Encinitas’ Froese switches gears, goes singer-songwriter mode

North County Times – Escondido,CA,USA
Ask Encinitas’ Justin Froese what led to the change, and he says
it reflects a change in direction to his musical career. I learned
finger-style guitar, …

ENCINITAS —- He’s recorded and issued three CDs before, but his latest —- “Here Rules” —- is the first on which he sings.

Ask Encinitas’ Justin Froese what led to the change, and he says it reflects a change in direction to his musical career.

“I learned finger-style guitar, played Michael Hedges and Phil Keaggy, that kind of stuff,” Froese said by phone last week. “I think for a long time, I felt my voice was really in the music. It’s only recently that I’ve found my voice in songwriting and lyrics. Now it’s coming more to the message and lyric.

“I’m also facing the fact that people connect more easily and quickly sometimes to words and singing than they do to straight instrumental music.

“I’m wanting to speak more directly to people.”

Growing up in Encinitas, Froese’s first exposure to music was learning guitar from his father beginning at age 6. He said he began writing his own songs while learning to play his father’s compositions.

“He kind of taught me a few things: Basic chords, a scale. I just started writing my own little songs. I kind of had nothing else to do with music.

“I always learned his songs and enjoyed them,” Froese said of his father’s musical efforts. “He’s just kind of an amateur hobbyist; he wanted to be a professional but chose the business route instead.”

Froese said his father works in commercial real estate, and “he’s very supportive of my music; both my parents are.

“He’s probably somewhat vicariously living through me.”

Today, some 20 years after he first began composing, Froese said there’s no set pattern for how he writes new songs.

“Sometimes I’ll just think of a lyric, with no music. Maybe it’s the hook, or the opening of a verse. Then, based upon my mood that I feel, out of that line, I’ll know if it’s got a major or minor key, mellow or upbeat, and I’ll kind of let that rhythm in the line —- the rhythm of the syllables —- let that fall into place.

“Often for me, it starts as poetry, but then some other times I just hear a groove or I start singing a melody. Often I’ll let the mood of that speak to me of the subject.”

Froese also said that when inspiration comes, he pays attention.

“When it hits, I try to sit down and let it come because it’s hard to make it happen. … I keep a notebook in my pocket, and I was trained classically so I can write down the key or a melody.”

His classical training came during the only time Froese didn’t live in Encinitas.

“I went to college at a place called Principia College; that’s in southern Illinois, about an hour east of St. Louis.

“It’s not a music school; it’s a private liberal arts college. My grandmother offered to pay some of my tuition if I went.”

Back home, Froese said his parents have been helping him establish his music career.

“I teach guitar part time and I have a film-scoring business that is kind of slow-going, but it’s a partnership, so we do a few jobs here and there, and we’re trying to get that built up, too.

“I’ve always done music for work, whether it’s teaching or performing at a wedding or as background music. That’s been my main work since I was 16.”