Six-string showman Lord Sonny the Unifier on the mysteries of great songwriting, his tribulating musical journey, and the Brooklyn music scene
Songwriter PORTRAIT: Lord Sonny The Unifier
Playing from a place of adversity and former years fraught with tragedy, Brooklyn based alt-rock showman Lord Sonny the Unifier reveals the magic and hardship of being an independent artist. But coming from a place of unwavering passion and defiance in the face of struggles and setbacks, of course he wouldn’t have it any other way. To find out all about this rebel with a cause, read on and hit play on his track lists below…
Sonny had a hard graft in the lead-up to recording his first album, in his self-made studio in Brooklyn, NYC. When he began writing music at the age of 16, he wanted his own studio more than anything – completely analogue, with 24 tracks, tapes and amps.
Sonny slaves away at a construction job to reach this goal. He could finally record his first album, and this is exactly what he did, not knowing that soon after tragedy would strike and he would lose everything.
“I slaved at construction for years to reach this goal, and finally did it after ten years. I made one album there, and then tragedy struck and the entire building burned down and I lost everything (I never released that album).”
Like many defiantly independent artists, Sonny decided to use his struggles and setbacks as motivation for his art, deciding to frame this specific catastrophe as a positive redirection and learning opportunity rather than an all out disaster.
“Getting to the first release of Lord Sonny The Unifier was the result of a tragic event that yielded very positive redirections that I am very thankful for now, though I lost everything.”
After all, Sonny managed to get $30,000 from it in the end, and a new artist brimming with determination and unwavering passion for his craft was born. With that money he decided to build a smaller studio with simpler, more modernised equipment – this allowed him to write songs much quicker, and set somewhat of a high-output to produce a diamond in the rough precedent as his creative strategy.
“Writing quicker allows us to not get too attached to the songs and feel obligated to complete songs that aren’t worthy of completion. I feel it’s very important to write a lot of rough ideas at first and then sit on them for a week or so. Then listen to it and see if the song is worth continuing.”
He talks at length about how he’s had to battle the effects of muscle memory playing the guitar, which in his eyes is a big limiter when it comes to playing original stuff. He even writes the most unique parts of his songs on the keyboard or bass guitar now, to then translate it back to lead guitar. Reducing repetition and patterns of playing is vital to eliciting that “magic” of an original standout record, he tells me.
“Before applying this writing perspective, I tuned the guitar in a unique way in order to not follow the muscle memory patterns and see the instrument in a completely altered way.”
While focussed on a path of originality, Sonny is heavily influenced by other songwriting greats that have certainly inspired that creative “magic” inside him – Eddy Van Halen, Joe Strummer, and Lemmy (in particular) are mentioned.
“The song appears from thin air, Bam! Weird, where did this come from? It’s magic, it’s awesome.”
In terms of his actual music, injustice, adversity, grit and resolve seem to be main drivers behind his songs. It’s clear many people are unhappy and angry with the plethora of economic and political elites that grace us with their dishonesty nowadays, but few write and release songs about them with as much tenacity as Lord Sonny.
“The lyrical inspiration for Right In Your I is a revenge fantasy. People in power who seem to live a life of impunity because they can buy their way out of the devious acts they’ve committed will get it in the end. It seems to be a common theme with me, I can’t stand the injustice, the double standards.”
“Keep the Fierce is a song that was written for a friend who’s suffering from PTSD. A brave soldier who’s returned home. He’s a real badass, races motorcycles, completely fearless.”
“Final Notice is a reference to the all caps letters stamped in red on the bill that was snail mailed to your letterbox saying this is it, FINAL NOTICE!”
It’s no surprise that Sonny cites the songwriting process itself as the biggest challenge in his music career – even ahead of his studio burning down – as he suggests that’s the “magic” songwriting.
“We can overcome the many “side issues” of the musical journey: finding the right band members, finding people to play live, finding the right recording studio, record label and PR etc etc. But those are not even the most difficult challenges. You’ve got to have killer tunes or no one will listen to a word you say.”
When asked what’s kept him in Brooklyn all these years, Sonny points to its diversity and eclecticism of culture and music as the main reason – with rap, salsa and rock just some of the sounds blaring on every street corner when he was growing up there.
“Now I am not afraid of using a cow bell, and congas from seeing Salsa live at the Copa Cabana (that shit kicks ass live); or using a string sample like Jay Z. I think it’s the diversity of the musical genres from Brooklyn and the fearlessness to apply them that I appreciate most about the Brooklyn scene. It’s a musical freakout zone.”
According to Sonny (and many others it seems), the best thing about being independent is retaining a fierce authenticity and unbound freedom to truly be who you want, write whatever you want, and release what you want in a way that’s true to yourself. In his words, artists have never had this much freedom to release music “EXACTLY as they imagine it to be, relatively inexpensively.”
He praises Motörhead frontman Lemmy once again as the prime embodiment of anti-corporate culture and relentlessly genuine, unadulterated DIY music. It’s clear as day that Sonny wouldn’t trade his artistic freedoms for any amount of money, publicity, or PR support.
“We can make the work just as we wish, with the songs on it just as we wish. We can look back on our career and say, Well Sinatra, I did it my way as well. This is it. No excuses. No corporate interference.”
Lord Sonny the Unifier has a new album dropping this February on indie label Interstella Smoke Records titled You Were Born To Save Your Life (vinyl and digital platforms) – as well as a subsequent album in the works, The Escape Plan Handbook Pt 1, due to be released over the next year.
