Interview with Indie Musician Paul Belbusti from Mercy Choir

Today I have a special guest, a musician from my home town of New Haven, CT, Paul Belbusti. He’s here to discuss the latest release from Mercy Choir.

Paul Belbusti of Mercy Choir

Hi Paul! Thanks so much for visiting and letting us know about Mercy Choir. Tell us about you. Where do you live and perform most of your music?

I live just outside of New Haven, Connecticut.

When did you start writing your own music?

Probably in high school. I had fooled around on the bass guitar and the drums, and played in various cover bands and heavy metal bands of questionable quality. At some point, I decided I should have an acoustic guitar. It was my understanding that’s what was used to write songs. I took a few guitar lessons, but instead of doing my finger exercises and learning scales, I demanded to be taught the 3 or 4 open chords needed to play traditional folk songs. I figured if I knew those, I’d be able to start writing, which is all I’ve ever really cared about. I still don’t know how to play a guitar solo or a scale. I think my first real original song was two chords (A minor and E minor) and was probably about a girl who wasn’t being very nice to me. Not dissimilar from the songs I write now.

I know what  you mean. One of the only good things about heartache is the art we can make from it. Who were your musical influences growing up?

When I was a little kid, I listened to a lot of my dad’s classic rock records and loved them, but if I’m being truthful, the earliest influence was probably “hair metal” bands like Motley Crue, Poison, and Slaughter. I go back and forth on whether or not I should be ashamed of that. On the one hand, it’s ridiculous and gave me a warped idea of what a musician was supposed to look and behave like. On the other hand, it probably taught me some valuable lessons about pop music structure and the moving parts of a catchy pop song.

How have those musical influences changed over the years?

Then came Nirvana and I was obsessed. Then gangster rap. Then lousy post-grunge, then really, really lousy rap-metal. Then around senior year of high school, I started listening to real music. In my town, Korn was considered underground music, so I had to really dig deep and research to find a band like The Verve or Robyn Hitchcock. In college I started to become obsessed with the Beatles and Leonard Cohen. Then shortly after, I became interested in experimental music.

I love The Verve, and can hear some of their influences in your music (in the best of ways). When you compose, which usually comes first, the lyrics or the music?

They come at the same time, unless I’m consciously trying to write lyrics first, or music first, which are both kinds of songwriting exercises that take a lot of effort, but can be useful.

Describe the feeling when the music and lyrics begin to flow together.

It’s like when a garbage truck is making its way down your grandparent’s street, and you hop on the back, and make all the stops with the garbage men, and then a dog starts chasing you. The wind is in your face and it stinks and you’re being growled at and you feel free.

What a live and electric simile! Wow! I could totally feel that. So Paul, tell us about your most recent work.

So far this year I’ve released a short Mercy Choir album called “Waabaayo”, a 3-song E.P. with Lys Guillorn called “Trouble”, and on September 3rd, I’ll be releasing an instrumental album called “Apostrophe Music.” I also have a split E.P. with a great artist called Xrin Arms coming out sometime soon. And hopefully, there will be another Mercy Choir album finished by the end of the year. Not sure what it will sound like yet.

Congrats on the latest release! How can we buy your music?

The best place to go is my bandcamp page: mercychoir.bandcamp.com

Do you have a website where we can learn about tour dates, updates, etc?

Yes! mercychoir.com