We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Luke Esperes. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Luke below.
Luke, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?
I learned guitar from YouTube tutorials, specifically lots of Nirvana songs because all of their songs are so simple and use lots of bar chords. It really helped me get comfortable playing up to tempo, chord transitions, and learning how to craft my own songwriting. In hindsight, I wish I had the discipline to learn music theory, but I’ve always been more focused on writing. Learning by ear is great because you use more of your instincts as to what “sounds good” while writing, but it would be nice to know the language of music for more improvisational purposes. I think writing honest music that makes you feel something is the most important thing though. Technical ability isn’t everything. Lots of my favorite music that I listen to regularly doesn’t have the most pristine production or playing, it really just boils down to how it makes me feel.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
North Warren is my musical project that I started in summer of 2019. At the time, I was going to college for Audio Production and music was always my passion. As I began writing more songs, I wanted to be able to record and mix them myself because I feel like that’s a part of the creative process of constructing a song. I bought an interface, a couple microphones and started recording my songs on an old MacBook Pro that could barely stay charged. It became a fun way to learn audio, as well as explore options while putting together songs. I’m proud of my DIY approach to my music because I’ve learned so much and I know exactly what I want creatively. This has given me the liberty of doing things my way, at my own pace.
I’m not the only one doing this either. Smaller bands have a similar process and everyone is so supportive of one another. It brings a sense of community when you can help each other out and learn along the way. I know how to write songs, record them, mix them, send them off to mastering, apply for copyright, upload for distribution and promote everything myself. It saves me time, money, and gives me full control of my releases.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
I think the most important thing you can do to support an artist is physically show up to a show or exhibit to support them and purchase a piece of physical media. Going out of your way to look into smaller acts really allows you to support your own artistic community and find people that are just as gifted if not more than the mainstream artists backed by a label. Following on social media, liking posts, and sharing their content also goes a long way as they try to expand their reach and get more people familiar with what they’re doing.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
Building a presence on social media is a climb. My best advice I would give is to post consistently, meaning every day if possible. Develop an aesthetic that feels genuine to you, use hashtags on your posts, respond to comments, and don’t expect to go viral overnight. It takes time and perseverance. 
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/northwarrenband/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/northwarrenband/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lukeesperes
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/northwarrenband?lang=en
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsbARuvsZoWOJwHGnEVnZOw
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@northwarrenband
Image Credits
Sam Templin Madeline Walczak Alex Schwab Victoria Marie