Interview: Ryan O'Connell Talks About His New Comedy Single/Video "LMPIP"
/
“All I can do is make the best version of that exact “taste” and screw what other people may think about it. Comedy gets less potent the more you try to broaden the audience. ”
Congratulations on the completion and release of your new single/video "LMPIP"; with four kids, we assume it is based on personal experience, but what inspired you to write, record and then direct a visual for it?
Thank you! As a songwriter, I'm coming up with ideas and hooks all the time. And as you can imagine, this one came to mind shortly after my kids wouldn't leave me alone in the bathroom. Though we have a similar sense of humor, my wife is a tougher critic and is usually a good test for whether my ideas have legs. So I played her a version of the first verse and chorus and she loved it.
As a filmmaker, I'm such a visual person that I immediately suggested it should be a video and she enthusiastically agreed. I felt it was one of those songs that's just begging to have a visual narrative; a comedy symbiosis if you will. Ultimately, it was my wife's idea to do a Kickstarter fundraiser for it and - to my surprise - enough people agreed that it just had to be a video too!
Knowing the world of comedy music is often marked by low production values and cheap gimmicks, I planned right away that a third of my Kickstarter budget would go toward producing the track with other professionals to make it something worthy of a video. Even the most impressive video can't draw attention away from a terrible song, so getting the song up to par was the most vital part of the whole process.
"LMPIP" follows your earlier single/video, "Mass Fitness"; can we expect these two songs on an upcoming EP or album? If so, what can you tell us about it?
"Mass Fitness" was an absolute blast to produce but was definitely a stand alone project designed for a specific audience. "LMPIP" is designed to fit into the realm of "dad comedy" and will be just one track on a full comedy album that would be accompanied by a couple other music videos.
I'm planning and fundraising for it and - based on the response I've gotten from "LMPIP" - there's absolutely an audience that would relate to the material and love to share it.
Tell us about some things/people/places that influence your creativity when developing new music?
Musically my style is heavily influenced by singer/songwriter types like John Mayer, Marc Broussard, and Bob Dylan. Like these guys, my guitar is my writing partner. I love to play and while experimenting with chord progressions and arrangements, I usually stumble upon something that jumps out as a hook and go from there.
Sometimes I have a topic or theme in mind that I want to write about, and sometimes words just pop out from a more subconscious emotional place and I let them lead me. But that's just my typical writing process. There have been times when I act as a producer first and want to experiment with hip-hop and pop and I just have to lay down some bass that slaps. It's almost like I need to vomit up a musical mood first and then figure out if I can make a song out of it.
I get super excited when discovering an incredible new artist way out of my comfortable genre - all I can think about is whether I'm capable of producing a track that sounds like it's from their world. Then I experiment.
During your creative process for writing new songs, do you ever worry that the listener or viewer just won't get it, in terms of your sense of humor?
When I was younger I used to get hung up on "is this funny" as some kind of objective question and let other people decide for me. I think I let too many good ideas go because of insecurities there. But one of the most important lessons I've learned as a comedy writer (both for music and for the screen) is that comedy is extremely subjective, and I'm not that special. Specifically that means that if I'm really laughing at an idea then it's safe to assume that there are enough people out there with a similar taste in humor to make the project worthwhile. All I can do is make the best version of that exact "taste" and screw what other people may think about it. Comedy gets less potent the more you try to broaden the audience.
Usually it's a choice between making something that's a little bit funny to a lot of people, or really damn funny for a particular kind of person. I'd rather err on the side of the latter - that small but devoted fan base.
With "LMPIP" now released, what are some of your goals musically for the remainder of 2021?
I plan to create three demo tracks as a proof of concept for the “dad comedy” album so that I can successfully fund-raise for the complete project by the year’s end.
Stream and Share “LMPIP” on: Spotify | Amazon
Connect with Ryan O’Connell: Facebook | Soundcloud