Daily Inspiration: Meet Riley Schmelzer

Today, we’d like to introduce you to Riley Schmelzer.

Hi Riley, I’m so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed with your story and how you got to where you are today.
I grew up in somewhat of a musical household. I would commonly find myself walking around between activities, picking up any instruments I could find, and simply exploring them. I remember feeling very comfortable when doing so, not necessarily in that they were some sort of an extension of self but rather that they provided reasoning and legitimacy to the way I perceived things. It was a way for me to navigate and create with the language that I knew best. 

Strangely enough, I actually phased out playing for quite a while around age 8 when I became very interested in other things. It wasn’t until the great Colorado floods of 2013 that destroyed our music room and the instruments within it that I inconveniently realized I was becoming interested again… once everything was gone. There was one guitar upstairs that wasn’t touched by the water -or played by any person for that matter- that my father allowed me to use to continue on. 

During the recovery phase of the floods, my father and I went through extensive efforts to clean and repair the guitars that actually had a chance of survival. After many months of humidifying, we cleaned/somewhat refurbished all of the internals and externals of the guitars, which allowed me to become fluent in the anatomy of the instrument. This opened the door to understanding the anatomy of other instruments as well. 

It was during this time that I simply kept playing and traversing the musical world; all the doors kept opening, and it felt like my only job was to walk through them. The call to create No Signal came around age 14, along with all of the ideas in a very ephemeral amount of time, a matter of days. 

We all face challenges, but would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
There are certain facets that have been easy running, others not so much. On the creative side, the only consistent issues I have run into are other people saying things should be done differently and not trusting me and the process. 

This has been everybody from total strangers to close team members. One of THE most difficult parts about doing what I want to do is that it has yet to be done; I say that only because I haven’t found anybody else doing what I want to do or anybody who has done it. I have only found loose comparisons, but even then, it is not close to exact. 

I NEED to execute this vision and essentially settle for nothing less, and doing that in a world where most art seems machined and formatted for money and publicity can not only be discouraging but frightening as well, simply because it is something that is brand new and something that doesn’t really follow today’s prebuilt lanes that one would be told to follow for success. 

Despite the fact that lots of others and I see it working and being confident, I suppose there will always be issues simply because of having these ideas. I have yet to create a platform in which I can execute any of these much larger ideas, but when I do, it will all make sense. I really want to clarify that I don’t do it for the purpose of being new; it just so happens to be, it is hard now, may always be, but that will never be an issue. I am really looking forward to what will come of this. 

I appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
For No Signal, I sing and play the guitar. For a while, I recorded alone, doing everything on my own and such. However, I do want this to be a band and sound like one, so in the studio, Nic Kubes (Drums) and Jake Demarco (Bass) record their instruments with my supervision, I suppose haha. As for what No Signal is, I have always found it quite difficult to summarize. 

There is a lot going on, and there is going to be a lot more in the future as well. We’re very conceptual; in the albums, there is a large storyline that will continue on for as long as we’re around; the story came to me when I started the band. There are only two chapters so far as we only have two full-length albums, all of which have already been planned, names and overall vibes and such. There are a notable number of songs already written as well. Everything from song lengths to the ordering to the names and keys and all of that are puzzle pieces to this story, it’s all solvable. 

The EPs are conceptual as well though they are their own storylines and puzzle pieces, but they’re a spot for us to have a little more fun without restrictions since they’re not following the albums, they can take place in similar universes but they’re just not on the same storyline. 

I think all of that sets us apart, but we still have a sound that could fill up big venues. Also, the fact that none of this is super intentional; it’s just how No Signal is. It’s not like me; the band is sitting down brainstorming these storylines, ideas, and ways to make things unique on purpose. 

We’re not intentionally tuning things differently and changing song lengths on purpose. It’s only when you look into it after the fact that you find it keeps falling into place and working, if that makes sense. If anything, you could consider it somewhat of a negative trait that things fall into place like this. It’s far more difficult to market, haha. One big hope with all of this is that we can bring this level of comfortable complexity into the mainstream, showing massive audiences how deep things can really get. 

What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
My answer to this will be ever-evolving, of course, but right now, I think persistence is vital. It’s not something I personally have to maintain, but it is something I like to express to others. I am lucky in that everybody on our team believes in No Signal. 

Quite frankly, outside of traits that can be taught, there is a lot that comes naturally as well that I believe has a grand influence on things. If I try to think of the most fundamental characteristic one would need to withhold for a happy and consistent success, I think passion is one of the primaries as well.

Navigating yourself and the traits that make you who you are and finding the ones you can utilize for your success is something I would love to see more people doing. 

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.nosignal.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/4no3signal2/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NoSignal432
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@nosignal432?si=C8zozGZ8Vt0lQ_ip
• Other: https://linktr.ee/nosignal432

Image Credits
Richard Cummings