Meet young friend (aka Drew Tarves); west coast king of bedroom pop production. You can find him on Instagram with his infamous mirror selfies or on Spotify tearing up the “hot hits” charts. This talented 21-year-old has been writing, composing, creating, and distributing his music for the past 5 years, and he’s only just getting started.
Growing up as a dancer, Drew never even imagined the idea of ever pursuing music. It was hip hop, jazz, ballet, all day every day. That was until the teenage years came around. “All my best friends played in bands and whenever we would hang out, I would feel sorta left out. So I asked if they could teach me a bit of piano, and I was immediately hooked. From there I started practicing on my own, writing lyrics, and recording myself in garage band,” says Drew.
As time went on Drew began to develop his musical style which he describes as “alternative indie pop-rock”, but his influences come from all over the map. “My dad was always a music guy. He’s into classic rock, soul, funk, the works. Our house constantly had speakers blasting so a lot of my style comes from that. Al Green, Stevie Wonder, Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, real classic stuff”. Drew works hard to wrap all of his inspiration from the greats into his very own personal sound, making it incredibly catchy and hard to ignore.
Drew puts his heart and soul into every song he releases, but if he had to pick a personal favorite it would be “THERAPY”, specifically because the writing process came so naturally. It was just so healing and well… therapeutic. But of course, every lyrical process takes its course and there is no rulebook to songwriting. “I usually start with a few chords on the piano or guitar, then flesh it out and build the song structure, and finish off with melodies and lyrics. The initial draft takes a day or two, and after that comes three to four months of fine-tuning. Pulling it apart, editing, refining, and putting it all back together again. But If I don’t feel something within the first 30 minutes of writing, I drop it completely. You can’t force art”.
Speaking of art, Drew has recently taken his creativity from solely audio, all the way over to visual. A handful of music videos, lyric videos, and song visualizers can all be found on his YouTube, and these are something you most definitely don’t want to miss. “All my visual content was created by my friend Zach. We sit down together or on a call and listen to the song on a loop until we decide what we want the world for that song to look like. My favorite video we created is FAKE. It was right at the beginning of lockdown; Zach sat in my garden just outside my bedroom window on facetime, directing me how to operate cameras as I shot the film from inside. It was difficult and kinda stressful but unarguably hilarious”..All very John Cusack, “Say Anything” esque.
A lot has changed since that first covid friendly music video lockdown FaceTime fiasco. After hours and hours stuck inside writing, the time finally came for Drew to hit the stage again. Small venue, limited capacity, but it was more than he could have ever asked for. “It has been a year and a half since my last live performance. It was special and it was crazy in all the right ways. Performing is where you can get the most genuine reaction out of the people who are consuming your music. It’s completely authentic. That’s why it’s my favorite part of the job”.
So what’s next for your local neighborhood young friend? Lots and lots of music will be dropping. “The last 2 years, I’ve been writing and piling up as many songs as I possibly can. A lot of it is slower and more intimate than my previous work but there is some fun pop thrown in there too. There will also hopefully be some more shows happening soon, which I am so incredibly excited about.” So if you haven’t had the chance, Drew has a few last words of wisdom… “Go listen HEADCASE is out now!”
Keep up with young friend on Instagram and stream everything on Apple Music and Spotify.
