In this episode of Good Job Podcast , Beth Roars speaks to Chris Rupp – Baritone Singer and Founder of All-American A Cappella Groups Home Free and 7th Ave as well as The Chris Rupp Project. Beth has a candid chat with Chris about his journey including what it was like leaving Home Free, the importance of following your heart even when it goes against the expectations of others and his advice for younger musicians.
““By being true to myself, I’ve been able to experience so many more things that never would have happened… I want to grow and I want to be challenged””
Podcast Episode Highlights:
Beth Roars introduces Chris Rupp and the projects he’s been a part of in his career
What was Chris Rupp’s worst job ever?
Chris talks about his time working as a game designer for Microsoft as a teenager
Chris tells Beth some advice for young people - Say yes!
Beth asks Chris what it’s like growing up in a musical family
What got Chris Rupp into A Cappella
How Chris and his brother, Adam Rupp, started Home Free
Chris speaks about the value of persistence, that you have to want something badly enough and work hard to get where you want to go, only do it if you feel you have to
Why Chris Rupp left Home Free
Did Chris have doubts about his decision to leave Home Free?
Chris speaks to Beth about the effects of winning ‘The Sing Off’ - the difference from making a decent living on Cruise Ships or doing corporate gigs to suddenly having screaming fans at gigs all around the world
Chris talks about his new projects - including five CD’s he’s released of his own material
Forming ‘7th Ave’ with Tristin Rupp (Chris’ sister), Kelley Jakel and Adam Bastien
Does Chris prefer touring with a group or working alone?
Chris tells Beth his excitement for new things, touring Europe and Australia as opposed to the US, where he has toured before
Beth and Chris speak about the importance of doing what makes you feel good.
How does Chris deal with people’s opinions and YouTube comments?
The pressure of going against what fans want - you can’t make everyone happy
The fans reaction to Chris leaving Home Free
Not everyone will like everything you do and that is ok, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t commit to a variety of projects. Your core fans will follow you regardless
Beth Roars asks Chris if he has advice for singing A Cappella
Chris emphasises the importance of good networking
What it’s like to be a part of the production and recording side of videos, not just singing
Embracing the challenge of making something quality and also cost effective
Beth Roars and Chris discuss big budget vs small budget on YouTube
Being true to yourself and creating content you love, not just things you know will be financially successful
Chris’s advice for anyone who wants to be a singer or musician
Work on making sure you have a good all round skill set as an artist. Don’t just be good at one thing because it limits you
How Chris is still improving into his 30’s and why development as an artist never stops
Striving for more and why Chris always likes to be busy
Key Points:
Say yes to everything because you learn from the most unexpected places
You aren’t always good at something when you start, it’s about persisting with something that you love doing. Put the hours in and you’ll get there, if you want it badly enough
Developing thick skin when you do something that goes against the grain in terms of what people expect of you
The challenge of balancing something being cost effective and also making it as good as it can possibly be
Don’t limit yourself to one skill set, think about how you can diversify as a musician and what you can bring to the table
Quotes:
“I will choose someone who is super fun to work with and super nice over someone who is super talented 95% of the time”
Chris Rupp
“Always striving to be better tomorrow than you are today. In whatever you do be it life, be it music, be it anything. If you are not striving for that, then what are you doing?”
Chris Rupp
“If you can’t imagine doing anything else, it’s in your brain, it’s in your blood, it’s in your bones so much that you can’t imagine doing anything else. When you’re the person that sits up ‘til 3 or 4 in the morning practicing because it’s so fun that the time just flies away, and you’d do it for free if you had to because you can’t get it out of your soul”
Chris Rupp
“You can be guessing constantly what’s going to be the next hit, or you can say I’m just going to do whatever I want to do, what makes me happy and people will respond to it or they won’t”
Chris Rupp
“It comes down to how much you love it and how much you want to do it - I often tell people, if they are like ‘should I do music?’, I say, if that is your question then you shouldn’t be doing music. Your question should be, ‘I am going to do music. How can I get there?’”
Chris Rupp
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