Review Fix Exclusive: Sheridan Reed Talks ‘We Should Both Be Here’

Review Fix chats with singer/songwriter Sheridan Reed, who discusses his origin in music, goals for the future and the creative process for his new track, “We Should Both Be Here.”

Review Fix: How did you get involved in music?

Sheridan Reed: I began playing classical music on the clarinet when I was about 10. Over the years though I switched instruments several times, and joined the jazz choir during high school to learn to sing. Around the same time I started my first band, and then essentially just kept working at it in some form or another until I got to where I am now.

Review Fix: What’s your creative process like?

Reed: Every song is different, but for every song, there is a very specific person, experience, or feeling that I’m writing about, typically from my own life. Sometimes I will be inspired to write about something from an outside perspective, but for the most part, it’s more of a cathartic experience. That being the topic at least. The song themselves typically start with playing through different progressions and working on coming up with something new and original, that will be the basis for the entire song. After that melodies flow and then finally lyrics typically. Occasionally I’ll start with a line of lyrics and build a song around that, but it’s rarer.

Review Fix: What inspires you?

Reed: I get inspiration from everything, whether it’s a certain look someone casts as they glance at me, or being in awe of other musicians I see perform that blows me away. That especially drives me to become a better musician, but right now my biggest focus is learning and growing as a person, not just an artist. That being said, people who are self-aware and are actively being present in their daily lives inspire me to try and do the same.

Review Fix: Why is your latest release a special track?

Reed: This track was really my first song in a new style and genre for me, that I felt really clicked. I had been working on trying to make something like it the better part of a year. Not just that, but it’s also the first track that really represents where I’m trying to go artistically, setting up a solid foundation for future music to be built off of.

Review Fix: How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard you?

Reed: That’s always a hard question to answer but I typically say a combination of chill r&b and soul-pop. Regardless of which of my songs you hear, there’s gonna be a groove.

Review Fix: How are your live shows different from your studio work?

Reed: My live shows will incorporate live looping with guitar, vocal harmonies, bass lines, using a synth/drum pad, and sax to recreate the sound. But with all that, since I’m recreating a full band sound myself I have the freedom to break it down a little more, or build it up more and improvise.

Review Fix: What are your goals for the rest of 2018?

Reed: Goals for 2018 are to be releasing a new single almost every month with even bigger plans for 2019.

Review Fix: What’s next?

Reed: Next up is going to be the release of the music video for “We Should Both Be Here” sometime in September, followed by the release of a new single at the end of September.

Review Fix: Anything else you’d like to add?

Reed: That I’m incredibly appreciative that I get to do what I do, even though I’m working harder than ever before. I just want to keep having the opportunity to grow as an artist and learn as a person.