After hearing the latest track from Los Angeles based multi-talented artist Sean David Christensen ‘I Miss the Old You’ (released on March 7th 2022), I was intrigued. It was clear after a couple of listens that this is a very personal song to him and I wanted to chat to him to unearth the meaning behind the track and whether it was written from his perspective or not.

During our chat we also went into detail about his musical influences, his first musical purchase and even the first live show that he ever attended. For all of this and more, read on….

We know you’re called Sean David Christensen, we know that you’re involved in music, art and film, we know you live in Los Angeles, tell me something about yourself that not many people would know.

I design main titles and credits for music videos, sometimes purely with my own handwriting! I’ve been blessed by these opportunities to impress my artistry upon these films, some for artists I’ve admired since childhood. It’s a surreal experience, suddenly feeling your work woven within something larger than you ever could’ve accomplished on your own.  

Which band or artist made you want to start writing your own songs?

It was more like a handful of artists I listened to at an early age and songs that my parents played on road trips or cleaning the house. These daily experiences opened themselves up to worlds beyond the carpet or the car seat through the power of their music. Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye were two artists I distinctly remember, for their vocal power and remarkable command of the lyrical stories they were singing. I wanted to write songs that kept people company, songs that felt like they were “listening” to the listener. What a gift to leave to others, you know? Songs that listened back, helping humanity navigate our emotions by singing along to them.

Do you remember the first song that you wrote? Tell me about it.

I don’t remember the first song I wrote, but my father has been known to boast at family functions about his boy Sean creating complex words, far beyond his reading comprehension, on the refrigerator with magnetic letters. I would also read aloud every signpost and storefront display that my parents would drive me past, growing up in Phoenix, Arizona. I’ve always been fascinated by language and the shapes it creates, especially within the lyrics of a song.

Do you remember the first record or CD that you purchased? What was it, when did you buy it, where did you buy it from and do you still have it?

In 1996 I bought Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness by Smashing Pumpkins either at the Zia Records on Thunderbird Rd. or the Best Buy on Camelback Rd. in Phoenix, AZ. I have no earthly idea where it ended up.

Tell me about the first ever live show that you attended, who was it, when was it and who did you attend with?

I have foggy memories of seeing Bette Midler with my mom when I was six years old, around there. 1991? I don’t think she was able to find a babysitter, so I went. 

Any key memories from the show that you can share with us?

I can only remember hazy shapes of blue and purple and a figure standing in a cone of white light on stage. I can’t hear any music, just noisy echoes. 

Would you say that you grew up in a musical family? If so, who played what?

My father played guitar for my sister and I growing up, almost every other evening. My fondest memories are of us all singing together in the glow of night, fumbling through harmonies until our voices locked in together and hummed with this amazing sound. I still adore vocal harmonies and try to write them into as many songs as I can.  

Onto your latest single, you co-wrote and co-produced “I Miss the Old You” with John C. Schroeder (Pomplamoose) and Ross Garren (Bon Iver, Ke$ha, Ben Folds) – How did you get to work with these incredible people in the first place?

John was recommended as a session guitar player by my friend and musical collaborator Ian Wurfl, who plays with my pop group Maggie Dave. Ian is a brilliant drummer, and as is so often the case in LA, quality musicians only recommend others of high pedigree – so I had every confidence John and I would get along great. I’ve been very fortunate to have tracked a number of pop & dance songs with him before I approached him and his songwriting partner Ross Garren for a collaboration. What started off, actually, as a country remix of a Maggie Dave song called “Old You,” soon blossomed into my own personal solo song. John and Ross helped elicit my own meditative feelings about loss and the burden of holding onto the past with their evocative instrumentation and peerless accompaniment. We all wrote the song together at John’s home studio in North Hollywood, and it definitely helped being in the room together to reflect each other’s emotions in the notes and melodies we chose. The song feels like a story shared between us all.

Tell me about your approach to song writing, how does it happen for you? Do you have a set process?

So often, the lyrics and melody will synchronize in my mind like a flash and I’ll have to race for the nearest pad or scratch piece of paper to capture it before it flutters away. There’s no process, apart from opening myself to the potential of failure or weirdness, and not being shy about it. I can stumble as many times as I need to towards the finish line as long as I keep stumbling forward. 

Do you have a band behind you or are you classed as a ‘solo’ musician? If you have a band, please tell me who they are and what they play.

This particular song is a solo work. My pop group is called Maggie Dave http://www.maggiedave.com and I’m the lead singer and co-songwriter with my best friend Mark Christopher.

Do you use the same team every time when you write and record music or do you try different people?

I trust my gut if there’s a strong artistic connection with a collaborator. That’s so hard to find. If it’s reciprocal and inspired, I’ll continue going back to those places of shared creativity. 

I wanted to ask if the song was based on a personal experience that you went through? 

It isn’t based on a specific personal experience, but more like an embodied feeling I’ve had since I was a child…this feeling of being responsible for carrying the emotions of others and acting as a spiritual caretaker for those who’ve long since abandoned their emotional responsibilities to you in return. 

I look back at previous relationships and remember the time when things changed for the worse but felt powerless to actually do anything about the situation (as in ending things), do you think that this is something that lots of people have in common?

It’s hard to let go. Even harder to let go of a memory. I think everyone’s felt that powerlessness to truly move on from a situation or person that no longer serves you. I do confess that I sink into heavy feelings when I sense a chapter is about to close and I’m about to lose someone for good. But the grief that comes with trying to hold on to somebody, or a memory of who you wanted them to be, is unbearable. I’ve felt that before. “Can’t we just get together/Smile so easy like it meant forever,” is not always that easy. You can’t go back once things start to change.

‘I Miss the Old You’ is an alt-country ballad, is this your style of music or do you tend to venture between different genres depending on the song?

It depends on the song. The main vocal melody of “I miss the old you…” started off as an exaggerated country honk that I started singing around Mark as a joke during our Maggie Dave writing sessions. I really made it sound cartoonish. But it soon blossomed into a real plaintive refrain. I kept doing it because it felt good every time I sang it, but I dialled back the sarcasm and the genre just happened to naturally coalesce around alt-country with honest feelings. 

You must see celebrities all day every day in LA, tell me about a few that you have bumped into in the past.

Quite truthfully, I’ve never had a celebrity encounter in LA. Walking past people doesn’t count. I’ve lived here for almost eight years. I think that’s probably a sign that I don’t get out much, or I’m too busy making my art to notice.  

What three things can you not live without?

1. Talking with friends & family

2. Sunshine

3. Hugs.

You work in music, film and art, some might say that you’re a ‘triple threat’, tell me a bit more about your work in film and art.

I’ve always been a visual artist, and my films have many similarities with the music that I write. I listen to the invisible tempo running through the story I’m trying to tell on screen and follow that pulse of where the emphasis needs to be punctuated, either with a camera move or editing flourish. It’s all about harmony for me. It’s a great challenge to weave all those technical and emotional strands together into a strong braid, but it’s so gratifying when it does hold together.

There are MILLIONS of bands and artists out there, please name a few that we should be checking out.

Ricky Berger. I can’t wait for her latest album.

Any new music on the horizon from you?

I’m producing an album this year with my pop group Maggie Dave. We’re trying to keep pace one song at a time. It’s an arduous but worthy road to walk down. 

Which social media channels are the best ones to keep up to date with your musical happenings?

I’m on all social media at @seandavidchristensen, take your pick….

Lastly, if you could have a super-power, which super power would you have and why?

I’m content with my own humanity, in all its imperfections. It’s such a struggle getting through the week as I already am, I don’t think a super-power would change anything. It’d only complicate things. I’d still have the same regrets, the same sadness. Having a super-power would just end up creating super problems.

We’d like to thank Sean David Christensen for taking the time to chat to us and we wish him every success with his new single and future musical endeavours. To keep up to date with his happenings, his socials are listed below, be sure to check them out and give him a like.

Socials

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