I chose this name because...it's already my name and to people that have heard me in previous groups such as my family band 'The Neilsons' they'd recognize it and *BOOM* easy publicity.
I was gonna call myself, 'Lo-Fi Superstar' but it didn't stick, what do you think?

As a matter of fact I do, I am focusing on being more of a performer this year, but also writing and also doing shows with my sister Tami (tamineilson.com)...my life is opening up so wide I may just take over the world.

I think the internet is made out to be the 'devil' in the MP3 situation. Personally I think Mp3's have caused a LOT of terrible problems, legal-theft if you will. But, it could have been stopped long ago, but of course wasn't. I am a firm believer in proper promotion and if your songs are great enough people will download it, if your ALBUMS are FULL of these GREAT songs people will most likely want to buy it. Ie: Norah Jones, Radiohead...even Coldplay or U2

I think every single artist WANTS to sign to a major label, basically they want the world to know them for whatever reasons, my reason is for people to see me, just so people can understand me, I want people to hear what I have to say, discover who I am and understand where I'm coming from, I wanna be respected for what I have and share everything I have to as many people as possible. Frankly, having a major label may not be the (I love this term) 'Bees Knees' but it helps conquer the beast quicker. If I don't get a major label, no matter...the world will hear what I have eventually. I am in no hurry to capture your hearts.

I grew up in Toronto, Ontario, my father was and is a musician/comedian/songwriter, he taught me bass when I was 9 (Wow, almost 17 years ago) and he was SOOOO happy when I finally started playing guitar almost 11 years ago. :)

I toured for years with my family's group, we went from 'gospel' (touring churches, picnics, etc) to 'country' (touring fairs and festivals with people like Johnny Cash) to 'showband' (performing on showboats in Nashville and Branson, even the Carribean). Our 'Country' CD garnered 2 top 20 hits in 1996 and we won 2 international music awards, one in Houston and one in New York. After we decided to stop touring as a family it was time for us kids (My sister, Tami and brother Todd) to try out our new-found musical freedom, so we did with 'Argyle Road', we made 3 sets of demos, one with producer Justin Gray (Snow, Wave, Sugarjones) and the other two on our own. We worked and continue to work with Chris Taylor (a MAJOR force in the Canadian AND US music industry) But eventually 'Argyle Road' disolved as well, leaving me and Tam to try something new...and we did, since I was 15 and Tami was 14 we started writing songs (Tami provides most of the lyrics). Today we have about 400 compositions in our combined catalog, and I love writing with her. We recorded a indie CD this past September called *drum roll* 'Tami and Jay' and did a couple of dates to back it up, I recorded a 'solo' indie CD called, 'Goodbye To You' which is just an example of the kind of stuff I write on my own. :)

I am working a lot on soundtrack stuff these days, besides my own songs and also working with Tami on her songs, our songs and her gigs and shows...also I want to relocate soon to God only knows where, be it New York, California or New Zealand. I have my finger on the 'Play' button of my future.

When I first started playing bass my main influence were people like 'Prince' *haha*. I played a lot of gospel though so...let's just stick with 'Prince'. When I got my first real guitar when I was 15 the first CD I bought (the first CD I EVER bought) was Simon and Garfunkel - Bookends. They were close to the first to influence me, I also have a deep deep love for well-written pop such as the Beatles and Ben Folds Five, Dave Matthews Band, John Mayer, etc.
I also find my greatest joy in continuing to discover how much of a greats like Nick Drake and I also can't get enough of Radiohead. Of course.

Out of the places I've been SO far, I would have to say 'California', though I've yet to be in NYC. I also love being in Branson, Midland, Ontario (PROPS) and I would love to play my guitar directly underneath Mount Rushmore, but haven't yet. :P

I record almost all of my stuff on my 'Roland VS880', I have a Shark-DSP110 phantom power unit, I use an AKG C3000B microphone and mix it onto my Tascam CD-RW700. At which point I extract it onto my computer (using Roxio's Soundstream software) and edit it in Goldwave. (Thumbs up to Goldwave, I LOVE that program)

These days I also use a shareware program called 'Hammerhead' for my cheesy drum loops, I got it from download.com. :)

In this industry I'm in where music can be so cookiecutter, sex-injected and fake, I hope I can still be respected and enjoyed as an original. Take what you like from my music, I offer it all. Enjoy.

'We are the music makers...'

Jay

www.jayneilson.com