Songwriter - Brant Phillip
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Name: Brant Phillip
Website: http://www.BrantPhillip.com
Musical Genre:
Somehow, answering this question always reminds me of playing charades:
3 words -
first word sounds like:
James Taylor
Second word sounds like:
Jack Johnson
Third word, sounds like:
"Fill in the blank"
In the end I usually just say: acoustic folk pop.
Influences:
The easy answer is: everything I’ve ever heard - but that’s also a cop out. In terms of musicians/songwriters I consciously try to emulate, I would say Paul Simon, James Taylor, Jim Croce, John Denver, The Barenaked Ladies, Dave Matthews. I don’t mean emulate in the sense that I try to make my music sound like theirs. It has more to do with the way they created their own voice, style and presence as musicians and songwriters.
What is the first song you learned to play?
I don’t know for sure, but I think it was "Much Too Young" by Garth Brooks.
What is the first song you ever wrote?
This might depend on how we define "song". I don’t really remember the first "songs" I wrote, but I’m certain they were horrible and really shouldn’t be played….at least not in public! I do remember the first song I finished and thought "…this is a good song". Ironically, it was the first and only song I ever co-wrote. It was called "Cold As Ice" and was written by Brian Gunter and myself. I haven’t played it in a very long time, but it was recorded for posterity.
Do you still play it?
see above
Who is an unexpected influence - someone others might not expect that you liked?
I don’t think this is specifically a person or artist, rather a genre. I think people would be surprised to hear that I like rap, hip-hop and R&B (starting in the late 80’s and early 90’s). This was before I was playing guitar, so the influence is largely vocally and lyrically related. Rap in particular demonstrates some impressive command of the English language and results in very interesting rhyming schemes, syntax construction and general development of lyrical progression. They were also geniuses at creating great hooks. On the R&B side, I think the music influenced my vocal and melodic creation. Learning to sing in that style can add more versatility to your vocal pallet, which, in the end leads to more freedom when writing vocal parts for songs.