We recently connected with George Tyler Heffley and have shared our conversation below.

George Tyler, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

I feel like I always knew that I wanted to be involved with music throughout my whole life. Sure, when I was younger, I was obsessed with dinosaurs and I wanted to be a paleontologist. Also, throughout middle and high school, I was really into surfing and I thought that I was going to be a professional surfer. But I was always involved with music; from being in bands, writing music, singing in my school choirs, and going to recording sessions. Growing up listening to music from Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Queen, Van Halen, Foo Fighters, Genesis, Primus, Green Day, and countless other bands and artists had me glued to my iPod and had me picking up my guitar, bass guitar, drums, and diving into my vocals. But there was one concert and live album that I watched and continuously listened to that truly inspired me to further pursue the guitar and my songwriting, and that was Where the Light Is: John Mayer Live In Los Angeles. That was on my tv one night and I watched the whole performance from start to finish. His solo acoustic performance, playing with the trio, his full band, and even his outtakes on Mulholland Drive, each performance felt like a masterclass with so much to learn from. After countless hours learning and transcribing these songs and solos, this is what definitely reignited the fire for me to write music, shred the guitar, and be an artist. Also, it pushed me to listen to other music and musicians to expand my skills on the guitar and better understand the music industry throughout all of the different roles that exist. This all began a lifelong journey.

George Tyler, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

This might sound a bit artsy fartsy, but I got into my business of being a guitarist, artist, songwriter, producer, and band leader from my sheer love of music. The whole journey of it is breathtaking and leaves so much room for innovation and wonder, all of that including: the songwriting process; working in the studio with different microphones, guitars, outboard gear, and other inspirational pieces of equipment; spending hours working on the guitar and discovering different ways to play the instrument; collaborating with other musicians and creatives; and everything else involved with this business. What sets me apart from other people in my industry is really a collective of all of my influences and experiences. I love the improvisation and musical fluidity that comes from the live experience of jazz and blues, and the sonic journey that is embarked within the studio and where one can take the direction of a song. I aim to combine both of those into what I do on stage and in the studio. Recently, I’ve been incredibly proud of all of the music that I’ve been releasing and the shows that I’ve been playing with my band. I feel as though we are all incredibly locked in with our live sets and the music is coming together nicely. This music is a product of being surrounded by uplifting and talented friends and I urge everyone to come and listen because they will be amazed by the art that we’ve been able to cultivate.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Really, the resilience from being in this industry is just having the integrity to stay in it. You put a lot of hard work into creating music, putting on shows, and marketing yourself and there isn’t that much turnaround that comes right away. This is what tends to push people away from this career in the early stages. But I’m still in it because I love all of the music that I’m doing and I want it. I know that with a focused mind and continued smart and hard work, it’s going to pay off and I’ll be telling myself that this will all make perfect sense someday.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

The best way for people to support artists is to go to their live shows and listen to their music. It’s always a fun experience to go to whatever size venue to listen to new music and potentially discover the next big artists. Along with listening to their music, the collective number of ticket sales and streams only work to benefit upcoming artists and keep the emerging acts of this industry thriving. Also, it gives artists the tools and data to better their next shows and releases when they can see what people are vibing with. People can also buy their merch because you never know if those people are going to blow up and that cheap t-shirt that you bought at a small show might become incredibly valuable years down the road. Really, just having people be engaged with artists however they can will only work to help them out.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heffthedope/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/george-tyler-heffley-b1a6311b9/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@heffthedope

Image Credits

Nya Federoff (@nyafederoff)

Brian Alvarado (@visualsnipe)