For our 23rd Clapper Sounds Interview, we’re highlighting Clapper creator (and musician without an exact genre), @Jivemind!
@Jivemind has been involved with music his entire life. Raised as one of 5 members of a very musical family, his sound is something between blues, hip-hop, and country. His Clapper page is full of original music and covers from a variety of genres. Like Prince right before Garth Brooks? Talk about range! We sat down with @Jivemind to learn more about his current side hustles, his thoughts on content creation as an artist, his advice for new musicians, and more.
Clapper Sounds is meant to be an intimate musical experience, and we want that mission to translate into our written interviews too. Listen to his music as you read to get to know @Jivemind and his unique sound.
Let’s start from the beginning. What is your first memory of being involved with music? How did you start your artist journey?
I was raised in a music family. My mom actually says that when I was in her belly, she’d be playing guitar and I’d be beating the guitar with my feet. My brother plays, my mom plays, my sister sings, I’ve ever really known anything else. One of my earliest memories was standing up on the mantle with my sister singing. And then in eighth grade, and my sister and I both tried out for a solo in Oh Happy Day, and I ended up getting it. It wasn’t until much later that my mom remarried a man that she met on stage. He’s the one that really got me more into playing and singing. He was hard on us but if it wasn’t for him being that way, I probably wouldn’t have taken the effort to get into singing and playing.
How would you describe your musical style? Who are your biggest inspirations?
I like the blues, Americana music, but I like to put my own little “jive” on it. A lot of people hate how the new country realm has been taking hip-hop beats and implementing them into country. But I like it! I wanted to learn how they were doing this, so I got my degree in audio production. Earlier I asked my brother what genre I am and he said an alternative-rock-hip-hop-blues-thing. It’s hard to define it, but I like that! I don’t want to be limited.
As far as inspirations, I think I would be strung up if I didn’t say my mother. And I was raised on Fleetwood Mac and CCR and those are the core of who I am. Later in life and before putting the hip-hop beats in, it was more Ben Howard. Huge, biggest influence on my music has been Ben Howard, Mumford & Sons, and British folk.
Do you have any side hustles or hobbies other than music? What do you do for a living?
My mom always told me to get a backup plan: music is not a forgiving industry. I have a Bachelors in Graphic Design, doing logos and stuff like that, but lately my side hustle has been doing children’s books. I have 3 kids, 2 of which are cerebral palsies, and they enjoy books together. So I thought ‘I’ve done illustration for books before, why I don’t just do it for the kids?’ And I’ve designed a couple journals that are listed on Amazon through KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing). That’s my newest thing I’m messing with, but there’s little things like that. It’s nothing real big.
What are your thoughts on content creation as an artist? How do you feel about artists having to balance their social media presence and still be committed to their art?
Shortform content is tough for musicians, especially singer-songwriters. It’s hard to post 30 seconds of something that you put your life into. I think it takes a different kind of creative thinking. Musicians are creative, any art is creative, but to create content itself is underestimated. It’s difficult to create new ideas that frequently. The longer that I’ve been livestreaming and creating videos, I’m learning more and more. I’m super excited to learn as much as I can!
How did you find out about Clapper? Why did you decide to share your music?
@zackmossmusic. I was a fan of his on TikTok and he did some videos about what might happen with TikTok. And I want to try all the platforms I can, so I came over to his little group and then I almost immediately met Rob Georg, but I found out through Zack. Honestly, on any other app I’ve never grown and established a base so quickly. Over here people are so interactive now and that’s how you grow. Everybody talks to everyone, everybody replies to everything. And I love that.
Deciding to be an artist can have its ups and downs. What advice would you give to that young artist who is just learning to play guitar, or starting singing lessons and whose dream is to be a musician?
You know, I thought you might ask this one! Make sure you have a plan. The world of music is unforgiving. I’ve been in my whole life and I’ve seen a lot of fear based actions back and forth and things that are completely terrifying. But the truth is, it’s worth every second of it. Never stop following your dream. (That’s such a canned response, and I didn’t didn’t want to go to that!) Keep your head in the clouds but have your feet on the ground. You’ve got to have some sort of an anchor, but make that anchor something to do with the art that you love.
Make sure to check our recorded live session on our account Clapper Sounds and in our reels on Instagram. Enjoy the Clapper Sounds Live Session with @Jivemind!