Stephen Jerzak Interview: SXSW 2010

Social networking has totally revolutionized the music industry. Stephen Jerzak is a product of that revolution. In 2009, the 17-year-old pop-electro-acoustic artist gained acclaim and caught the attention of millions of Myspace users who became fans of his song 'Cute.' Jerzak, who opened for Breathe Carolina on the EZBronz Tour in late 2009, has signed to the Universal Republic label in 2010. Currently gearing up for a nationwide tour that kicks off with SXSW, Jerzak recently shared with Spinner some exclusive details about his musical journey.

Describe your sound in your own words.

When I started on MySpace in November 2008, a lot of the friends that I made were making a lot of demo-quality music with Garage Band beats that created this crazy, interesting new sound. It's now commonly known as "electro-acoustic." I decided to experiment with it, and I made it my own. Now I'm building on it and make it stronger to be more mainstream and Top 40-friendly.

How did you begin your music career?

My dad had a recording studio when I was growing up in the upstairs level of our house. He recorded me when I was 2 years old singing Christmas carols. I guess, technically, I have been recording since I was 2. Having all of the equipment lying around the house influenced me to start learning on my own. I started writing songs when I was 14.

Who or what are your musical influences?

My musical influences reach from legends like the Beatles to my friends back at home. Movies and books are really influential to me, as well. Reading and understanding the situation and concepts of a story is really cool. Old books like 'The Giving Tree' [and] Dr. Seuss are really childish books with a strong message that little kids read. They are out-reaching and have so many twists in the story that you can make your own, which is pretty cool. I am also influenced by romantic movies like 'The Notebook' and 'Dear John' -- I know those movies are super-sappy, but it is really easy for me to get inspired by films like that. I enjoy watching someone else's story.

What your favorite aspect of playing a live show?

When I am up onstage it's just an overpowering feeling to know there are hundreds of kids watching you. I have to admit it is kind of scary a little bit because if you screw up, then everyone will be like "Ha-ha -- you screwed up!" When you are on tour and playing with other bands, it's really cool to meet all these new people. I love to go crazy with them and scream, "Dance!" into the microphone. I love going out into the crowd and hanging out by the merchandise table. I enjoy connecting with people I've never had a relationship with before. I'm especially excited for SXSW because I just received the confirmation that I will be playing with Temper Trap.

How do you balance your music with school or social activities?

I got lucky and took a lot of my credits during my first three years of high school and I only need three more to graduate! I get a credit and a half for recording and touring as a work credit. I'm so glad I have the opportunity to graduate and not have to drop out. It's definitely not easy to balance everything out, but the schedule I'm on now is music during the day, school at night and friends on the occasional weekends.

What's in your festival survival kit?

Lots of water and plenty of snacks! Always nice to have some comfy clothes to change into, too.

Who was your first celeb crush?

My first celeb crush was Christina Aguilera. It's Taylor Swift now.

In what ways has social networking, Twitter/Facebook/MySpace, been impacted your music?

The biggest impact I had was on MySpace. Initially, I had no intention of becoming as big as I got. I was just one of the lucky few, I guess. I just made some music with my friends and uploaded it. At first, it started out as a hometown thing and everybody at my school was like, "Hey, I love that new song you put up!" After a short while, then people from all around the country starting listening and it became a lot bigger than I ever thought it would be. I started to take notice and take into consideration how I timed things out and advertised things. As soon as I started putting my songs up for sale on iTunes, I knew it was important to build a really strong relationship with everybody on MySpace by commenting back and messaging back. It's a really important thing to do. I don't think I would be even close to where I am now if I didn't do that. Anybody can put of a video on MySpace to tell everybody "Hey, I have a new album coming out next week; I hope you like it," but you can go so far beyond that and make it so much more relatable to everybody and have a connection. I am pretty much the same age as everybody that listens to my music, so it's really important to have that connection with everybody.

Nana-Adwoa Ofori is a contributor from Seed.com. Learn how you can contribute here.