Mehcad Brooks, known for his roles on popular shows like “Supergirl” and “Desperate Housewives,” is ready to show people the real him.
Upon the release of his single “Tears Away” (available now) Brooks spoke to the Knockturnal about the inspirations behind his music, the irrelevance of genre, and his unique songwriting process.
How were you first introduced to making music?
I always wanted to. My parents knew I wanted to so they got me a guitar for Christmas when I was like 25. I did it the way everybody else did it, I sucked for a long time, so you just do it in your living room! It was a hobby, and then really bad things happened to me in my life that made me start thinking about life a lot differently. What’s happiness, and what’s fulfilling, and what’s going to make you happy in the journey of life, and music made me really happy. It’s a really direct form of communication, where you can really be yourself and find other people who are like you. I saw the kind of effect it had on me, with artists that really inspired me, and I want to have that kind of effect on people. For me it was just really finding a way to communicate, finding an outlet where I could really be happy with what I’m doing. Just because you’re successful doesn’t mean you’re happy
You really break barriers of genre in your music, but when you started making music what genre did you first fall in love with?
Classic rock! Kind of a mixture, like also old school R&B. Eagles, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Croce, Bill Withers. My mom always had music playing in the house, and she would play from Aretha Franklin to George Strait, Marvin Gaye. I grew up in a not musical family at all, my parents are academics, no instruments in the house, nothing! But every Saturday afternoon, I’d get up and watch cartoons and everything, but then my mom would have something blasting. It was mainly Bob Marley, that was the first time that I actually felt something and understood what it was. I kind of grew up on Bob.
Why do you think it’s important not to pigeonhole the type of music you make and put out?
I don’t believe in genres frankly! I just kind of think that if you like a song, you like a song. Somebody could set out to do a reggae song and it sounds like a pop song, somebody could set out do a pop song and it sounds like a hip hop song, a dance song could sound like something else. I think genres are a good measure of how we used to do music when we didn’t have access to a bunch of different sounds and instruments, but once we got technology I think that’s going to go away. The natural evolution of the diaspora of thoughts and ideas, the talent is to put it all together. I want to hear some Afro-funk EDM hip hop rock sh–, that’s what I want to hear. If nobody’s doing it I want to do it.
How would you describe your songwriting process?
I freestyle everything! We come up with an idea of a track, I come up with the idea of a vocal melody and we get into the studio. I freestyled 150 songs and I think I wrote 3 or 4 of them. I think if you allow your entire life experience to be the author of this small story you’re telling, it’s the most honest story. If you’re sitting there and go ‘oh this beat makes me feel like this,’ cool, you can talk about stealing this guy’s girl, glad you made that song, thank you, and the world needs that, but those aren’t the kind of songs I want to write. I don’t want to write songs that are inspired by the vibes just at the time, I want to write songs that are inspired by the vibe of my entire life. As a writer I try to bring every experience that I’ve ever had to that. It’s like I’m conscious of all the experiences I’ve ever had, and 99% of them don’t work for the song, and so this one does.
When do you feel a song you’ve written is finished and ready for people to hear?
Never! I’ll be sitting there 10 years from no adding a trumpet to a track if somebody let me. The coolest thing about be a musician is the self discovery. That’s the cool thing about being an actor too, but I think there’s more room for self discovery being an artist and putting your voice forward, especially if you’re writing the songs. It not so much ‘do I think this song is ready’ I know when a song is ready, but I also have come very recently to this point of self discovery that being a perfectionist is the highest form of procrastination. If I consider myself a perfectionist I’m never going to figure it out. It’s almost like I have to go ‘okay well, there’s nothing I hate about this, we’re fine.’ I’m never going to love it.
How are you feeling ahead of the release of your single “Tears Away?” Are there any anxieties or do you feel like it’s time.
There’s always anxieties! If you don’t have anxieties, you’re not being honest. At the same time those anxieties aren’t enough to stop anything and they’re not enough to pay attention to, so I feel really calm. I think the music is f—ing amazing, and I’m as close to in love with it as I could possibly be, which is saying a lot because I’m the music’s hardest critic! I’m happy, I’m in a good place, I’m really calm about it, andI just want to make sure that it gets right.
The lyrics for this song are deep, you said the inspiration for your music comes from where you’re at in life?
I guess the best way to put it is I try to make myself aware and make all of the moments of my life emotionally available for any track. Including the current vibe, this moment right now is just as important as a heartbreak five years ago. Telling a story, do I tell it through myself five years ago? Do I tell it through myself now? It sort of varies in that way.
You have a solid fanbase from your past work, this is definitely a new side of you that your fans are getting to see, and it’s a little more personal because it’s your music, What do you want your fans to take away from this song and what you’re putting out now?
I hope they get a glimpse of who I really am. I think a lot of people think they know who I am because I play characters on TV and film, but the point of being an actor is to be enough of yourself to be natural but at the same time, not you. I don’t think people really know, and that’s okay, but also I don’t want to alienate the people that know me and love me for who they think I am. I want to give them the inclination that it’s ok to change. I want to give them the opportunity to grow and change and evolve with me. I want people to understand that I want to put out a message of more love. We have a need for a higher state of consciousness in our world, and I think music is a very direct form of communication. Sometimes you have to speak to people’s sexual energy, sometimes you need to speak to people’s spiritual energies, sometimes you have to speak to people’s hardships. This is why we connect with music, why we connect it with what we’re going through or what we’ve been through. I just want every song I have to be somebody’s anthem at some point in time.