Emil Hewitt, Musician

by Andrew Piccone

Tell me about your job.
I made a record that I produced and wrote last year. I snuck it on the internet and it got some good press and reviews and I pressed a single in the United Kingdom and then I got an offer to come to New York to make music for Cantora Records. Originally it was a solo project, and now it’s a five piece band called Emil and Friends, it’s evolving at a very rapid rate, like an alien fetus. It’s bizarre pop with a steady dance rhythm and all kinds of influences. It’s got some flamenco, it’s got some American folk, it’s got some jazz, it’s got some R&B, some metal. It’s very eclectic.

What are your long term/short term goals with your music?
I moved here to put a record with this label, and to play a lot of great shows around the city, and to potentially go on tour and develop a fan base of people who like the music. So far it’s been a great start. We’re playing Glasslands on November 14.

How long have you been playing music?
I’ve been playing and producing music since high school. I was heavy into theater and towards the end of high school I realized that I wanted to focus more on music and not so much as drama, although my drama background helps me to be a completely bizarre front man on stage. I started to lock myself away in the attic and learn production techniques and kind of teach myself, which is kind of the opposite of what a lot of people do, which is play a lot of live shows and kind of learn as you go. As I was leaving college and starting to think about doing it full time, it started to sound good, and it started to take it’s own shape.

Why is it important to make music?
Because there is a very visceral, physical response when I don’t make music. I think music is an essential part of the human experience. I think everyone’s music is different, and I think that’s what I’m trying to figure out right now, as I continue to do it. To answer that question is why I make music. All questions about music are best explained by listening to material, and looking at history, and seeing responses, and seeing why people hold music so closely. It can activate psychosis in people, people committed suicide when John Lennon was shot, I mean people take music very seriously. The painting pallet is the full spectrum of human emotions.

Who are your influences?
I grew up listening to a lot of strange Latin American romantic music from 60’s, 70’s and 80’s, which is actually pretty bad. In terms of folk influences I listened to a lot of Chilean New Song, very politically motivated, and it used a lot of flamenco guitar with beautiful harmonies singing very simple songs that were very political. A lot of those artists influenced me on the songwriting front, for example, Inti-Illimani has a plethora of material that I am ashamed to show people because of how beautiful it is. On the other front, I listened to a lot of hip hop music, and I was listening to people like DJ Premier and J Dilla who were producing beautiful instrumentals for hip hop musicians that always influenced me more than the lyrical side, albeit they’re both equally important to the movement. I’m also influenced by the great American pop stars who have brought something to the table and have combined the best parts of entertainment with music and show business.

Speaking of John Lennon, what is your favorite Beatles album?
“Magical Mystery Tour.” I say that because people love to get shocked when they hear it. I first heard The Beatles not as a child, but when I was DJ’ing in high school, and people were unloading vinyl on me, and I picked up a lot of Beatles albums I had never heard. I would DJ two copies of “Flying,” which is one of the very few, if not the only instrumental track The Beatles ever did, and it’s such the opposite of what they’re known for in terms of their contribution to music. If you really badger me, I’d probably say The White Album, but I feel like Magical Mystery Tour is an example of how before their time they were, and how they could develop an aesthetic and have everything about the album be high art-a pop masterpiece.

So you just moved to New York?
In August, I moved into a place that’s a very communal living situation, a warehouse in Williamsburg with like 8 people. Hopefully I can move to a place where I can have a home studio and do recording. The close proximity of people here, as beautiful as they are, can be a bit hectic. For music though, New York is the place to be. In Boston there are fun little venues left and right, where a lot of young people are contributing to the music scene, but I think it lacks a central body. When you talk about Brooklyn or Manhattan music there are venues that people go to where it’s assumed that if you make a style of music you would go to these certain places. Boston seems to be a little schizophrenic in that a lot of great music comes in from out of town, but you don’t see a lot of homegrown bands. I want to raise that bar really high. Boston is the greatest place in the United States for music education, you have Berklee College of Music, you have the Boston Conservatory, you have all theses kids who are studying music. I think what’s going to help them contribute more to mainstream music is by getting their asses out to the venues and creating a music scene that’s vivid and alive.

What is your best hangover cure?
I actually don’t drink. I gave up drinking when I got signed to Cantora because I have to make an album, basically by myself, and if I get drunk I lose a lot of time because I lie around and watch Kristen Stewart movies and I fantasize about dating her, stuff like that. Being dedicated to what you do, you see the difference in productivity when you take alcohol out the equation. In no way do I advocate not drinking or drinking heavily. It’s been since February, there’s definitely a social part of my life that’s falling away, I don’t think good things are going to happen by sacrificing the social experience in New York, but I think it has the most prime terrain to develop.

Are you in a relationship?
I think girls can be compared to alcohol, if not more demanding and more hangover inducing. I was dating someone in Boston, and now I’m not. Girls here can be judged as a little more self centered and delusional. There seems to be this idea amongst girls here that you owe them money for their time, a lot of them pretending to be models, actresses, musicians, some really are but I think being pretty goes a long way in Brooklyn, and I’ve learned that the hard way.

Are you happy?
I know where I am going. I am as happy as the hardest worker at their desk, doing whatever it is they do. I’m blessed to be in my situation. There are people who deserve to be in my position more than me, and I owe it to them not to be happy until I really should be happy.

Andrew Piccone is a photographer in New York.