Sono Vero is a talented young band from Southern California and the 2014 Artists In Music Awards Best Reggae Artist winner.
Sono Vero reached a major milestone in 2014 as their single “Never Say Goodbye” topped the world famous radio station KGUP 106.5FM in Los Angeles for 18 straight weeks as the most requested artist.
The Los Angeles based recording artist shared the Top 10 with other artists including Matt Cardle, Cher Llyod, Glitter Rose, The Neighbourhood, Pierce the Veil, Carleton Stone, Soren Bryce, Melanie Taylor, and Walla.
Sono Vero brings a fresh fun sound that blends Island Reggae with a Hip-Hop/Rap flair. From the beach to the city, Sono Vero is a product of their California surroundings. This Alternative/Reggae/Hip-Hop group has performed across the country and has shared the stage with some of the most reputable names in the scene. The successful release of their self-titled EP climbed to the top 10 iTunes reggae albums
charts.
Where are you guys from? Proud to say we are based out of the South Bay of Los Angeles Redondo Beach, RPV, Torrance, San Pedro. Our drummer is from West Covina but currently lives in Costa Mesa.
How long have you been making music? Most of us have been playing with music since early childhood. Dan, and I started fooling around making songs together on our mac at age 12. Sono Vero released our first EP in 2012
How many songs /albums have you released to date? Three EP’s and two singles, a total of 14 songs. Really enjoyed making each and fun to see how our music has grown and changed with each project.
Can you tell us about your latest release and the background and inspirations behind it? The inspiration behind Roses for the Reckless is a girl. This girl and that relationship carried so many different emotions. It tells a story of the journey of the different stages and evolution of a new relationship and the infatuation and young reckless foolish abandonment you willingly give to it. It’s really a tribute to young love. And the extremity of it.
For example, Never Say Goodbye is about all those little moments that you take for granted, but when it’s time to say goodnight you cant help but replay them in your head. Its an anthem for young love and hopeful heartbreak. It’s written for anyone whose had a night with a significant other and never want to say goodbye.
How have you ended up in the music industry? Music is our passion and a platform to express what we feel in our own unrestricted way. Our music is real. That was the draw for us.
Me and Dan started collaborating about 3 years ago, and pretty much haven’t stopped since. We just really click when it comes to our taste, and what we value out of music.
Our music is inspired by life. Whether the song is about falling in love, a one night stand, or getting drunk at the beach it’s all coming from real life experiences.
What do you think of the music industry in 2014/15? We love the music industry and what social media along with all other web related things has done for it. It gives everyone a chance to succeed if they are creative enough, and can find innovative ways to stand out on their own. The only problem would be the lack of originality that is sometimes apparent.
Who do you think is the most influential artist? Each of us has completely different individual tastes in music, but we feel as though that’s part of what makes us such a unique group.
I think in such an over saturated industry originality is what makes an Artist stand out. All of us enjoy originality in our artists and we hope that originality is conveyed in the music we make.
Who have you collaborated with so far in your career? We have collaborated with some great artists who have really also taken on an active mentor type role in the process. Moi Ses from LIFE and formerly Tomorrows Bad Seeds, Rico Estrada from Ease up, Ryan Gonzales aka Gonzo from Tribal Seeds. Biggest influence really from the talented Lewis Richards from 17th street Studios. Lew is brilliant and also an awesome musician. He worked with us in producing the “Roses for the Reckless” EP and is amazing to work with.
Dead or alive, who would be your dream collaboration? Bruno Mars – just an amazing artist who is not defined by any specific genre.
What was the first album you bought? Our music purchase really are more from the iTunes generation. Sublime played an early influence on me, Dan was more of the urban hip hop side starting with 50 cent.
What’s your favorite song on the “Roses for the Reckless” EP? We were able to do a lot more soul searching with this new Roses for the Reckless EP, which allowed us to broaden our horizons as songwriters.
Our favorite song on the new EP is “End of Forever”. It is such a fusion of genres, a great spanish guitar opening influence, smooth pop ballad with a touch of hip hop/rap. Seems like it would be a scary combo but really comes together well.
We were also so blessed to be able to work with the very talented producer Lewis Richards who contributed greatly to this new sound.
Who is the most influential artist now, and 10 years ago? Sublime, Nirvana, Bruno Mars, Bob Marley, The Dirty Heads, Kanye West, Disclosure are some of the names that come to mind. Love a band from the UK called The 1975, The Weekend – a unique artist with subject material that seems to be really expressive of his true self, but we truly love all music and find something that we can respect from almost any artist.
From ten year ago, Bob Marley of course from reggae, Michael Jackson from the pop side and Sublime – who played a big influence on our startup and individuality.
If you had to sell your music collection tomorrow, what album would you leave in your draw? One Love – Bob Marley
How do you think you differ from other artists? We like to think that we have a sort of personification of California. This comes with a reggae influence but our love of music expands us to a genre of alternative rock and hip-hop as well. We prefer not to be limited to a specific genre but rather remain a hybrid or even trybrid that isn’t restrained to one style and is open to a multitude of possibilities.
Right of the bat when you listen to our new Roses for the Reckless EP you can tell that does not fit in to a cookie cutter genre but rather is a fusion of about three or four main styles in which we’ve grown to love being California natives. Reggae, Pop, Rock, and Hip Hop.
We feel that’s what makes the music real and the listener able to experience and be a part of the story we were sharing when creating that message. As an artist you have to remain true to yourself, when you try to be something your not it shows in glaring colors. Your best work is in the work that you are passionate about.
What is your favourite saying? If you want your passion to replace your “9 to 5″, you have to be working on it from till 9 to 5.
What other hobbies or interests do you have? We all our experts on a unicycle as well as bird calling. ? Seriously, Music is our main interest and where we spend most of our free time.
Do you have any tattoos or piercings? Some of us have both.
Tell us more about your new project? Our next project “Wild” is in the development stage. It will definitely show some new surprises and the continued evolution of us as artists.
What’s in the pipeline after this project? Continue to work hard and hope to spread the Sono Vero word to as many as possible. Really our main goal is to share the music that we love to make. We believe music is a universal language, and we would love for as many people as possible to hear our individual way of conveying that message.
Thank you for your time and may you carry on making dope, fresh music.
Thank you as well for supporting Sono Vero and sharing our story. Really appreciate the interview, blessed to have had this opportunity. Hope your fans like our music and check us out at www.sonoveromusic.com, Facebook, Twitter and on Instagram.
Download Roses for the Reckless on iTunes
Follow on: TWITTER | FACEBOOK | SOUNDCLOUD | WEBSITE
