Today we had the opportunity to sit down with .irg and chat about his upbringing and musical journey. .irg’s passion is evident; it is at the forefront of his brand expansion this year.
Interviewer: So tell us a bit about where you’re from?
.irg: Oh, originally, so I was born in Queens, New York, in 1997. And then, I moved to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 2001 with my family. It was literally like a month right before 9/11. So I guess we got out pretty lucky because it was close to where everything happened in Queens. But yes, we moved there in 2001, and my family is still living there, but I moved this past October, so I guess 2020 to Quakertown, Pennsylvania, which is about an hour and a half away, but I moved for work. But pretty much it’s just originally from New York, but currently residing in PA, is what I would say.
Interviewer: Awesome. I remember when I was talking to you on the phone, you said that Quakertown, Pennsylvania was almost like an Amish kind of tiny municipality.
.irg: It’s Lancaster. Lancaster is like that. Lancaster is like the Amish country. That’s what it’s known for. You could literally type in Lancaster on Google search, and it’s like, you just see horse and buggies and stuff and it’s kind of crazy because one of them I guess counties it’s called Lititz and it’s within Lancaster County and it was actually voted like best place to live in the US, like a couple of years ago or something. So like, as soon as that happened, everyone just flooded it, and now it’s like it’s developing up, and it’s crazy. So it’s like the whole Amish side of things. And then there’s also the like if you go to Lancaster City and there’s all those gluten-free restaurants and all the up-and-coming pop-culture type stuff, I guess. It’s starting to look more and more like a New York City or LA or something when it comes to like the businesses there and the people and the types of ideas they have and what they’re trying to push, but there’s also the countryside of it, which I really liked too.
Interviewer: So you feel like you connect a little bit more with the countryside because you said you grew up in Queens, but you, did you move when you were young?
.irg: Yes, so I was like almost five years old when we left. I was about four or five when we left to go to Lancaster. So I remember bits and pieces of it. I know my grandparents, they ran a foster care there with this huge, huge white house in Queens. It was like three or four stories, and we always had kids in and out of there all the time. And my family was living in that big house too with them, but when we moved out and just, I guess just moving to PA was really expensive to live in New York. And you know, my parents were just starting out too, so they decided to move to Lancaster because it was cheaper to live there and the schools are better than New York. It’s just in inner-city schools compared to schools in the suburbs, you know, sometimes you can’t beat it.
Interviewer: That makes sense. That’s awesome, man. That’s such a big transition, you know, lifestyle wise. So I guess during all that transitioning, growing up, when did the idea to become an artist, when did that start?
.irg: It’s funny because growing up, I feel like I was the least musical. I don’t know if that’s the right word for it, but compared to all my family. Like my dad was a worship leader in his church, like for years. And my mom would always be a part of the worship team, like she was singing. But my dad was like the one of those guys, he could play the bass, he played electric guitar. He could play the piano. Never seen him play the drums. His brother would play the drums all the time, but he can’t read sheet music or anything, but he just knows the chord progressions. He can make chord charts and everything like that. And it was funny, it was like this huge Pentecostal Spanish speaking church.
It was like only Spanish speaking. And it was just so funny because compared to that, compared to the church I go now it’s like a world of difference, you know, they’re just like running down the aisles, waving flags and now it’s, you know, you go to church and it’s like, very, you know, I have a little bit of worship, have the message. And then you go home after an hour and a half, but with the church like that, you’re there from like nine in the morning until five at night. It’s crazy.
And then my brother was one of those people, him and my dad are one of those people that they have like the photographic memory. So like they would just read books like in a couple hours, like just 500 page books. It’s crazy. And they took things really easily. So like my brother, he was really good at drums and everything like that as well. But for me, I never really, I mean, I grew up, I played the clarinet a little bit when I was a kid, probably for like two or three years. And then I just stopped because I guess soccer was my passion. So I decided to at the time just pursue soccer and only soccer. And I didn’t really rediscover my love for music, I guess, to become an artist probably until my sophomore year of college.
.irg: So I went to Millersville University of Pennsylvania in 2015 and then I was only there for about two years, and I transferred to Lancaster Bible College in Pennsylvania. And part of the reason I transferred was to find a new major, but also I wanted to play for the soccer team at the school, just a small private school. So it was just not a huge commitment and it was a lot more fun than playing for like a division two school that I was at, which I didn’t play for and I didn’t try out for, but I just didn’t want to make it like a second job, you know, just playing. I wanted it to be fun. But when I transferred over too, I realized that I never played soccer in high school. I never played soccer in college, and all the kids that I was playing with at Lancaster Bible they all played four years through high school. They started in college, and their bodies were used to it.
.irg: So when I started to play at Lancaster Bible, like my body, I wasn’t used to playing Monday through Saturday, you know, and practicing games for two hours. So my body was like, I was getting injuries and I was, you know, and I realized it’s like, man, like I’m falling apart right now. I’m only like 23 years old, and I actually have to go get surgery on the fifth of May, on my knee. So it’s like just stuff that’s like, it’s crazy, and it made me realize, like I need to find something that’s a new passion because I’m not going to be able to have soccer up until I’m like 50 years old. You know, my body will not be able to handle that.
So I needed to find a passion that no matter what happens to my body, I can at least, you know, I can still do something. I can sit down on a chair and do this. So that’s when one day I just was like, looked back at what I did when I was younger, other than just sports. And I was like, Oh, well, I really did enjoy music, but I just chose one or the other. Let me see if I can go back into that. So then I just like went to a good guitar center, dropped a thousand dollars and just bought all this equipment that I needed to just get started, like the JBL speakers, my interface, I think it was a Scarlet at the time.
I also the software for logic pro and I just started creating and I was like, wow, like I can’t actually play instruments, but I can just type in middy, you know? And I guess that’s my version of it. So I guess, and I always kind of excelled with anything computer related. So it’s weird. I just kind of took to that and obviously when I first started it wasn’t that great, but you know, I just stuck with it every day. So that’s kind of what led me to become an artist, and it was just a need for longevity, I guess.
Interviewer: That’s awesome, man. I can totally relate to a lot of what you said. And you know, obviously, when you’ve looked back you know, you see how much progress you’ve made, you see that it was worth, you know, the risk of revisiting music again, and investing a thousand dollars from the jump. It looks like it’s been really rewarding.
.irg: Taking everything into account of what I’ve done regarding investing into equipment, upgrading equipment, investing into promotional stuff like publicist stuff or whatever, like, you know, investing into the craft. I haven’t made a return of investment. I’ve made money from it, like actual money that I never thought I would, but I haven’t made that return of investment, but I’m not bothered by it. Do you know what I mean? It’s something that’s, it’s like, my dad has a hobby of motorcycles and stuff like that. And he has a couple of Harleys and stuff, and it’s not something that you make money off of. He just likes being a part of this motorcycle club and they go driving like hours every, like every weekend. And you pour money into that, pour money into that; it’s an expensive hobby, but it makes him happy. Do you know what I mean?
.irg: Luckily, I have something that could be profitable in the future, but right now it’s like, I’ve only been at this since probably the end of 2017. And most people don’t see like ROI until probably 10 years down the road, you know? And not a lot of people are okay with that. You know, you have to mentally yourself to like, be okay with not seeing anything for that amount of time, you know.
Interviewer: Awesome, man, that definitely makes sense. And I can, again, but sometimes the return is not monetary all the time. It’s experience and it’s relationships. So what, what has been your favorite project that you’ve created to date? Was it maybe the one that you kind of finally put together after buying all this equipment, or maybe it was kind of your latest you know, most up to date, you know, all the expertise you’ve learned along the way. What’s your favorite project you’ve worked on to date?
.irg: I think my favorite project is probably my single New Jersey. That’s probably my favorite. I’ve worked on it to date for multiple reasons. The first reason is it’s about my wife, obviously. And I made that when we weren’t even dating yet. And we were just kind of like in the talking stage, I guess, of when I was probably, I probably made that in the first week or two of me meeting her and now we’re married. So that’s kind of like a symbol for me to like, knowing that like, you know, she was the one. And the second thing was, it was also the project that felt the most natural out of anything I’ve put out. Like the whole writing process probably took about 10 minutes which was crazy because it might be some of the best lyrics that I’ve ever written personally.
.irg: So that was kind of like, it just flowed on paper and it just felt so natural. And a lot of my songs feel natural, but that one was just like, I felt like I could have done it with my eyes closed kind of feeling. So that had a huge impact and then also too, it’s just like, out of all my music that I’ve put out, I haven’t been able to recreate that specific vibe in my opinion that that song gives off. And a lot of people tell me that, that like, they’ll send me videos or messages and they’ll be like, man, like you put this out in like 2018 or 2019. I can’t remember exactly. It’s like this still hits different is what they’re saying, you know? And so I think it’s probably my only song that I have out that feels timeless, I guess is what I would say.
Interviewer: What does your creative process look like?
.irg: I have a creative process, but every track that I’ve worked on is like, it’s been different each time. Like, there’s been like an order change of how I do something. Like maybe I’ll do the chorus first or maybe I’ll work with on the beat first, or I work on, you know, or I’ll just have lyrics right now before I even hear of a melody in my head, you know, it’s, it’s very different of the order, but as of lately, my process has kind of evolved into, I’ve really been kind of going into a lot of like top lining which has kind of helped, I guess, inventory of the music in general of what I have in my catalog. That’s unreleased too, you know, and having a lot of it so that I can have options of what I want to release next and how I strategically want to release it.
.irg: But my career process, I guess, from creating a song, it always starts with either like there’s some type of loop and the simpler the better for me personally. Because of the way that, like I sing in my vocals and the lyrics and everything, it all comes together. It’s very melodic and rhythmic. So when a lot’s going on, it’s really hard for me to put anything over that because I feel like I’m trying to find my place where I fit in, in the track. So usually I just go and I’ll find a loop, whether it’s an Apple loop or whatever, and I’ll just loop it 20 times or something. And then I’ll just kind of have it on, repeat, have it on repeat and logic and just kind of flow. And just like, I might not even be saying words, but just trying to figure out how I want to, how do I want to flow in the song?
.irg: So just kind of figuring out melodies, and I’ll have my voice memos app and I’ll just kind of have it on record just so don’t forget anything. And I probably do about 30 minutes to an hour of that. Just figuring out what’s the best that I can kind of come up with the sound. And then also too, I’ll take that loop and I’ll transpose it and see if maybe there’s different keys that work better for, you know, because sometimes it’s weird. And I don’t, I’m not a music theory guy by any means, because I, you know, I wasn’t classically trained. I don’t have like the sheet music down or anything like that, but I do just have an ear for music and the way that I create and I just transpose, like sometimes with different keys, like different rhythms, different melodies will come out and it’s weird because based on my vocal range, I guess would be the technical reason why.
.irg: But yes, it’s basically just a lot of random stuff in the beginning, vocally that kind of gets me started. And then once that, once that happens and I find it, like, I just look around and I think about what has happened recently, like in my life, in the past couple of weeks or the past a month or whatever. And I’ll look at my notes, and I’ll look at different things, and I’ll find keywords and key phrases that have really been sticking out to me lately. And based on those things, like the reason that I came up with the song for Stick With Me that’s coming out. It was some type of joke that me and my wife had where we were just joking around with each other through text, and I just said something to her. I was like, don’t worry about it. Just stick with me and you’ll be fine, you know?
.irg: And then like, it was just in a text. And then that triggered me to, like, when I heard that beat, I was just looking through old text messages and seeing like, Hey, like maybe what could be something that could be like a turning point for this song and that just stood out. And I was like, that’s it, that’s what I need for this track. So everything that every track that I put out is like about something that I’m currently going through at that time, or currently has been said, or it’s not like I’m trying to look online, and like, how do you write songs? Or how do you write something random like that? So it all applies to something, or somewhere that I’ve been or said or a message to someone, or it’s funny how it all relates and it adds to the creativity. So that’s kind of my process for that.
.irg: But when it comes to producing, it’s basically loops and Mitty for me from the start until I work with, like, I have a couple of producers I work with, and I’ll like to send them off my stems. And then the beginning product of what I come up with does not sound at all what the end product sounds like in a good way, you know, because we’ll send stuff back and forth. I’ll get updates from them about that, and I’ll send them more vocals or more of this or more of that, whatever. And then they’ll give me updates like, okay, I’m heading in this direction, are you okay with that? And it’s a collaborative process and it works. And until we find something we, we all love. So that’s pretty much the process of collaboration with a lot of my tracks too.
Interviewer: So how is the reality of being an independent artist compared to your expectations of it? You mentioned at the beginning that since the start you’ve always approached it as a business but maybe even before you became an artist or were thinking about it, you know, what were your expectations and what does that look like in regards to the actual reality?
.irg: Well, I mean, I was naive when I started. I always thought that, Hey, look, let me release three singles, let me release a five song EP, and then let me release a 12 song album, and then I’ll be famous. That was kind of what I thought. When I first started, I didn’t know anything about the music industry. I didn’t know about the work that you had to put in. And you know, and it’s obviously a lot easier said than done to come up with how many songs, almost 20 songs. So it was a process, and it was humbling and a learning curve for sure. But, I think that it made me realize that like anything worth getting is really just worth working hard for, you know and understanding that just because it will take a long time to get it doesn’t mean that you’ll never get it.
.irg: It just means that you have to be patient and you have to put in the work and grind, and you’ll get it when your time is right. So I guess my expectations were as long as I put out 20 songs, no matter what the quality, or no matter how advanced I was, as long as I put in that much, then I should be fine and I’ll get to where I want to get to. And, you know, and the reality was, it’s not like that. There’s no actual number of how much content you put out. There’s no certain date that you can hit. Like, oh, I’ve been doing this for three years. So I’m entitled to this. No, it’s a process, and the reality is you have to work really hard to be heard. And you have to realize that people will turn you down and people will, I guess, tell you one thing, tell you that you’re good or whatever, just to kind of get you off their back, or you’ll get a lot of rejection and you have to realize that you’ve got to love that rejection, or you can’t be in the business. You know, if you can’t handle that, you can’t be in the business is what I meant to say. So I guess that’s the biggest reality is just loving that criticism.
Interviewer: That’s awesome, man. So true. So I guess, I mean, obviously, everybody experiences rejection. Everybody thinks that this next song will be the make it or break it kind of thing. So it does happen. But I mean, again, it is a process, and we learn from every song that we create. And then there are times where we feel like we’ve done enough, but it’s not enough. You know, we all capped.
.irg: Everyone thinks that way, and I thought this too, it’s like that. Okay. I could be the next Kid Laroi when it comes to that, okay, this kid doesn’t have any music out anywhere. He just dropped his first song, and it’s blowing up. Like, and everyone will be like, Oh, it’s just because his music is so good. Yeah. There’s that, but he also has a huge team behind him that no one knows about and I’m not throwing any shade at Kid Laroi, but he’s an industry plan, you know what I mean? Because his whole story is that he’s been working on music since like 12 years old, you know, like, so he had five or six years under his belt before he even got that. And he released music, but the label he signed to just removed all of his persona before they dropped the song online, they removed the whole thing. And because they have the power and the money to do that. And I’m saying that, and I’m going off on that tangent, just to say that, even though it looks like they came out of nowhere and they dropped one song and they became famous overnight. Like they were putting in work for years before that. So and not a lot of people know that, but I’m not even about specifically about anyone else in general.
Interviewer: I understand. So everybody’s, again at a different point in their career. You know, you’ve been doing this for a while now and you have a lot of experience because you had to do a lot yourself. What are some of the biggest challenges that you face when you’re trying to start a new project, you know or a new song? Again, you might feel out of place, like you’ve capped, you’ve done a lot, or maybe the inspiration’s not there. Maybe, maybe there’s something on the producer’s end. Maybe he lost some files. They got deleted. I don’t know. Like, what are some of the biggest challenges you faced when starting a new project?
.irg: I think right now is just because of the path of life that I’ve chosen. You know, I wanted to be a husband. I wanted to be a family man. I don’t see myself being that artist who’s like going on a world tour or anything. Like, that’s not what I want to do. I don’t want to tour or anything like that. I don’t mind doing a show every now and then or anything like that, but I just know me and my personality. I don’t want to be on the road like that. So that being said, the biggest thing that I guess had to understand is that or the biggest roadblock is that like, because I’m a family man and I’m a husband, I have to go to work and because I have to go to work, then I have to come home and I have to help my wife out with things that she needs, and I’ve got to be a good husband in that aspect. So sometimes I don’t have as much time to work on the craft as I used to be able to when I was in college and we were just dating, you know?
.irg: So that obviously, if you’re not putting in the actual time, stuff’s not going to happen as quickly as what it used to be. Because what I could usually do is, you know, I’d come back from, from class or whatever and I just worked for like seven, eight hours because I had no other commitment on the music. But now it’s like coming home and I got to get stuff done and maybe I’ll get like maybe one hour of working on music. And it’s not a complaining thing. It’s, it’s like I’m happy that I’m at this point right now. It’s just a realization that now I’m going to have to be very, very selfish with the time, in a good way, with the time that I do have for, for that. And just be really good with my time management. So it’s more responsibility means that you have to be more responsible with your time.
Interviewer: Awesome. I completely get it. And you recently got married, right? How long have you been married?
.irg: Since March 20th.
Interviewer: I’m just trying to think of how to form this next question because it’s important to like what you said is definitely, I think we all have we all have goals. We all have mission statements that we stand behind that we want to live by. And, you know, for example, for me, the acronym, W-H-Y, I think it was Y; it stood for why I do what I do. And that was the “w” stood for worship when I create, the H stands for heart, always do it with passion with everything that you do and the “Y” stood for, you know, just be yourself, Like don’t overthink it, people want you and I have to, you know, revisit that sometimes to remember why I started doing what I did in the first place.
Interviewer: And so obviously along the way, there’s going to be temptations to you know, man, I’m not making enough music. You know, I got to put more time in, you know, or this opportunity came up. This could be a life-changer for my wife, and you know, like there’s different, I’m not saying that’s the case. I’m just saying like you know it’s just the nature of life. And it’s so good to have that mindset that you do. So, you know, that’s what your goal is, man. That’s the priority, obviously. You know, it’s really good.
.irg: The funny thing was before you go on to the next question, I think, and I’m guilty of this too, but a lot of people think that may be because maybe that they follow me, but they don’t know me personally. I think they think that just because I have a blue checkmark next to my name on Instagram, that like, I don’t have a full-time job. Like, music’s my full-time thing. And I’m guilty of this too, because sometimes I’ll see like blue check marks on Instagram and I’ll be like, Oh, that guy’s probably like doing music full time, you know? And the reality is a lot of them are not, you know, literally that’s just like they have like their full-time thing. And then they’ll just focus on their online persona is only music, you know, because that’s all they’re posting because they’re not going to post about their day job, you know? At least not me, I’m not posting about my day job. So it’s just funny because people don’t realize, because other responsibilities other than the music that those people have, you know.
Interviewer: It’s a social perception for sure. The next question was what do you do to stay calm? Like when this could be tied around a project, this could be tied around maybe scheduling time that you’re working on music and it’s not working out, maybe communication with somebody that you’re collaborating with. It’s not going as planned. What do you do to stay calm when a quote unquote project is not going as planned?
.irg: Stay calm. I think I’m just a very, very good communicator when it comes to I don’t bottle anything in, but whatever I do release, I say, in a way that’s not blowing up or you or disrespectful or anything. Like, so for example, if like someone was supposed to get on a phone call with me, or someone was supposed to do something that they said they were going to do if it doesn’t happen, I’ll reach out, you know, and I’ll let it know, like I’ll let them know that, Hey, look like I was holding you to your word here. This is what you were saying, but I’m not going to be like, like, why don’t you do that? You know, like, I’m not going to be up in their face about it, but I just communicate with them and let them know, like, this was the issue. It’s totally fine. But maybe next time we can kind of go this route to not have a repeat of this later.
.irg: Because for me, it’s like, I hold everyone to a standard that I hold for myself, you know? And even when I told you, I made it very clear. Like I totally forgot about our meeting today, but you texted me. And I made myself about like, you know, I made sure I was there., which is fine for people like, and no one’s perfect, everyone can forget things. But when stuff like when stuff like that happens where like people are not putting in the same effort that I’m putting in for me to stay calm in that area is just kind of to respond in love.
.irg: Because of my sinful nature in me, I want to be like, are you kidding me right now? Like what are you doing? That’s how I want to respond, but, you know, my thing is I don’t know everything that’s happening in their life. I don’t know everything that might be going on or a reason that they might not have been able to make it. So because I don’t know everything, it’s not my responsibility, nor do I have the right to judge anyone else. You know, it’s just the Lord can do that. But so, I pretty much just stay calm and by saying that it’s really not in my control, you know and since, again, being able to release that control, it kind of just takes all the anxiety and the stress away from me.
Interviewer: That’s a really good answer. And it’s having that sober mindset to where it’s something is, you know, it’s just more so saying, like you’re being the bigger person, you’re doing the godly thing. But you’re also kind of keeping the project, because a lot of times people could respond the opposite way and everything that they had planned that relationship they have with that person is just tarnished, you know, because they, they chose to react and respond out of their emotions rather than what was reasonable and what was the right thing to do. So really good, man. And it’s a really good look for you too, because people might respect that, you know, people that aren’t believers wow. Like I’ve never had that kind of response from somebody before. And that was very different. You know, it’s really good.
Interviewer: What is the value that you can give to an aspiring artist or musician or creative that wants to get into the music industry or music business?
.irg: First thing I would say is, do not be one of those people who I’m going to be, have to be careful about how I say this. Don’t be a perfectionist, it’s good to be, to care about your work. And it’s good to want to try to put the best product out there, but if you’re trying to be a perfectionist, you will not get anything out. And I know a lot of people like that. And the biggest thing I would say is, you know, just put out music, put out music, put out music, because whatever you put out, that’s the worst you’re going to be. You know, that first song you put out is the worst you’re going to be, and then your only goal for your next track after that and the one after that and the one after that, it should be, let me just do better than the last song and then the next song. Let me just do better than the last song.
.irg: And that’s how I’ve been, you know, I’ve been releasing music probably once every, at least two months since or actually, I would say at least once every three months, I’ve released something since probably 2017. And my thing is I’m just trying to improve each time. I’m not trying to make the number one hit. I’m just trying to improve, improve, improve until that quality just is naturally there all the time. So that’s the biggest advice I would give from someone who’s trying to create long-term. But then for people who are just trying to, I guess, advice for people who are trying to just get into it and just test it out and see what’s happening. I don’t know if I would go as crazy as a thousand dollars dropping down like that. But what I would do is I would recommend getting free software, trying to do as much free software as possible.
.irg: I mean, obviously you’re going to have to spend a little bit of money to get your interface and stuff like that then, but like you don’t have to get the greatest, best equipment to be legit. You know, a lot of people like even this YouTuber I watch, Andrew Wong. He has so much stuff, but he even says that sometimes he prefers creating more when you have limitations. Because it just inspires you to think out the box and try to like, make something that people wouldn’t expect you to make with that, you know, with the means that you have right then and there. So that’s what being creative is all about. Try to do stuff with things that you wouldn’t think that you could do in the first place. So you know, and that guy, just even his name, I don’t know if you’re familiar with that YouTuber.
.irg: But he’ll make music out of like taking voice memos of boiling, like putting a speaker in boiling water, or like freezing a speaker and putting it in a freezer and then like letting it sit out and like hearing like the ice break and the cracks, like he’ll just get the noise from that of the ice cracking throughout the day and he’ll go and chop it up and he’ll put it into music. You know, little stuff like that. It’s like, it’s not that hard, you know, to do stuff like that. But no one would think to do that, you know? So it’s thinking outside of the box and just trying to work with your limitations. I would also just give those pieces of advice.
.irg: Really good advice really and I mean, there’s obviously things that all of us wish that we knew when we started and you can never know, you can definitely just take advice from people that have, you know that have done that. That are in the same place that are established or independent. The next question is, what are you most proud of in your career so far?
.irg: I think I’m the most proud of my album that I put out, but not because of the actual product, more so, I’m proud about the process that we went through to do it or to complete it. So that was like kind of a collab album with me and my buddy Christian Currents and he lives down in South Carolina. And we had a lot of different producers on it. We had like Zach Hannah, Josh Wentz, different people that we’re adding to the project. And it’s crazy because we all live in different places. Because I’m in Pennsylvania, he’s there in South Carolina. They flew up twice and stayed with me for probably at least seven or eight days each time. And we just like locked ourselves in the room, like in my bedroom and just made music for like a whole like eight days.
.irg: It was like right in the beginning of quarantine. We made a whole documentary of it. Like we recorded like all, like, it was probably like a hundred hours of footage and I just like went through it, cut it all down into actually 40 minutes. And it’s on YouTube now, like our whole process over those two weeks, from the beginning to the end of making the project. And it’s just incredible that I was able to set all of that up and just get all these moving parts, working perfectly to be able to get this project off the ground, you know?
.irg: I think that’s one of my proudest moments because I just love networking. I love meeting new people. I love bringing people together. And like all of them told me they were like, look like this is crazy. Like down in South Carolina where we live, the music scene is not that hot, but you would just like blew up our world with the amount of people that you introduced us here up in the Northeast, you know? And they like to have collabs out with these people that I connected them with and I just love connecting people and bringing them together. So, it was the best of everything and that experience.
Interviewer: Goodman. I love how it wasn’t just the final product. It was the process of creating that final product. Yeah. Learned everything. That’s really good, man. And obviously you’re excited that you were able to release something out of all that hard work that you put into it. So, what do you do when you’re not working? Like if you want to share, you know, maybe what you do at work, you know, some of the stuff you learn at work, that transition of, you know, now you’re married. What do you find yourself doing? You know, other than music.
.irg: Right now, I’m a project assistant at a construction company. Which it was basically, it was funny because it was my wife’s brother-in-law so her sister’s husband works there as an ironworker and I and he was like, yeah, you should just come in. And I mean, they’re applying to the construction industry which is still open through COVID. I applied to so many different places after college when I graduated in 2020 and anything like the digital marketing or anything I was trying to get into because of what I graduated my degree with, they weren’t hiring, but these people were, and it was more administrative. Like I’m in the office, so they needed help in the office administrative staff, which is not really digital marketing, but I still, like I could do it because I went to college for it. It was not difficult.
.irg: So, I’m in there right now, and I’m basically the guy that I do all the purchasing for the company. So, each month I’m working with probably about like $75,000 a product and just kind of buying and stocking up and making sure that people have what they need out in the field to continue to do their job. So that’s what I do. But long-term, I definitely see myself in the digital marketing world as things open up. I definitely, like I said, SEO fascinates me, analytics fascinates me. Just in general, just digital marketing. I just want to be somewhat involved with it and just being able to work with customers, help people out, and that’s what I want to do. But now it’s just all a matter of, with COVID and who’s opening back up, who’s hiring and, and location too. A lot of it, I feel like I’d have to move somewhere. I’d have to probably move to find a job like that, but that would not be a problem. But yeah, that’s kind of where I’m thinking right now and with my current job and future plans, I guess.
Interviewer: Awesome man. Really good. So where can people find out more about you and your music? That’s the best place to do that?
.irg: Best thing I guess is all my socials; Instagram or Twitter, IRG music. That’s pretty much where it gets for the latest and greatest news. I will be getting up my website here shortly in the next couple of days, but that will be IRGmusic.com. So that would be, I guess, the best place to kind of see everything. But then I also have a YouTube channel. And then obviously my streaming platforms are Spotify and Apple music.IRG. So, that’s kind of the biggest place that they can find me.
Interviewer: Awesome, man. If there’s any last advice or words that you want people to know, anything you want to say, anything you want to add, feel free to maybe your favorite quote, maybe something that you’ve been learning this month.
.irg: Honestly, I think I really said it all, you know. I said it all, I can’t really think of anything off the top of my head other than just, just enjoying the process, you know, and that’s kind of basically, I feel like a theme of what we were talking about. Yes, just enjoying the process and just understanding that if you’re going to be in this industry, you’re going to be in it for the long haul.
Visit: https://www.irgmusic.com
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