![]() I'm very excited to announce that a new video is coming very soon! It will be for the song "Slick Disaster" off the new album (Television Graveyard or "TVG"). All principle photography has been shot and we are in the editing process currently. Look for a release by the end of the month! We're planning other special surprises too so stay tuned! Someone recently gave me a huge complement that also got me thinking. He said, "Man you have definitely NOT hit a sophomore slump on this new album!" For those of you who don't know what that is, it's when a new artists goes to make their follow up album and it turns out feeling rushed or not as solid as the first. In many cases when that happens the artist's career goes downhill as well. After hearing this it got me thinking about what, in most cases causes this. I would guess it's the pressure that comes with a big music career. If your first release is a strong seller then you have a new, much larger overhead, more eyes at the label are on you to recreate magic. I don't have a large career (don't want one either), no managers or agents, record execs telling me what to do or write or even when to write. I just write and when it's ready, I release it so I can move forward. I don't require fame or even money for my music so my songs have no ulterior motive besides creating them. I think this is why I had no fear or pressure of hitting a sophomore slump. These are all creative luxuries that independent artists have that big label artists don't. I thought about it more and realized, if I'm selling anything, I'm selling this. I'm releasing music that is a pure expression of someone trying to improve in the craft of songwriting without any other distractions besides trying to grow creatively. I'm hoping there is an audience for artists like myself. With the state of mainstream music these days, I have to hope that there is. -Enzo EnzoSprigg.com
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![]() So the new album is finally out and a huge weight (and wait) is off my creative shoulders. It's been a very interesting and rewarding journey mainly because of the fact that I set out to write an album like this and it turned out as I'd hoped. So what exactly was the plan and what is Television Graveyard all about? The phrase "Television Graveyard" came to me as I drove around LA seeing all the billboards for TV shows and movies. Some long past and even canceled. This felt really weird and dystopian and sparked an idea. In many ways what I saw on the billboards felt like the music industry in general. Singing competition reality shows are not really about music to me. Actual songwriting music artists have been relegated to the white noise static of the internet where rising out of the obscurity seems near impossible. I personally have no interest or need for fame of any kind so in many ways the static feels very comfortable. That inner thought snowballed the writing of the song and the entire look of the album. I thought to myself, "I will own the static, sing from it, appear in it and then disappear back into it. I will do it with absolute conviction and belief in my songwriting like a rogue pirate radio station of independent music." Once that thought hit me I knew it would carry me through to the completion of the album and even into the look of the pending video shoots. After releasing the first album I wanted to push myself to make Television Graveyard almost a counter to it. "Plunger Lapin & The Last Rites of Love" was very personal and conceptual. With Television Graveyard I switched gears and started writing from what I saw around me. I imagined the lives of people I saw living in this big city. I tried to see from their perspective as if I were them. How did they feel about their lives and situation? I let my feelings and thoughts wonder and found songs there. Songs I wouldn't have written if I only wrote from my standpoint. This was very exciting to me. Everyone felt like a song waiting to be written. I also noticed that I listened more to what others expressed. Listened closely! I also wanted the feeling of the album to be slick, volatile, exciting, dance-able, and sexy but still with a strong (and truthful) emotional core. Songs like "Detour Ahead" and "The Driver" are great examples of this. Also with the songs from my own standpoint, I wanted to rethink how I explained and expressed. In "Brand New Skin" I sing about my obsession with makeup art and reinvention in general. If I'm truthful, this mindset in me is a bit manic so the song should be also. Or take the song "Through the Wasp's Eye". This song speaks to my creative drive and process. If I really look at that truthfully, It's a bit strange, like an ant or Wasp's life would be odd to a human. I no longer really rest. I'm always working, like a bee would in a hive and that's strange, even to me. Because of this the song is probably the strangest on the album (of course one of my favorites). Lastly my new "look" for this phase I call "Renegade Zo". For me he represents a part of my personality that is absolutely relentless, won't quit, can't quit and will do whatever it takes to accomplish things. As the album concept started to form, the Renegade Zo aspects of my psyche started to propel me forward. This helped because as an independent artist everything about the music business can seem to work against you. To someone like Renegade Zo that is irrelevant and will not stop "us" from writing, recording, producing and releasing a great album entirely on our own. I'm extremely pleased with the results and I hope others enjoy it as well. -Enzo http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/enzosprigg5 ![]() "When I set out to write Television Graveyard I wanted to put together an album so complete that the listener wouldn't want to skip over any of it. A perfect expression, one that felt cohesive and the full sum of it's parts. To do this I studied many of the albums I admire from other artists. Everyone from U2, Nine Inch Nails and Depeche Mode. What was the flow of mood song to song? How did the pace keep the listener engaged with the material? I edited my planned track list and even removed finished song because I felt they weren't quite strong enough for the vision of the album. In hindsight I feel I've gotten as close as I possibly can to this album goal based on where I am as a songwriter and singer currently. Needless to say I'm very proud of it. If I look beyond myself I think it's a very enjoyable collection of electronic music. I really hope you think so as well. Please join me in the Televison Graveyard when it releases worldwide September 3rd." -Enzo Listen to samples from the entire album and Pre-Order on Itunes here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/television-graveyard/id1031438933 ![]() "I'm extremely excited to announce that the first single for my new album is now released and available everywhere! It is the title track to the new disc and really helps kick off the album's electro laced feel. You can find it on Itunes, Amazon, CDBaby, Spotify and many, many other outlets. Just search Enzo Sprigg wherever you buy or stream music. I really hope you enjoy it and the full album will be released September 3rd, 2015." -Enzo https://members.cdbaby.com/Dashboard/Single/enzosprigg4 ![]() As I sit here working on the finishing touches for my next full length album I keep thinking about what the really hard part about being an independent music artist is. Thankfully I don't have trouble coming up with material or finding the time to get the production work the way I am envisioning. It's also very easy to get music out to the marketplace these days. I use CDBaby and my music gets everywhere I want it, from Itunes to Spotify and everywhere in between. The hard part is having people know that your music is out there. This is the last and only function that a record label has left to provide an artist these days. To get this sort of support requires you to sign to a terrible deal and leverage all you have creatively for a few marketing dollars that your royalties will be used to pay back anyway. I think this is why so many high profile artists are speaking out against streaming services. The way I see it they are clearly not the enemy, the label that had you sign that 360 deal is. There is a saying in the music business, "If you sign with us you'll get 50% of something, right now you have 100% of NOTHING!" Only a business man would see art as nothing until they've made money from it. My songs are like my fingers. Would you sell yours for a few bucks knowing fully well that they will never grow back? Stupid question right? Independent artists still have predators to contend with though. Seems every online music website knows the exposure struggle and has it's hand out to take your money with a promise of market penetration. I've tried a few of these and have found that fan word of mouth seems to work best. Besides I'm not looking to get rich from my songs. If listeners see the value in buying it that's their choice. If they want to listen to it for free on youtube or Spotify, so be it also. I'm just simply looking for my audience. I think I have found a few of you and I'm very hopeful that this next release will help to find more. "The way I see it, being an independent music artist is best suited for me. I don't have to hate Spotify since I don't have the huge overhead of other band mates, management or record labels taking a cut of what they pay me. I don't have to hate Youtube either since they also pay well when listeners click an ad while listening to my songs. To me it's sort of like being paid to advertise my music. I don't even mind people who pirate my songs either. It's quite flattering actually to take the time to extract my tracks from legal sites and it ultimately it helps spread the word.
When it comes right down to it, even thought I do make money from my songs, I don't need it to sustain myself or my songwriting. That is incredibly liberating and ultimately that is what artists crave most. Freedom to express themselves without any ulterior motive beyond creative authenticity. What I do care about is knowing when people listen and what tracks they are most enjoying. This is important, not to help alter my style or anything like that but to help me know when I've made a "connection" with others. This is also something artists care deeply about and is the only reason I even put my music out there. Music helps us all cope and enjoy life more. It's been that way for me with the music artists I love. If I can do that for just one person, that is worth more to me than any dollar amount." -Enzo ![]() We are happy to announce that the first Black Rabbit remix is out everywhere! Playfully called the "Taboo Mix" it's a course industrial remix of Enzo's first single. Look for it on ITunes, CDBaby, Googleplay, Amazon, etc. etc. etc. http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/enzosprigg2 ![]() Shooting just completed on the first part of the official Black Rabbit video shoot. Playfully called "The human side" of the video, we see here for the first time Enzo sans the Rabbit costume. "Honestly, I felt a bit naked without it." proclaimed Enzo. "Since my future albums will most likely not be about this character I knew I had to reveal my actual face sooner or later . Also the song Black Rabbit has a duality to it so I needed to show the human me to get that half of the idea across visually. Future videos for this album may have me as the rabbit only, me and the rabbit (Plunger Lapin) or no rabbit presence at all. It will depend on the song and what it requires to be depicted visually. Black Rabbit is the first song I wrote about Plunger Lapin so he'll be the main focus with me as his counter element." The dress rehearsal for our first video shoot happened last weekend and was very inspiring! We have a lot planned for the this first video and have unraveled the method to make the madness happen. The shoot happens next weekend, then editing for a mid March release. Stay tuned!
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ENZO SPRIGGEnzo Sprigg is an eclectic and creative electronic singer/songwriter. Inspired by a wide range of artists from David Bowie to Bjork, Goldfrapp to Gary Numan, to newer artists like IAMX and Purity Ring. He fuses his smooth vocal style with avant garde elements to craft songs that are as original as they are intimate. Enzo boldly plays with genres ranging from Goth to Synthpop, to electronic torch song ballads, all with a strange yet intriguing twist. Fiercely independent and self published, Enzo writes, records and produces everything, illustrates the album art and has even hand animated music videos for his songs. Archives
May 2017
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