Teddy Geiger

The name may sound familiar because of songs like ‘For You I Will (Confidence)’ or the movie role in The Rocker, but Teddy Geiger has grown up a bit since those days. Now an independent artist, Geiger recently used PledgeMusic to raise funds for his new album. Although funds are now raised, you can still pre-order the album or pay for the prizes since a percentage of the extra money raised will go to charity. We talked about the new music and what you can expect next.

Arin: What has been going on with your career the past few years?
Teddy: It’s been interesting. I made a second record for Columbia records when I was on Columbia Records and halfway through the process of putting that out, I ended up leaving Columbia and they kept that record, so I’ve basically just been working on a new record, started working with new management a couple of years ago and I’ve been kind of finishing up developing this new record with them. Basically we just had a lot of songs and I had a lot of demo versions that I had self produced and now what we’re doing, we did the Pledge campaign and we met our goal there, but you can still pledge and the money from that is going towards just finishing up songs, and getting mixes and getting a little bit of press surrounding the record. So, in a way we are kind of our own label with the fans and the whole thing has been working really well.

A: What can people expect to hear from the new album in comparison to your older stuff?
T: I guess the plan for this is to have it be a little less production, at this point it still might be self produced but I think the idea is to have it be just some drums, bass, a couple guitars and piano on a lot of the record, which is a lot like the first record also, but maybe just less polished pop in some areas and more basic instrumentation in some songs, but I really don’t know yet because also a part of me wants to play around with production on some of the songs and have it get a little out of control, so we’ll see how it goes. I think just to focus on the songs is what I really want to do with the record and keep the production simple and not do anything too crazy.

A: How have you been using social networks to stay in touch with fans and help promote the PledgeMusic campaign?
T: On Facebook, I’ve been posting updates and photos as we’ve been doing stuff and having question responses and all that stuff just when we hear back from the fans, and kind of just staying in touch and sharing new ideas, like new songs that I’m writing for the record. It’s almost like I can put some stuff down and see what fans think of it and get that immediate reaction which is really cool.

A: Part of PledgeMusic is partnering with a charity for funds raised after you reach your goal, so how did you pick your charity and are there any others that you work with?
T: I picked Save The Elephants just because they’re doing a lot of great stuff for elephants and I heard just some stories about elephants last year that were very moving, so I felt like doing that. I’ve also been involved with a charity for SMA [Superior Mesenteric Artery Syndrome], one of my cousins’ cousin, which we’re kind of like a close family so it seems very distant but it’s not, has SMA so I’ve been involved over the years helping them with certain projects. Also the man who produced my first record is very involved with Autism Speaks and with him I’ve been involved with some projects like recording some music and just donating other stuff to Autism speaks which I think they’re great also.

A: Are there any cities that you want to try and get out to tour in this year?
T: Yeah! I want to go to as many places as possible, that’s the plan. Hopefully after this record’s done we’ll start booking those shows and know a little bit more. In March or April we should know a little bit about when there’s going to be more shows.

A: Do you have any goals for this year?
T: The things that I think would be fun would be to maybe get on a tour opening for another band and I don’t know, just making this record and hopefully it’s received well. Then, I think I also have an idea to start making like a ‘free cover’s’ EP and a couple other things through out the year if all is going well.