Myles was born and raised in North Carolina, where he grew up in the Raleigh-Cary-Durham Triangle area. Myles’ musical journey began from the moment he was asked,“What do you want to play?” This would lead him down an unorthodox path in music from performing in musicals and participating in band, to creating original music inspired by the musical influence of Billy Joel. Later, he earned a Bachelor’s in Music Composition and Theory from East Carolina University in 2015. After getting involved — and burning out from — EDM, Travitz turned his attention to his first love: Americana.
You can hear the passion thrumming through “Happiness,” the second single off of Travitz’s upcoming EP Moon Mother (out July 30th.) Americana isn’t exactly known for being a carefree genre, but Travitz takes all that grit and turns it into glitter on this rock’n’roll banger. Travitz told Adobe & Teardrops more about his inspiration, and how he used the social media service Discord to feed his creativity during lockdown.
What prompted you to write this song? What is it about? Was there a flash of inspiration behind it?
“To Happiness” was inspired by a songwriting group I’m part of on Discord named WeCreateNow! Last year in August, there was a photo of a car with colored plastic bottle caps all over it with the prompt, “Beep beep! Here comes the happiness express!” Because of that prompt, my mind began to wander and started to think about getting to hang out with friends and family again.
This song is from your forthcoming EP. What made you want to release this song into the world before the EP comes out? Does it feel like a good “summertime” song to you?
I wanted to release “To Happiness” as the second single because everybody could use more joy in their lives! This song is a driving song through and through, making it perfect for a summer song!
This song has such a great vibe to it and it sounds like it was fun to record in the studio. Did the finished song come out like you imagined it would, or is it totally different? How so? What was the recording session like for this song? Any great stories from the studio for this one?
Thank you so much, and it absolutely was fun to record! If I’m being perfectly honest, this song turned out better than I ever could have hoped for. I give full credit to Rob J. DiMauro and Dylan Turner for playing and tracking the drums, because it brought the song to a whole new level. Specifically for the recording session of “To Happiness,” it was the last song we tracked that day, and we were letting loose, which is why the drums are so lively. At the end, we were howling because we added the tambourine into the last chorus and Rob was really hamming it up!
You are a great lyricist — it’s obvious you work hard on that craft. What’s your favorite lyric line in the song? Why is it your favorite?
Thank you, that means more than you could ever know! My favorite line in “To Happiness” is “To laugh so hard that time just disappears.” I’ve come to realize how important my family and friends are to me, so when I get to be with them it’s like the world’s troubles fade away into the distance for a while.
What do you hope the message of this song is to those who hear it?
I hope those who hear this song go on a trip, order their favorite food, or see a friend or family member! We can’t always be happy, but we can always be moving toward happiness.
Myles Travitz’s EP, Mother Moon will be released on July 30th. You can presave it on Apple Music here.