If you haven't heard of A.D. Wells yet, you definitely will very soon. The unsigned artist from Brooklyn, NY, recently released his debut album a little less than a month ago, titled The West Hollywood Broken Hearts Club. As the name of the piece of work says, it speaks all about loss, love, and failure, in a catchy way, making it feel like you're not going through that alone. The indie/lounge rock/singer-songwriter is slowly taking over hearts of music lovers, unlike the name of his collection of eight songs.
I got the chance to chat with the musician, read it here:
1- You recently released your debut album, titled The West Hollywood Broken Hearts Club, which touches on rather hard topics, how do you think optimism shines through all of it in the songs?
---> First, I am really proud of how The West Hollywood Broken Hearts Club turned out! I set out with a goal in mind for what I wanted this record to say, the story I wanted it to tell and it seems for the most part that people have been pretty receptive with it-which is a wonderful feeling. I’m glad you picked up on the optimistic tone! There are some dark elements that these songs carry which although dark, make the songs very real in a sense-that realness is what I believe resonates and hopefully why people connect with the record. Although it’s a real and maybe considerable to be a record that touches on subjects of yearning loss, sweet desire and crippling failure, I think optimism shines through because even though there’s darkness, the story keeps going. In a lot of ways I took a somewhat character approach for this record, some of that being because these songs are personal to me and what I’ve experienced in my life, but it’s kinda like “all these experiences happened but I’m still here to sing about it.” Even the last song on the record Silver Screen, that song paints this dark picture of a girl who has dreamed up what Hollywood is but ends up homeless on Hollywood Boulevard-not the happiest of songs. In the early demos of that song I had it end with this nice wrap up chord that ties it all together, instead though I let the last note ring out three times: it’s not the end of the story, she’s not giving in.
2- What was the writing process like?
---> The writing process for this record was enjoyable, hard-working but overall it excitedly came somewhat easily for me. I am also in a band called SOPHOMORE, some of these songs were started during the sessions for our first album and it was in early February (after we had finished our album) did I come to the conclusion that if I don’t put these songs out there, they are never going to get out. Since I write a lot in my spare time I knew I couldn’t hold them until the next SOPHOMORE record so I decided to see if I could get a whole albums worth of songs. Once I had a song or two started I began to think about what I wanted this record to look like when it was fully realized, once I combined my own experiences with this idea of a place (The Broken Hearts Club) in a mysterious and fascinating place (West Hollywood) I was able to put myself into a space mentally that allowed concepts and songs to come pretty quickly, which I am thankful for because this record was almost entirely written in my dorm room at college haha. Another huge inspirational concept was this idea of people going to Hollywood with hopes to make it to stardom and not quite reaching what they dreamed up. It’s a heavy concept and I think a metaphor for some other things too. People always seem to be running from things or chasing down a place they may never get to, that was a starting concept for this record. Once I combined this idea with my own personal experiences and what I observe around me at the age of 21 I was able to figure out what story I wanted to tell-I hope the people listening can find it too, it’s all there for them.
3- Did you already have ideas for the album before you started brainstorming?
---> Not necessarily, but I think sometimes once you start writing a record’s concept sometimes appears as you work, which is a good thing. I addressed some that process above one thing I did challenge myself with was the majority instrument I would use for this record, which was a travel size Casio keyboard. It had a drum machine, it had some keys and some synths and most of the songs started on that keyboard which was what I wanted to see if I could accomplish. Songs like Sunset Boulevard, Redondo and 02’ were all started with that keyboard! Crush was started by the drum machine. In a lot of ways I think I pulled off the challenge haha.
4- You're also an unsigned artist, what are your favourite things about being unsigned?
---> Being unsigned is nice because I have complete artistic and directional freedom which has been cool. As I have already begun to think about and initially begin work on my second LP it’s also nice to not have a deadline, even though I have kinda already given myself one haha. Releasing this record on my own has just been really fun and a dream come true in so many ways, as people listen to it and give positive feedback it feels great but I’m also very motivated to keep getting heard and keep writing-being unsigned creates that desire to keep growing and growing. It seems that in today’s underground music culture there seems to be so many unsigned musicians doing really great things, it’s inspiring and also very motivating to consider myself one of them.
Stream The West Hollywood Broken Hearts Club, here.