Ryan Hunter is a songwriter from Merrick, New York and also a family friend who started as the lead singer of the successful punk-rock band Envy on the Coast. Since their break up in 2010, Ryan has continued working on multiple projects including singing and writing for the band NK and launching his own solo project that he calls Quiett Dog. He just landed a contract with Sony where he is a songwriter for artists such as Usher and Bruno Mars. Sunday morning, I sat down with Ryan on my living room couch, right before the Jet game, to ask him a few questions.

Jaclyn: How did you get your start in music?

Ryan: Well I’ve been playing for most of my life…I wanted to play drums in school and everyone wants to play drums in school, and that chapter of your life happens…But I always knew I was a songwriter…I played in a band growing up and from there I started Envy On The Coast. As far as a serious thing, it started when a guy named Will Noon, who is now a very good friend of mine and plays drums in a band called Fun. He passed our stuff to a booking agent who put out our record.

Jaclyn:  What were your major musical influences when you started and now?

Ryan:  I had some awful phases of music. I feel like when you’re super young, at least for me, there is a stereotypical ignorance of your parents’ music in the house. It’s not that I rebelled against it, I never paid mind to it. Then I got older and got into the heavier rock and punk stuff…more rebellious music in general. I guess you can say “white kid from suburbia” music. Years after that when I got into more R&B and soul and hip-hop stuff, I realized that everything that attracted me to any of the music I liked could be traced back to the stuff I was raised on, which was all black music, all Motown, all soul music like Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and Al Green…Everything I try to do now is pretty much directly related to that.

Jaclyn:  Do you like being a solo artist better than being in a band? Has it changed you in a better way?

Ryan: The way that I make music now has changed. When I was in a band…it really started to annoy me and wear on me because it’s so long and you lose yourself in the process in a bad way…everyone needed to feel like they’ve got their avenue to say something…The session that I did yesterday was just a me and a producer in Brooklyn, his name is Saran and he’s from Australia…It’s by far the most fun I’ve had in the studio really just doing music. I’m hoping to have him involved in as many things as possible…We both play everything, so we both can pick up anything and play and you the write something and do a demo…It all just happens right away, which is much more fun for me, because you’re capitalizing on that very initial excitement over something and you’re getting that moment…You’re not trying to recreate it.

Jaclyn:  Is there a musician or producer that you aspire to work with?

Ryan:  There’s a whole camp that Saran knows, like Kimbrough and this dude Thundercat. I’m down to write with anybody who has an open mind and does soulful stuff. If they throw me in with people like that, I’m happy. I did a publishing deal with Sony that has put me in multiple studios with many different artists, writers, and producers.

Jaclyn: Do you miss anything about your past project with Envy on the Coast?

Ryan:  No, I wouldn’t say I miss anything about that project. Everything was so screwed up. Every possible element on a personal level, on a business level; everything was a mess. On the creative level we had just made what we thought was our best stuff and what we were most happy with, but because everything was messed up we knew nobody was going to hear it and it kind of just disappeared. I definitely felt I needed to go somewhere new. I was feeling the restrictions of being in that room, with that group of people and kind of everyone acting…The band kind of felt like a hindrance to moving forward. So I had my great years with that project. I saw the world with that project, very happy about all that.  But I definitely don’t find myself feeling like ‘Damn I was wish I was still doing that.’

Jaclyn:  How do you feel like your stage presence has changed after being in a band? What kind of vibe are you trying to give off on stage?

Ryan: It’s weird because I feel like I haven’t been fully born into figuring that out yet. I’ve yet to perform the new stuff that I’ve been working on, and I’ve only done a couple of shows under Quiett Dog. It’s weird to think about all the shit I used to do on stage. It was all very natural. I don’t feel those urges to do those things any more.

Jaclyn:  Do you miss your dreads?

Ryan: No, not even a little bit.

Jaclyn:  Do you think you shed them when you shed your rock image?

Ryan: Not particularly as a musical thing, but more like that chapter of my life. I kept them for too long after that chapter was over, that’s why I think I don’t miss them.

Jaclyn:  What is your favorite song to perform, or what song is it that means the most to you?

Ryan:  Wow, I never thought about that…there’s only one song that I’ve written in the past six years that — I haven’t put it out yet, but it’s a demo that I’ve been sitting on for a long time. I organize everything by period and where I was living on hard drives…There’s only one song that got passed from hard drive to hard drive. Considering how many phases, how many things I like or dislike, how many things change or the different directions I’ve gone in the past few years finding myself musically, I would say that song is the first song I encountered that survived all my bullshit. I don’t know why but there’s something definitely special about it.

Jaclyn: So what are your goals moving forward?

Ryan: I love being in the studio. But I also want to get on the road and play. I do miss things about touring; it’s fun as hell. But everything as far as goals are concerned, properly launching this project, and just being in the studio for the next year or so, that’s my goal.

 

Jaclyn:  Awesome. I’m so excited for you.