Mikey Wax

So You Think You Can Dance has always been one of my favorite shows because I love to watch dancing and the music is always perfect. I credit my discovery of so many bands, including OneRepublic, to the show; and most recently, I discovered Mikey Wax’s song ‘Counting On You.’ I instantly fell in love with Mikey’s voice and the rest of his music. Mikey and I chatted about the song placement, his album, and his plans for the year. Make sure to check out a clip of the song below!

Arin: Your song ‘Counting On You’ was placed on So You Think You Can Dance and you have had other music on other shows as well, so what has it been like getting the placement on these TV shows?
Mikey: Yeah, I mean it’s exciting. It’s definitely great exposure and my fans are always thrilled to hear it on TV and it’s just a great way to build your audience and get new people to hear your music. It’s very cool and I’m honored that So You Think You Can Dance decided to use for their montage and it’s just very nice all around.

A: What initially got you started in music?
M: I started playing piano when I was really young. I was like eight years old and my dad was a piano player and he taught me my first piece of classical music as a kid; and I just naturally started writing songs and I’d come home from school and whatever I got yelled at about by the teacher or a girl I had a crush on, whatever stupid thing, I’d just come home and write my emotions out on the piano and it always stuck with me.

A: What has been one of your favorite songs that you’ve written.
M: There’s a song on the first album, it’s called ‘Last Great Song,’ and that was the first song. I wrote it in college and my friends at the time in college used to be pretty hard on me with my music and that was the first song that I wrote where they couldn’t say anything because they really enjoyed the song. So, I’d say ‘Last Great Song’ let me know that I could write a great song. And I think ‘In Case I Go Again’ off the first album I think started everything for me [by] getting featured on the homepage of YouTube and now ‘Counting On You’ is definitely the single from the new record, so I would say one of those three is definitely a special song for me.

A: You play a lot of concerts, both traditional venue shows and house concerts, so what is your favorite part about playing live?
M: It’s definitely that ‘in-the-moment-ness’ you feel when you’re playing a show, like you’re connecting with your audience. You know, days you’re not playing shows, it’s very… Like on an average day you’re thinking about the future, you’re thinking about your past, what you could do; but then when you’re playing a show, you’re so in the moment and you’re just connecting with your audience and there’s just no better feeling than that. It’s kind of like a high, so I just love playing shows for that authentic, real moment.

A: Do you have a favorite concert that you’ve played?
M: I mean, there are so many that were so great! Favorite one, just because it stands out the most recent and I’m from New York, but I just did a tour with a buddy, Jon McLaughlin. We did an east coast / midwest kind of thing and we played a sold out show at Gramercy Theater in New York City. All my family was there who have been there from the beginning and so that was pretty exciting. It was such a fun tour; it was too short though. It was only two weeks that I was with him, but it was so fun.

A: Social networking has become a huge part of the music industry and how people stay connected to fans, so what is your social networking ‘strategy’?
M: I love doing that stuff. I’m on twitter like all the time and Facebook and all that stuff. I think it’s… I know there’s different sides to the story — like if it’s good to stay that close with your fans or I read an article recently about how being so easily accessible kind of kills the rockstar image — but I just want my music to reach people and to connect to people and for them to feel something; and if they’re enjoying my music, you know, why wouldn’t I want to get to know these people? And through the house concerts, I’ve kind of found that, people always ask me are the house concerts weird experiences; but it turns out that the people who understand my music and want the house concerts, they’re just like the most down to earth, really cool people. So I love staying in touch with them through facebook and twitter and all that stuff, so I’m for it.

A: You have had some song placement, but is there a certain show you have always wanted to have a song placed on?
M: I mean, I think — for a while I think — every singer/songwriter was kind of after the Gray’s Anatomy thing because it was always such a big market in a way to break an artist, like several artists definitely achieved mainstream success through that show. I don’t know if there’s one show in specific, but I know that as many people that it can reach and if it’s right for the scene and if it brings out what’s going on in the scene which enhances the music by itself, I think those two have to go together for it to make a significant impact. So I just say whatever works and whatever has the most exposure.

A: Are there any charities or non profits that you are involved with?
M: A lot of the house concerts, I’ll do the charities on the road and stuff like that. So like if I’m on a house concert tour and people want me to stop by and perform for certain charities. Like I’ve done several over the past year, like most of them are for cancer benefits so I’ve done at least three of those over the past year, but there’s nothing that I’m specifically involved [with]. But if I can help, I’m always interested in helping.

A: I know you are currently in studio, so what is the rest of this year looking like for you?
M: I’m going to be finishing up the Christmas EP through August and then at the end of August I’m gonna start hitting the road again. I know I have like seven college shows booked at the end of August/early September and then I don’t know yet, it’s kind of in the works. We’re talking with a few companies about sponsorships for a house concert tour in the fall or I might just do another venue tour so I’m talking with a few of my artist friends, singer/songwriter friends, we might be hitting the road together. Right now, I’m so focused on the new holiday EP. It’s just so funny trying to record this music in the middle of the summer.

A: Are there any artists that you’ve been listening to lately that are kind of on the rise?
M: I have such an… I get into like phases of who I listen to, so I was going through a whole modern singer/songwriter thing and there’s people I really love. Like, I’m really into some of those national guys like Ben Rector and Andrew Bell. Jon McLaughlin is great, and then, on the more national level, there’s like Fitz and The Tantrums and of course everybody is into Gotye and Adele. And I like all that stuff, but lately I’ve been into, my manager/brother just bought an old school record player, and we’ve just been buying Bob Dylan records and Sinatra records, like old stuff, and we’ve been getting into such a 60s and 70s kind of thing. It’s been really cool to hear it on vinyl because you hear the scratches in the record, so I’ve just been so caught up in that lately that I haven’t even been listening to modern music.

A: What is the one thing you want to have accomplished if for some reason your career was to end tomorrow?
M: Career wise, ever since I saw The Dave Matthews Band at Madison Square Garden, I just said, ‘I’m gonna do that one day,’ and I was like, ‘I don’t know how you do it, I don’t know where you start, but I wanna play on that stage on day.’ I don’t have to be the headline act; I could just be playing piano for Dave Matthews Band. I don’t care; I just want to be rockin out at Madison Square Garden, so I’d say musically that’s definitely always been a dream of mine. Non musically, maybe I could teach someone else to play piano. I taught music for a little while after I graduated school and before I really got started, I was teaching; but I never really got to pursue it, so I think just to help people in some way or something like that. Probably as a self goal, maybe I could master yoga. [laughs]