Angie Aparo's got a beef with the record industry. The singer/songwriter -- known for hits "Spaceship" and "Hush" off 2000's The American -- is currently between labels and has been unable to garner radio play. Name dropping from the get-go, Aparo revealed his connections to Faith Hill, Edwin McCain and his hero, Neil Young.
Angie's a friendly, fast-talking Southerner who is often up recording into the wee hours, thanks to a heavy dose of touring. The Atlanta native had been working on a song for Faith Hill, who recorded "Cry" off The American and titled her most recent album after it.
Edwin McCain is a longtime friend with whom Angie hopes to co-write in the future. "Edwin's stuff... the stuff that him and I do... would be pretty boring to most people hanging out in the back of a bar talking until five in the morning about art and life." At the bar, he's knocking back Crown Royale and maybe talking about how he's been blown away by Neil Young's catalogue -- Harvest, in particular. Even if he could download all the songs, he'd need to own it.
Aparo bemoans the fact that CDs are far too "much considering how many shitty songs are on most records." He encourages fans to download his music on the web. "Yeah, I encourage it. Because for me I don't think it's stealing," Aparo explains. "It's more like borrowing, because I end up seeing them at the table after a show... I just think the industry has looked a gift horse in the mouth. It's really the most amazing promotional tool ever and I think it does put pressure on the artist because the artist has to make better records and has to make records that aren't as costly. And that's good, that's where it should be."
It's that art and life that drives him to follow in Neil Young's footsteps and create music the way that a child sees the world. "To me, the true nature of creating is the fact that there is no concern about outcome, it's all a verb -- it's kind of all action," Aparo says. "It's kind of like the way a child draws a picture and the child is not concerned about it when it's done. They're more concerned about it as it's happening."
His closest physical connection to Neil came at a restaurant when they were both eating. "I noticed he had people coming up to him. And on a scale one millionth of his, I've kind of experienced a little bit of that, like you just want to eat. You know what I mean? So I just left him alone"
