Getting to Know… Jeremiah McKinley | Interview 🎤

On our 220th Q&A, Jeremiah Christian provides awesome insight into the band he shares with his brother, Noah, Jeremiah McKinley.

“I

like to call our sound dirty folk.” Cool, 🎙 Jeremiah McKinley! Now, do tell us more! “We mix my [🎙 Jeremiah Christian] raspy vocals with acoustic rhythm and my brother, Noah’s [🎙 Noah McKinley Smith] bluesy lead guitar to tell folk style stories.” Jeremiah speaks on behalf of the duo on this intriguing, 220^th Q&A on The Musical Hype.  We get some insight into the band’s craft (“With our folk stories and blues rock delivery, we can get the crowd jumping and rocking”) as well as lighthearted moments too (“We encourage people to keep their socks on, because I don’t want to see their gross feet”).  Something admiral about Jeremiah McKinley is the fact that money isn’t the primary motivation: “We’ve never cared much for money, but it would be great if we could sustain our selves financially doing what we love, writing music and playing it for people.”  Without further ado, here is 🎤 Getting to Know… Jeremiah McKinley: Interview No. 220!

---

Starting thing off, for those who may not be familiar with you, what would you say makes your band distinct or unique? How do you rock the audience’s socks off? 

🎤 I would say our towering height, smoldering good looks and karate skills are what set us apart from the pack. We are 🎙 Jeremiah Christian and 🎙 Noah McKinley Smith. Together we make Jeremiah McKinley. I (Jeremiah) like to call our sound dirty folk. We mix my raspy vocals with acoustic rhythm and my brother, Noah’s bluesy lead guitar to tell folk style stories. We choose folk music, because those are the sounds that shaped us, real life stories and experiences ( good and bad) that get deep into your soul. We strive to make the kind of songs you can feel and relate to. With our folk stories and blues rock delivery, we can get the crowd jumping and rocking but we encourage people to keep their socks on, because I don’t want to see their gross feet.

---

Okay, let’s explore some juicy backstories. How did Jeremiah McKinley form and what were some of the goals or visions you had as a band early on? 

🎤 On a cold winter night in North Carolina, My brother and I journeyed into the heart of the Appalachian Mountains. Through the fog and snow, we stumbled upon a small cave. Armed with only a phone light we decided to explore, but it seemed the further we traveled the brighter the cave shined. As if there was something guiding our way. Long story short, When I got out of college, I picked up a guitar and we’ve been rocking ever since. As far as goals, we’ve only ever had a couple of them. We want to be able to live off playing the music that we make. We’ve never cared much for money, but it would be great if we could sustain our selves financially doing what we love, writing music and playing it for people. And we want to make music that matters to people. Everyone has that go to song that helps them get through a rough day or week. That’s what we are working towards.

---

Let’s talk more about goals. Have your goals or your perspectives changed since first starting out? What do your aspirations or goals look like now?

🎤 Our goals have not changed really, but the timing has. With the pandemic coming around we haven’t got a chance to play live that much. We are working to change that now and looking to book as many dates as we can going forward.

---

Everybody is influenced by somebody else. Who would you consider some of your biggest musical influences and how are they influential?

🎤 For my brother Noah, John Mayer is the biggest influence. He had guitar lessons when he was in middle school but set it aside until college came around. Since then, Noah’s guitar playing has really changed and improved from learning John Mayer songs. For me, Ray LaMontagne has been a big influence. The feelings and moments he gets across with his lyrics and vocals, are some of what inspired me to start writing my own songs. I would also have to say Kings of Leon. When I was finding my voice singing some of their songs that helped me find what I wanted to sound like.

---

Ah, the fun stuff. What’s your craziest tour story or the wackiest thing that’s happened during a performance? Feel free to be creative.

🎤 Over the summer, while Noah was in college, he worked at a Moravian summer camp. We were scheduled to play in a lineup for their 60th anniversary celebration, but most of the people that attended lived an hour and a half away.  As the day went on, we kept getting told later and later times that we would go on. By the time the speakers got finished most of the crowd abruptly grabbed their lawn chairs and headed down the mountain. So, we basically had an open rehearsal for the camp staff and the few others that stuck around.

---

Up until this point in your career, what would you describe as your favorite song you’ve recorded or performed live? What makes that song special?

🎤 Our first release 🎵 “Hanging on / Creekside” still has the most meaning to me. We come from a small town and had (still have) no clue what we were doing or how to accomplish our goals of making music and getting it to the world. We struggled to figure out the recording and producing process on our own. I am not the most tech savvy person, and Pro Tools can be very daunting if you have no clue how to work it. But through trial and error we put out a song we are very proud of. Eventually we would like to re-release some of our earliest songs, now that we have better equipment and more knowledge of how to record. But we are still very proud of what we’ve accomplished so far. I think our favorite to play is 🎵 “Long Night Long Story”. It is a newer song that will come out on an album next spring. It is a high energy groove, and I am spitting out words at a high rate, and while I barely left myself room to take a breath it is a real fun one to play live.

---

Is there anything else awesome, cool, or left of center the world should know about you? Secret talents or surprising tidbits?

I have real social anxieties about being in a crowd of people, like at a theme park or a house party. But for some reason being on stage feels right at home. I would rather be in front of three hundred people than in a room with twenty. I majored in painting and drawing at college, so half the fun of starting this band has been getting to make album art and logo and t-shirt designs. My brother Noah is a second year seminary student In Bethlehem, PA.

Closing things out, what Jeremiah McKinley currently working on, promoting that you can share with us or want us to know about? We love secrets, but there’s no pressure.

We have another couple singles coming out very soon. 🎵 “It Ain’t Easy” comes out later this November and 🎵 “Wedding Toast” will be live in January. Noah wrote “It Ain’t Easy” while riding on a mountain road, in a torrential downpour, in the back of a pick-up truck. The song is about feeling cold and alone, feeling the pressure to find your way when it feels rocky and uncertain. We are also in the middle of recording our second album. We have a ton of new material, and we are hoping to be getting it out to the world by next spring.  No dates to announce just yet, but they are coming…

---

Getting to Know… Jeremiah McKinley: Interview No. 220 [📷: Jeremiah McKinley, Brent Faulkner, The Musical Hype]

---