Inspired #242 - Eli Smart
Eli Smart talks us through the inspirations behind his track ‘Highschool Steady’ - taken from his new EP ‘Boonie Town’.
Who are your top three musical inspirations?
The Beatles, Brittany Howard and Curtis Mayfield.
I can’t even begin to accurately sum up what these three artists mean to me in a few sentences. At the core, they all write the most beautiful songs. That’s the throughline in any music I love. Good songs. I love guitar heavy music too, guitar and live instruments are featured massively in all three of these artists’ music. They all inspire me to write honest tunes but to also not take it all too seriously, they also inspire me to put guitar solos in tunes which in my opinion there are never nearly enough of and they push me to write as much as I possibly can. They are all such prolific songwriters who just tapped in to the most amazing flow, you can see and hear that through the arcs of they’re career.
Is there a certain film that inspires you?
I remember being really affected by the movie Black Orpheus. It was made in 1959 and takes place in Rio during Carnival. It’s basically an adaptation of the Greek legend of Orpheus and Eurydice but put together in the most beautiful way in the most beautiful evocative setting with the most beautiful poignant soundtrack composed mainly by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Luiz Bonfa. It’s just a tragically beautiful story that really gets you and then the music in it just elevates it all to another dimension. The whole film is a very music oriented film as it takes place in Brazil in the thick of the Carnival season, I think that’s why I also love it so much, I’ve never been to Brazil but I’m the biggest fan of Brazillian music and culture and this film romanticizes it all in a really gorgeous way. Makes me wanna drop everything and just learn how to hold down a groove on a pandeiro.
What city do you find the most inspiring?
Liverpool!! Even independent of my obsession with the Beatles, Liverpool on its own is just such an evocative environment to be in, especially for music. I’m fascinated with the north of England, coming to Liverpool from Kauai after highschool to study was a massive culture shock (in the best way) and I was absolutely blown away by what an amazing city Liverpool is. I just didn’t know exactly what to expect but was so inspired the second I arrived and felt as if I was immediately able to tap in to the deep atmosphere it has. Liverpool and the north of England have such a rich musical history that I’ve been infatuated with forever growing up on Kauai, Liverpool was always this iconic symbol of the outside world and home of my favorite music so to be able to make the journey there was massive for me.
Who is the most inspiring person to you?
I honestly couldn’t choose just one person. There are so many powerful and inspiring people in my life. My family members, my friends, each person inspires me in a different way and it’s impossible to narrow it down solely to one source.
What were your inspirations when writing your new single?
I had just come home to Kauai from England because of the first lockdown after being away for three years. I was feeling a lot of emotions, it was a trippy experience to come home to my childhood bedroom after living away for a while and to feel as if I was right back where I started. I was obviously also feeling so lucky and grateful to be able to come home to the ultimate comfort zone in such a wild time but it was definitely a shock to be back in my hometown. The song for me helped me process that feeling of feeling so lost yet so at home in my hometown, it's a funny juxtaposition of emotions and I wanted to get that across in my tune via the lyrics and also the washy wall of sound production that was meant to represent that feeling of being in a washing machine as I’m sure that’s what that time felt like for a lot of people.
How would you like to inspire people?
I just want to make music that inspires me, I would hope that that might translate through the tunes. I want the rest to happen naturally and I hope it does. I guess the dream would be that a song of mine could inspire someone else to make a song of their own that might inspire them even more, then it just keeps going forward.