Interview with Grayson Erhard: Introvert
I have known of Denver artist Grayson Erhard for a long time but we have missed each other in person over and over. I finally got to chat with him on the phone recently about what he is up to, his plans for the future, and our mutual friend Morning Bear.
Grayson Erhard Interview
So, tell me about yourself.
I’m from a small town, Del Norte, that only has 1,800 people – and I even lived 6 miles outside of that. So, I had no access to anything really I lived in the middle of nowhere. There wasn’t much to do except for hiking. I played my guitar was an escape. I really dove into it for 10 hours a day, for years. Then I moved to Fort Collins for school and it was such a culture shock. I was overwhelmed in general. But then I started playing in bands. When I started playing with Morning Bear, I was 18 years old. Then I formed ask Aspen Hourglass and played with a bunch of bands – dabbling with all the stuff, some metal and different things. I really kind of started looking for my own path and recording myself solo. I was incredibly lucky and things went viral early. I got one million views on a Facebook video in the first week. I felt like that was my first real achievement as a solo artist. Well, and then what happened with Stevie Wonder.
Remind me about that.
Stevie likes to go and try things out. I was playing at NAMM and he just happened to be walking around while I was playing “Superstition.” I had no idea that he was there listening and then he came up and just started singing and frankly at first I thought it was background music … then and I looked up and gasped. I apologized for hacking my way through it but it was and amazing moment. It was like the universe telling me to keep going.
Describe your guitar playing style.
It’s percussive fingerstyle, which sounds naughty but it’s a contemporary style that has only really been around for 30 years. It was kind of my next step after playing death metal! I really followed an artist named Michael Hedges and learned a lot from him.
Who are your other musical influences?
Vocally: Matt Corby, Matthew Santos and Young The Giant. For guitar: Andy McKee and Antoine Dufour.
And your latest song is called Introvert?
Introvert is a song that I wanted to take that slap-the-guitar sound and expand it. Take the element of that style but bring a fuller band sound – which is a lot harder than I thought it would be! The song itself is about introverts obviously.
What’s your process for recording?
It’s constantly changing. I’m trying to get more self-sustainable and record in my basement first. Then I’ll send things over to the Blasting Room to have them mix and master it – but I do like working on it myself first.
What’s happening in 2019 for you?
I plan to be a basement goblin focusing on recording a whole bunch! Then tour a lot. I’d like to do a bunch smaller acoustic shows and then get overseas. My next show is 2/27 at the Moon Room with Matt Santos.
I’m also excited for my collaboration with Morning Bear!