Christopher Petts is a freshman at Morningside if you see him around campus, however if you get to know him you will find out that he is much more than that. He already has a foot in the door when it comes to his future career. A career he hopes is going to be in the music industry.
He has his own music album on Spotify, he plays the trumpet, French horn, baritone, bass guitar, trap set percussion, and he is able to make music on his computer. He also has a very introvert personality, for example he doesn’t go out at night and prefers to lay in bed.
His father is a pastor which lead to many moves in his life. That is not a problem for him as he had music to help him cope. However, he does have some set backs when it comes to having a religious family, for example he wasn’t allowed to listen to any kind of music other than Christian music. His brother was listened to country music while at college, and his parents found out and took the radio out of his car. He discovered he was good at music at the end of 10th grade, when he realized that he was good at band and understood music. Over the following summer he began making music and started doing as much music related activities in school as possible, whether that as band, choir, or a music theory class.
When he heard different music for the first time at school he fell in love and decided to learn more about it and found out he was good at it. He then decided that it made sense for him to try and make music.
He gets his inspiration in random spirts throughout his days, in particular when he is bored. His surroundings in particular his song “Depths of the Rain” was inspired by the sounds of hearing rain downpour on the roof of his house. This sound sparked the melody of the song and represents the feeling and mood he felt at that time during the flash flood. He also pulls inspiration from life experiences, for example he tried starting a band in high school and showed his band mates the process of making a song and the intro of that song came from his feelings in that moment.
He already has released “illusion” on Spotify consisting of 10 songs. When asked about the meaning of this name he said it is because he feels like most people who are artists hid themselves behind some pop music and don’t want their fans to see the real them.
When asking other people about Petts’s music they say that it isn’t necessarily their go to music however it is something will listen to and don’t mind his music. However, it is also a shared thought process that Petts wouldn’t be Petts without his music and that as a way to let some of his feelings out.
His parents who are very strict have heard his music. While they do not enjoy anything other than Christian music, he says that they are okay with his music overall as it is just instrumental music and does not do anything they wish didn’t happen. Some of those things are swearing, sexual lyrics, and it wasn’t against scripture. They do support him and his music making skills, so long as he stays within those guidelines.
His music is similar to two musicians, Adam Young and the Jelly Rox . Adam Young is the man known as Owl City, The Jelly Rox, which is a one-man project by performed by Matt Langston. These two men influence Petts’s music because they are the first two big artists that he listened to when he first discovered music, and broke out of his parents’ bubble. He really liked how they used instrumentation and lyricism. He really enjoyed how they make a story into music, for example he named off Owl Citys older hits Hello Seattle, Good Times, and Fireflies.
Petts roommate Eric Wells he said that one big thing about Petts is that he is always laying on his bed considering more opportunities for his music, thinking of new ideas for songs and listening to inspiration. Another one of his friends is Dalton Van Briesen who also mentions how big music is in Petts life saying that “Petts is one of the coolest guys I know, on top of his abilities in the musical realm. It is definitely the coolest thing he does and one of the best things about him.”
In the future he hopes to release a new album with new songs. He is always trying to buy new gear and new setups. He hopes in the future to be in a music studio, and helping create songs and produce them. He really wants to help other musicians for as long as he possibly can. He hopes to be a songwriter for Hollywood. He doesn’t care if he is going to be a well known writer or a ghost writer, he just wants to make music people will enjoy. He explains that he would like to be more of a Studio DJ when he finds a career rather than being a Live DJ. He explains that difference as he doesn’t want to be the personality on a radio station, he wants to be the guy that writes the music for the radio stations.
To hear some of Christopher Petts’s music, you can find his album here https://open.spotify.com/album/61CIXhg484C0AvGdWljN9N
