I first met Sans at an event thrown by TaylorMaydMusik and Atlantic records two winters ago. It was my opportunity to scout for more talent attending my first event as an A&R for MarcWin Music. What I found at the event was this guy from London who was singing 80's ballots performing with a guitar. Something I haven’t heard in a very long time. I took that as maybe this guy is trying to find a different lane and I liked that. I like artists who take risks and want to be different.
Later on in the week while working with Niko (a singer songwriter) on a track that we were pitching for TV, I came up with the idea that one of her songs would be great as an acoustic performance. I then remembered that Sans was still in town and I gave him a call to come up to the studio and work with Niko. The record was so great and had such depth that I wanted to keep working with him. So I wind up taking this guy all around New York City introducing him to as many people as possible. So much so that his two week trip became a three month stay. You can still go on Sans Rock‘s instagram and see his family commenting on multiple pictures asking when he was going to head back to London. My sincerest apologies.
Now here we are a year later and we’ve released a single called Pretty in New York City featuring Win. How the record came about was Sans sent me a demo and I decided to work on the drums and arrangement. Sans then had the idea that we should actually have a rapper, ideally from New York, have a guest verse on the record. I was already wrapping up Win’s album ALTERNAT SIDE and decided to bring him in to lay his verse. Almost through serendipity the record became what it is now and we’ve received a lot of great feedback.
Sometimes all the pieces you need are right there in front of you and you’re already working with with them. I think this experience should show that we should be more resourceful with what we have rather than trying to reach out and get someone or something that may be a bit out of reach.
Just a thought.
