Michael Coleman of See Your Shadow Songwriting Interview Part 1
by Christian Lamitschka for Country Music News International
Lamitschka: Music has many new fans throughout Europe who may be hearing about you for the first time. How would you describe yourself and the music you play to someone who has never seen or heard you?
Coleman: I am an all around renaissance man and that is the best way to describe myself. My love for the arts and my passion for the arts allows me to be responsible for creating so many different types of projects and the core of who The Metropolitan Cowboy is can be heard and both seen in all of the projects that we create. The diversity of our sound reflects the many layers of the man.
Lamitschka: How was the last year for you? What were your highlights?
Coleman: The year started off with one of our songs being the premise for a live action game show and our organization’s television branch was having a blast filming that. When COVID hit we had to shut down production and delay the launch of the show. When that happened, we decided to switch gears and go back to focusing on our music and we released our first single off the new body of work, “I Will Tell Jesus You Said Hello”. We were so surprised at how well that song was received, I mean we went to Number 1 on the ITunes Chart in South Africa and the song was nominated for a Western Australia Music Award as best country song. Then we followed that up with an instrumental, our song, “My Worth”. Everyone thought we were crazy as nobody releases a single that is solely an instrumental. That then went to Number 1 on the ITunes Chart in South Africa as well. We are now following that up with our holiday record, “Christmas on Cellblock 9”, which we are super, super, excited about.
Lamitschka: What is your latest CD and how’s it doing?
Coleman: See Your Shadow is known more for releasing singles as opposed to full length albums. All the singles we have released from the new body of work have been so well received and we are looking to close out the year with our biggest success, “Christmas on Cellblock 9”.
Lamitschka: How did you choose the title for the CD? Is there a story behind the name?
Coleman: The latest body of work is self-titled. As part of our rebranding, I thought it was important to have our new logo front and center as well as the name of the organization.
Lamitschka: Do you write the songs yourself? If not, how do you go about finding the songs for your CD?
Coleman: I do write all the songs either solo or in collaboration with one of the many talented folks that make up what I call The See Your Shadow Network of Stars.
Lamitschka: Please tell us about the songs on your album (influences, etc.)
Coleman: The songs on the new body of work, a good portion of them, were written many years ago and when I decided to switch our focus from dance music to country, I went through my catalog and decided it was time to breathe some life into the songs I had sitting on the shelf for many years and we wanted a current, contemporary country sound.
Lamitschka: What is the difference between your last CD and your current one?
Coleman: The main difference between our last body of work and this body of work is the genre. We were primarily known in the past for our dance and disco records, and then we decided to focus on my true love which is country and western.
Lamitschka: Your current single is being played by radio. What do you feel is special about this song that makes people want to hear it?
Coleman: The song that is being spun right now is our southern rock instrumental, “My Worth” and what makes this piece so special is that not only is it an instrumental, but it really showcases that talents of the musicians in The See Your Shadow Network of Stars. We are known for thinking outside the box and you never know what is going to come out of us next and I just thought that this record was just the perfect follow up to “I Will Tell Jesus You Said Hello” as it is the complete opposite of that piece and then our upcoming single, “Christmas on Cellblock 9” which is due out on October 30th, will be the complete opposite of “My Worth” so the material we have put out this year really shows our fans the diversity our sound and I love the fact that our catalog is so diverse.
Lamitschka: What will your next single be?
Coleman: Our next single will be our holiday record, “Christmas on Cellblock 9”. I can’t tell you how excited I am about this record. I have been wanting to release a Christmas record for a long time now and this record is just so much fun and is going to bring a lot of smiles to people this holiday.