Ari Hest has been playing his songs for over a decade now.  He’s been signed to a one of the biggest record labels in history, only to opt out of the deal in order to pursue his own creative destiny.  His songs range from slow brooding ballads to lighthearted grooves.  What captures the listener’s ear, however, is his voice.  It’s dark and powerful, and though he employs mostly his baritone range in many of his songs, he is not shy to rock the falsetto.  His latest album release, Twelve Mondays, is by far his most creative effort to date with songs like “Dead End Driving” and “Broken Voices.”

I had the chance to catch a solo show of Ari’s at the Watercolor Cafe in Larchmont, New York and he took the time to give a brief interview before his performance.

WW: So where are you coming from?

AH: Brooklyn.  Home.

WW: I spoke to Shannon on the phone.  She mentioned you were at some rehearsal.

AH:  It was more of a get-together to try out some new things.  It wasn’t really a rehearsal.

WW:  So you’re pretty busy.

AH:  I try to keep busy.  I’m not touring that much these days. I do a lot of songwriting; not just for myself, but with other people, for their records.  Sometimes I sing on other people’s gigs to get the hang of doing that kind of thing too.  I like to be a sideman every once in a while, try and help somebody out.

WW:  Who are you helping out these days?

AH:  Just friends of mine.  Friends in the city.  There’s a singer/songwriter named Colin Smith who I play with sometimes.  Basically, if they play in the city, I’m either watching them or playing with them.

WW:  As you know, I like to interview Do-It-Yourself musicians and I know that you are very much a DIY musician with Garageband.

AH:  Well I have switched to Logic at this point, but I still use Garageband for demoing purposes.  I do a lot more recording of myself than I used to so I guess I am more of a Do-It-Yourself person than I have been in the past.  When I did the “Song a Week” project in 2008, that was mostly Logic and essentially I’ve been using it for less than half of its capability, but it did help a little bit with different kinds of plug-ins and reverbs and all sorts of stuff that I could mess around with that you can’t really do in Garageband.

WW:  What other gear are you using?

AH:  Just a laptop and an Apogee Duet, which is the link from my computer to the microphone.  People nowadays consider that a studio and I guess I recorded at the studio, which is my apartment. [laughs]

WW:  Are you using a special kind of mic?

AH:  A Mojave MA-200 is the mic that I use for most of the recordings.  It’s a mic somebody recommended to me a while back and that’s what I use at home.

WW:  When you play out, what’s your rig?

AH:  If I’m playing by myself, it’s pretty simple.  I have three different guitars that I usually bring to shows and if they have a piano in the house, then I use the piano.  But I do the solo shows just with the guitar and myself and a 12-string that I use on some things and a classical guitar that I use on some other things depending on the song.  But half the shows I do by myself and then for the other ones I usually bring a guitar player along with me, or the band, which is technically a four-piece band.  It’s just drums, bass and two guitars, but my lead guitar player can play a lot of different string instruments and occasionally some keyboard related instruments like glockenspiel and piano.

WW:  I know that Project Four was your record label.  Are you still operating under that title?

AH:  Technically, I guess I am.  That’s a funny thing to think about as an independent musician.  It’s very strange to think of myself as having a label, but I guess I do.  I set it up a long time ago.  Most of the records I put out have not been with a label, so I guess it’s been my own label that has been putting them out.

WW:  I know that you were on Columbia for a couple of records, and I’m sure you’re tired of this question, but what went down?  What made you want to go?  Were you upset with the job they were doing?

AH:  I think it was a mutual thing.  They wanted me to be a little more cookie-cutter, I think.  You know, a more straight-ahead songwriter.  Write more radio songs.  And I also thought from my end that they weren’t doing that much to push the music that I had given them.  So, it was a mutual decision and one that the majority of people who get signed have to deal with.  But I got some of the music back that I made for them.  They gave me the rights to it so I didn’t come out completely empty-handed and it turned out to be a very good move for probably both parties.

WW:  Now that you’ve had that experience with Columbia, what do you think the pros and cons are of being on a big label?

AH:  Pros:  If you get a push, there’s still plenty of money that they can put behind your record and that can come in the form of radio promotion and advertising.  And those things still do make a difference sometimes.  It’s few and far between these days but it still does help.  And it’s nice also, because they can offer tour support so I can bring a band on the road if I want to.  But on the negative side, any decision that I made that was of any gravity I had to pass through a million ears and they had to know what I was doing and agree with it in order for it to happen, whether it be a creative thing, musically, or just something with my website.  Anything I wanted to do to change things up was met with a lot of opinions, and now I don’t have to deal with opinions.  I can do what I want to do.  I’m lucky that I can do that, but at the same time, would I like some money to be behind my record? Yes.  That’d be great.

WW:  It doesn’t seem like you had trouble from the get-go, getting people to buy your records even when you put them out independently.

AH:  At the beginning, when I started out, we’re talking about ’99 and 2000.  The illegal downloading of music was not quite in full gear so people were buying my independent records back then and I toured my ass off.  I did build something which I probably wouldn’t be able to build quite the same way anymore just because of the way the industry is, the fact that less and less records are sold.  And my years at Columbia, I felt like it was a bit of a plateau in my career.  Nothing really got worse, but nothing really changed.  And to not have the kind of growth was difficult.  But, like any other independent musician, I’m thinking about what I can do next, and to try and figure out what’s the best move and how I stay going in a positive direction.  It’s really difficult if you don’t have some really interesting idea for a project or a producer to work with that can take you in a new direction.  It’s kind of a daunting task to figure out what to do.

WW:  What can you do?  Don’t you just have to keep creating and writing?

AH:  Yeah.  I’m working on one album right now.  Basically for the last couple of months, I haven’t been on tour so I’ve been writing a bunch and trying to see what I can record out of the songs I am a writing.  Possibly try to pitch to film and TV.  Try to get it in something like that.  But everyone else is trying the same thing so it’s difficult to work your music.

WW:  I can imagine.  But I think it’s good that you have so many records out already and they’re really high quality so I would think that a TV spot is inevitable.

AH:  Well I’ve gotten a couple in my career.  That’s kind of the way to get publicity these days is to get your song on a TV show.  I think last year I got one song in “One Tree Hill” or one of those shows that I never watch, but I guess a lot of people are watching.  And it was good for me because you can see your sales go up in iTunes.  And it’s just great exposure if you can get that kind of thing but it’s hard to get.

WW:  Let’s talk about touring.  Have you toured in Europe?

AH:  A little.  I did a very short tour in the UK, a little more touring in Ireland.  Last year I actually made three short trips out there for about five or six days each.  I opened for an Irish artist, which was a really good situation for me to get started out there.  And I also went to Germany and Switzerland this past December.  I only did a handful of shows, but it was a good start to get out there and play.  That’s a big goal for me right now.  I toured around America five or six times over and I still like to do it for sure, but it’s nice to see new places and experience new things, instead of going back to the same town that many times.

WW:  What have you noticed about the difference in audiences in Europe and America?

AH:  The Irish audiences were particularly good for what I do.  My show is not about flash, it’s about song and my voice.  In America, that is not often met with the best audience.  I definitely have some great fans, but occasionally I get some people who come to my show and are looking for a little flash out of a performer, and that’s just not me.  But when I go to Ireland, they’re not looking for flash at all.  They’re looking to hone in on lyrics and melody.  Their eyes are wide open and it’s a different experience.  And I don’t think it’s at all because I’m new there.  I think it’s because they’re really looking for songs.

WW:  It seems that that’s part of the Irish culture.  Especially when listening to the Clancy Brothers.  Those lyrics are so deep sometimes.

AH: Yeah.  There are a lot of highly educated people out there.  And I think they tend to go for music with acoustic instruments, because they’re music is based on those instruments.  I want to go back there as soon as possible.

WW:  I lived in Holland for about a year and that was a really great place to check out independent music.  If you can make it to a place called Paradiso in Amsterdam, I think you could definitely play there.

AH:  I’ve been to Amsterdam once, but I don’t really remember it well.  I wasn’t playing music.  I was smoking something I shouldn’t have been smoking.

WW:  Of course.  What are your favorite venues in America?

AH:  I really love to go to the North West.  Touring up there, not necessarily the venues.   I think the venues are good.  I like places where, on a day off, I can climb a mountain or just breathe really fresh air.  It just feels good to do that.  In general, the west coast is great.  I would say my favorite venue that I play is called The Barn right outside of Washington D.C. just because of the vibe and the sound and the people there, it has become my favorite place to play.