Ska Tune Network “Welcome Horizons” cover by FluteCookies “New Horizons Theme” by gabocarina96. And yes, that is an ocarina. “New Horizons Theme” Cover by Longestsoloever feat. Brian Antonio “New Horizons Theme” Cover by FamilyJules Comment below which Animal Crossing Theme Song Cover Songs is your favourite!! Animal Crossing has undoubtedly carved a special place in the hearts of millions, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, providing a much-needed escape from the isolation of lockdowns. The game’s unique blend of life-simulation mechanics, paired with its calming aesthetic, allowed players to immerse themselves in a world where they could connect with charming animal villagers and design their ideal homes and towns. As the pandemic unfolded, Animal Crossing’s soothing gameplay and focus on community-building offered a sense of normalcy and social connection, filling a void that many people experienced in real life. As a result, the game quickly garnered immense popularity, setting new records for digital sales upon its release and cementing its status as one of the most beloved franchises in modern gaming history.