Check Out Neal Wright’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Neal Wright.

Hi Neal, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
In the early 2010s, I was living in Portland, OR and writing/playing with my indie rock project, Burner Courage. I was pretty new to leading a band, and the show booking, coordinating practices, and juggling schedules was a big challenge for me. By the time we finished our one and only album, we were all a bit burned out and decided to disband. I’m still really proud of the album we put out, but I was happy to take a break from booking shows, practices, and recording sessions.

After the band broke up, I had a lot more time and creative energy to put toward new musical ideas. I had been listening to a lot of electronic music and decided to invite my friend Will over to mess around in the studio. We experimented with lots of different electronic sounds, and while we didn’t end up with a finished song, the experience inspired me to keep messing around on my own.

At the time I’d been given a wonky old reel-to-reel tape machine. It didn’t work very well, so instead of using it to record, I instead recorded the sounds of the buttons on the machine and the sounds it made when the machine was running. It made some fantastic, chunky, mechanical sounds that I thought could be used as samples in a song.

I started working on a song using these sounds, and as soon as I started, I immediately became immersed in this new workflow. That song ended up becoming “Life Cycle,” the first song on my first album. Having a solo project meant I was able to work quickly and book shows easily, never having to juggle the schedules of multiple bandmates.

I eventually did create another indie rock project called Fake Fireplace that released an EP before I moved back to Colorado. That said, Wave Collector has become my main focus. The sound has changed a lot over time, and I’ve tried to evolve as an artist with each major release. I’m currently finishing up a new EP called “Your Call is Important to Us” which is inspired by hold music.

Since moving back to Colorado, I’ve been really enjoying working in my studio in the mountains where I can always draw fresh inspiration from the beautiful scenes outside my window.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Compared to my experiences playing with a full band, Wave Collector has been a relatively smooth ride. It’s been a pleasure to be able to book shows easily and work on music whenever I want, without needing to coordinate with a band.

There have been some slow points along the way where I’ve struggled to make as much music or promote my music as much as I’d like, but that’s gotten a lot better in recent times. Last year I started to take promotion more seriously and learned a lot in the process. I got so excited about promoting my own music that I ended up forming a music marketing company to help other artists!

It’s been a really cool experience to dive into the world of starting a business, and it’s really rewarding when we can help a talented musician get their music heard. The only downside has been that working on the business has taken some time away from working on Wave Collector. That said, I’m still happy with where the project is, and thankful for every day I get to pursue my passion creating new songs.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Last year, I was feeling really bummed out about how little traction my music had been getting in the past couple of years. I decided I was ready to take music promotion more seriously and began to research the subject. Before that point, I’d always been really careful to do things the “right way.” I knew that if I was really going to learn, I would have to experiment. So I began to try all kinds of different strategies to promote my music, and to my surprise, I began to get some results!

While it was a bit scary to leave my comfort zone and experiment, I learned an incredible amount in a very short time. I decided to keep pushing myself and formed a company called Lightweight Media with my fiancée to help musicians promote their music.

We pride ourselves on helping talented and driven musicians get their music in front of more people who will appreciate it. We help our clients by running promotion campaigns for them, helping them strategize ways to grow their following, and coaching them through some of the tougher aspects of being a working musician.

One of the ways we set ourselves apart is our transparency. We want our clients to understand what we’re doing and why. If something’s not working, we let our clients know and give them a chance to pivot to a different strategy. We want our clients to walk away with a better understanding of how music marketing works so that they can continue to have success in promoting their music.

I felt defeated when I would spend hours honing a song only to have it go virtually unnoticed. I want to help others who find themselves in that situation.

We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
I think a lot of people who are familiar with Wave Collector don’t know that I got my start doing indie rock and folk rock. Even though I’ve focused more on electronic music recently, I still write indie rock and folk songs from time to time. I have plans to release another EP as Fake Fireplace with some songs written in the last couple of years. And as much as I love not having to schedule band practices, I do miss playing with a band and would love to start one again in the near future!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://wavecollector.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thewavecollector
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheWaveCollector/
• Twitter: https://x.com/lewavecollector
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheWaveCollector
• soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/thewavecollector
• Other: https://wavecollector.bandcamp.com

Image Credits
Two of the images were taken by Jesse Andrew Clark (the two live venue shots where I have a beard), the others were taken by Jason Quigley.