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By: John Kerecz (Shinbone Editor) Old Schoolhouse Radio: So here’s Sherri. Tell us about yourself. Sherri Mullen: I started writing when I was 14-years old, so that’s a long, long time. O.S.H.: That was last year, right? SM: (laughs) Yeah. That was last year. I really didn’t do a lot. I was afraid to sing in public and all that stuff. For many years I was a computer systems engineer. Finally, back in the year 2,000 – after the year 2,000 scare was over – I decided to take some time off of work. O.S.H.: (Joking) I was at the office that day and it seemed to be very uneventful. SM: It was! But that was because of people like me fixing all the code. So, yes, I’m a geek. But, anyhow, after that was all over I picked up a guitar (since) I had some downtime. In picking up the guitar it just kind of opened up those musical doors for me and I started playing out almost immediately. That’s really how I got into it. So, it’s been about 7 years that I’ve been doing this. I quit my day job very quickly after that. Because probably within a couple months of doing this, I knew this is what I wanted to do. And, I had spent enough time doing what I didn’t want to do! With the support of my husband I was able to walk away from my career and start a new career. It’s been going really, really well. O.S.H.: How would you define your music? SM: Oh boy! That’s fun. O.S.H.: The different definitions of your music? SM: I’m actually a singer/songwriter, of course, at heart. I do a lot of music that’s varied styles. Now on the new CD that I put out, I try to put things together more in the Americana range. But I have those rock tunes that I pull out every now and then because I love rock and roll. And, I’ll have some songs that might even be more country. But as a songwriter, I don’t just write for me. I write for other people. I write for other projects. So that’s why my music tends to be all over the map. I don’t think I would have it any other way. I just love music in general. O.S.H.: Now you just had a CD release party, and you’ve actually had some other CDs out before. Maybe you could tell us about those? SM: My first CD was “Mask” and I released that in 2002. That was kind of a statement of me breaking away from corporate America and actually going into the music business as a career. So it’s kind of autobiographical. So I did that and about a year-and-a-half ago I released “On the Edge”, and that wasn’t even supposed to be a released CD. I had written four songs for film and TV. I went into Seventh Wave Studios and had Jason Rubal record them. He is amazing, by the way. A lot of my fans were asking for some of these songs that I was playing out that weren’t on any kind of CD anywhere. So, I took all these bootleg recordings (that I recorded myself in my home) and threw them on the CD with the four songs I recorded with Jason and that’s how “On the Edge” came about. This new one is called, “Fearless.” I just released it on April 15th. You’re the first interview I’ve done since I released it. SM: This CD means so much to me because I have management now. I’m with Razing Kane and Chris Franz. I have some sponsorships with Daisy Rock (Girl) Guitars, Wicked Threads and Rebel (Strap Company) guitar straps. And, we’re really looking to taking it to the next level. I go to Nashville (TN) a couple times a year. I’m making a lot of connections there. I think this collection on “Fearless” is actually the one that’s going to define my career as a singer/songwriter because everything on there - My writing is at such a different level than it was back in 2002, or even two years ago when I released “On The Edge.” So it’s kind of neat to see the progression... and all the people that have the old CDs, they can kind of see how you can only improve if you keep doing it. I think when you get to a point where you think you can’t improve, you probably shouldn’t be doing music anymore. I’m really proud of this collection. I love it. O.S.H.: What would you like to do in the near future? Where would Sherri like to be in two-to-five years? SM: One of the other things that I am doing, because music is basically my life and that’s all I want to do forever and ever, is running my own international publishing company, which started out by me licensing my own music. Now I have contracts with writers around the world and I’m licensing their music too. So, that’s sort of my "day job". That gives me an excuse to write songs (for film/tv or other artists) that I may not necessarily releaseon my own albums. So I definitely want to continue that and grow that. Now as an artist, I really just want to start taking my music outside of this area and try to get a larger fan-base. I guess we will start with the east coast and see what we can do with that. But, I would love to do mini tours. I would love to get attached to some of these singer/songwriters acts that are on major labels and do some touring with them. It’s going to be a lot of work but I’m ready for it. Note: For the full interview, go to www.OshRadio.com... |