It may not be “Rum in Paris,” but it is coffee and live music in Milwaukee! Phillip-Michael Scales is a self-described “dive bar soul” artist. He’s a coffee-lover, a songwriter and performer. And he’s stopping by Anodyne Coffee in Walker’s Point on May 9 to perform songs from his new album, “Good to Be Here.”
What influences the sound of your music? Do you have any inspirations?
A lot of different things sort of inspire my music in terms of the sound. There are a bunch of different things, but I would primarily consider myself a songwriter. I feel like songs are kind of like people, and genres are kind of like clothes. The goal is kind of to make the prettiest people you can, so they look good in as many clothes as possible. Some people, some people only look good in t-shirts and jeans, you know what I’m saying? The goal is definitely to get a little bit closer to the song, then you can’t really go wrong with how you dress it up.
For this one, there’s definitely sort of a Stax Records, soul feel to the whole thing. There’s definitely kind of like that Otis Redding type, kind of grit, and it’s a bit rock and roll, a bit soul, like a greasier version of Motown in some ways.
It’s time to pick your Milwaukee favorites for the year!
When did you start writing music? How long have you been doing this for?
I probably started back when I was like 13. I’ve been writing music, touring and playing for a while for sure.
Is there anything that drives your passion for creating music?
There’s definitely the general urge to create, like most artists kind of have. I started performing at a very young age, at nine years old. I was in Joseph with Donny Osmond, and so I was performing on stage there, and I just realized that was something I wanted to do. I tried to satisfy that itch through theater and performing and all that stuff. And then I think somewhere, you know, around 13 years old, I found the guitar, and then I realized like, oh, I can write my own music. That’s really cool. It was really cool to be able to sort of get my feelings out. I think it’s kind of like partially loving to perform, but also loving to write and create music.
You performed over 300 shows in 2018. Is there anything that you do to keep the fire burning, keep you going, or is it just that passion within you?
I mean, rent’s a really good motivator [laughs]. Um, yeah, no, I mean, you know, for me, I took vocal lessons. I actually started taking vocal lessons that year because I had so many shows to do. Keeping in shape was one of those things that I was just trying to do for my physical health, so I could keep my instrument. And then it ended up making my voice sound a whole lot better. I just love performing. Having played Summerfest in Milwaukee a couple times, having performed all over, it’s just something that I do and it feels weird when I don’t do it. Sometimes you want to freshen up the set or play new songs or whatever, but it’s very rarely am I ever like, oh, I don’t feel like playing music today.
Is there a favorite thing you have about performing or a favorite memory from any of the shows you’ve played at?
I’ve done so many shows, and there’ve been so many great moments. A fun thing about live performances is it’s live, so you never really know exactly where things are going to go, how things are going to land. Sometimes you have moments where a guitar goes out and you hop in the crowd with a guitar and you start playing, and that’s a really cool moment that no one in the room, including yourself, ever knew was going to happen. Or somebody says something funny or whatever. I think those are the moments that I really enjoy about being live.
Do you have a new song from your album that you’re most excited to perform on your tour?
They’re kind of like kids. It’s kind of fun to release a new record because there are 10, 11 songs you’ve never played live before. I think Something About You is one of my favorite songs. It just got put on a Spotify playlist recently. It’ll be cool to see how that stacks up live.
You’re performing at Anodyne in Milwaukee on May 9, and you have a special blend of coffee with them.
I do, yeah.
What do you love about coffee?
What I love about coffee is just the subtleties and the differences between so many different types of coffee. Are you putting it in a machine, or are you doing it with a pour-over? Are you doing it in a French press? There are so many variables, and it’s not an exact science. It’s almost like live performance in that way.
Do you have advice for other independent artists who are maybe just starting out, struggling to get their footing? Is there anything you would say to them?
Aside from hanging in there, just keep getting better at it. Keep strengthening your craft. Just keep working, keep working on your craft, and part of your craft is also going to be the business to make sure that you’re doing that.
The best thing I could say is to continue to be authentic to you. There are a lot of really adorable, good-looking people who can get a lot of eyes on themselves for social media, for being attractive or for having a funny dog, or whatever. And I think that it’s really tempting to get those followers because of that. But you know what, what you’ll find is that if people are there for your dog eating potato chips or whatever it is, I think that it can often be disappointing when you try to turn that into attention for your music, and you realize that all the people there are dog people. It’s staying true and staying focused on who you are and what you do. Those messages you’re sending out to the public and what you’re sharing are going to be what people are there for. So, just being conscious of that. Basically, no shortcuts.
Have you found a unique audience since you’re outside of [music] labels and TikTok trends?
I don’t know how unique they necessarily are. I think TikTok has been doing pretty good for me. I think they’re just people who, on TikTok specifically, really like finding new artists. In the soul world and the blues world, the songwriting world, they kind of found me that way, and it’s been a really cool thing. I think that’s the greatest thing about TikTok. It’s not really a homogeneous thing. It’s like a museum with a billion different wings, you know? Two people can be like, “Oh my God, I love this museum,” and have never gone to the other wings, but they just know the rooms that they like to be in. I think that’s a really cool thing about it for sure.
You’re in Tennessee now, right?
Yeah, I split my time between Tennessee and Portland, Oregon.
And you grew up in the Midwest?
Yeah, I grew up in Michigan, and then I lived in Chicago for 12 years.
Is there a difference in the audiences between the South, the Midwest and the coasts?
It’s funny. Not really, you know? I played in Europe, I played all over, and I think that the thing that you realize is that people are pretty much the same everywhere you go. I think that the people who show up to concerts just love music, and they enjoy being entertained. They enjoy finding up-and-coming artists, and that’s just been the coolest part to me. There’s a cool universality to it all. I just love that.
Certain towns are a little bit more music-oriented than others, you know, like Denver’s a lot more of a music town. I think the coolest thing is that there are always hidden gems. I just played in Bentonville, Arkansas, yesterday, and it was a great turnout. I played in Appleton, Wisconsin. That was a great turnout. There are these little tiny towns that are a little further out from a lot of different places that don’t get [big acts]. Some [performers] go to Milwaukee for music, but a lot of times they’ll go to Chicago, and then skip Milwaukee and go to Minneapolis or something like that. To find these little towns, those are almost the gems where you can find really cool pockets of people who are just super big into music. They’re really appreciative because oftentimes they don’t get all the artists. That’s been a really cool trend that I’ve seen.
