By: Jeremy House
Summer may be winding down but you can still catch this Rogue Wave!
Rock Eden: Tell readers a bit about the new album.
Reggie Morales: Rogue Wave came together without me even really realizing it. There wasn't a point where I buckled down and set out to make a full body of work, I was just recording ideas and making songs whenever I could. When the time came that I felt I needed to release some solo material, it was like these 11 tracks were there waiting for me to realize their potential together as a whole. I guess that realization is where the album title comes from, it hit me outta nowhere like "hold up, I got an album here." I know a lot of people would condemn this method of putting an album together, but I think that the spontaneity of it is a beautiful thing, especially when it all comes together so well. Some of the songs are up to a year old, and others I made less than a month before the album release.
Rock Eden: What events shaped your musical past and continue to shape your musical future? What got you into wanting to make music?
Reggie Morales: Growing up I always watched my dad play guitar which led to me having an electric guitar obsession as a kid. I got my first one in grade 6 and just played it a lot. I went through the typical classic rock and metal phases as a teenager, trying to learn the entire Children of Bodom discography on guitar. I didn't pay any attention to hip hop until I was about 16, around the same time when my buddies Antics were getting on the go, and even then I didn't listen to it all that much. The year after high school is when I started writing raps. I recorded a few songs with Antics that appeared on their last mixtape and realized I was pretty good at it. They pushed me to pursue it further and I did. I bought a laptop, acquired a DAW (FL Studio) and went to work. Luckily my buddy Curtis from Antics had been messing with FL for years at that point, so he was able to show me all of his tips and tricks to get me going off the hop. Making beats and writing raps are just super fun and satisfying activities. It's such a good feeling when I'm writing and the words are just pouring out of me and actually working together to create intricate rhyme schemes and clever wordplay. Maybe I'll feel differently about it in a few years, who knows. The events that shape my musical future are happening and yet to happen. I've made a lot of new friends and participated in many projects over the past year, and there's only going to be more and more. My next project is already shaping up, and it's leaning towards a more experimental, less mainstream direction.
Rock Eden: Can you tell readers a bit about the creative process that went into making this album?
Reggie Morales: Weed & coffee. That's definitely where the creative process started for this album. Fresh pot, clean bong, then I just start making sounds. That's pretty much how the process goes. LOL. I end up with a bunch of different projects that span multiple genres, mostly unfinished, but when I start a session with a sense of direction, that's where these album songs come from, for the most part, anyway. There are still a whole lot of experimental moments on the album (i.e. "Introducing"). I've been trying to make songs with a more public appeal lately, sticking mainly with trap drums and coming up with catchy, simple hooks. I did this a number of times and came up with songs like "go berserk," "GET UP!," and "Cold Wind" and "Y U Gotta Go." I will usually record a scratch track to find my hook, fill that melody in with some lyrics and then write my verses based off of the hook lyrics. My major inspirations are the world, and life, and all music that is happening right now. My biggest musical heroes at the moment are Justin Vernon and Travis Scott.