USC Junior Debuts First Short-Length Album

Last spring, , now a junior at . The ambitious musician was working on releasing his first short-length album, also called an EP. Many late nights and early mornings later, Meston finished what he started and debuted his EP, entitled Everything is Fine. We caught up with Meston to see what he's up to now.

Upper St. Clair Patch: You finished your EP. Congrats! How long did it take you? How did you find the time to do it?

Meston: Thank you so much! I started writing for the EP in January of this year, and the finished product was all done around the second week of August. Some songs were knocked out in two days, some of the other tunes took a month. Since my dad and I only played the instruments, some songs could be a tad tedious, but time-wise I did all of the grunt work (mixing and mastering) plus two or three songs in the summer. Performances for the other songs were done by June. It took some really late nights and frustrating mornings, but all in all it was worth it, and I can’t wait to get back to that kind of schedule.

Upper St. Clair Patch: How do you feel about the finished product?

Meston: I’m very proud of it, and I’m happy that I can share it with people. I think it really captures where I am right now. Since the recording, I got some new recording software, so I’m really excited what will come with that nice addition to my arsenal of gear. I really look forward to putting some new tunes out for free sometime in the near future.

Upper St. Clair Patch: Describe the songs on this EP. How are they different from songs you've written or performed in the past?

Meston: I really think that my songwriting has progressed a lot over the course of a year. In my old band 13AM I leaned towards a rock or alternative genre, which is totally fine, but my own material is more pop and seems to be easier to relate to in general. Another key component is having the luxury of my dad helping out on the drums, bass and keys on most of the songs. Our vision is usually similar on how we want the song to come out sounding, and that makes for a better end product.

Upper St. Clair Patch: How can fans access your music?

Meston: There are so many ways to access my music:

My EP is available on itunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/everything-is-fine/id459119574

You can listen to all the songs in their entirety on my reverbnation site: http://www.reverbnation.com/marcusmeston

And also on SoundCloud: http://soundcloud.com/marcus-meston/sets/everythingisfine/

My EP is available on most online distributors (Amazon, Rhapsody, Napster, etc.)

Upper St. Clair Patch: What are your future music plans?

Meston: Well, right now I am in the writing stage for a CD with a new project entitled Notefall, which features Ethan Kadar and Ben Mertz. The writing for that is keeping me busy as of late, but that is definitely a project that I am looking forward to producing. In addition to that I have been producing songs here and there for some of the bands I go to high school with, like The Naturals and The Gentleman’s Game. Keep your eyes peeled for any of those names, because they are all great and I’m happy to be working with them.