He’d just ended a long relationship, he was disillusioned by school and he was deep into habits that he had thought were long behind him. One night he found himself walking in the middle of the night, bottle of whiskey in one hand and a pack of cigarettes in his pocket. As he walked and slowly drained the bottle and cigarette pack, he contemplated his life and the direction he was going. Next thing he knew, the sun was coming up, and with the sunrise came a hopeful thought: What if he changed his life completely and put all his efforts into chasing a dream he’d had since childhood – being a professional musician?
“I called my friend and woke him up and just said, ‘Do you want to just not do school and make music?’” Spencer said. “And he said, ‘Yeah!’ And we haven’t looked back from there.”
In the months since, Spencer has finished his spring semester of college while pouring himself into the music. He’s creating new music every week, and recently released two singles and an EP. He’s also in the midst of transitioning from Connecticut to Los Angeles, where he hopes to find a manager and find bigger opportunities to share his music with a larger audience.
The first single that he released in June was a song called “Sunrise.” As you might assume, it’s a song inspired by that night and morning that changed his life. He said he literally wrote the first lyrics to the song after hanging up with his friend and watching the sunrise.
“I was really tense at the time and was doubting myself and so I just stopped and started writing,” he said. “It was so good that I wrote it and produced it in three days. It’s basically a song about where I am right now and having a dream and not knowing what the future holds. The beat is really fun – one of those upbeat, summer songs.”
Spencer also recently released the single “Over Food,” the lyrics for which were born out of his current life situation and the struggle to even put food on the table some days.
“It’s a song that I wrote by making a beat, looping it up and then just writing,” he said. “This is a song about priorities and the things you choose and where you choose to put your limited resources. It’s fun – it’s a slim beat, but it’s very fun with heavy horns and an old jazz influence.”
The EP “Progress, I Guess,” is a further extension of his exploration of knowing where you are in life and where you want to go and what it takes to get there, and the sacrifices that come with it.
At the end of the day, Spencer said he wants to create music that is not only entertaining, but also inspirational for anyone who hears it.
“I want to inspire people the way I was inspired,” he said. “Everyone has their inspiration, and if you can just tap into that with people then I think anything is possible. I wouldn’t be who I am without the influences and inspirations I’ve had in my life – and that even includes people like Thomas Edison and Vincent van Gogh. Writing for me is often done completely in the heat of the moment based on what inspires me and comes out of me at the time. I hope others feel the same kind of inspiration when they hear my music.”
To listen to Spencer’s music, or to follow him on social media, please visit the following links:
