Marc E. Bassy

Hailing from the Bay Area in San Francisco, Marc E. Bassy is a singersongwriter known for his feel-good yet mature, insightful, and poetic pop lyrics. His solo works include 2014 mixtape Only the Poets, 2015 release East Hollywood, and the 2016 EP Groovy People, including the single “You & Me” featuring G-Eazy. Before releasing his own works, Bassy wrote for artists such as CeeLo Green, Sean Kingston, Wiz Khalifa, and Ty Dolla $ign. Marc released his latest album, Gossip Columns, on Republic Records in October. Marc will be touring Europe throughout December 2017.

Sitting on a roof during sunset in Downtown Los Angeles, Marc’s light blue eyes and far off looks suggest deep rumination.

MR: Your latest album was a hit. People are excited about how it gives the best relationship advice.

Marc E Bassy: Really?

MR: Yes! You haven’t heard that?

Marc E Bassy: No, but I appreciate it.

MR: People need relationship advice. It’s an epidemic.

Marc E Bassy: It is.

MR: Where does the inspiration come from with your song writing?

Marc E Bassy: All my songs are kind of inspired by my life— the trials and tribulations of making music in Hollywood. Life is pretty good. I don’t have too many problems. But I’ve been in Hollywood for a long time.

MR: How long have you been here?

Marc E Bassy: I’ve been here since right after high school, so that’s almost a decade. I’ve been playing and writing music for myself and other people. I’ve been in bands. It’s funny, they say you have your whole lifetime to make your first album and that’s kind of true. So all of these songs are little snapshots of things I went through growing up.

MR: That’s cool. So the songs are all from different parts of your life?

Marc E Bassy: Well I made them all recently, last year or so, while I was working on the album. But I go back to different points in time that inspire me. It’s weird when you write songs. It’s not exactly what’s happening right this second. You never know, something might remind you of something that happened a long time ago. That’s how it is for me.

MR: That’s cool. So what’s your process like? Do you write on the piano?

Marc E Bassy: I write on the piano and guitar. But, I write all different ways. I don’t have a method. Just wake up and go to the studio, I spend a lot of time in the studio. One thing I really learned from writing for other people: I know it’s cliché, but they say you have to write 100 songs to get that one that really feels good. I’ve written so many songs and I just got myself into that process. A lot of other things in my life aren’t regimented. Pretty much nothing else is regimented, other than the fact that I’m always creating music. So as long as I’m doing that, I’m okay and this album is just all the bits and pieces I’ve enjoyed listening to the most.

MR: So you don’t really have a method of writing. Do you have a preferred way of collaborating? Are you the kind of person who wants to be in a room alone and write something or do you like to go in a room full of people who are all being creative? Like, “Oh I’m dropping a beat… Let me freestyle on that!” Is that something you’re into?

Marc E Bassy: Yeah, I think I like to walk. I’m a pacer. I like to walk a lot. I walk for miles. I don’t really try to write. I just wait for it to come. So that’s something I learned along the way. When you force it, it never works, so I just sort of walk around, read. I read a lot and I listen to a lot of music.

All my songs are kind of inspired by my life, the trials and tribulations of making music in Hollywood

MR: What are you reading?

Marc E Bassy: I read classic American literature and the news. I listen to my friends. And I bear witness to all my friends struggles also and just things that we all go through together. My album is kind of like for people that are close to me. It’s always a big deal because they’re all in it, they’re all characters in the story. You know so, I don’t really write to fulfill any purpose. It’s just something that I’ve always done since I was a little kid and I closed my eyes and it became a career. It was never my intentions.

MR: Do girls ever ask you, “Is this song about me?”

Marc E Bassy: All the time.

MR: Is that annoying?

Marc E Bassy: It’s funny because, in general, my songs are not inspired by one person. Maybe one line is about you but that doesn’t mean this line is about you. That happens often because I do write from a very personal place. If you dig me or you’re a friend of mine, you’re probably on my album. So you know who you are.

MR: So you’re originally from the Bay Area but you moved to Los Angeles to pursue songwriting?

Marc E Bassy: I was in a band in high school called 2AM Club. 2AM Club did alright. I got a record deal when I was 21. I moved to New York City for three years. We had our ups and downs. At the end of the day it was like 6 people at the time. And it was a weird time in music. It was like 2010 or 11. The entire industry was changing so much and I was trying to find myself. I didn’t grow up thinking I was going to do this so I really didn’t have a template. I had no idea what I was doing. When you’re really young and you’re making music, you’re making it for yourself. It’s extremely cathartic. I just wanted to let it out. And now that I’m older and appreciate music as a craft a little more, when I write, it’s more of an offering. I get inspired by younger cats who are just out of high school and from the energy that they have making music. I listen to everything and I try to incorporate the energy that I had when I was seventeen/ eighteen to my music now, which keeps me youthful and relevant. I think everyone can relate to my album because if you really listen to it, you can see it’s still personal and raw but I’ve learned how to arrange music and how to create what I want to create.

MR: I always ask everyone this as a songwriter— Do you consider yourself more of a writer or a performer?

Marc E Bassy: Well, I tried to be a writer and I had some success. I’ve written some songs for big artists but it wasn’t until I got back into performing that people understood who I was. I think I’m more of a performer at the end of the day. My live shows probably, that’s my best musical offering I can give, so yeah I guess performer but it’s all one in the same. All my favorite artists are writers. Prince is a writer, Stevie Wonder is a writer, Sam Cooke, Donny Hathaway. I mean just pick up Bruce Springsteen, Tupac, whatever you know, everyone writes and music is like water; it’s not something you have to do that has to be a certain way every time. You know if you write a dope song and it sounds like oh this would be better if this person sang it. I’m always into that, there’s no restriction, there’s no guidelines, it’s just whatever feels best.

MR: So, you have a tattoo right here. *Points to chest. What does it say?

Marc E Bassy: It’s a Sly and The Family Stone song called Everybody is a Star. They were one of my all-time favorite groups, especially when I was younger.

MR: What about that song inspired you?

Marc E Bassy: The tattoo says, “Everybody is a star. I can feel it when you shine on me. I love you for who you are, not the one you feel you need to be.” I probably wouldn’t get this tattoo at this point in my life but I was young and it’s just a nice sentiment. It’s a beautiful sentiment.

I don't really write to fulfill any purpose. It's just something that I've always done since I was a little kid and I closed my eyes and it became a career

MR: You have to believe that. If you want to be famous or fulfill your dreams, you have to believe everyone is a star and everyone has that quality within them.

Marc E Bassy: I do believe that.

MR: I do too.