JOHN LARCHICK Finding Truth in the Music We caught up with John Larchick, talented musician and producer with Time Stamp Records and founding member of JL Universe. When did you first get into music? Please explain. I’ve loved music since I can remember. But my personal experience with it started with the drums. I was 11years old, my older brother wanted to take drum lessons and my parents reluctantly signed him up. I couldn’t resist playing his practice kit at home. My mom saw that I was playing them regularly and soon got me in with my brother’s drum teacher. I had lessons from a Denver drum legend Chad Johnson (ChadZilla) who gave me that real taste of playing and jamming with other players. I am forever thankful for those lessons and his instruction which planted that musical seed in me to want to learn, push myself to get better and understand new aspects of music and of course start to create my own original music. Who or What inspired you to pursue a career in music? I have to say that my mom and grandma are huge influences in my love of music and my desire to make music/art a career. Mom always had records on in the house growing up. Everything from Blues, R&B, and Rock n Roll. She always loves a good jam. My Grandma Bubbles and Grandpa Lue are a couple of my other biggest inspirations to pursue this industry and to
achieve the highest level of success. Grandma’s good vibrations push me to strive for greatness. How has your music evolved since you first began creating music? Being a 90’s kid, I was raised in the Golden age of hip-hop, grunge, funk, blues, Reggae and so much more. All of these styles pushed me and continue to move me to this day. But now my main purpose is to reach a space of pure expression. For me, it is less about fitting into a particular genre and more about making music that demonstrates me as a person and an artist. My creations are constantly evolving based upon my life, my surroundings, people I may be collaborating with, my current playlist. Tell us about the JL Universe. How did it all get started? I’ve been a part of several groups over the years. When I split from a group in 2012 I decided I wanted to create more of a solo project, which is how JL Universe began. It has since grown into more of a collective project. I have somewhat of a revolving door of artists that collaborate with me now. We write, create and perform songs together, using creativity and ideas from everyone involved for each particular song. Although I did release two songs in 2020 that I, understandably, recorded and produced 100% solo. The Battle Royale video I produced, directed and shot
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