5-Minute Time Out: Gustafer Yellowgold
Children's entertainer Morgan Taylor on his pointy-headed creation.
by Lindsay Armstrong
June 26, 2009
You started Gustafer before you had children of your own. Has being a dad changed the project for you?
If anything, it's made us more business-oriented. Now we have to think along the lines of paying our bills and raising a family. Being a dad has made me realize, if this is what I'm going to do, I have to really be committed and do it.
What bands do you listen to that impact your songwriting?
I think I'm always trying to write Bread songs. Do you know the band Bread? Their biggest song was called "If." They were the premiere, '70s soft-rock balladeers: beautiful strings, heart-wrenching songs, a tiny bit cheesy. I think I loved them because my older brother and sister's record collection was in the house when I was born. I inherited their taste.
So you listen to a lot of '70s music?
Yeah, I do. I feel like that's the nucleus of Gustafer. When I was listening to that music, that's the time of my life when I started to be creative, around six or seven years old. For me, writing music is like chasing the feeling you have at that age. I guess that's where I tend to go for inspiration.
Six-year-olds just look at me like, "Is this real?"
What do you think is up next for Gustafer?
Right now we're mixing and editing the live DVD. We recorded a show in San Francisco with a symphony orchestra made up of public school students. It was amazing. We're going to try to put it out next spring.
You have reached a pretty wide audience through Gustafer. Why do you think it's struck a chord with people of different ages?
I think that there are so many levels to it. For really young kids, Gustafer has bright images and soft, melodic music. With the six- and seven-year-olds, they're right at that age when you begin to conceptualize. They are the best to play for because they're just looking at me like, "Is this real?" Kids who are a little older start to pick up on the humor. There are even some teenagers who come to my shows. I think they just like Gustafer because it's kind of weird and trippy. [Laughs.] But, my target demographic is probably people my own age.
Really?
Yeah. Most people my age have kids who are four, five and six, and they're mainly the ones coming to my shows. I'm of the generation that, when we were a bit younger, all we did was go out to bars to see bands. Now that we're parents we can't really do that so often. My feeling is, why should those people have to suffer through kids' music that's, what I call the "silly hat bands"? You're allowed to like whatever you want, but there are a lot of people, like me, who grew up with alternative music, like R.E.M. Those are the people who have young kids now and I want to play something that appeals to them as much as it appeals to their children.
©2009 Lindsay Armstrong and Babble Media
About the Author
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Lindsay Armstrong was born and raised in Wilmington, DE, home of tax-free shopping and Joe Biden. After attending the College of the Holy Cross in freezing Worcester, MA, she moved to NYC to teach English in the public schools and pursue some form of writing. Four years later, she is finally getting around to that second goal. She lives in the Bronx with her two ridiculously cute kittens, Wally and Emmens.
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