Sunrayz inspires a trip Back to the Island in newest song
Photo courtesy of Sunrayz. Photo credit: Aaron Coury.
Sunrayz delights in his newest song, Back to the Island! Back to the Island showcases Sunrayz’s chill vibes and relaxing ukulele playing. After listening, we are ready to pack our bags with sunglasses on, sandals on our feet, and a Red Stripe in hand!
Dailyreggae.com caught up with the reggae musician to learn about the song’s creation and his inspiration as an artist.
Tell us about your inspiration behind Back to the Island. We are loving the new song!
I appreciate that! I’ve been producing a lot lately and I feel like it keeps getting tighter and tighter and everything is coming to fruition.
As far as inspiration, I’m basically a non-living island guy. I’ve always been. My family traveled to Jamaica a ton when I was growing up, and I kind of got in with the culture and vibe down there. I listened to a lot of Marley growing up.
Anytime I would get back from Jamaica, I lived in a really small town in Michigan with 2,000 people, I’d be in depression for like two weeks. Anytime, I’d get back, I’d have that in my mind. To write that I got to get back type song, and finally it all worked out. I’m producing better, singing a little better, and it was all right there.
What is your songwriting process? Do you have the guitar progression first that you sing over and then you start to add the other instruments? Does it start the other way around with the beat first?
A lot of times for me it’s guitar and singing, or ukulele and singing. Then I take that idea into the studio. This time it was ukulele because I was sitting there strumming it on a cold day here in Atlanta. I was like I have to write something that reminds me of warm weather. At first, I was like this is going to be the most chill song I’ve ever done, so it was only going to be ukulele, but then when I got under the hood, I added to it.
My music mentor is Peter Vogl out of Atlanta. Pete helps me fine-tune the mixes and also connected me with a guy in Atlanta, who is actually in the Georgia Hall of Fame, his name is Rodney Mills. He is a super well-known producer here, and he does all of my masterings.
I also collaborated with Michael Steele, who plays bass on Back to the Island.
What was the inspiration behind your artist name, Sunrayz?
Sunrayz kind of came from again a lot of positivity and light type inspiration. I’ve always been into sunsets. That relaxed feeling that’s inspired me to write. It’s always been how I’ve felt in those moments in the sun with family and friends that’s been big to me. It had to be something with that.
In some of my future projects, it’s not all upbeat, I do get a little serious. Sun also shines light on things and shows you things, truthful things. It’s all about the light (laughs).
Do you have a particular memory of being in Jamaica that you latched onto while writing Back to the Island?
Not a particular memory, but a lot of the feelings. I’m all about the feel of moments.
Every time I go, I get in this relaxed state where I don’t care what I’m wearing, what I’m doing, eating. I don’t want to make a decision right now! You know what I mean? It comes from those euphoric feelings. Chilling out.
Tell us about your journey as a musician.
It’s been a weird musical journey for me. I used to just be a singer-songwriter; I played a lot of live stuff with my guitar around family and friends, a little bit of the bar scene. When I originally started Sunrayz, it was just to be a producer. I had done the guitar thing and felt like I could express myself better doing production, but I was inspired to start playing the guitar again.
Marley was always trying to show people reggae is so many things. It can be punk, it can be jazz, it can be R&B, so that’s where my mission comes in.
I’m trying to show people to not push reggae aside so much. It’s so versatile and such great music. I’m working on a lot of different types of songs and want to spread the message of reggae that way.
