Review Fix Exclusive: Mayberry’s Esteban Rodriguez Talks ‘Beautiful Mess’ EP

Review Fix chats with Mayberry frontman Esteban Rodriguez, who discusses the band’s recently released EP, “Beautiful Mess.” Produced by John O’Keefe and Morgan Dorr (Boys Like Girls), the EP has a fun and energetic sound.

Review Fix: How did the band get together?

Esteban Rodriguez: It actually formed gradually back in 2012. We have all been good friends for a long time.

Throughout high school I actually played bass for my current drummer’s (Brayden) band. I was so determined to be in a band during high school, that once I heard Brayden’s band needed a bassist, I bought a bass that afternoon and tried out for the band with no past bass experience.  I pretty much lied that I knew what I was doing, but in reality I just was so focused and determined to play in a band that any spot in the band worked for me.  Playing bass in a band was fun but after a while, I knew singing and songwriting was my passion and soon after started my own solo project, “Mayberry”.  I started Mayberry at the end of my  senior year and soon after graduation I took a gamble and I used all my graduation money to fly up to Dallas and record the first EP “ALL I NEED”.  When it finally came time to get a group together and take it more serious, I stole Brayden (drummer) back, met Andrew (guitarist) at a church retreat and recruited him  and well the bassist is my younger brother, so when he finally got old enough to join, I let him in! & The rest is history!

Review Fix: What’s your creative process like?

Rodriguez: Usually when we have no upcoming studio sessions, I like to write as much as I can whenever and wherever I can. Even if it’s just humming melody ideas into my phone, or when I’m writing some lyrics I like to jot down as much as possible on my iPhone notepad.

When studio time finally comes around, we build a beat, instrumental and the rest kinda takes care of itself. I’ll go in there and write what I feel fits the music best and we go on from there.

Review Fix: What makes “A Beautiful Mess” a special EP?

Rodriguez: I think “Beautiful Mess” is a special because it really showcases all the types of styles and genres we can pull off. We put no boundaries on what we try to do. Whatever comes to mind and sounds great to us, we write and record it. We don’t write for a specific audience, we try write music for everyone.

Review Fix: What inspired “Say What You Want From Me”?

Rodriguez: ‘Say What You Want From Me’ is basically a song about feeling anxious and alone. When you’re so used to a certain someone keeping you happy, feelings and emotions become routine. Once something tragic happens between two hearts, a unknown anxious heartbroken feeling takes over. The songs is basically a ‘cry’ for help and desperation. Literally asking the other person ‘tell me what you need, tell me what you want.. I’ll be what you need, anything you want’ .. trying and willing to do ANYTHING to save the relationship.

Review Fix: What are your goals for 2017?

Rodriguez: Hopefully a record deal we’re all happy with, more music and more live shows.

Review Fix: What’s next?

Rodriguez: We’ve got tons of new music still waiting to get released, and fall shows being booked as we speak. Follow @MayberryBand on all social media outlets to be the first to find out what’s next.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13821 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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