Bruno Mars Homecoming

“… people really gravitate towards the live show. We turn it into a party.”

Mars has claimed the #1 position on Billboard’s Hot 100 with his hit single, “Just The Way You Are,” which also recently hit #1 on iTunes. On October 9 this year, Bruno took the stage as the musical guest on the Saturday Night Live TV show. The performance followed the release of Mars’ eagerly anticipated debut album, “doo–wops & hooligans”. Born into a musical family in Honolulu, Bruno Mars was practically raised on the stage and says that he feels most at home when he is performing.

As soon as he graduated high school, Mars left Hawaii for Los Angeles with dreams of launching his career as a performer. Those dreams got put on hold, however, when The Smeezingtons, the songwriting/production team he founded with Philip Lawrence and Ari Levine, suddenly took off. The pair has crafted major hits for a diverse roster of talent, including Flo Rida's "Right Round", Travie McCoy's "Billionaire", Brandy's "Long Distance" and K'Naan's "Waving Flags".

Mars describes his time behind the scenes as important to his development as an artist. "I realized that you have to go into this industry as an artist with a clear vision and understanding of who you are. Being so young when I was first signed, I never really had a sense of who I wanted to be. Now things are really working out because everything that I'm singing, writing and composing is really me."

On the heels of "Nothin' on You" and "Billionaire" and as a preview of what's to come from Bruno Mars, Elektra Records is releasing a 4-song EP aptly titled "It's Better If You Don't Understand". The title is taken from a lyric to "The Other Side"; one of the songs included that features Cee-Lo Green and re-teams Mars with B.o.B. The song depicts the musician's current routine. "It's basically a story of the lifestyle you end up living as an artist and how I would describe it to a girl I just met to try and explain, but in the end… It's better if you don't understand."

Mars is also the co-writer and co-producer of Cee-Lo Green's wild internet sensation "Fuck You". "We wrote a song that's not for radio obviously with the title, but it was a dream session come true. It was the ideal collaboration, coming up with one of our favorite tracks we've ever done". 

When asked to describe his music Mars says "it's hard to put myself in a box. I just write songs that I strongly believe in and that are coming from inside. There's no tricks. It's honesty with big melodies. And I'm going to be singing the shit out of them." The collection of songs on the EP are written from various real-life experiences, where Mars blends his buoyant voice with purposefully simple production. All of the songs are produced and written with his Smeezingtons partner Philip Lawrence.

Although he's incredibly proud of the recordings, Mars feels the best way to experience the sound is to see him perform live with his band. "That is what I'm most excited for – taking these songs and traveling them around the world." The only place he would rather be than in the recording studio, is with his band on stage – where he grew up.

Eric Michael Jones - I'm Not Country

Jones is an offbeat singer-songwriter from New York. Defying categories, he concentrates on smart, literate, sometimes comic lyrics.

Pressed for comparisons one might mention the late, great Warren Zevon. Jones shares Zevon’s ability to lean on classic rock structures and arrangements while bringing originality and a certain caustic wit to the party.

I’m Not Country is a sharp genre pastiche, but with real depth and subtlety. The song suggests a genuine fondness for maudlin country with a strong seam of observant wit and its plaintive chorus: “I never owned a pickup truck, I don’t drink too much, get in fights, never been down on my luck.”

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