INTERVIEW: Printz Board

We got the opportunity to talk to Printz Board about him as a songwriter, his new solo project, and his new music video for "Hey You".

Describe your sound, and what makes you unique compared to the other artists in your genre.

I think because of my work  with other artists over the years, people kind of already know the Printz Board sound!  And it's always about inspiration: inspire others and let others inspire you with what they do.  I find inspiration from everything, so my own sound is like a blend of artists.  Take Ryan Leslie, Gym Class Heroes, Lenny Kravitz, Black Eyed Peas…mix 'em together, add in a few other ingredients, and you've got Printz Board!

You've been known as an award winning producer and songwriter, what made you want to go solo?

Well I've always been an artist, just like i've always been a songwriter, producer and musician.  I've been extremely fortunate to work with everyone from Michael Jackson to Katy Perry to The Black Eyed Peas to Macy Gray.  When you're in the studio with these big artists, you naturally flow from project to project.  But when we took a break from the Peas' stuff, I went over to New Zealand and Australia to work on a few albums.  I was demoing everything myself and putting down all of these ideas, that I kind of looked up at one point and realized I had this new body of work.  I thought, "OK, I'm gonna go ahead on my project now.  It's time.  It's time to tell my story."  

As a songwriter, what is your most favorite song you have written?

That is a tough one and it changes, but "Where Is The Love" by The Black Eyed Peas is up there.  It's a great feeling when you come up with an idea that you know is great.  I had that feeling with that song.  But then when you see that idea begin to take over, that is something completely different.  When we were on tour with Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera — the Justified Tour — it came out, and at first, there were a few people singing along to the song.  Then, ya know, week two, there's more people singing along to the song. By the fourth week, it would just be arenas full of people, I'm talking 20,000 people, singing along to an idea that started out with just me at the keys!  That feeling is what you hope to achieve every single time.  

Pre Games released in April. What is your favorite song off of the EP?

I would say "Mountains."  That song really represents my upbringing.  My mom was pretty young when she had me, and we lived together with my grandparents.  It was definitely a struggle.  She really instilled that kind of drive in me though and I owe that to her.  "Mountains" is the story of anyone who has had to overcome obstacles.  The little boy in the first verse is me, and of course the single mother in the second verse is my mother.

You currently just released a music video to the song "Hey You". Where did the idea for the video come from?

"Hey You" is a crazy fun, energetic song. It's the song you blast at a party.  It's the soundtrack for a crazy fun night.  So what better setting for the video!  The video too has such energy that it brought the song to life even that much more.  The original concept was like, 'these kids in the video need to be like you and me.  Anyone who watches this video should see someone in the crowd that they identify with, because that's how my music is."  The shoot also was like a house party.  Everyone there went crazy!