Born and raised in Central New Jersey, Tony Lio grew up on a hybrid of musical genres ranging from rock to pop and soul to indie. With musical structures reminiscent of Soundgarden and Ghost and lyrical content in the vain of Hozier and James Bay; there is no pigeonholing Tony Lio as he aims to make a name for himself in music. In his passionate new single “Kaleidoscope” (a follow up to his single Cigarettes and Angel Wings) he walks on into an adventure of escapism and color.
By Kamil Bobin
Discovered via Musosoup
Hello Tony Lio. Can you tell us about your early career? Where did you get the idea for the music industry?
Pleasure to be here. Music has been in my life since I was very little, my mom and dad always had music playing around the house. As I got older, I definitely became an introverted loner and I eventually gravitated towards music as not only an art form but as a way to express myself. This in turn led to me starting to play more seriously and write my own material. Starting out was semi-rough though as I wasn't the strongest musician in terms of music theory, and I definitely had a punk style of playing and writing. As a result, I found myself playing and writing on my own, I was lucky enough to form small bands here and there, but they didn't last. In hindsight, that solitude in practicing on my own proved to be beneficial, as from the ages of 18 to 21 I slowly managed to form a musical identity and style all my own. This was the birth of Tony Lio, the Alien Punk, the Rocker Boxer and the Wild Bad Traveler.
Where do you start when producing songs?
For every song I do I always start with the flesh and bones of the song and that's the overall rhythm. In my opinion without a great rhythm, you don't have a song. Once the rhythm is solidified, I build up there with a melody, bassline and drum/percussion pattern; I work on this process until I feel the song is good and ready to record. After that I contact the producer I'm working with at the time and we get to work to record the song piece by piece and that's where the real fun begins.
Your latest song is 'Kaleidoscope'. Can you tell us more about the making of it and if there were any unusual things happening during the process?
"Kaleidoscope" definitely has a unique history. I came up with the basic rhythm idea in March of 2022; I was just sitting at my desk one night just messing around on my guitar and my fingers just fell on a particular chord pattern that caught my attention and off I went. For the next week I wrote out the whole song, both music and lyrics and knew I wanted to record it very soon. Around the same time, I had begun using a musician connection app known as "Vampr" and I managed to connect with a producer who goes by the tag "lostgirlx7" (they prefer their privacy which I respect). I eventually sent them the acoustic demo for "Kaleidoscope", they liked it, and we got together to begin crafting its overall sound. Without a doubt without lostgirlx7's influence "Kaleidoscope" wouldn't be the song it is today in terms of sound; they gave it that open mystical sound that brought the melody to life. Lostgirlx7 also pushed my overall performance both playing and singing wise as they would insist in multiple takes until the perfect take was laid out. It was all worth it in the end as I have a song I'm incredibly proud of.
What was the most difficult challenge you faced?
The most difficult challenge I've faced in my career so far has obviously been trying to navigate the "new normal" of the music industry in the aftermath of the pandemic. When the pandemic began, I like everyone else didn't know what prolong effect it would have on the music industry as a whole; what would happen to live performances, music distributions systems and so on. My game plan was to keep focus, just keep writing new material and see what would happen in the months that would follow. I essentially found myself in another version of the solitude I had when I first began writing music; for during that period, I began writing material that would become some of my personal favorites. I look back on the two years since that period and have found that I have grown beyond the musician I was before 2020 and look forward to continuing to grow.
What is your goal in artistic activities?
My overall artistic goal is to make the best material I can make plain and simple. Even if I have to drive myself crazy, I won't stop fine-tuning and tinkering until I know that each song I write is planned out accordingly and recorded the way that is laid out in my mind. I view creating music as my most important job and I have to give it my all in order to ensure I complete my job with flying colors.
How do you know when a work is finished?
There's only one thing that'll convince me when a song is completely finished: once I hear all the elements in harmony I know the song is complete. Like I said before I don't care if I have to drive myself or anyone else crazy, if I don't think all the elements line up the song isn't finished and I mean that for all my material.
What is your trademark? It's about unique sounds or behaviors on stage.
I personally believe that I have two trademarks that define me: one being my stage persona and the other being a particular song that sortof has become my signature song. When I conceptualized the "Tony Lio" character, I wanted to create a mysterious character that captured the dual styles of alternative and indie rock. So as a result, I created a red war-paint style around my eyes which eventually continued to develop to the point where to this day it's taken on a gothic renegade form. This of course was done to add a certain flare to the music so that whenever people would see me perform, they would have something to remember in terms visualization and hearing. This has proven particularly effective for one of my songs dubbed "Weird (Is Beautiful)". It's a simple song with a simple message: embrace the weirdness. To me composing this song led to the true birth of Tony Lio and I perform it at every show.
What are your biggest achievements so far as an artist, but also personally?
The biggest achievements I've managed to obtain so far in my career have obviously been crafting a vast and diverse musical catalogue, being able to have worked with many talented musicians who have pushed me to become a better musician and perform many shows where I can express myself without any doubt.
What memorable responses have you had to your work?
Just to read or hear "hey this is a great song" is all I need. Mainly because it means I've managed to gain a new fan and they think my material is great, so I've done my job. In recent years though I've gotten responses that I thought I would never hear. These have ranged from hearing the songwriting is incredible and unpredictable, the playing is precise and on point and the singing is truly unique. That's something I'm still trying to get use to hearing. I say that because obviously I'm my own worst critic and sometimes I beat myself down a little too much. But to hear that people truly like my work really shows that I'm continuing to get better and stronger.
What are your plans for the future?
My current plans obviously include continuing to work on my solo material, I'm currently working with a number of different producers on new material that I hope to release after the new year's. I'm also hoping to set up more full band solo shows, I'm always used to performing solo acoustic showcases so I'm hoping to break that cycle. Basically, I'm just going to keep doing what I'm best at, nothing more nothing less.