NYC-based musician, Monte Mader, is quickly making a name for herself. Growing up in Wyoming has influenced some of her songwriting, but it’s more her experiences, specifically life-altering, that have influenced her the most. She only recently moved to NYC in 2014, and has called it home, meeting other talented musicians such as herself to perform with. Mader released her EP, Skydive, this past May, and has been avidly promoting it. She spoke with us about her new EP, her love of fitness, and more.
Your debut EP, Skydive, was released in May. What was it like working on this record?
It was hard! This is one of the most difficult and long projects I have every worked on. It was emotional, exciting, draining, and a really incredible learning experience. I learned a lot about me and I healed a lot. I always wanted to make music to encourage others and make them happy, but working on this project helped heal and encourage me along the way, too. I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything, would do it all over again.
You’re originally from Gillette, Wyoming and moved to a huge city (NYC) for a fresh new start. Why the move to such a big city?
Well I had been in Virginia for college and when I went through a really rough time, I was starting with a totally clean slate. When I realized that I sat down and asked myself what I wanted to do and where I wanted to go to do that. I was 23, recently broken engagement, I had lost pretty much everything and realized that what I really wanted to do was music and New York seemed to be the place to do it. So I packed up a U-Haul and drove myself here. Scariest decision I have ever made, but also the best one.
You’ve had some major life experiences that you’ve expressed through your music. How did these events help shape the music on your debut?
These events are the reason that the music really happened in the first place. I have learned that comfort can often be the enemy to success and growth and for me, it took losing everything and a broken engagement to get me to pursue music and begin the EP. And along the way, the project changed as my experiences changed. Before my Dad passed away, I promised him that I would finish this project and take it as far as I could and do the best I could do. I had originally planned to release a slightly different EP last August, but when he passed I decided to take it a different direction- which ended up producing a project even closer to my heart.
You are a chameleon of sorts; musician and personal trainer…how do you balance the two?
Well that depends entirely on how you define balance. I am almost constantly working on something. There are weeks where I’m powered solely by caffeine- ha ha. The best tool that I have learned to do is I spend at least an hour every Sunday planning my week and I set daily goals to accomplish everyday so I don’t lose track. I carry a planner (yes, a written planner) everywhere I go and make notes about everything. Sometimes it’s overwhelming, but I feel fortunate that I enjoy both my music and my day job. I love helping people and my day job gives me a very tangible way to do it while fueling my music.
What shows do you have coming up?
My next planned show is my debut performance at Bitter End on September 29th at 8pm! This is one of my dream venues so I can’t wait to be there! The band and I may be doing some pop up shows during the summer so be sure to visit www.montemadermusic.com to sign up for updates, or follow me on instagram @montemadermusic
http://montemadermusic.com/
https://www.facebook.com/monte1mader
https://www.instagram.com/montemadermusic/
