The hotter than a ‘house on fire’ singer Ryan Cabrera took time after his fun, high energy set at The Gramercy Theater in NYC to interview with Lori Alamia of the TheCelebrityCafe.com.
The performance was part of his Radio Revival Tour and included a nice mix of music from his first hit in 2004 ‘On the Way Down’ through his most recent single in 2014 ‘House on Fire.’
It has been a long wait for new music from Cabrera, but it’s worth it. His new EP Wake Up Beautiful was just released in March with catchy songs about life and love.
What is his source of inspiration, dream collaboration, newest tattoo and favorite venue to perform in? Here is what Ryan had to say:
TheCelebrityCafe.com: Do you know when the full album is coming out?
Ryan Cabrera: I don’t, but it’s done. I could tell you that. It’s done, mix-mastered. So it’s depends how long it takes to promote Wake Up Beautiful.
CC: So, what was the inspiration for this album?
RC: Inspiration would be all over the place. I mean it’s kind of a record about loving life and enjoying it. All the songs are all sing along kind of songs. Catchy, upbeat, pop tunes for the most part that is really what it’s about. It’s a good time!
CC: How do you feel you have grown as an artist since your other albums? Do you feel like it has changed as your life has changed?
RC: Yeah. I mean my hair has changed. I think that the more experience that you get the better writer you become. At least I think you become. The more that you do, go out and your meet people and observe, the more your music grows. We took a long time for this record just so we could push ourselves to be better than we were. A lot of that comes from myself and the producer Justin Gray really pushed saying, ‘You can do better, you can do better’ then we kept doing that with every song until we felt like okay now we are there.
CC: Awesome. So you have been touring all along in between albums?
RC: Yeah. Always. I’ve never really stopped.
CC: How does it feel to finally be doing new music?
RC: I’ve been touring a lot with acoustic with old material. This is the first tour we are playing a majority of new stuff.
CC: How many guitars do you go through? I noticed you swapping them out a lot.
RC: We have three. Every song is all over the place. Because we play a lot of the new stuff is in the same key but we intertwined second record, first record, we go back and forth just to kind of keep everybody. It’s fun to see people’s faces when you are playing a song they didn’t expect you to play.
CC: Do you have a dream collaboration?
RC: Dave Matthews. The Dave Matthews, man. Yeah, that’s always been the dream since the beginning.
CC: So, Dave was the one that got you into playing guitar?
RC: Oh yeah, that was the reason I picked up guitar.
CC: Did you teach yourself?
RC: Yeah, I did.
CC: I’ve heard about tattoo roulette (as a birthday tradition, Cabrera and his friend Alex Smith pick tattoos for each other, are blindfolded and don’t get to see the tattoos until they are complete- a result of this game is the Ryan Gosling tattoo on Cabrera’s ankle) . Are there any new ones? What’s your most recent?
RC: Most recent one I don’t talk about for a very good reason. I’m choosing my time when to unveil this creature that is now on my leg forever. Let’s say I lost.
CC: Was it a regret?
RC: Absolutely not. No, it’s amazing. I think it’s awesome. He won and I couldn’t be more proud of him. He finally beat me.
CC: What’s your favorite venue you have performed so far?
RC: Ever?
CC: Yes
RC: Madison Square Garden. It’s hard to beat that. Either there, or maybe Carnegie Hall because of the history of it. Those kind of places are really cool. Radio City Music Hall is really cool to me. Places with the history who sits on the stage. I can’t believe I’m sitting on the same stage as Frank Sinatra, The Beatles...that trips me out.