“I wish I had been more aggressive in finding opportunities from the start.” – @sonnyhntr

Episode #278 : A.V.A Live Radio Behind The Music with Jacqueline Jax
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/avaliveradio/2015/12/02/episode-278-ava-live-radio-behind-the-music-with-jacqueline-jax

GETTING TO KNOW SONNY HUNTER
by Jacqueline Jax host of A.V.A Live Radio

What is one thing you wish you had done differently from the start…
Oh my, well I wish I had been more aggressive in finding opportunities, but we’re artists/musicians eager for that opportunity and sometimes we can jump too quickly on opportunities instead of pacing yourself and not being too anxious to grab whomever makes the best sounding promises.

At this point in your career, what do you feel is the single most important thing to be noted for…
Well, perhaps not totally loosing my passion to continue this musical quest and see it to a viable product that I can release to the masses because then, I can say I took it as far as I could and that I didn’t live my life on “Should’ve & Could have” excuses.
Times in Life
is a rock song, fighting/supporting/celebrating the lives of those who are & have battled Cancer and no musical artist (that I know of) has even attempted to rock a medical global topic. I had a school music teacher who told me when writing songs, write something that will reach & touch the world.

The lyrics came first after attending my Grandfathers funeral who was a General Practitioner/Medical doctor in Columbus Mississippi who passed from a stroke but it was a statement that a family friend said as we returned to my grandparents house after the funeral and it stuck in my head and it was a friend of my Grandmother who said “I remember when times weren’t so confusing” and that same year an aunt of mine passed from breast cancer and I let those two incidents & those emotions combined, led me into writing this song.

The music/chord progression came easily but the song didn’t come alive until I got signed to an indie label, The Fiction Label in Los Angeles in the 80’s, which is defunct and I’ve made some changes since I went back into the studio recently.

Now being a member of MusicXray, I’ve been able to connect with and submit music to some top notch industry leaders, specifically to Ron Nevison who ran an ad on this site seeking unique rock artists with original music, so I submitted to him and he responded with his suggestions.

I had let him know I was shopping to producers who worked with Alice Cooper and I let him know I had contacted the manager for Roger Daltry as well and I had hit a brick wall and his response to me was very helpful and even thou he said it wasn’t the type music he was wanting, he felt both those artist wouldn’t deliver the song the way I sang it and encouraged me to go back into the studio, re-record it with “power” he said and change the title to make it more radio friendly and wished me success.

So it was very professionally worded.

The original title was “Cancer” and I subconsciously thought of changing the title but never had a producer at the level of Ron Nevison, directly tell me this, so you better listen to people like that, someone of his statue & success.

So when I got his response, I stopped and laughed and said to myself, “you’re right” and the title line was always right in front of my face with the existing lyrics, so I simply changed it to “Times in Life”, then I contacted ASCAP and asked them if changing the title if I would incur charges and they said not if I changed the actual lyrics and that I could change the title, at no charge, so I did and it has been a tremendous opening to the internet radio stations and international stations accepting this song and putting it on play rotation, so I’m ready to shake Ron Nevison’s hand. Absolutely he was a BIG influencer for this song.

Since your song is very unique/lyrically about a medical topic, What has been some of the challenges of acceptance that you’ve run into…
Now that I’ve changed the title which I think has helped tremendously, there’s still reluctance with companies in the U.S. which is why I feel it will be a smart strategy to shop for Music Sync Supervisors and medical fund raisers and their commercial production specializing in the Cancer research market so I can potentially gain an income that can subsidize my expenses for this EP recording but also it will give me marketing/branding growth and awareness of this Sonny character, as an artist.

You may know about Bob Geldoff who gathered up his British superstars and resurrected his song “Do they know its Christmas” for the BandAid 30 which hit #1 Top 10 Billboard this year and it was to raise funds for Ebola in South Africa.

Granted, Ebola is a very serious deadly virus and its approximately 5yrs old, Yet Cancer has been wrecking lives globally since the 70’s and I want a U.S. company to get supportive of this but reality reminds me I may have to communicate with companies in the UK as well.

Are you making a music video…
This CD/EP has 3 songs and “Times in Life” will be the first because of the global social relevance of the song. I’ve already spoken with a video producer whose in Austin, Christine Ray and we discussed my ideas over the phone recently and I’ll be driving to Austin after the holidays to sit down with Christine Ray and present my story board and discuss production specifics.

Who will be in it…
I don’t want it to be a typical band video so my plan is this will be a visual story of pictorial scenes/pics/images/delayed film footage that will follow the lyrical story supported by the music recording. It has to be unique, different yet captivating and cause listeners to be curious as to who this artist/band is without it being the typical band performing shoot.

Name three things every new music artist should know coming into this industry..
Lol, well no-one gave me helpful tips, this is a Blood Sweat & Tears industry and if you’re wanting an easy route, you’re in the wrong business. It’s a business where your emotions, patience, spiritual being will be tested and I cant give anyone tips other than learn the business side as well. Take either college courses or attend webinars and learn as much as you can but remember the words of Mick Jagger, “If you don’t rock me baby, somebody else will”.

What’s Ahead for your November and December…
Well, dieting is out of the question, actually the video pre-production is priority right now.

SOCIAL MEDIA SITES:
Twitter: @sonnyhntr
FB: https://www.facebook.com/dwayne.s.hunter
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/sonnyhunterrocks-1
Linkedin : http://www.linkedin.com/in/sonnyhunter2
http://www.broadjam.com/artists/home.php?artistID=101964