Corrington Wheeler likes to play with music, as children like to play with their food. This concept being quite fun for him, as he plays with such genres as hard rock, post-hardcore, r&b, and acoustic pop rock, that brings together a style that truly mixes the genres up to sounding impressive yet detailed. His latest works "Seeking Light", is an album that features an array of guest appearances from numerous artists from various acts, The Color Morale, Sycamour, Jamie's Elsewhere, among others. Thus, each of his song's is like a photograph it is only the split second of a story to be told, therefore Corrington has offered a much deeper insight behind these songs upon his official website found HERE. With that, Corrington has gone on to promote his singles, accompanying videos, the album and performances as well. He has taken the time to go into discussion about all of this material, needed to be discussed right here, right now.
1. Introduce yourself, tell me what you do as Corrington Wheeler, and how long have you been a musician?
I'm a performing solo-artist that sings both Post-hardcore and R&B. I released my first music video in August and then my first EP Traveling East in October, 2015. Since then I've released a full length album called Seeking Light that features Sebastian Elizondo of Darkness Divided from Victory Records, Jeremy Gilmore of Sycamour from Hopeless Records, Garret Rapp of The Color Morale from Fearless Records, Ryan Tyler of Viridian, Rory Rodriguez of Dayseeker from Spinefarm Records, and London Kyle of Jamie's Elsewhere. On July 21st, 2016 I started performing and have since been fortunate enough to perform with national acts such as Chris Taylor Brown of Trapt, Seasons After, Vesperteen, Bobaflex, Lacey Sturm of Flyleaf, and Alien Ant Farm.
2. How did the name Corrington Wheeler come up and tell me what does it mean to you? Has anyone ever called you Joey Wheeler from the anime series Yu-Gi-Oh since you both have the last namesake?
My full name is very unique and helps me dominate SEO, so it's great for marketing. What it means to me is that Corrington Wheeler isn't a person, he's an idea; a person that chases his dreams no matter the cost, a highly analytical individual that works hard and inspires others. I actually have been called Joey Wheeler from Yu-Gi-Oh before and also Wheeler from Captain Planet haha.
3. If your solo artist why do you have a supporting band to back you up? Wouldn't that make you more of a band than a solo artist?
As a solo-artist, I finance the entire project, write all the music, pay for production, direct and edit all the music videos, sell the merchandise, handle marketing, promotions, and run the entire operation. The band is specifically to play live shows with me, this odd setup has made for simplicity and accelerated growth. A full band normally has to unanimously agree for every step along the way, but I can just decide and keep pressing on without slowing down.
4. Where are you based out of and what is your music scene like there? Are there any local artists or bands you could recommend?
I recently moved to Houston, Texas just last years from Japan. I was stationed in Okinawa while I was a Meteorologist for the United States Air Force. There are plenty of very talented artists everywhere, which is the main problem with the music industry; oversaturation. Some of my favorite local artists include The Other LA, Viridian, and Awake At The End.
5. What or whom has influenced your sound and style?
I was originally trained by Phil Druyor of I Am Abomination, so my vocals reflect that pretty intensely. From there, London Kyle produced my Traveling East EP. Bands that I listen to, in order to influence my content when I write include Crown The Empire, Before Their Eyes, Issues, and Deaf Havana.
6. Do you write your own songs? (Discuss the songwriting process in detail.)
I typically contract an engineer to create an instrumental. He’ll send me the finished concept and also a version with suggested vocal melodies, in the form of piano roll. I’ll record a few times to find vocal melodies and harmonies that I like. At that point, I’ll write an entire page or story and then pull small sections from the document and plug it into the song. After I finish recording vocals, I’ll send all the files to the audio engineer for mixing, mastering, vocal pitching, and editing. He sends me the final product, then I send him a ton of money and my first newborn.
7. What are your songs about? (What specific themes do they cover?)
I was fortunate enough to travel to multiple countries at a very young age. Seeing so many different cultures impacted and influenced me in a way that when I returned to America, I could almost see through each society’s illusionistic constructs; I could see what was really important. Each song on my Seeking Light album discuss different lessons that I learned while seeing the world and how my morals changed. Sociology and Philosophy are my main sources of inspiration for all my lyrical content. In the future, I'll start writing about the music industry and the stresses associated with being an independent artist.
8. "Your Erroneous Evil (ft. Rory Rodriguez of Dayseeker)" is labeled as "Part 2" while "Sociological Structural Functionalism (ft. Eric Ferraro)" is Part 1" while part 2 came out before part 1, so what is the deal between these tracks and their accompany videos? Why the part 1 and 2 and those being mismatched out of order? Do any of the other tracks of "Seeking Light" do the "part" ordeal?I wanted the two video to tell a metaphoric story, but we ended up finishing the 2nd video before the first because of mechanical issues with the motorcycle that's seen in SSF's video. That forced us to postpone the final video shoots for months. Despite the late release of part one, the two videos have been surprisingly successful. Using promotional campaigns with Rive Video Promo, both music videos for "Sociological Structural Functionalism" and "Your Erroneous Evil" has been played on over 177 global networks cumulative including Video Hits!, PC Music pool, RNR TV, OK! TV, The Cool TV, VH1 India, Havoc TV, Bowling Music Network, Club Com Inc, In-Store Sports Network, ScreenPlay, Promo Only, VJ Pro, Channel M/Play Network, Mood Media, Almen Joi’s Music Video Show, Sidewalks Entertainment, The Insane Show, Xcorps Action Sport TV, KVJ Rocks, Rhythms on The Rockside, DaPow, Access Unlimited TV.
Part one in the story is the music video for “Sociological Structural Functionalism”. It shows Corrington stealing the book of knowledge of the keepers of hidden knowledge, then they pursue him. Throughout the video, we can see Corrington arguing with his faceless ego in his mind. The keeper of the book then is confronted with ego manifested. He then escapes his pursuers, arriving at a circle of cars on motorcycle. Corrington can be seen in each of the cars, showing that Corrington isn’t a person, he’s an idea.
The part two of the story can be seen in the music video for Your Erroneous Evil, which speaks about how greed isn’t fully understood and how everything we do is built off the primitive emotion of selfishness. Corrington obtains the book and begin to preach to the circle of cars, last seen in the previous video. Each car represents a different aspect of his mind, essentially lecturing himself. As the video progresses, the excessive knowledge from the book begins to corrupt him with power.
9. Aside from the singles and videos mentioned above, "Skorkas Witchery (ft. Maico)" was one of the first singles off "Seeking Light". Why was this song chosen as such and what does the accompanying video disclose?
Tada Maico flew from Tokyo down to Okinawa to feature her beautiful guest vocals on the track, which turned out great. It needed to be an ominous duet to fully tell the eerie story about living in a haunted home with no one that will believe you. When I was growing up, I lived in a house that had high paranormal activity and it was traumatizing. The girl in the lyrical video represents my innocents as a child.
10. Are there any plans to release any more singles or videos from the album and will they be a continuation of any of the previously released?
Every song from the album will get an accompanying video, we still have 3 more videos to release. Later this winter, I'll be releasing a new punk-rock single called "Mainsail" that describes my abrasive personality when I first moved out after high school.
11. Why the need of having 8 out of the 9 tracks feature guest spots from numerous artists? How did you manage to get in touch with everyone who was involved? Would you say that these acts were the ones you always dreamt of working with?
Every track on the album was intended to have a guest vocalist, but coordination was difficult. It's not hard to reach out to your favorite artists, it's just not easy to agree on a price for their time. I'm not an avid listener of all the bands that's featured on my album, but it was certainly thrilling to work with some of them.
12. "Gabriel's Assumption", is the only track to not feature a guest spot, why was this the only original track with no one else but you?
This song was originally intended to feature Craig Owens, then Mikey Sawyer of Miss Fortune, but they eventually backed out. In the end, I guess it worked out because now we have one song that's fully original.
13. Whilst this album just came out this past spring time, do you have any new music in the works?
Just the new "Mainsail" song, as previously mentioned. The entire CW team and myself are currently working on Pop, R&B, and hip-hop music to be released next year under an entirely different artist name of just "Corrington". This way we can build off the Corrington Wheeler reputation and still not need to necessarily change a lot of social media platforms. It also won't bleed over, concerning SEO, and will make marketing easier.
14. What is your personal strategy for making your music heard by a larger audience?
I don't want to reveal my all my best strategies, but the main thing is to focus on social media. Instagram is our bread and butter, but it's important to funnel all our listeners, no matter what platform, to our website.
15. How would you say you differ from other bands and artists on the scene?Unfortunately, I can't say that I am much different. Nowadays, everyone's talented and releases quality material. To standout I ensure my work ethic, my fan interaction, and my brand is genuine and unique. That's why we use philosophy, masonic influences, a puppet, and use exotic cars.
16. What does next year hold for Corrington Wheeler?
I'm currently in the process of looking for a publicist, manager, producer, and a record label. We're also going to fund multiple PR campaigns to expand our exposure.
17. Where can fans find out more about you?
www.CorringtonWheeler.com
18. Can you describe Corrington Wheeler in three words?
Philosophy, cars, inspirational.
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