Review Fix Exclusive: Jerry Castle Talks ‘Brand New Hello’

Review Fix chats with singer/songwriter Jerry Castle, who lets us know all about the creative process behind his new album, “Brand New Hello.”

Review Fix: How did you get involved in music?

Jerry Castle: I’ve always loved music and have been writing lyrics since I was 11 years old.  I didn’t actually get my first guitar until I was 20 years old but as soon as I got it, I knew that being a musician was what I wanted to do.  I’d take my guitar with me everywhere I went.  I was absolutely terrible but I was oblivious to this fact.  At right around the same time, some friends of mine had a cover band that did classic rock and alternative rock songs.  They didn’t really have a lead singer in this band so I started stopping by during rehearsals.  I’d just jump up and start singing without anyone inviting me.  The guitar player hated my voice and my general “buffoonery” but I was undeterred because I loved the feeling of having a band behind me so much.

They had person after person come in to audition but I was the only guy that stuck around.  Eventually they gave in and made me the lead singer of a band that became “The Stumble Biscuits”.  During this time, I started turning my lyrics into songs.  Within a year I was playing guitar in the band and we were doing a hand full of my originals during our shows.  Over two years, the originals were a catalyst for morphing us into a more jam-oriented band called “Toast”.  We started touring the Southeast during my senior year in college.  Once I graduated, we moved to Nashville, TN.  Except for a two year stint in Los Angeles, I’ve been in Nashville ever since.

Review Fix: What makes this album unique?

Castle: I come from an Americana/Country/Roots music background.  On the last album, “Not So Soft Landing”, I intentionally went down a more ethereal/spacey path.  I’m at a place with my music that I don’t want to do the same thing twice.  With that being said, on this album, I wanted to explore the idea of programming and writing pop songs with some sort of lyrical substance.  I feel like I accomplished that and the end result is a Southern Pop Rock album that has some depth.  It’s far from being an Americana album and it’s definitely not country.  This is a unique album in comparison to the previous 5 albums that I’ve recorded so that’s a win in my book.


Review Fix: What makes your brand of music special?

Castle: I don’t think it’s my place to decide if my music is special or not.  It’s my place to try to be authentic and unique but it’s the listeners place to decide if it’s special.  Hopefully it’s special to someone besides my kids but if not, I’m a narcissist, so I’ll just pretend like lots of people like it.  Jokes kids, just jokes.

Review Fix: How do you want your music to affect people?

Castle: On this album, it’s my hope that it makes them feel, think, and dig deeper into themselves.  If it can’t do that, hopefully it’s good background music while they’re getting drunk.

Review Fix: What are your goals for 2018?

Castle: Broadly speaking, I’d like to take myself less seriously, have more fun, be kinder, more compassionate, less judgmental, and more open.  Creating music is so intertwined with the life that I’m living and I think that these things will not only make me a happier and better person but I think it will also make me a better artist.  I’ve wasted some time in my life and musical career trying to “trick the system” if you will.  I don’t want to waste anymore time.


Review Fix: What’s next?

Castle: The tour starts on the release date, June 22.  Right now I’m working on getting myself together to deal with road life.  Generally speaking, I usually last about 4 months on the road and I really want to make a focused effort to support this album for a full year.

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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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