Justin Stewart
Open Labs Exclusive Artist Interview
- by Tatiana Ryckman, Open Labs Staff Writer
Justin Stewart explained, “I figured there needed to be a reason why I was posing shirtless with it (his NeKo).” And that's where, 'Who needs clothes, I got a NeKo!' came from.
Though hearing him tell of tearing the packaging from around his brand new keyboard, one wouldn't be surprised if he was just so excited by the board that he started ripping off his clothes. “This wonderful machine that I'd been dreaming of, and anticipated, finally made its way up to my apartment. I couldn't wait to open it. When I did open it up, it was as amazing as I'd hoped it would be.”
As lead singer and keyboardist for the St. Louis-based cover band Groovethang, Justin has performed everything from The Doobie Brothers to Earth Wind and Fire. It's both amazing and lucky, he says, that “there are a lot of people who search for something they love to do and be able to make a living with it, [and] I'm highly motivated to do what I do because of that.” Radiating thankfulness and joy across the telephone line he said, “I know that today there are a lot of people sitting at a desk doing something they have no interest in,” his voice got bright, as if lost in a beautiful dream, “and I'm getting ready to do a show tonight, playing Steely Dan.”
Living the dream of being a musician and getting paid for it has had perks for Justin and Groovethang – besides the obvious. “Someone had a 40th birthday and hired Michael Buble and his orchestra along with us. Not only were we allowed to attend but also play. Someone else had a 50th birthday party and hired The Guess Who to play along with us.”
While Justin has made strides in his musical career, he wasn't born with a golden NeKo in his hands.
“I was a sophomore in high school and a friend of mine introduced me to a Prince album, it's his album Controversy. I remember it hitting me like no other music hit. That's when I decided to get a keyboard, and my first board was an Alpha Juno 2 – the original Juno had all the sliders, and this was the first one that didn't have them, which I thought was cool because it was sleeker. Little did I know that it was cooler to have all those to control everything.”
Since Justin's Juno days he's had the opportunity to use oceans of keyboards, software, and instruments, but it wasn't until the NeKo that he began to get the “wow factor,” as he calls it. Sound techs, artists, and audience members alike are always impressed. “You only have 15 minutes to set up, and these tech guys come over and I'm like, 'okay, I only have 30 second to tell you about this.' My friends tell me I've kind of become a salesman for it.” They joke he should get a commission. “[But] it's easy to talk about something that is so cool, that does so many great things. Its not a sell, its just explaining how this product can do what you'd like to do.” As for the audience, “They'll say they thought it was a DJ playing and they'll walk into the room and say 'Whoa, it's a band!' That's a huge complement.”
Bringing myriad experience to his workstation, Justin knows what he likes when it comes to software, and that's one reason he liked the NeKo so much, “The newest thing that I've been experimenting with is this new soft synth called Real Guitar. Basically it's an acoustic guitar that allows you to strum realistically like a guitar. I don't play guitar and this is amazing. If this was included on, say, a new version of Phantom, I'd want to go out and buy it, but instead I just purchase the program for a few hundred dollars and I've got it. The works of soft synths have really been amazing for me. That's really one of the reasons the NeKo and the MiKo thrilled me, because instead of having to run out and buy the next great thing that comes out because it has a few great sounds on it, I just buy the software.”
After pausing, as if to contemplate how he'd gotten from high school and his Prince albums to a career making music of his own, Justin continued, “I've got all the tools I need now, so the focus is on getting the music out of me, to extract it and make it reality. The only thing that would make it easier now is if you plugged a fire wire into the back of my neck, and I'm sure you guys are working on that.”
With the NeKo has come a new kind of musical freedom for Justin. He's even begun DJing and is preparing for a big event. “I'm going to DJ from 6 to 9 at the Sex and the City premiere in St. Louis, and then we'll play from 9 to 1. It just makes so much sense.” On top of movie premiers there are regular gigs, a record to work on, and life in general, which excites him as much as crooning to crowds of Steely Dan fans.
“I'm just inspired by the ability to go into my studio at any time and come up with music. That, to me, is such a magical thing and I'm very, very thankful that I'm able to do that. I've had to put things in perspective, certain things that go on in my life, certain things that get me down, and then I think how awesome it is that I can walk in and play sounds and things from my head and bring them into reality. That's why having an instrument like the NeKo is so key to inspiration, it allows me to do it so easily.”
With hopefulness, music, and his NeKo, Justin Stewart is giving us a lot to look forward to.
Artist Q & A
Q: How did you hear about the Neko?
A: As I recall, it reminds me of the beginning of the first Matrix movie. Like Neo searching for Morpheus, I was on a quest for something, but I really didn’t know what that something was. I just knew that there had to be a better, more convenient way to deal with the technology of music. When I finally discovered an online review of the Neko, I knew right there that someone had finally created what I had been looking for. To say it was a religious experience might be over the top, but I knew from that point on, things were definitely going to be changing for the better!
Q: What is most appealing about the Neko?
A: Just before I discovered the Neko, I attempted to combine the various devices that I would need for a state of the art “live” rig. After all was said and done, I had lots of equipment that required much set up time. Not to mention that the intuitive design features of the Neko were still lacking, such as a touch screen display. I mean how cool is that! After spending more money than what it would cost for a Neko, I still wasn’t able to achieve my goal. So now with the Neko, I am able to take everything that I need in one device to a Groovethang performance, or a mobile recording session, and simply set it up as I would one of my synthesizers. That’s what I call a dream machine, and I finally have this awesome creation!
Q: Have you had any experience with our Tech Support?
A: Yes. And it was an amazing experience! To be able to plug my Neko into the internet and watch Matt actually take control of my machine, and in minutes fix a simple issue that could have taken hours for me to fix was awesome. Since then I’m actually sad to say that I haven’t had any problems cause I’d really like to see that again.
Artist Quote
"If your mind can conceive it and your heart can believe it, then Open Labs can achieve it!"
-Justin Stewart
Equipment Used
Purchased NeKo SE (Gen3)
Artists Links