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Meet Paul Derks

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Paul Derks. Them and their team share their story with us below:

My influences began at a young age. My mom was a high school music and theatre teacher, so I was around music and performance when I would hang out with her and her students at after school practices in Benton, near Kansas City, Missouri. At the same time, my dad was a barbershop quartet singer and competed internationally. Or, sometimes after school, my dad and I would drive to Harrisonville, an in-between meeting spot, to practice their barbershop songs/performance, and of course, we listened to classic rock the whole way there. Notably, Boston and Styx.

That translated to high school where I continued my choral singing and competing. I also got the role of Joseph in our high school production of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”. All that to say, I was mostly a choir and theatre nerd, and didn’t get much into pop culture or pop music. The first songs I wrote were Folk/Americana and based around the idea of finding “home” or navigating this life’s a journey to see who I was meant to be.
I played a little bit of football in college, and when my knees failed me, I completely directed my attention to music. I took a handful of theory and ear training classes and decided to get a degree in it. I began my collegiate education in Nanophysics at Northwest Missouri State University and found my way to Memphis, Tennessee at Visible Music College. In, fact, I just graduated this Fall semester with a B.A. in Modern Music Songwriting.
Being in Memphis has brought a lot of great musical opportunities to me. The influence of my upbringing, classic rock, education, and the blues really brought a form of songwriting out of me that I didn’t know existed. My Americana/Folk style gradually shifted into the pop sphere of sound and is now more of an indie pop/indie rock/psychedelic sound. It is very ironic to me, since, like I said above, I’ve never been one to be into pop-anything all that much. While here in Memphis, I have met some great friends who helped me form the band, Subtle Citizen. Subtle Citizen is the culmination of who I am as a songwriter and musician—my musical journey wrapped up in a bow.
A few months ago I participated in a competition based in Nashville called 615 Sings. It is a competition created by the Tennessee Alliance for Kids which aims to help underprivileged kids and orphans with things like clothing, backpacks, hygiene products, etc. I was able to win the competition and record with producer Steve Ivey. This is what he had to say about Subtle Citizen:
“I have worked with numerous singer/songwriters in my long recording career and it is always exciting to work with new talent when you can sense that extra special edge, Pau Derks is such a talent. He writes lyrics from a unique perspective, melody from a pop commercial sensibility, and sings with that male high voice that has proven for decades it always wins. Paul also just happens to have the more uncommon talent of an undying work ethic that is the only way to make it in this music industry. Give Paul Derks a listen.” – Steve Ivey, #1 Billboard 17 times, 2 times Emmy, 4 times Grammy, 4 times Dove, 3 times Telly-award winning producer and writer.
The songs we recorded with him are set to begin release starting in Spring 2022.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Getting to this point has not been that easy. Wanting to be a professional musician is challenging by itself, then add the fact that Subtle Citizen was formed and had our first performance the day before the government shut everything down due to Covid-19. A mentor of mine once compared the music industry to a swimming race out in the ocean where all the swimmers are different musicians and they are trying to drown the others around them, fighting for attention. Of course, the goal isn’t necessarily to win the race, you just have to last longer than the other swimmers around you. The music industry is not a race of speed, it is a race of endurance. And, of course, with Covid it’s like trying to accomplice this race while a storm is raging over you. If getting live gigs was hard before, it is especially hard now. However, it gave us a lot of time to rehearse and work on our craft. It also allowed me to narrow in on a songwriting style I want to stick with for Subtle Citizen’s sake.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Right now, Subtle Citizen is my work. We are about to jump in the studio with Calvin Lauber in March 2022 to finish up a handful of projects. My full time job is taking care of my wife and my newborn son, getting gigs, making social media posts, writing music, and practicing my craft.

What matters most to you? Why?
What matters most to me is my wife, my son, and my music. My life centers on those three things and how they influence people to help make this world a better place.

Pricing:

  • T-shirts: $20
  • Stickers: $2
  • Private shows: $400/hr (plus $50 for every additional hour outside of Memphis)

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Jacob Stanifer, Sam Chesick, and Paul Derks

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