Coffee Conversations with Ron

What is your favorite activity outside of music performance?

“Wakesurfing, for sure. I’ve been out on the lake quite a few times in my life, but I wasn’t introduced to wakesurfing until this past summer. I’ve also started to get into longboarding. But, I mean, I’m still just getting into it.”

Is wakesurfing similar to wakeboarding?

“Kind of. Instead of being like 70 feet behind the boat while you’re holding onto a rope, with wakesurfing, you only use the rope to get started. Once you’re up, you throw the rope into the boat and just surf cause the wave pushes you forward. Obviously, it takes a while to figure out how to surf your first time. So you’ll be hanging on that rope for a while before you ever throw the rope in. Look it up on YouTube, it’s pretty fascinating. Haha”

So, would you say playing guitar is your favorite indoor activity?

“Yea, probably. I really like playing board games with my wife though. So I’d say it’s a tie between those two.”

How long would you say you practice a song – from conception to perfection – before you perform it live or record it?

“Ha ha ha . . . a long time. But I guess it depends. If I’m just going to record it, I actually don’t even have to have the song completely written. I’ll usually have like three-fourths of the song done and then iron out the rest as I’m recording. The thing about [recording], especially when you’re doing it yourself, is you can easily play the chorus 30 times before you get it to sound how you want it to.  But I guess that’s the luxury of recording.”

Wow. So how long does it take you to record one song?

“Probably no less than 20 hours. I mean, I’ve recorded a song in like 2 hours. But that was for a song that was only acoustic and vocals with no layered tracks.

This song that I’m in the process of recording has a really complicated drum part that I’ve been working on for probably 7 hours alone. Granted, I’m not a drummer. If I was, it would probably go way quicker. Ha ha.”

That’s crazy. When did you start playing guitar?

“In 2010. It’s kind of crazy how it happened, actually. I didn’t have any intention to learn to play, but while I was going to school at VBI, they had me take a placement test for music theory. Theory was no problem for me since I’ve played piano for years and years, so I got a 100% on it. I was told I could either take voice lessons or learn to play guitar. For once in my life, I declined the voice lessons.”

So you’ve been playing piano for years. What made you want to make guitar your primary instrument rather than piano?

“I’m not sure; it’s just really fun to play. Piano’s cool, but there’s just something about playing guitar. It never gets boring. You can even ask my old roommates or my wife – I can sit around playing the same chord progression for hours.  As stupid as that sounds, that’s pretty much how every single one of my songs  is created.”

Before we leave, is there anything crazy or interesting about you that most people wouldn’t know?

“Hmm. I don’t know, I’m sure my wife could think of 100 things though! Ha ha.
I guess, simply by my tattoos and piercings, most people don’t realize that I thoroughly enjoy singing and listening to choral and classical music. I sing for multiple professional choirs here in Tulsa and it always makes me laugh cause I can only imagine what people are thinking when they see me up there singing with them. Ha ha. I never take out my lip ring or gauges for performances and I’m pretty sure all my directors are scared to ask me to.”