His song Run (video below) has been a big hit among Jango listeners, and it's easy to see why. The heart-felt lyrics accompanied by an Alt. Rock feel in the instrumentation, creates a relatable and feel good world easy to get lost in.
Growing up in a small town in British Columbia, Canada (Prince Rupert), you pretty much have two options: become a pro hockey player, or become a fisherman. When an injury forced Connor to relinquish his dreams of becoming a pro Hockey player, his rehab opened up his eyes to music. While not being able to walk, he found an old red Epiphone SG lying around and dusted it off… and so began his musical journey.
Connor’s debut single “Run”, which was released December 14, 2015, was inspired from true traumatic events that took place in his dear auntie Teresa’s shoes. While battling cancer and life threatening surgery, she had found out that her husband of 25 years had been having an affair on her, and was getting ready to leave her. Fortunately, Teresa is a survivor. But upon her return home from months in the hospital, she had to face the fear of being alone, heart wrenching memories, anger, frustration, sadness, and so many questions as to why this was happening (The chorus ends with “I worried when things turned grey, that you’d run”).
Today, Connor is based in Gainesville, Florida. Originally hailing from B.C. Canada, Connor has been enthusiastically writing music from the age of 13. His style combines elements of catchy pop songs to rocking alt rock tunes. Just off the heels of recording his debut EP at Big3 Studios (Jim Pinky Beeman & Mark Parfitt – engineers and Ian Bentley – Producer), Connor continues on his musical journey one note and one gig at a time.
Describe your sound in one ramble-on sentence
I was blessed with a pretty unique vocal sound, so my songs range from feel good, fun, pop-guitar tunes, to twists of alt-rock sounds with deep, meaningful lyrics.
What's your earliest music-related memory growing up?
We went to a music festival in Vancouver, BC when I was only 13, and I remember the lead singer of Canadian rock band Theory of a Deadman (Tyler Connolly) told every girl there “whoever takes off their shirt and throws it on stage wins a free Theory of a Deadman shirt and chance to hangout back stage”. Almost every girl near the front of the stage did, and as a 13-year-old kid I was pretty happy and extremely inspired to see that.
What was the first tune(s) you learned?
I hate to be cliché but Seven Nation Army by the White Stripes was my go to!
Do you write/compose your own songs? Briefly describe your songwriting process
I do write my songs! Sometimes, I will start with a cool riff on the guitar and then think of a melody to sing to it. Other times, I will have a melody in my head and write the music behind it. Then sometimes, I will write lyrics and then wait for inspiration of a tune to apply the words to song.
If you were to cover another artist's album, which would you pick and why?
Since I am Canadian, I would have to go with Our Lady Peace’s ‘A Decade’ album. I feel that our sound is fairly similar and almost every song off that album had me hooked with its catchy melodies, mesmerizing sounds, and different feels for each song.
What was the highlight of 2015, either for you personally or for the band? What was the low point?
The highlight was certainly recording professionally at Big3 Studios in St Petersburg, Florida. Ian Bentley, my producer and I spent months fine tuning and writing the 4 tracks we recorded, and that time and effort really paid off in the final product.
What is 2016 looking like for you? Upcoming projects? Can you give us a little hint, on what we can expect for this year?
2016 is very exciting. We have already played some exciting gigs across Florida and we will be releasing our debut EP this spring, 2016.
Any embarrassing on stage moments you'd like to share? C’mon, don’t be shy.
We were performing one of my songs “Wish you were here “ live at the state theatre in St, Petersburg FL. After the bridge it drops out to a breakdown of the chorus where I was trying to get the crowd participating by clapping along with me and the song. I was clapping on the 1st beat and the 3rd beat while our bass player was clapping correctly to the 2nd and the 4th; the crowd was insanely confused, as were our bass player and I.
What do you enjoy doing outside of music? Does your hobby rejuvenate their creativity?
I enjoy as much physical activity as I can as I see my body as my shrine, so I spend a decent amount of time in the gym. I also enjoy playing as many and as wide of a variety of sports as I can, as I grew up playing competitive sports my whole life. Since I live in Florida, golf is defiantly one of my most favored hobbies.
What do you like the most about Radio Airplay?
It gives me an opportunity to be heard by people worldwide. It is still not easy to get mainstream radio play, so Radio Airplay allows my songs to be spun while I establish myself.
Connor’s debut single “Run”, which was released December 14, 2015, was inspired from true traumatic events that took place in his dear auntie Teresa’s shoes. While battling cancer and life threatening surgery, she had found out that her husband of 25 years had been having an affair on her, and was getting ready to leave her. Fortunately, Teresa is a survivor. But upon her return home from months in the hospital, she had to face the fear of being alone, heart wrenching memories, anger, frustration, sadness, and so many questions as to why this was happening (The chorus ends with “I worried when things turned grey, that you’d run”).
Today, Connor is based in Gainesville, Florida. Originally hailing from B.C. Canada, Connor has been enthusiastically writing music from the age of 13. His style combines elements of catchy pop songs to rocking alt rock tunes. Just off the heels of recording his debut EP at Big3 Studios (Jim Pinky Beeman & Mark Parfitt – engineers and Ian Bentley – Producer), Connor continues on his musical journey one note and one gig at a time.
Describe your sound in one ramble-on sentence
I was blessed with a pretty unique vocal sound, so my songs range from feel good, fun, pop-guitar tunes, to twists of alt-rock sounds with deep, meaningful lyrics.
What's your earliest music-related memory growing up?
We went to a music festival in Vancouver, BC when I was only 13, and I remember the lead singer of Canadian rock band Theory of a Deadman (Tyler Connolly) told every girl there “whoever takes off their shirt and throws it on stage wins a free Theory of a Deadman shirt and chance to hangout back stage”. Almost every girl near the front of the stage did, and as a 13-year-old kid I was pretty happy and extremely inspired to see that.
What was the first tune(s) you learned?
I hate to be cliché but Seven Nation Army by the White Stripes was my go to!
Do you write/compose your own songs? Briefly describe your songwriting process
I do write my songs! Sometimes, I will start with a cool riff on the guitar and then think of a melody to sing to it. Other times, I will have a melody in my head and write the music behind it. Then sometimes, I will write lyrics and then wait for inspiration of a tune to apply the words to song.
If you were to cover another artist's album, which would you pick and why?
Since I am Canadian, I would have to go with Our Lady Peace’s ‘A Decade’ album. I feel that our sound is fairly similar and almost every song off that album had me hooked with its catchy melodies, mesmerizing sounds, and different feels for each song.
What was the highlight of 2015, either for you personally or for the band? What was the low point?
The highlight was certainly recording professionally at Big3 Studios in St Petersburg, Florida. Ian Bentley, my producer and I spent months fine tuning and writing the 4 tracks we recorded, and that time and effort really paid off in the final product.
What is 2016 looking like for you? Upcoming projects? Can you give us a little hint, on what we can expect for this year?
2016 is very exciting. We have already played some exciting gigs across Florida and we will be releasing our debut EP this spring, 2016.
Any embarrassing on stage moments you'd like to share? C’mon, don’t be shy.
We were performing one of my songs “Wish you were here “ live at the state theatre in St, Petersburg FL. After the bridge it drops out to a breakdown of the chorus where I was trying to get the crowd participating by clapping along with me and the song. I was clapping on the 1st beat and the 3rd beat while our bass player was clapping correctly to the 2nd and the 4th; the crowd was insanely confused, as were our bass player and I.
What do you enjoy doing outside of music? Does your hobby rejuvenate their creativity?
I enjoy as much physical activity as I can as I see my body as my shrine, so I spend a decent amount of time in the gym. I also enjoy playing as many and as wide of a variety of sports as I can, as I grew up playing competitive sports my whole life. Since I live in Florida, golf is defiantly one of my most favored hobbies.
What do you like the most about Radio Airplay?
It gives me an opportunity to be heard by people worldwide. It is still not easy to get mainstream radio play, so Radio Airplay allows my songs to be spun while I establish myself.
Official Website: http://www.ConnorVanceMusic.com
Debut Single Music Video: https://youtu.be/OqruYQToLyQ
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ConnorVanceMusic
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ConnorVanceMusic
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/connor_vance/