Morty Shallman Takes Over NYC This Weekend with EP Release Show at Rockwood

Morty Shallman plays at Rockwood Music Hall, Stage 2, for a special solo acoustic show to celebrate the release of my his EP, "Pop Fiction." The show takes place on Sunday, June 2nd at 11pm (21+ / $10 suggested donation)

For more information visit: www.morty.org

Morty Shallman has been one of the best kept secrets in the Los Angeles music scene, and now he is taking over the world...and Rockwood Music Hall this weekend, With a string of successful singles, kicking off with the buzzworthy "She's Breaking Bad," from his new record Pop Fiction, Shallman allures with his knack for bold, vibrant production, infectious vocals, and unstoppable Pop hooks.

Catching up with Morty within the past couple of weeks, we sit down with the artist to dive deep into the world of Pop Fiction.

You have a new single out right now, "She's Breaking Bad" What can you tell us about the new release?


“She’s Breaking Bad” is the lead single from my upcoming EP “Pop Fiction.” It’s a retro/modern synth/electropop track that sets the stage for a neo-noir-style heist story, featuring a bank robbery, a dangerous femme fatale, and a flawed antihero led astray by her beauty and lust for danger. It will be Chapter, i.e., Song 3 in my 4-song “Novella with Songs,” Pop Fiction.

What fueled the inspiration?

There are two inspirations, one for the music and one for the lyrics, and “fueled” is a great way to look at it.

Musically, my producers and I wanted to flesh out the darker and edgier vocal approach I explored on my Halo EP, on the dubstep-flavored track called “Not Too Late.” The idea was to pair that vocal sound with a more driving pop/rock groove, and an infectious chorus that would hook listeners in and not let them go. It’s fun, and somewhat random, to see how it evolved into a retro-80s synthpop track, but that just flowed naturally from our initial inspiration.

As for the lyrics, the inspiration for those were literally “fueled” by my car – a black on black Dodge Challenger R/T Scat Pack, with a 6-speed manual transmission and a 6.4 liter Hemi V-8 capable of producing 480 horsepower. It’s a modern take on a classic American muscle car, a truly gorgeous machine, and hella fun to drive. Obviously with power like that, the Challenger has the potential to get you into a lot of trouble with the law, if you’re not careful. Somehow this combination of beauty and danger inspired the “femme fatale” at the heart of the story of She’s Breaking Bad, and the rest flowed from there.

Was there any specific storyline you had for the song when writing?

Since the Challenger is the ultimate “getaway car,” the story of the song became the story of a chase scene. In verse 1, the singer/anti-hero and his girl have just robbed a bank and are on the run from the law, whose “flashing lights” give them “no time to lay low.” Verse 2 flashes back to the moment the singer first meets the object of his obsession, and was “blinded” by her beauty. He knows she “brings the villain” out of him, but he doesn’t care, because she’s so hot.

When I started putting the EP together, I realized I wanted to flesh out this Neo Noir tale in more detail. That’s how She’s Breaking Bad becoming song/chapter 3 in a larger story. In movie terms (I’ve written four screenplays, in addition to my songs and stories), this would be the second half of Act II, right before the story shifts into the climax of Act III. To drive home this concept, I’ve written and recorded short spoken word narrative passages that set up each song and tie the whole story together. In this way, the Pop Fiction EP builds on the “literary pop” concept I invented with my first solo album, “Love’s Oblivion, A Novel in Twelve Pop Songs,” and with “Last of the Zacharys,” the world’s first “Novel with Songs.” You can check both out these projects at my website, www.morty.org.

When writing music, what are your influences?

The spark of song can be anything, from a dream, to a newspaper article, to something happening in my life. Once that spark leads to ignition, I tend to write melodies first, and then let the words flow from the nonsensical mumblings I make up as sing those melodies into my iPhone voice notes program. Sometimes the hook or title will come out of that process, as I try to match the sound of my nonsense words, but other times an entirely new story comes to mind and I’ll craft some lyrics that fit the phrasing.

How long does it typically take you to write a song?

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I’ve written entire songs in as little as an hour, but sometimes it can take months to match the right lyrics to the right music. Like I said, melodies usually come first, but crafting just the right words to fit the melodies, words that not only touch the heart but also make sense in an intellectual sense, now, that’s the real art and craft of songwriting, in my opinion.

Do you keep coming back to the piece and revising?

Both melodies and lyrics do evolve as the song comes into being, and are usually finalized when I record a proper demo.

What are your influences musically and lyrically?

I like to joke that my influences range from Elvis to Elvis (Presley to Costello), which brings in a ton of styles and artists, from the Beatles to Motown, New Wave, especially English Dance and Synth Pop, not to mention good old fashioned American Rock and Roll. I’m also a huge fan of contemporary artists like One Republic and Ed Sheeran, to name a few, and I’ve also really gotten into House Music over the past couple of years, especially Deep House and Techno.

What was the recording process like for the new record? Did you self-produce? How long did it take to write and record the album as a whole?

The recording process for the single was fascinating – and challenging. After writing, performing and producing every note on my previous EP, Halo, I decided to shake things up a bit for my next project, and teamed up with industry legend Jeff Blue, who I met through the Music XRay website. Jeff, who is best known for discovering Linkin Park, brought in multi-instrumentalist and studio whiz Steve Dresser, and together we crafted two of the four tracks that will be the new EP. It was an amazing experience working with two such accomplished pros in the studio. They really pushed me to do my best, both as a writer and especially as a singer. It may not be obvious, but with the exception of the “SHE BAD!” group vocals on the pre-choruses, where Jeff and Steve joined me on the mic, I’m singing all the background and answering vocals on the tune, including octaves and multi-part harmonies.

We repeated the process on track #1 of the EP, called “Young and Stupid,” but the other two tracks evolved differently. “Party All Night On Sunset” and “Freak” were both productions I began at my home studio in Valley Village, and then finished with Steve Dresser, who provided some additional production for Freak, and then mixed the heck out of both of them. So if you consider the various iterations of those tracks, I guess it was a two year process for these 4 tracks to come into being, although I’ve written and recorded many other tunes over that time as well.

Do you have any plans on touring or a full record this year?

The “Pop Fiction” EP will be released on May 12, 2017, and then I plan to do a release show in LA -- I'll keep you posted when I get the date and venue. After that, I’m planning a solo acoustic tour that will take me up the West Coast, and then out to the Midwest and East Coast as well. Gonna be a blast! After that, I have enough tunes right now for another full record or at least an EP, so look for that later this year or early next.

What do you hope to accomplish in 2017 with the new record and beyond?

In the near term, I'd love to make some serious waves locally with the new EP, and establish myself as a major artist right here in my hometown of Los Angeles. Beyond that, I’d love for my songs to gain national and international attention -- to be streamed round the globe, if you will -- which would allow me to tour the world, including my dream of playing major festivals like Coachella and Glastonbury. And obviously, I plan to keep making, releasing and performing my original pop songs as long as I can hold a guitar -- and a note!