RS: Great. The rest of the album, what kind of flavor does the
album have?
Christian George: Well even though the first release is a dance
release, the meat of the record is one of an R&B 80s pop… I kind of
went back to what influenced me, you know, artists that had heavy
influences on my music were George Michael, Elvis Presley, only
because they were white acts, they did black urban music for the
respective generations. And, you know, Elvis did it first, George
Michael with the second coming of what he did, and very humbly I look
at myself as the third coming of that. They never had the answers
and… I was a dancer for many years and I worked with every artist
under the sun, so with that experience, I applied that to what I'm
doing and just look forward to performing more.
RS: What have you learned from your experiences as a dancer that
you think you can apply to your music career?
Christian George: As a dancer I had an opportunity to be up close and
personal with all the different artists that I worked with, and as a
stylist as well.
RS: As is obvious.
Christian George: Right. And I was able to respond to what I thought
they were doing right with their careers and what they were doing
wrong, and I had the ability to and the luxury to be able to apply
that to my music and to who I am as an artists, personality, even just
a person. I know how to treat people, how to crack bars when
necessary, just the whole gamut. And it was like going to school as
an artist, you know, getting paid and getting on stage was a bad
experience on its own.
RS: You co-produced the first single, what other producers did
you work with on the album?
Christian George: I worked with Blake English who did records for
J-Lo and Brandy and there's been a few. My label mate, a guy named J
Bynam who was like the next when it comes to producers. He's like a
twenty-two year-old kid, he plays every instrument and just put it
together and did most of the record out of his closet, which to me,
that sort of atmosphere, you get such great material. Sometimes when
you get in to the bigger studios it become a little stale, for like of
a better word, and when you're in the transom of somebody's closest, I
mean the music that it creates, everything that we came up with, we
just fell on that, it was really, really good. I think J Bynam and
Blake English are the next big producers.
RS: When you write, do you usually write to a track or do you
have something you bring before, or how do you write songs?
Christian George: Funnily enough, most of my songs come off the tip
of my head – I have a hook or melodies, I hear the beat and I go in
and I would either produce it myself or call a producer friend of
mine, Blake or Jay, and then we'll put this to record. But all my
music, all my songs are very indicative of what's going on in my life
at that point, I'm an open book when it comes to music. Maybe not so
much, you know, the conversation and face to face, my mother always
said, you know, because you always ask your mother five times a day to
know what's going on, a very East Coast mother. And it got to the
point where she goes 'I never have to ask you anymore because I just
have to listen to whatever song you wrote that week and I'll know
exactly what's going on in your life – if you're happy, sad, or in
love or whatever.' So it just makes for better music and I feel like
your fans appreciate your vulnerability and appreciate you being that
artist, being yourself and letting them know what's going on with your
life so they feel like they have some connection with that artist.
It's very much that, an open book, all my emotions on the sleeve of my
song and, yes.
RS: Very cool. Speaking about that, what would you like to say
to all your fans out there?
Christian George: All my fans, I look forward to meeting you all and
performing for you all, and in the meantime my website just launched
with is www.christiangoerge.net, and it's an unbelievable website. It
just went on about three days ago and there's a link to my MySpace on
there as well, which is myspace.com/christiangeorgetheduke.
RS: The Duke?
Christian George: The Duke, my first name is Duke. It's Duke
Christian George and all my friends call me Duke or The Duke, so I was
getting to put that on the URL. But yes, I think you're all going to
love Strangers, and I look forward to performing to you and seeing you
all soon. Thank you so much for your support.
