Without music, life, for John Tucker of DazRyte, would be a mistake.
As someone "who was raised around music at every corner of life," he grew up to love creating music, until it became his passion. It did not come as a surprise, though, as the 25-year-old instrumentalist and producer from St. Louis, Missouri, in the United States, belongs to a family of musicians.
'I was raised in music'
'If you hand me an instrument I've never played, I will learn a song in about 10 minutes and perform it for you... Anything can be an instrument. I literally stop at the crafts [aisle] in Walmart to play percussion on the big wooden, glass and metal flower vases.'
"I was raised in music," John told Le Journo in an e-mail interview. "At every holiday dinner in [my] grandma's house, there were instruments everywhere. There were guitars, mandolins, drums, bass, banjo."
In fact, John can play almost any musical instrument. He is capable of playing violins, banjos, mandolins, flutes and some others, while he plays guitar, bass, drums and piano efficiently.
"If you hand me an instrument I've never played, I will learn a song in about 10 minutes and perform it for you," he said. "Anything can be an instrument. I literally stop at the crafts [aisle] in Walmart to play percussion on the big wooden, glass and metal flower vases," he added, saying he plans to purchase a cello in the future, one of his favorite instruments that he has never even touched yet.
It was John's parents who played a big role in his musical journey. When he was about 6 years old, they bought him and his sister guitars, and that was when he began dabbling in learning to play some major chords. "At 8 years old, they bought me a drum set. Things got loud for the next couple of years," he quipped. At age 10, guitar became his main instrument, but drums were his first real instrument and passion, he said. "The drums [are] where I learned all of my expertise in percussion, drum placement and rhythm."
John admitted that he was very nervous as a child having been raised in a sheltered environment. He had always struggled with performances of any kind, he revealed. But as he had encountered many uncomfortable situations in life, he became more extroverted and even enjoyed performing songs. "I carry my guitar with me in my vehicle and play all types of music for my friends and sometimes [the] public. I enjoy performing songs for my nieces and nephews the most because of their curiosity and [the] joy my music reveals."
The young musician has been making music for 20 years now, but for the majority of his experience with music production, John said he would "simply make beats and was learning how to mix and create different types of sounds."
He was 16 years old when he found a cheap and simple production software by the name of DubTurbo that "pretty much did all of the gritty mixing and mastering work for you," he said. DubTurbo is a Windows software that allows users to create rap and hip hop music genres. At the age of 18, he purchased FL Studio, a digital audio workstation. "At this point it was just me and my laptop. I was amazed by EDM [electronic dance music] of all genres as a teenager, but my absolute favorite genres were Trap and Dubstep. This is how I began learning to mix and master audio."
Success in another aspect came to John earlier than expected. While doing a 9 to 5 job, he was able to buy a two-bedroom house and a couple of fancy cars at the young age of 20. He bought some equipment and quickly turned the second room into a studio, where he would stay on weekends and produce beats until morning. The journey was not all smooth sailing, though. Two years down the line, he hit a snag, as personal struggles and issues got him sidelined, and worse, he lost his assets just as easily as he had them.
His very own passion was the same thing that led him to get back on his feet, though, and after facing a setback, "I really went to work on expressing my emotions and recording my own voice in my music," he said. "I was struggling mentally with confusion and sadness from my mistakes. I needed a way to express myself and cope."
When he moved back into his parents' home, he resumed his music creation, recording full songs, and even learning all the fundamentals of song completion.
He went on to record and release music of different styles and genres independently for about two years, but became frustrated of the outcome as he found no reward with everyone telling him to write happy music.
"When I played my piano and guitar I would sing happy and even beautiful songs," he said. "I simply couldn't translate these to my DAW [digital audio workstation]."
Breakthrough
Something great happens when you least expect it. For John's situation, this statement has somehow a ring of truth. A breakthrough happened when one day, a man had reached out to him on his Instagram account, asking him if he would write him a simple song for his 6 year old son's upcoming birthday. "I was nervous because I've never ghost produced a song before. I was scared I couldn't do the job up to his standards," he said.
For two days, John came up with too many ideas through his guitar and notepad. "After a couple of days, I simply sat down with my guitar and I began to record. I had no direction in mind. I just became inspired and allowed my emotions to flow through the art I had been building all of my life," he said. "I finished up the song the next day and I played it for my parents. They told me it was the best song I have ever played for them. The reason is because it made them smile and I finally displayed my emotion of happiness through my art.”
"Danny Boy," the song he wrote about the birthday boy was a new phase for John, a testament that the road taken by musicians can both be rewarding and frustrating sometimes. John's musical journey is still a long road to the "summit," definitely replete with obstacles and surprises. But not long and soon the rest will be history.
Listen to John Tucker's song "Danny Boy" on his SoundCloud here.
Here is the rest of John Tucker's e-mail interview:
Le Journo: What particular genre of music do you play?
John Tucker: What even is genre lol... there are such big lists of genres I don't even know, really. I love all music and make all music except for gospel. I sometimes sing and play amazing grace on my piano though.
The genre that I make I am clueless of. I create some type of hip hop that is in 3/4 time signature the most often. Nobody works in 3/4 time so I'm not sure if I can even call it hip hop.
Music is music. I think emotions are more descriptive than a genre.
If a song isn't made with real emotion from a passionate artist then it’s worth nothing.
LJ: Who are your musical influences?
JT: When I was younger, I was influenced by all music and musicians. When I was 16 years old, I was listening to all of the rising EDM artists, especially trap. This is when I discovered Dubturbo. Dubturbo was a short-lived cheap production software that started my obsession with sound and music production.
One artist I remember specifically is G-REX. When I was 16, he had about 1k followers on SoundCloud. He was a beginner and had not found his success yet. Now, he has millions of plays and releases bass music among the top tier of EDM artists. He is a true inspiration in my life. He has no idea, but one day he gave me advice on a beat I made that really did improve my production. If I ever do make something big happen I will definitely make a shoutout to him for that.
LJ: Did you listen to a particular kind of music while growing up?
JT: I loved anything rebellious or motivating.
LJ: Do you belong to a family of musicians?
JT: Yes, even though no one else plays or sings much, they all can play an instrument and sing. All of my cousins and in-laws are musicians as well.
LJ: Did you always want to become a musician?
JT: I've never been sure of anything. As soon as I become certain of my desires they change again, lol. I'm very spiratic [sic] and influential. I grew up riding dirt bikes since I was 5 years old. I wanted to race motocross at one point. I know now that I am a musician and always will be and that's who I am. I am here to learn, love, and live!!!
LJ: Do you have a songwriting process?
JT: Structure sucks. I like to constantly change or cause change. Sitting down with a plan saying, " I'm going to write this song," does not happen. If you sit down to make a love song, you will end up writing a hate song. It all depends on the emotions that you are feeling and the experiences that influenced them.
When I'm happy and relaxed is when I work best. I have suffered strong bipolar emotions all of my life. This is why I began drinking alcohol so often. I would drink to relax and make music.
LJ: What do you think is the best part of creating and performing your own music?
JT: I try to release everything I make because when people go to my profile, I want them to see a story. They will hear when I was learning. They will hear when I was happy. They will hear when I was fucking up. They will hear when I've figured it out. I want them to see my life through my art.
I do not care to perform my music because I have a short term memory issue that keeps me from being capable of singing a full song. As soon as I learn a new song, I forget the last one unless I play it everyday.
LJ: Are you a signed artist? If not, do you plan to be or stay an independent artist?
JT: As soon as I sell a song, it will lose 100% of its value. Money is not value [sic]. The emotions and memories are where the value is at [sic] in any song. Like I said before, without emotion and passion a song is not worth anything. Even if it makes 1 million dollars it’s not worth hearing unless it’s real.
I will stay independent forever and ever. No one will use or abuse my work.
LJ: Do you hire people for the mixing, arrangement, and mastering of your music? If not, how did you learn to do it on your own?
JT: I believe in educating yourself and being the best you can be. The word “Why” is a very powerful tool for children!
I do everything on my own and this is why you will hear my progress when you play through my music.
YouTube and Udemy are the best learning tools available aside from Google.
People that spend thousands of dollars at Berklee are wasting their money.
Dictionaries, too! I love having a dictionary handy when writing poems or lyrics.
LJ: Where are you now in your musical career? How do you see yourself in 5 years or so?
JT: I am just a beginner still in so many ways. I definitely have more sites my future and how to achieve success.
Success for me would be to achieve enough income with my passion that I can survive financially. In 5 years I see myself doing ignorant and stupid stuff still because I like to have fun. I will definitely have much more knowledge and experience I can offer others by then.
LJ: What advice can you give to a budding musician?
JT: The best advice I could've been given was my personal quote.
"A dream exists only in your mind until you build it in real life" -DazRyte
The second advice I would give is, BE YOU. If you hide who you want to be, then you will be sad and struggle for your whole life.
LJ: What do you consider as challenges in being a musician? You can state your own challenges.
JT: My biggest challenge is trying to evolve into something my family thinks is unachievable or even unreal. I tell them that it doesn't matter who you see on TV. They're all the same and human. I don't think they realize they could be on TV if they wanted to.
LJ: Please impart your knowledge to aspiring musicians and try to inspire them with advice based on your past experience.
JT: All of my life, I struggled to fit into the society I was born into instead of the society I wanted to live in. Stop thinking you have to fit in. The more you stand out the better off you will be. Having money and toys is a fun life at times. I have had a house and fancy car, even a wife. All of that doesn’t matter if you're missing "Your passion".
Every dollar you spend is a vote for the life you want to live in. It’s ok to work a job you're not passionate [about]. Just be sure to make room for building your dream and passion as well. If you can't find balance between, then you will struggle.
You can listen to John Tucker’s songs on Spotify here and SoundCloud here. You can visit and follow his Facebook Page here, and his Insta here.
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