Chad Neidt

Fear is a weird word in performing – because on some level, all performers are afraid. “Fear,” in a certain sense, is synonymous with “fuel.” Fear drives performers into taking on a risk in order to feel complete, to do what they have to do to get where they think they want to be. Musician Chad Neidt, who just released his album “Am I Doing This Right,” seems to have an above-average dose of “fuel” running through him as evidenced by his lyrics. And he’s right to be nervous. Fame is a bitter, tough game and Neidt knows it. But he also knows how to use his fear to his advantage as it constitutes the backing theme off his latest album. I guess you could say Neidt bathes in his vulnerability the way some other men – journalists for new media magazines in particular – bathe in the blood of orphans.

NMR has covered Neidt’s work a couple times before because he’s got talent and skill and drive – all necessary components for battling the fear of not making it. Now he needs a little luck and a little exposure. Time is not on his side – several of the most prolific musicians were dead at his ripe old age of 27 – Hendrix, Morrison, Joplin and Cobain, to name a few. But time is increasingly becoming irrelevant in the age of YouTube. Especially when you’ve got a badass (and successful) Kickstarter presentation to fund your album.

I figure he’s on his own for luck, but “Am I Doing This Right” is a good album and I figure NMR can provide at least a little exposure (he at least made a fan out of me, so that’s one …). Now if he can convert the rest of you into fans through this interview, then maybe you’ll buy his album. And if you buy his album, then maybe you’ll do like NMR is doing, and tell some of your friends about it. That’s all a guy can ask for – oh also if those friends you tell are billionaire record label owners, that’s probably pretty helpful as well.

Be honest: you raised the money for this album off a successful Kickstarter — how much of it was attributable to your awesome and funny music video soliciting fundage and how much of it was your gram-gram?

Chad Neidt: Great question. You’re right — lots of Kickstarter projects are veiled “fundraisers” for parents and relatives to give artists in the family an early, sometimes sizeable Christmas gift. I think most projects have a good amount of family behind them, and if I’m to put an estimate on how much came from family versus my small fan following (I had about 8 or 9,000 YouTube subscribers and maybe a 1,000 Twitter followers), I’d say it was an even split of 50 percent family and 50 percent fans. Of course, my friend gave me some GREAT advice on family donations, which is to wait until you reach your goal before having them donate — that way Kickstarter doesn’t take a cut of that cash — it’s all yours.

Your album is called “Am I Doing This Right?” and the image is you attempting to shave with a chainsaw. Considering “Am I Doing This Right?” isn’t the name of a track on the album, how did the name and concept come about?

The title comes from that insecure side of me as an artist. It’s so easy to second-guess whatever you’re creating — you start to ask yourself dangerous questions like “Is this funny? Will people like it? What if this is dated and unmarketable? AM I ANY GOOD AT ALL?!” I think that’s a huge hurdle with many creators and sometimes it’s hard to shut off the inner critic and feel your way through it. You know, just 100 percent commit to your instincts and learn as you go. Since this is my first full-length album, I was constantly asking myself if this was the right way to do it, which is totally insane because there is no right way. I was drafting album titles for a while, and that one just felt like it summed up the inner anxiety I was experiencing throughout the production of it.

Why the hell should people buy this album?

So I can retire. But really, aren’t most people just listening to everything on Spotify for free anyways? I know that’s ALL I use. I would just love it if people listened to the album from start to finish. The first half of “Am I Doing This Right?” is comedic, acoustic rock with some dark truths sprinkled in (think Bo Burnham meets Blink-182), while the second half is more raw, honest music that deals with issues I don’t have a comedic take on — they just sort of came out of me in a frustrating moment (think Say Anything meets Ben Folds). Those songs were co-written by me and my good friend Jonathan Schwartz who plays mandolin and beatboxes on many of those tracks. We’ve been close friends for a while; we’re both in our 20s, both trying to figure out how the world really works. Writing songs helps us deal with our quarter-life crises. In short, I’d love it if people purchased the album, because it will support my efforts to continue making more music, touring, getting merch, etc. But if not, that’s fine — I think online streaming is the future of the music business anyways.

A lot of the tracks are about succeeding and fear of failure — how big a theme is that now with where you are in life?

Haha, those tracks? What do you mean? I’m not worried about my future [through his teeth] AT ALL. I’m 27. I would like to make a living doing this. It’s very easy at this stage to compare myself to other people’s success and go down the rabbit hole of depression and regret. In the entertainment industry it can be very daunting because you have to make your own success, and then repeat it a thousand times while still staying fresh and not getting completely consumed by distractions. Right now I’m trying to make an effort to trust the process and look forward to things instead of fear them. That’s the difference between being a kid and an adult. Growing up you’re just always high on life, and then you get all this responsibility and opportunity, suddenly it feels like it could slip away at any moment so you become afraid. It’s a struggle, but I’m working on trying to stay positive and be thankful for what I have, both in a career and in life.

What song is your favorite, and which song should people who aren’t familiar with your style listen to first?

My favorite is probably “Breakthrough.” I wrote it after having a terrible day, then discovered all these flaws and strengths within myself while writing it. It was a cool feeling. Plus the piano, Jon’s beatboxing and mandolin-shredding — it’s just got a laid-back happy vibe to it. As for people who aren’t familiar with my style, I think “First Song on The Album” will do the trick. It’s got both playful goofiness as well as my typical, anxiety-driven themes. I kinda wrote that one as an intro to what I do, a way to grease people up before diving down the slip n’ slide.

You rap that the name “Chad” is a white guy curse — is “Chad” the whitest of white guy names?

It’s pretty freaking white. I’ve never met a non-white Chad. Which is weird ’cause that’s the name of a COUNTRY in AFRICA. The name really is unfortunate. It’s earned this frat boy douchebag reputation in the last 10 years, which really blows. I used to like my name in kindergarten cause it felt unique. Now it’s a synonym for white, privileged ass wipe. Oh well!

Who are some people that you align your style with? Is someone like MC Lars in your playlist?

I’ve actually never listened to MC Lars. I’m doing it now. Ok, I see why you’d say that. Growing up I was REALLY into pop-punk like Blink-182, New Found Glory, Sum 41, The Offspring, Midtown — I could go forever. I love the fast energy and surprising poignancy that many of those bands exemplified. But I do acoustic music so the sound may not translate exactly but I think songs like “John McClane,” “What About Me” and “Kickstarter Song” have that full-time, out-of-breath feel. Then lyrically I love “Say Anything” because, well, the band name sums up how I feel about art in general. Also Tenacious D is godlike. They make funny music that actually has re-listen value because it’s fully produced and still sounds great once the jokes get stale.

What’s your most badass rockstar-style story? Did you ever Led Zeppelin some groupie with a shark? Do you get groupies that are old enough to be “Led Zeppelined” with a shark?

No groupie-shark run-ins … yet. I went to college in Colorado at CU-Boulder where I was in this a cappella group called In The Buff. It was my senior year and we’d just finished our last big concert. We had a gig up in the mountains for a bunch of rich people. After the show, some guy came up to us with his wife and said, “Hey, where are you guys staying tonight?” We were like, “Ummmmm, some shitty hotel, why?” Then he goes, “Well our friends are out of town and we’re house-sitting for them. Do you wanna just stay there?” At that point we were like, “Ok, this sounds kinda weird, but he seems pretty genuine, and we could save some money — what do we have to lose ?” (well, our lives if he’s like some “Saw” horror movie psycho, but we didn’t let our imaginations carry us away). So we follow him 30 minutes north of the venue where we’re taken to this winter wonderland of mansions. He pulls up to one of the biggest houses. We were in the car thinking, ”No. NO. This can’t be where we’re staying.” We got out and went inside, and lo and behold, we were in a huge mansion that had an enormous hot tub, tons of booze, even frozen breakfast burritos for us in the morning. Like, what? Did this guy plan this or something? He then said, ”Alright, well we’re down the street so let us know if you need anything.” We couldn’t believe they we’re just gonna leave a bunch of college kids alone in this nice ass mansion. We partied like rockstars, and when a cappella groups party, they sing. We sang in their giant hot tub, took shots in every room of the house, then drunkenly watched the sunrise. It was a perfect ending to my time with the group. We later found out the house we stayed in was owned by an ambassador in France. We titled our next album “Live From The Ambassador’s Hot Tub” because the memory was just too good.

What happens next for you? World tour? Cocaine flameout? Alien abduction?

Hopefully all that in a different order. I’d like to tour. Scratch that. I’d LOVE to tour. That’s where I really feel alive. Nothing beats a captive audience. It’s better than any high. I’m currently planning a CD release show for March 15 at the YouTube Space where I’ll film the whole thing then send it out to college agencies and bookers.

Your final song on the album is your “Offensive Rap.” Was there any topics/rhymes that were too taboo to include? What’s your limit for offensiveness?

There was initially a final chorus for that song, but after I told my girlfriend what the lyrics were, she said I should probably draw the line SOMEWHERE. - New Media Rockstars

Every year, there are a crop of songs that get played ... and then played again and again. Then, just when you think a song has become played out, it comes on the radio again. Kind of like the energizer bunny, these songs never get old. (Oh wait, yes they do.)

Between Miley Cyrus, Lorde and Daft Punk, this year has been filled with catchy tunes that we just can't get out of our heads. Luckily, we have Chad Neidt to sing them all to us in a row, in this awesome one-minute guitar medley. - Huffington Post

Evidently, guitarist Chad Neidt posts a brand-new "One Minute Mashup" video the first Monday of every month.

Here's his most recent clip, which was posted January 6. It's a medley of popular video game themes — performed on classical guitar. Below, you can see a complete list of the themes he plays in the video.

"I decided to make this a classical guitar rendition because it felt like the right way to do the songs justice," Neidt writes. "I love games."

For more about Neidt, visit his Facebook page and YouTube channel.

Song List:

01. PacMan
02. Super Mario Bros.
03. The Legend of Zelda
04. Tetris — Theme A
05. Street Fighter II — Guile Theme
06. Super Metroid — Prologue
07. Sonic 2 — Chemical Plant Zone
08. Donkey Kong Country
09. Pokemon
10. Crash Bandicoot
11. Metal Gear Solid
12. Final Fantasy — "Those Who Fight Further"
13. Halo
14. Portal — Still Alive
15. Skyrim
16. Red Dead Redemption — Far Away - Guitar World

We've all been there. Whether you're 13, 19, or 35 years old. You wake up and notice a pimple. It's still red and "fresh" so you can't very well pop it prematurely. What are you to do?! Watch Chad Neidt's hilarious music video for "Sunny-Side Up." He puts the whole mortifying blemish thing into perspective with this clever (and gross) little ditty. There will be blood... - Right This Minute

One dude with an acoustic guitar plays two songs that sound the same at once, and totally proves that Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” is Madonna’s “Express Yourself.” Also, Nickelback totally ripped off Nickelback. - BuzzFeed

Tim Tebow has been praised. He's been ridiculed. He's even been Seinfelded, tatted, Fatheaded and turned into a tortoise.

Now he's been unplugged -- but in a guitar-rock sort of way.

That's thanks to Denver-born, Los Angeles-based Chad Neidt -- a film editor by day, a budding musician by night -- who saw DJ Steve Porter's Tebow/Skip Bayless remix and just had to do an acoustic version.

It's not the first time Neidt has tackled Porter; he also went guitar on the DJ's "Slap Chop Rap." But it was the Broncos fan's first chance to represent his hometown, an idea that started with a little bit of guitar strumming on Monday, then became real when his roommate told him to record it.

"I was like: 'You know what? I'm going to do it. It's Tebow time, baby,'" said Neidt, who was so charged he even went before a run before recording. "What would Tebow do, right?"

Well, in the words of Bayless -- as remixed by Porter and sung by Neidt -- it would probably involve winning. - ESPN