New Artists + Their Classic Inspirations: Skrizzly Adams

Through the neverending pursuit to connect all eras and forms of entertainment and continue the efforts of introducing creators to a set of eyes that may have never stumbled upon the work organically, an idea was hatched. This new series, New Artists + Their Classic Inspirations, will bring you an insight into the modern arts and allow a peek into the makeup of just what historical figures, media, and music went into constructing the creative mind living amongst us and growing into a figure future generations may look at the way society currently looks at musical giants such as Johnny Cash or Jim Morrison.

Skrizzly Adams is a musical artist I have personally kept up with and enjoyed for a couple of years now – a pandemic discovery that made a weird, consistently disappointing time more enjoyable. Quite honestly, there is a good chance his record was spinning in my home through the conception and process of building this company. For that reason, our series begins with him. Join me for a conversation with Daniel, artistically known as Skrizzly.

What and Who Inspires that Creative Spark Inside Skrizzly?

“I could name-drop a bunch of people that inspire me. Kanye West inspires me in a bunch of ways… Rick Rubin inspires me in a bunch of ways, but I think what all of that deduces down to at 31 years old, and this goes for everything from like how I set up my album to how I make records to how I sing – everything really is deduced down to simplicity.
I don’t want simplicity to be confused with minimalism or small. I believe in maximalism. I believe in things being grandiose, but I am all about things being really simple.
Down to how I make records, it’s all about how few instruments can we use…In the writing of a song, it’s always “how can I say almost nothing, but get so much from it?” That’s my strategy. I don’t know anyone else’s to be quite like that.
When you go back to the lyrics, it’s like “oh my god, I really didn’t say that much at all,” but it conveyed so much…
Everything you do can be really efficient, almost like a chess move…”

Our conversation following this topic veered further down the rabbit hole of simplicity in all facets of life. Something he said that really fell into the middle ground between questions but provides further insight into the mindset Skrizzly thrives in is how “especially when people become successful, they’re just slaves to all of the systems around them… Why would you want that? Slave to your house. Slave to your business. Slave to your employees. Slave to your employer. You’re a slave to everything.”

“I’m definitely the most ‘free’ human being I know… Luck is a factor – Everything financially, professionally, and personally. If I want to go move to Thailand tomorrow, nothing is stopping me. I can do whatever the fuck I want. That’s kind of where I’m at, and I’m not giving that up.”

Which Artists Raised Daniel to Become Skrizzly?

“In terms of a genre, it was pretty much classic rock and ‘90s country. When it comes to older rock, I definitely lean really heavily on American rock. Even though I’m a massive Rolling Stones fan, we all know The Rolling Stones are actually an American band even though they’re from London. I was listening to Neil Young – I was really big on Neil Young growing up. It’s actually funny. In the music industry itself, I’ve had the privilege and the burden of dealing with the best executives in all of music. The one criticism I get (from) all of them is that my music is too diverse, too multi-dimensional. “How can you do an acoustic song and a big bombastic radio record?” I’m like “Don’t all the big, great artists do that?” Neil Young has tons of folk records and tons of really heavy rock records. Neil Young really inspired me in terms of the idea of duality – an artist can have a duality to them.
Singing and songwriting, I was big on Van Morrison growing up. He has probably the most apparent influence on my music. Everything is very derivative of Van Morrison. The Allman Brothers, Lynard Skynard, stuff like that. Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen…
‘90s country, I’m a big Garth Brooks fan. When I think of ‘90s country, I don’t think of big careers, but then there’s Garth Brooks, who has this massive career…”

Is There Anyone Who Inspires Your Personal Life?

“Definitely Kanye West. He is definitely the number one influence in my personal life, but you have to listen to the music too. I actually take a lot from Kanye West musically. I have a podcast. My podcast partner and everyone talks about it – Kanye West is like the only one who truly lives free. I say I live free. I don’t live free. I can post one thing tomorrow and I’ll be done for (the rest of) my life. Kanye West truly lives free. That’s what I aspire to be. To live free on that level. We’re definitely getting there.” 

Have any Live Shows Influenced Your Own?

“I’ve seen Eric Chruch twice. I feel like just recently, I’ve slowed down on being a big Eric Chruch fan, but I’ve been a big Eric Church fan for a long time. I really like him – kind of back to the simplicity thing – he actually doesn’t do very much at the show at all. They will convey this energy where the crowd sings most of the words. I’ve seen like John Mayer before where John Mayer is up there shredding and doing all this shit and the audience does not care. They’re just static the entire time. Whereas at an Eric Church concert, everyone sings every word and every song and he’s just standing there singing too. There’s something more compelling about that, in my opinion… Focus your energy and get more out of the situation.”

Inspiration Comes In Many Formats…

“I’m working on a new project now that I just started recently. I came up with a title for it, and it’s funny, I’ll write a project or a song and I’ll kind of in my mind have what it’s about… I definitely do envision music or new projects – like the Stains and Atlantic City EPs – I see them as short films. Then I’ll work backward and move it around. Which makes no sense as I have no history of making films actually, but it’s a mental film. From there, I shot an album cover recently, which was definitely influenced by Ray Liotta on the front lawn in Goodfellas… The second you see the lawn in that film, you instantly feel all these emotions.
I’m super influenced by The Sopranos, but not so much in terms of style. Goodfellas influenced me in terms of style, I would think. The Sopranos inspires me in terms of the complexity of emotion. The thing The Sopranos did really well, specifically James Gandolfini, and I don’t think any actor or any medium ever did it as well as he did – he was very human, and then in a 30-second scene, he would be raging angry and then feeling regret and then confused and then depressed. A rapid range of emotions. We’re all kind of emotionally confused at the end of the day. Like, if we don’t eat enough food, we get emotionally confused. We as humans are very dependent on the chemicals in our body and I think The Sopranos made that very three-dimensional whereas in other movies it’s like “I’m a hero with this motive and this is how I feel, and I’m never going to question that feeling.” That’s not the way humans are. The idea of the untrustworthy narrator, I’m really big on that concept where it’s like “Maybe you shouldn’t be trusting what I’m saying. Maybe I’m lying to you.” I like to believe there’s a little level of depth. I definitely get that from The Sopranos…”

Do any Historical Figures Inspire You?

“I don’t know why this is immediately coming to mind because I’ve never thought of it before, but Thomas Edison is coming to mind. For being so inventive? I don’t know why I’m thinking that…”

What’s To Come In The Skrizzly Adams Universe…

“I’m shifting gears… I’m releasing a new song every 3 weeks on Spotify, Apple, Amazon, you know, on everything, and I’m dropping a new form of content on YouTube every single week. That’s not going to stop for another like 18 months. All aboard the Skrizzly train. Lots of fun stuff coming. There’s always a new song out and I’m always playing live somewhere.”

Huge thank you to Skrizzly Adams for the time and constant outpouring of art for everyone to enjoy. Visit his website for tour dates, merch, and more!

Leave a comment if you’ve felt inspired in any way! Listen to Skrizzly Adams on all major music streaming platforms.
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