INTERVIEW: QUINN SULLIVAN – April 2024

Photo credit: Jim Arbogast

According to a recent press release: “Renowned singer-songwriter and guitarist Quinn Sullivan has unveiled “Half My Heart,” the latest single from his emotionally charged album, Salvation out June 7th via Provogue / Mascot Label Group. This song stands out as a cornerstone of the album, capturing the essence of heartbreak and resilience in the wake of a lost love. Quinn describes “Half My Heart” as one of his personal favorites, a track that delves deep into the sorrow of separation, with poignant lyrics that resonate with anyone who has faced the despair of a failing relationship. Over the past few years, Quinn Sullivan has not only captured the attention of the music world with his guitar prowess but has also established himself as a compelling storyteller and songwriter. His evolution from a blues prodigy, touring with Buddy Guy, to a mature artist capable of conveying deep emotional truths through his music has been remarkable. With each release, Sullivan reaffirms his commitment to pushing the boundaries of his craft, blending his blues-rock roots with a more introspective songwriting approach.” I was able to grab some phone time with Quinn to discuss new music, old music, touring, and more…

Quinn: Hello?

Toddstar: Hey Quinn. Still a good time to have a quick chat?

Quinn: Absolutely, man. How are you?

Toddstar: I’m awesome. How about yourself?

Quinn: Good.

Toddstar: Great. I want to thank you for taking time out. I know there’s a lot of exciting stuff going on in your world with Salvation getting ready to launch on the world.

Quinn: Yeah, we’re looking forward to it.

Toddstar: What can you tell us about this album that we might not get the first or second time listening through?

Quinn: Well, with Salvation, I think what people might not know is that it’s a very deep and personal album. Thematically, there’s a lot of different themes on this album that I haven’t really talked about before, and I’ve had quite the last few years of lots of different things going on in my life from loss to relationships and to just life stuff in general that I don’t think that I ever touched on before on a record. So I think the first couple of times people listen, they might not get that right away, but I think the more it seeps into people, I think they’ll understand for sure.

Toddstar: I first learned about you back in 2017 when you dropped Midnight Highway and I still spin 2021’s Wide Awake regularly. That is a Top 20 album of everything I’ve ever listened to.

Quinn: Oh, wow.

Toddstar: One thing that I noticed on this album, and I noticed it on your last couple discs is you hit hard and fast. That first song out on each of the releases, you hit hard and fast. You did the same here with “Dark Love.” When you’re sitting down writing and you start thinking and you start pulling everything together, do you have a method to your madness when it comes to actually laying out that final track listing as do you want to hit everybody hard so that they pay attention and then they dig into what you’re doing or is it just, “Yeah, that feels good”?

Quinn: Yeah, there’s something to be said for hitting it hard off the bat. I don’t know if that’s a conscious decision every time around. I think for me, I think what I’m trying to do is I want the first song on the album to be making a statement to people and to be giving people an idea of what the album is going to be feel like and sound like. When you make an album, you create all these different sequences, and you try to figure out what songs sound best together and what kind of goes the best together as far as when you draw out the whole thing. There were a couple of other candidates that I was thinking about for what the first song was going to be. It ended up just being “Dark Love” because I just love the way the drums sort of come in on the opening riff and it just felt right. It felt just cool to have that be the first song.

Toddstar: Your music is always so steeped in the blues. The blues has its own feel and rhythm and there’s a reason for it, it’s the blues. You’ve dealt with quite a bit of loss in the years since your last release. You mentioned at the front end of the call this album being so personal. How hard do you find it to take something so personal and really give it to the world?

Quinn: I don’t really know how else to do it. Ever since I can remember, I’ve always dealt with life emotions and just emotions in general with music. It was just natural for me to, that’s where I would go when dealing with what I’ve been dealing with, and it was a natural thing that happened. I tend to not think too much about anything when it comes to music. I just let it flow out of me when it does, and I try not to rush anything, and I try not to make anything too fast just to make it. So it was a good six, eight-month period of not doing anything, and I found myself wanting to create again. I just started to do that again and it ended up being what it was.

Toddstar: With this album, looking back over your catalog, what song or two do you see really standing the test of time from this album as compared to the other stuff in your catalog?

Quinn: That’s a good question. There’s a couple of songs on there. It’s funny, you never really know what’s going to stick in people’s heads. I know my favorite songs on the album. There’s a song called “Once Upon a Lie” that I really believe in, and I love that song a lot, but it’s not out yet. It’ll be out when the album comes out. “Half My Heart,” which has been out now for a couple of weeks, I really believe in that song too, and I really love the way that song makes me feel. “Salvation,” the title track, is another one that I feel really strong about and has that universal appeal, hopefully. It’s funny, you never know what’s really going to hit people a certain way until it’s out, until you see how people are reacting to it. When I’m playing live, that’s a really great way to do a test to see who’s digging what and who’s not digging something. So it’s like a trial run and you’re just kind of testing it out and seeing what sticks.

Toddstar: It’s funny you mentioned “Once Upon a Lie” because that’s the song I was 2:23 into when I dialed the phone to call you.

Quinn: Oh, cool.

Toddstar: I’m loving the album top to bottom. I’m digesting it slowly. Again, Wide Awake, is an album that top to bottom I think is a go to album for me.

Quinn: Thank you so much. Wow. That means so much. Seriously.

Toddstar: “All Around the World” cried out to me. It was something that felt right. It still feels right. If you don’t mind sharing , I want to know what or who was the basis for “You’re The One”? That’s another one that sticks with me every time I listen to it.

Quinn: Thank you so much. It’s a character song, so I didn’t write it about anybody specific. I wrote that song with my producer of that album, Oliver Leiber. We wrote that together and I just honestly wanted something on that record that was just fun. It was carefree, just a cool love song. We ended up nailing that concept with that song. That’s always a fun one for me to play live as well too. That one’s special to me, man. I appreciate you saying that.

Toddstar: You mentioned live, and when you’re going through, how many songs hit the cutting room floor because you just don’t think, while it might sound good in the studio and it might sound good on vinyl, you just don’t think either you pull it off or you’d be able to give it what it deserved live? Is there anything that you just don’t put out because it won’t relate to a live audience?

Quinn: I’m always writing songs. I have a lot of demos that no one’s ever heard before. I think whenever I do put out a record though, I will say, I think all the songs that end up being on the album are songs that I know that I can play live. I never want to put something on an album that I can’t play live. I know some artists put records out sometimes and they don’t necessarily have the idea that they’re going to be playing any of this stuff live, it’s more of just for them and to put it out. I think the way I’ve done it on the last few records is just putting things out that I know I can play live with my band and stuff. I think that’s important. I love playing live and I love touring, and I love that part of what I do so much. So it’s kind of imperative for me to make sure that things are going to be able to work live. On this album, I was especially conscious of that and making sure that every single song I was going to be able to play it live, and there wasn’t too much crazy production on it where it wasn’t going to work or something like that.

Toddstar: Quinn, you’re a young guy and you’ve got a veritable who’s who on your hit list already. Who’s still out there that inspires you, that you’d love to do something with, whether it was live or studio or whatever? Who’s still on your get list?

Quinn: That’s a great question. I’m just going to go on a limb and reach for the stars right now and just say Paul McCartney. I think if I were ever to be in a room with him at some point in my life, I think I would lose it. I’ve never met Paul before, and I’m a massive fan of The Beatles and Paul and all of his music. I just think it would be cool to just get in a room with him. I feel like just seeping into all of the knowledge that he has and just as a fan, just being able to sit down and just play guitar with him and pick his brain about stuff, I think that would be amazing.

Toddstar: Building on that, you have a list of idols you’ve worked with and you’ve been able to look at and say, “Thank you. You guided me, you drove me to do this.” What’s it like for you when you get that young guy with a guitar in hand or on his back that says, “You did it for me, man”? What’s it like for you to be on the other side of that idol coin?

Photo credit: Jim Arbogast

Quinn: It’s almost weird to me because I feel like I have so much more that I want to do in my career and so much that I haven’t done yet. For people to already be coming up to me saying those things, I almost never know what to say because I don’t ever really feel like I’m at that point where I could be that to somebody. It’s very flattering and I take it with a grain of salt. I think it’s extremely generous of people to think of me that way. I think the best and the most fulfilling thing for me is to be able to touch people’s hearts with the music I’m making. If you can do that and if you can create this world that people can go into with music, to me that’s the gift. A lot of young guitar players come up to me and tell me that I’m the reason they’re playing and keeping going with it, and it’s truly inspiring. It really is.

Toddstar: In addition to that, what’s the other thing that keeps you going, keeps you motivated to do this and get up every day and want to grab that guitar and write something?

Quinn: The power of music, for sure. Also not having a desire to do anything else in my life professionally, other than music. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been playing music and have been doing this professionally since I was a kid. The thing that just gets me going every day is just the drive of music and always having something around the corner or always making sure that there’s something around the corner for me to look forward to or prepare for, whether that’s a tour, going in the studio again, or even if it’s playing with another band. Anything like that, it is just another stepping stone to my career, so it’s a constant grind and I’m constantly working on it.

Toddstar: Quinn, everything I read about you from Wikipedia to your website to press releases, refers to you with a trio of descriptors: singer, songwriter, guitarist. Rank them 1, 2, 3, what’s your preference? Would you rather be known as a singer, a songwriter, or a guitar player?

Quinn: That’s a good question. I would say number one would be songwriter, number two would be guitar player, and number three would be singer, just because it makes the most sense. It sounds the best to say singer-songwriter and guitar player, but I would rate that because as much as I love being a guitar player and that is primarily what I’m known for, I don’t think that I really have much if I don’t have songs to back that up. Whenever I’m writing songs, I think, “How can I write a song that’s going to best lift my guitar playing and make it shine?” I think you can only really do that if there’s kind of good melodies and good songs to kind of back up your guitar playing. There’s nothing worse than a bad song with a great guitar solo. The two have to be gelling together for it to be really cool.

Toddstar: You’ve got Salvation dropping on June 7th. I’m lucky enough to be able to absorb this before a lot of people, so that’s fun. We’ve talked about playing live and things like that, and there’s a few dates out there on your website. Any plans to expand those tour dates? Because as much as I’d love to see you, I don’t see Michigan anywhere on that schedule.

Quinn: We are going to be adding some dates. I’m not sure if we have a Michigan date or not, but if we do, I will let you know. I know that there are other things being worked on for the rest of the summer and into the fall. This is just the initial tour that we’ve announced. My agent is working on a bunch of new stuff too, so keeping it going.

Toddstar: Awesome. I know you’re busy and I appreciate the time, so I have one more. Going through and thinking back even to that first album you dropped when you were 12, if you had to go back and grab a song title of yours from one of your releases that you wanted etched on your tombstone at the end of the day, what song title would you want to be your epitaph and why?

Quinn: Let me think about that for a second. I think I’d have to go with “Salvation.” I think that’s a great metaphor for life. I feel like what the new record means to me is just being saved from trauma and from loss and from all these different negative things. That word, to me, has many different meanings. There’s a religious context to it, but in the context that I’m talking about it, it’s not necessarily religious at all, it’s just more feeling saved from loss and from tragic consequences that happen in your life. I think I’d just choose that word to lie right on my tombstone because it feels eternal to me.

Toddstar: I will say listening through all of the new songs, you’ve taken tragedy and loss and turned them into triumph. I can’t wait until your fans and the rest of the world embraces it and you take it out there, tour it, and just spread the word and Salvation.

Quinn: Absolutely. Thank you so much. I appreciate it.

Toddstar: All right, Quinn. Well, hopefully we’ll catch you soon.

Quinn: Sounds good. Thanks so much.

QUINN SULLIVAN LINKS:

OFFICIAL SITE

FACEBOOK

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INSTAGRAM

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Category: Interviews