Exclusive Interview with 'ROY SHAKKED'

Singer-songwriter and composer Roy Shakked performs under a variety of aliases, including Jazzelicious, Holmes, The Bright Wild, The Tao of Groove, and Orb Roybison, to name a few (all of which can be found on Spotify!). Over 100 television shows, commercials, and movies have used Roy’s music, and he still creates eclectic music for a range of projects.
The lead single from Roy Shakked’s upcoming full-length album “Throwback,” released on August 2 via Groove Gravy Records, is the upbeat, out-there song “Play On.” Fans of Steely Dan, Beck, Spoon, or David Bowie should enjoy Roy’s experimental Indie Alt Pop album, which he has made with a group of top-notch musicians.

In his own analog studio, he wrote the songs for Throwback while channeling some hazy grooves and harmonies from the 1980s and 1970s and working with a ton of incredible musicians from all over the world. Check out the album and the exclusive interview below:

1. Can you tell us a bit about where you come from and how it all got started?

ROY SHAKKED: Hey guys, first off, thanks for the interview! I was born in Israel, but grew up in Boston. Starten playing piano in first grade and by the time I was in high school I played in various bands. At the age of 17 I started gigging in various clubs around town playing keyboards and singing backing vocals.

2. Did you have any formal training or are you self-taught?

ROY SHAKKED: I attended Berklee College of Music which laid a fantastic foundation for a lot of what I’m doing but the truth is I don’t actually use the theory and improv skills I acquired there in the real world. I got into song writing, recording, production and mixing after I finished school and mostly learned by trial and error.

3. Who were your first and strongest musical influences and why the name ‘ROY SHAKKED’?

ROY SHAKKED: Well, that’s my given name. I actually used to go by “Holmes” but a few albums in I just started using my own name. Influences? A lot. The first ones that come to mind are The Beatles, David Bowie, Steely Dan and Paul Simon. But I listen to a ton of jazz as well – Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Sonny Rollins and other greats, and growing up it was all about 80’s new wave. So really, who knows… An amalgam of all of the above I guess.

4. What do you feel are the key elements in your music that should resonate with listeners, and how would you personally describe your sound?

ROY SHAKKED: I’ll leave the job of describing my sound to others but I think that melody – phrasing & hooks – is key to everything I do. A close second would be a tie between the overall production sound (which goes back to my influences, which I shamelessly borrow from) and my lyrics, which, as of late, tend to be personal.

5. For most artists, originality is first preceded by a phase of learning and, often, emulating others. What was this like for you? How would you describe your own development as an artist and music maker, and the transition towards your own style, which is known as INDIE?
**ROY SHAKKED**:
I don’t know if I’ll ever feel totally original. There’s just so much that came before me and I always feel like I’m just grabbing what I can from the ether. But, there’s no doubt that with each release (I’m now 10 albums deep, released under various pen-names) I feel more comfortable, more free, more at ease with who I am as an artist.

6. What’s your view on the role and function of music as political, cultural, spiritual, and/or social vehicles – and do you try and affront any of these themes in your work, or are you purely interested in music as an expression of technical artistry, personal narrative and entertainment?

ROY SHAKKED:

Music can be all of the above. Or none. There’s no template. I’ve written songs that have some socio-political statements in them but they’re few and far between. I’m mostly into exploring feelings in my lyrics. Then again, sometimes my lyrics are about nothing but a good rhyme and hook. Whatever serves the song. Whatever pleases my mood at the time.

7. Do you feel that your music is giving you back just as much fulfilment as the amount of work you are putting into it, or are you expecting something more, or different in the future?

ROY SHAKKED:

It’s giving me much more. It’s the most consistently fulfilling thing I’ve done in my life and I feel supremely lucky to be able to make a living from it.

8. Could you describe your creative processes? How do usually start, and go about shaping ideas into a completed song? Do you usually start with a tune, a beat, or a narrative in your head? And do you collaborate with others in this process?

ROY SHAKKED:

I’ll usually have a melodic hook, or rhythmic idea, or sometimes just a sentence or subject matter that I’ll record into my phone voice memos app. I have many hundreds of them that I’ll scroll through every now and then and pull one up that speaks to me at the moment. I’ll then usually sit at the piano and try to see if I can develop it into something. Often I’ll add a groove and riff over it; sometimes I’ll scribble down ideas or a short story around the subject matter and see if any sentence jumps out at me. Usually the collaboration stage comes through in the recording when the song is already written, where players will add their own twist and personal sound to it.

9. What has been the most difficult thing you’ve had to endure in your life or music career so far?

ROY SHAKKED: The transition from self releasing music CDs to the online streaming world was a slow grind for me. I started a record label – Groove Gravy Records – in 2001, which I ran out of my Los Angeles house, and had tens of thousands of CDs in my garage. By 2008 store returns were coming fast and furious and by 2009 it was all but dead. I lost a lot of money and had to rethink everything I was doing. Luckily it all worked out,

10. On the contrary, what would you consider a successful, proud or significant point in your life or music career so far?

ROY SHAKKED: In life? Easy. The birth of my daughter in February of 2020. Nothing else comes close. I can’t zero in on any one moment in my music career but I’m definitely proud of my work and hope to be lucky enough to experience more highlights on the road ahead.