Black is the New AP Style

Callaghan Smerek can’t remember a time before music or how her love for it started, but she does know that she’s ready to tell her story.

As a young child, her typical day involved writing a song or two.

“I didn’t realize there was anything unusual about a little kid writing music,” she said. “I thought everyone was doing it.”

The first few years of her life were spent in the studio and on the road with her godmother, Anita Baker. By the time she was 10, she was singing background vocals for Bob Seger. She signed her first record deal in high school. She was on the fast track to a successful music career.

But time seemed to stop when production on her first Callaghan Belle EP began.

Sovereign is set to release at the end of the year, and is a project that Smerek spent years on. She said that she was lucky to have people who believed in her music, but found it difficult to find people who wanted to put the work in. While the project wasn’t the creative breeze that she hoped it would be, she said this process made her a better musician.

She learned the production side of the industry, taught herself ProTools, and “came out on the other side with a beautiful, vulnerable, unique piece of art.”

It’s a learning experience that she won’t soon forget. She’s since surrounded herself with producers and collaborators but still has her say in all aspects of the creation process.

“It’s served me well to be a woman in this industry who understands the production side of things,” she said. “That’s still pretty uncommon. Whenever I’m in the studio with a bunch of guys, it feels empowering to be the girl who knows how to record, produce, arrange, etc. Learning to communicate via sound—meaning instead of trying to describe how I want something to sound, I can literally create it myself—was an invaluable lesson.”

The music of Callaghan Belle comes from a place of passion, and while she can’t remember the exact moment that music caught her attention, she’s remembered where she came from and who she wants to be. She’s finally made it to a point where she’s ready to tell her story – and it’s a good one.

“It’s honestly just so exciting to be on this ride and see where these releases take me—hopefully on the road soon with an artist who inspires me.”

Meagan Hickman has a clear passion when it comes to the music industry. From her days attending the Chicago Academy for the Arts and Berklee College of Music to working as a production coordinator for acts ranging from Walk the Moon to Gavin DeGraw, she’s been able to study both sides of the industry. What she has learned so far is hard to sum up in just one feature.

Her parents saw at an early age that she enjoyed singing, but she had the final say in everything she wanted to do. Voice lessons, piano lessons, choir, musical theater; she tried it all until she found her passion. That passion ultimately led her to choosing Berklee - a learning opportunity of a lifetime.

While studying at Berklee, Hickman not only honed in on her voice but also spent time learning about the business side of music. She immersed herself in that community and came out on the other side with lifelong friendships.

“I didn't even know the level of people I was going to meet in regards to talent, just skill in general as a human, and from all around the world,” she said. “I get chills now which is why the experience was so wonderful for me. That's when I grew in music.”

What she never thought she would do after college was go into teaching. For the last several years, she has been a private voice and piano instructor and has taught at Old Town School of Folk Music to almost 40 students. Private lessons gave her the flexibility to dive into something new while she was creating her full full-length album, Sightlines, which she released in 2015.

“As creatives, you need your own routine and that's what teaching gave me,” she said. “I didn't realize at first the level of dedication I needed to have, but if anything I think it helped me grow a bit in value in regards to what I want to give to my listeners.”

Now, for her ultimate learning moment: relocating to Nashville. Hickman recently made the move and is ready to get back to the basics while getting involved in co-writing opportunities. Her own music takes on many different forms, and the expansion of music in Nashville is the perfect place for her music to reach the next level. However, performing isn’t something that’s on the forefront of her mind.

“As much as I want to perform, I want to get back to the craft of it,” she said. “I have all my old songwriting books and am planning to browse them and try to hone my craft back to the level that I did in school. You have to be disciplined about it, and full-time writers are, but I've been balancing that and a full-time job teaching. I have to get back to that level of efficiency as back then.”

That’s not to say writing and performing are on the back burner. She has been in the recording studio the last few months and has songs that are almost to her level of perfection. She wants to experiment more and collaborate as often as she can.

“I’m not one of those people who wants to make music for myself; I make music for other people,” she said. “I’m much more fascinated in this unspoken language that connects people no matter what the song is about. It's all about feel.”

Meagan Hickman’s passion for music has brought her to many places and given her many opportunities, but this is just her beginning. With a trilogy of songs currently out - “Together”, “Unique” and “Who Are You?” - and more on the way, Nashville may just have their next big act.

Mackenzie Nicole ages in dog years.

The year she was born, 1999, a record label started in the basement of her childhood home. Strange Music, Inc. is where she would listen in on conference calls, fold t-shirts in the warehouse and at just 9 years old, be featured on a track for Tech N9ne and Three 6 Mafia. From there, Tech N9ne (born Aaron Dontez Yates) and producer Michael “Seven” Summers became her mentors, her friends and her heroes.

Her first single as Mackenzie Nicole was “Actin’ Like You Know”, released when she was 15 years old. The track featured Tech N9ne and has since seen millions of views on YouTube and has been the top selling track off the label’s collaboration album, Strangeulation Vol. II.

Although she was doing well in the music industry, she had other plans in terms of her future. While still in high school, her routine was as follows: wake up at 3 a.m. to finish homework and/or extracurricular work, apply for scholarships, drive an hour to school, stay there until 9 p.m. depending on the extracurriculars, go to bed at 1 a.m. and do it all over again at 3 a.m. Her plans involved an Ivy League school, a degree in neuropsychology and maybe pursuing music. Once “Actin’ Like You Know” happened, her trajectory changed a bit.

After releasing her second single, “Deleted”, and working on her solo album immediately after graduating high school, she was encouraged by Summers to focus on her music versus going the conventional route.

“That was something that was a hard realization to come to because I was one of those people whose entire life was academics,” she said. “My entire life was trying to get into the school with the grades and the extracurriculars. To depart from that after dedicating years of my life to it was very hard for me even if music was my passion.I figured when I was little that I would just figure out a way to do both at the same time and obviously I realized that it wasn’t doing either of them justice.”

At just 18 years old, Mackenzie Nicole found herself making a drastic change in her career path and enduring another situation of growing wise beyond her years. Behind closed doors, however, was a young girl with an undiagnosed mental illness that brought her inches away from taking her own life.

She’s not afraid to talk about the worst six months of her life and the extreme mental breakdown that brought her to where she is today. It’s the theme behind her next studio album, Mystic, due out later this year. It covers the stages of mental health and tells her story in a way that she never has before.

“I had no other outlet but music after it was all done,” she said. “I had to document it somehow to make sure it counted because while it did lead to some tangible things like me going to therapy, getting on medication, having a diagnosis; it still felt like in order to justify going through all this I had to do something to commemorate it.”

It helped her realize that creating music is more difficult than it seems. As a songwriter, she now takes these steps to ensure she’s creating music that is 100% authentic to her.

1. Acknowledging her feelings, which for her as a suppressive person both physically and mentally is very difficult
2. Articulating those feelings, which is more difficult than step one because not only does she have to feel those feelings but now have to put words to them
3. Saying those feelings out loud, which is more difficult than steps one and two because hearing her own voice say something either pretty or ugly is hard to listen to
4. Playing those thoughts for other people, which is more difficult than anything so far because “now you have to take this personal part of you, rip open your skin, take your heart through your ribcage and hand it to someone.”
5. Have even more people hear it by putting it out into the world, which can bring up the feeling of second-guessing because now she has to relive this period of her life essentially for the rest of her life

Releasing Mystic is something that has been making her think - what is more important, her comfort or artistic integrity? The choice was simple. While the songs on the album are painful memories, it’s also her way of saying that she survived it once and she can survive it again.

“Even when I do second guess, I know it was worth it because if I can do this once I can do it now with better reason,” she said. “It’s worth something now more than ever to talk about it; to live this over and over again. I think that passion about this project is what made it, in my opinion, really good art.”

This passionate, wise teenager has grown up in an unconventional yet inspirational environment that has shown her the highs and lows of life. As she continues to find a better understanding of herself and others, the release of Mystic is an introduction to a new era and a new Mackenzie Nicole.

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Songs are not written in a bubble. If you wanna get to the core of real life experiences, then you got to go out and get your hands dirty. On every street corner, in every diner, bar or basement there’s a story to be told. It’s often the case that the stories that I find most inspiring are not even my own. However, I can somehow relate. While on tour, I have the unique privilege of getting glimpses into people's lives if even just for a brief conversation. You learn about people out there on the road. You learn about their loves, pains, struggles and sacrifice. In an essence you are learning about humanity and I guess that's the story I am trying to tell with my songs. Through songs and through the stories I share here with the tour series, my hope is that I can connect with others in a meaningful way, just the way music has always done for me throughout my life.

When Black is the New AP Style introduced the King of the Road series, Radiator King brought the exact type of content that the site was looking to achieve as far as original, genuine storytelling with a personal touch. This series has given readers a behind-the-scenes look at the highs and lows of touring in a way that isn't told often; that's what songwriters are after all. Storytellers.

It's been a privilege to share stories each month from Radiator King, and this month it's an extra privilege to share the Roll The Dice EP mini documentary.

Fans of Frank Carter have watched him transform from chaotic frontman of hardcore punk band Gallows to outspoken advocate and leader of Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes. The band’s latest release, End of Suffering, brings forth another transformation as they take on a new era.

End of Suffering, named after the Buddhist term for enlightenment, was recorded with Cam Blackwood (George Ezra/Jack Savoretti) and mixed by Alan Moulder (Nine Inch Nails/Queens Of The Stone Age). It lets listeners dive deeper into the creative mind of Carter by getting a better understanding of where he’s currently at in his life.

"This is the most honest record I've ever written,” he said. “Blossom was about loss, Modern Ruin was about crumbling foundations - whether that's relationships or society. End Of Suffering is a lot more personal. It's about how fucking hard you can make things for yourself."

The album opens with “Why a Butterfly Can't Love a Spider” and lyrically stands out amongst the tracklist due to the intensity heard in Carter’s voice as he sings, “When I’m high I’m in heaven/When I’m low I’m in hell”. Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello is featured on the second track, “Tyrant Lizard King”, and perfectly blends Morello’s talent with the hook of a first-album era Rattlesnakes song.

Songs like “Crowbar” and “Kitty Sucker” emphasize the growth that Carter has made in his songwriting while songs like “Anxiety” prove how honest the lyrics have become. Carter has been open about his own struggles with anxiety, and has become an advocate to remove the stigma surrounding mental illness in general. His online initiative that works alongside UK charity CALM, #abetterplaceforyouandme, is a safe forum for people to discuss ways of overcoming and living with anxiety.

Another topic he’s spoken openly about is the lack of equality seen at live shows. When performing at Cobra Lounge in Chicago in 2017, Carter kept a theme throughout the show of speaking about misogyny ruining concerts for women. That night, he gave the women in that crowd a platform to feel safe in that room and dedicated a song just to crowd surfing females. He said his reasoning behind pushing for a safe, equal environment was because of his daughter, who can be heard on the title track. 

Through Frank Carter’s transformation, his efforts to evolve as a man and a musician have given his music a more honest approach with each release. End of Suffering is a new era of Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes; an era that’s sure to bring their best music yet.

Photo courtesy of Brianna Griepentrog for Black is the New AP Style. View full concert gallery here.