Upcoming 100: Can you start by introducing yourself and telling us a bit about your musical journey so far?
Tate Simms: My name is Tate Simms and I come from a gospel family. My father and mother were both gospel singers so I basically was a musician before I even knew it. I started off playing with my father‘s gospel band on bass originally that I learned guitar and he exposed me to all types of different music because when I was growing up, they had, everything on one channel was rock ‘n’ roll R&B and soul music all on one channel so I was exposed to a lot of different genres of music, which has shaped me into the musician that I am today.
Tate Simms: My name is Tate Simms and I come from a gospel family. My father and mother were both gospel singers so I basically was a musician before I even knew it. I started off playing with my father‘s gospel band on bass originally that I learned guitar and he exposed me to all types of different music because when I was growing up, they had, everything on one channel was rock ‘n’ roll R&B and soul music all on one channel so I was exposed to a lot of different genres of music, which has shaped me into the musician that I am today.
Upcoming 100: Who are your biggest musical influences, and how have they shaped your sound?
Tate Simms: I believe in the old-school philosophy of making music where there was a band in a room and you got together and laid down the track altogether all at the same time no overdubs just get it right the first time and that’s the way I approach a lot of my music, even though I do most of it by myself my biggest influence were the Beatles James Brown, Kiss, Earth, wWind, and Fire and Stevie Wonder.
Tate Simms: I believe in the old-school philosophy of making music where there was a band in a room and you got together and laid down the track altogether all at the same time no overdubs just get it right the first time and that’s the way I approach a lot of my music, even though I do most of it by myself my biggest influence were the Beatles James Brown, Kiss, Earth, wWind, and Fire and Stevie Wonder.
Upcoming 100: Take us through your creative process. How do you go about writing and composing your music?
Tate Simms: When I sit down to write a song, I usually like to start with a concept in mind so that when I get to the lyrics part of the music, there’s an idea that begins to form in my mind even before I’ve written it. I start with a beat other times. I usually get the title of the song even before I write anything so that helps me with the writing process of what type of song is gonna be and how I go about continuing on with the process of singing music once you have an idea in your head often, the music and lyrics tend to write themselves.
Upcoming 100: As an up-and-coming artist, how do you balance your creative vision with the need to appeal to a wider audience or potential patrons?
Tate Simms: As far as appealing to a wider audience, I feel that as long as I’ve been listening to music and study some of the biggest in the business, I tend to go with my gut and feel like if I like the music in my heart then I feel like someone else will like it as well and that’s usually what I my choice is on.
Upcoming 100: How would you describe your unique musical style, and what do you think sets you apart from other artists in your genre?
Tate Simms: What sent me apart from other artist in the business today is I try not to stay till one genre. I know that makes it difficult for people to put me into a category, which is fine with me because I don’t like being put into a category because of the types of music that I was raised like rock ‘n’ roll R&B, it all comes together one way or another and things that I tend to write so it’s hard for me. Explain what type of music I do, but if I have to put most of it into a category, sometimes it funky rock other times this R&B and dance, so those are the genres that I tend to Work towards.
Upcoming 100: What do you hope listeners take away from your music?
Tate Simms: I hope that listeners understand that I’m trying to do something that’s not being done in music today and still trying to stay true to myself and my forefathers that have come before me and taught me how to make the music that I make now I hope they understand that, type of music comes from somewhere and my music comes from what I’ve listened to as a young child being raised in a musical family and listening to all types of different music and using the music that I’ve learned as an influence on what I write.
Upcoming 100: What have been the biggest challenges you've faced in your music career so far, and how did you overcome them?
Tate Simms: The biggest challenges in the music business is always once you finish the music. What do you do with it and how do you get it to the masses? I’m still working on it. I don’t know if you’ll ever not have challenges in your career when it comes to promotion and getting people to listen and getting into wider audiences and not having the big budget that some people have to promote your music that is the biggest challenge for me and always will be I guess throughout my career.
Upcoming 100: How do you think you've evolved as an artist since you started, and what have you learned along the way?
Tate Simms: Being a musician and a recording artist is always a challenge and you’re you never stop learning but I listen to some of the stuff that I’ve done just a few years ago and you can actually hear the progression on how I’ve gotten better Lyrically musically engineering wise as far as production making the music sound bigger. It’s all the learning process everything that you do every time you sit down to Right there’s always something that you can learn in the process and that’s what I love about Music. It’s always different and never-ending, it’s always a challenge but very rewarding.
Upcoming 100: Social media plays a significant role in promoting artists today. How do you use these platforms to showcase your work and connect with your audience?
Tate Simms: Are use social media to show everyone what I’m up to behind-the-scenes as well as in front of the camera doing a video travel my live performances and communicating to my audience. How much I love what I’m doing and hope that they love it as much as I do.
Upcoming 100: Collaborations are becoming increasingly common in the music world. What has been your experience with collaborating with other artists and how do you believe it has impacted your growth as an artist?
Tate Simms: When you collaborate with someone you always find out that what’s in your head isn’t always the best and there’s always another point of view that can be significant in the music that you’re making, and it lips you to sometimes another level that you didn’t even believe that you could achieve yourself Because like they say two heads or better than one so it enhances what you’re doing because you’re getting a point of view that you may have never even looked at. It’s very interesting working with someone and hearing their ideas as well as your own come together
Upcoming 100: Lastly, what advice would you give to aspiring artists who are just starting their journey in the world of music?
Tate Simms: The best advice that I can give to up-and-coming artist is play as much as you can not only in your basement or on in your garage, but in front of people any chance you can anywhere you can and once you start writing your own music, always stay true to yourself and stick to what feels good to you deep in your soul and in your heart. Never compromise and don’t try to do things that aren’t comfortable for you. Stay true to yourself and your audience will come to you if you believe it and you love it they’ll love it too.
Tate Simms: The best advice that I can give to up-and-coming artist is play as much as you can not only in your basement or on in your garage, but in front of people any chance you can anywhere you can and once you start writing your own music, always stay true to yourself and stick to what feels good to you deep in your soul and in your heart. Never compromise and don’t try to do things that aren’t comfortable for you. Stay true to yourself and your audience will come to you if you believe it and you love it they’ll love it too.
