We recently connected with Pedro Meyer and have shared our conversation below.
Pedro, appreciate you joining us today. Do you wish you had started sooner?
Timing is an interesting thing. Much of what works or doesn’t work in our lives depends on the timing in which things happen. In music, anyone above 25 is already considered old. Also, the older one gets, the harder it is to have time away from work and responsibilities to devote to music. I am here to tell you, however, it’s never too late.
I am a strong believer that if you want something, you will do what you have to do to figure out how to get it. Even if the desired outcome never comes, the satisfaction of giving it your best shot is a reward in itself.
I wish I had started guitar lessons earlier…
But I was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in a poor and dangerous neighborhood, raised by my grandmother and a working single mother, to which had to share her income with 2 sons. It wasn’t until I was 14 years old that the timing was right. My mother’s friend gifted me an old guitar, I found a guitar teacher within 25 minutes walking to my place, and I was old enough to venture the neighborhood alone. The timing was right.
I wish I had started recording songs earlier…
As soon as I knew enough to play guitar, I was already writing songs. I had ideas upon ideas but didn’t know how to execute. I didn’t have an income as a teenager. In most countries, teens go to school full time and can’t have a job. Furthermore, Brazilians are not known for enjoying the music I enjoy, which at the time had a lot of influences from the likes of Pearl Jam, Eric Clapton and U2.
I wish I started playing with others earlier…
Well, like mentioned above, that didn’t happen.
It wasn’t until I was 23 and moved to the USA in 2013 that my hopes to pursue music were renewed. However, with no network and no net worth, it wasn’t until 2019 that I discovered that I didn’t need a full band to record a full song. A great friend, and stellar producer, Michael Allan, recorded my first EP “The Right Resolve”. and my world opened up. Took me a few more years after that to learn how to record at home and amount all the equipment I needed so I could afford to even scratch the service of what it means to have a music career, but that’s what I am doing now.
After all this, I will have my first fully DIY EP coming out this year. The first single “Born on a Full Moon” comes out march 2023!
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
First and foremost, I am a songwriter. I tell stories about struggles, loss, love and hope. My love for songwriting came from my dad. He was the most interesting character I’ve ever met. From the day I met him to the day he passed, I have never seen him make money. He was always struggling from job to job but he was always writing and playing his guitar. His calling in life was music and he was clearly not living his truth. I took that to heart. I don’t want to ever feel like I did less than my best in trying to get my music heard. He was extremely talented and a huge inspiration.
My music is commonly compared to the likes of Bruce Springsteen. Coming from a poor community, and seeing my mom work hard to give my brother and I a dignifying life, have been an endless tap from which I draw influence. The cost of making it as an artist is forever growing, as it costs a fortune to break through the noise of social media, follower counts and all that, but my lyrics are not for music labels to make money off of 15 year old teens. My lyrics are for the people who have felt real pain, experienced struggles, and came out on top.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
In 2019 I was diagnosed with Thyroid Cancer. I went through an extensive surgery on my throat and was not sure if I would be able to sing again. In anticipation to this, I decided to record a couple songs just me and a guitar, since I didn’t have a band.
My friend and producer, after we recorded the first track, showed me I could have all the other instruments recorded separately and make the song sound like a full band version. That was the beginning. From one of the worst to one of the best experiences I could have. Now I record everything from my bedroom, learned how to use my recording software on my own, how to use electronic instruments to add new elements that otherwise would require a studio, and found out how to release and promote my songs, all on my own.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
One thing that artists must understand is that “society” does not owe us anything. They don’t owe us to listen to our music, to pay attention during our performances, to buy our merch, etc. We need to convince society that we have something to offer. The tides are forever changing in music. Having the right community and the right sound might seem impossible at times. Denver, CO, where I live, is not an easy city to play at. People tend to like EDM or metal or something else that is not what I play, but that’s not Denver’s fault. It is on us artists to find our audience.
That being said, venues should be doing much better at helping artists. Our audience doesn’t owe us, but music venues do. Without artists, venues are just glorified bars. Promoters want artists to have tens of thousands of followers on social media and be able to draw 100 people on a monday night, but they don’t bother to even post about the shows on their social media pages. Nevertheless, they will take a cut of our merch sales, most of our tickets sales and feel like they are doing us a favor. Venues need to do much better
Contact Info:
- Website: https://snipfeed.co/musicbypedromeyer
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_thewarriorpoet/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pedromeyermusic
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7XYqUk5yGoE1YCejsl7qlA?view_as=subscriber
Image Credits
Katie Puc