Linda Avalinda | Matt Connarton Unleashed

0:00 Speaker 1: What a beautiful voice. Linda, Avelinda, and that is called

0:04 Speaker 1: bridges Burned? And I believe we have Linda with us

0:07 Speaker 1: via the phone.

0:07 Speaker 2: Hello, Linda, Hello, how are you good?

0:11 Speaker 1: Welcome to the show. Uh yeah, we were, Yeah, wonderful,

0:15 Speaker 1: wonderful voice you have. Tell us about Uh well, let's

0:18 Speaker 1: let's start here. So first of all, how do you

0:19 Speaker 1: say your last name? I don't know sure I'm saying

0:21 Speaker 1: it correctly.

0:22 Speaker 3: Oh, you're saying it correctly, Linda?

0:25 Speaker 2: Okay? Was was Avelinda? Or ave Linda? But where are

0:29 Speaker 2: you from? Linda?

0:31 Speaker 3: I am from Long Island? Are you up Nasall County?

0:33 Speaker 2: Okay? Okay, okay, very good, very good.

0:37 Speaker 1: So tell us about that song, because I I strongly

0:41 Speaker 1: suspect a song like that there's usually a story, right

0:44 Speaker 1: you don't You probably didn't just think one day, oh,

0:47 Speaker 1: I'm going to write a song about bridges Burned and

0:50 Speaker 1: the consequences of that, and and you know the rumination

0:53 Speaker 1: that comes with that when you're looking back. Is there

0:55 Speaker 1: a story behind the song?

0:57 Speaker 3: Yes, there's always a story behind all of my songs. Yeah,

1:01 Speaker 3: this is the first one that I'm releasing. So this

1:03 Speaker 3: story came about because somebody who I know, said that

1:08 Speaker 3: he's changed a lot over the years, but nobody believes him.

1:12 Speaker 3: And he didn't say bridges burns, but automatically I thought,

1:16 Speaker 3: you know, he burned a lot of bridges, you know.

1:19 Speaker 3: And so all of my strongs start out with one line,

1:24 Speaker 3: and if I could sing it to a good melody,

1:26 Speaker 3: I just keep singing and singing until the next line comes.

1:29 Speaker 3: The next line comes. So it started out with the

1:32 Speaker 3: first lines of the song, the first line of the song,

1:35 Speaker 3: sorry for the words I said, and then it just

1:37 Speaker 3: kept going from there.

1:39 Speaker 1: Now are you so are the lyrics from your own

1:42 Speaker 1: point of view in dealing with this person? Or are

1:43 Speaker 1: they more from his point of view? Are you writing?

1:47 Speaker 1: Are you writing the song from the point of view

1:48 Speaker 1: of this this this person who is sorry for the thing?

1:53 Speaker 3: Yes, I'm writing the song from the point of view

1:54 Speaker 3: of that person.

1:55 Speaker 2: Gotcha? Gotcha? Now have they heard the song?

2:00 Speaker 3: Yes, and it resonates with them. Okay, And I've played

2:05 Speaker 3: it for you know, my friends and everything. And one

2:08 Speaker 3: other person said that, wow, this person is somebody you know.

2:12 Speaker 3: This song It's just it tells a story about somebody's

2:16 Speaker 3: life who he knows, you know, a woman. So I think,

2:19 Speaker 3: you know, I guess we've all burned bridges big and

2:22 Speaker 3: small in our lives, and I think this song probably

2:27 Speaker 3: resonates with a lot of people.

2:28 Speaker 1: Well that's what I was thinking too, because obviously that's

2:31 Speaker 1: very relatable everybody has. You know, sometimes people will say, oh,

2:35 Speaker 1: you know, I live my life with no regrets, you know,

2:37 Speaker 1: but we all have regrets, and we all have things

2:40 Speaker 1: that we look back on, whether there are family relationships, friendships,

2:45 Speaker 1: romantic relationships, you know, or professional relationships where maybe you

2:49 Speaker 1: you burn a bridge out of out of pride, you know,

2:52 Speaker 1: you don't want to admit that maybe you were wrong

2:53 Speaker 1: about something or you just didn't have the emotional maturity

2:57 Speaker 1: to handle the situation or whatever it is, and then

2:59 Speaker 1: you kind of look back and you go, wow, I

3:01 Speaker 1: really I really pushed some people away or wrecked some

3:05 Speaker 1: relationships that in hindsight.

3:07 Speaker 2: I probably shouldn't have. So I think we can all

3:11 Speaker 2: relate to that, right, definitely.

3:14 Speaker 3: Definitely.

3:15 Speaker 2: Do you have a lot of people who've heard the song?

3:17 Speaker 1: I mean, I know it's it's been out for a

3:19 Speaker 1: short time, but I mean, do you have a lot

3:21 Speaker 1: of people tell you that they can relate to like

3:23 Speaker 1: they can think of specific instances from their own lives

3:26 Speaker 1: that they can kind of connect with the lyrics.

3:29 Speaker 3: Oh, definitely. They don't get into specifics, but they say

3:33 Speaker 3: that they the song resonates with them, and yeah, you

3:36 Speaker 3: can relate to the song.

3:38 Speaker 1: Now, the person who the song is about, who inspired it?

3:42 Speaker 1: So you said they liked the song. Do they do

3:44 Speaker 1: they realize it's about them?

3:47 Speaker 4: Yes?

3:48 Speaker 3: I told that person that it was about them.

3:50 Speaker 4: Okay, they don't want me to share their story specifically,

3:53 Speaker 4: right right.

3:53 Speaker 3: A person knows that that song was inspired by, you know,

3:58 Speaker 3: the person's wife.

3:59 Speaker 1: And what they say, Oh, okay, it's it's good that

4:04 Speaker 1: It's good that you've got a positive reaction, because sometimes

4:06 Speaker 1: that can that can really I can really backfire. Like Jenny,

4:10 Speaker 1: remember we h one of our conversations with Nancy Manet, Uh.

4:15 Speaker 2: She she did a whole basically.

4:16 Speaker 1: You know a lot of one of her albums is

4:18 Speaker 1: about her her experiences with family members. Yes, and when

4:22 Speaker 1: they hear the songs they get angry with her.

4:25 Speaker 2: Yep.

4:26 Speaker 1: So yeah, that one didn't go yeah, yeah, so you

4:29 Speaker 1: never know how that might go. Now, this is so

4:31 Speaker 1: this is the first single that you've released online.

4:35 Speaker 3: Yes, it's the first single that I've released online. I

4:38 Speaker 3: started writing songs and lyrics late in life. I have

4:43 Speaker 3: absolutely I don't play an instrument. I really have kind

4:47 Speaker 3: of no musical background. My musical background was kind of

4:50 Speaker 3: an elementary school raising my hand as highs. I could

4:53 Speaker 3: try and play that triangle and that triangle in school.

4:57 Speaker 3: You know, I never got picked of you know that,

5:00 Speaker 3: or I got the rhythm sticks instead. And then years

5:03 Speaker 3: ago I had a boyfriend and he was a music

5:06 Speaker 3: teacher and he got me into writing lyrics. I you know,

5:10 Speaker 3: I've always been interested in writing. My major in college

5:14 Speaker 3: was creative writing, but I never envisioned that I would

5:17 Speaker 3: ever write a song. So I started writing the lyrics.

5:20 Speaker 3: He would do some music, and then we broke up,

5:23 Speaker 3: and you know, at the end, he's like, I wanted

5:26 Speaker 3: to just sing your lyrics into the store, into your phone.

5:29 Speaker 3: So I'm like, okay, well these words keep coming. What

5:32 Speaker 3: am I going to do now? So I kept singing

5:34 Speaker 3: my lyrics and my songs into my phone. And then

5:38 Speaker 3: I went and there was a guitar teacher. I'm like, oh,

5:42 Speaker 3: maybe I'll learned how to play guitar late in life,

5:44 Speaker 3: but that's really hard to do. So they kind of

5:47 Speaker 3: turned into me bringing in my lyrics and saying, hey,

5:52 Speaker 3: what do you think, etc.

5:54 Speaker 4: Etc.

5:54 Speaker 3: And then I would just show up for the guitar

5:56 Speaker 3: lessons with no guitar. Oh you're ever going to bring

5:58 Speaker 3: the guitar?

5:59 Speaker 4: I'm like, no, I.

6:00 Speaker 3: Have all this song.

6:01 Speaker 2: Oh interesting.

6:03 Speaker 1: So then so that guitar teacher did they help you?

6:06 Speaker 1: Did they help you develop these songs?

6:09 Speaker 3: Well? I kind of wanted I just wanted to, you know,

6:12 Speaker 3: sometimes not with this song this soe kind of came

6:15 Speaker 3: out just as virtually it is, But like other songs

6:20 Speaker 3: that I just you know, I just wanted to learn

6:23 Speaker 3: the format. I kept changing key when I was I

6:27 Speaker 3: didn't know the.

6:27 Speaker 4: Rules of the songs of what you know, song ran

6:31 Speaker 4: even's about.

6:32 Speaker 3: So I learned a little bit about that. Not that

6:34 Speaker 3: to say that I don't break the rules or anything, sure,

6:36 Speaker 3: because I don't know them well enough, which is a

6:38 Speaker 3: good thing, I think. But this song pretty much came out,

6:43 Speaker 3: you know, the way it was, so it is.

6:45 Speaker 1: So I'm curious how you learn to sing, because, like

6:48 Speaker 1: I said, you have a beautiful voice. I mean, are

6:52 Speaker 1: you self nowhere when you were talking just now nowhere,

6:55 Speaker 1: did you mention any kind of voice lessons.

6:57 Speaker 2: I mean, how did you learn to sing? Are you

6:58 Speaker 2: self taught? Some people?

7:00 Speaker 1: But the voice is like the one instrument where some

7:03 Speaker 1: people are just you know, and it is an instrument, right,

7:05 Speaker 1: it just happens to.

7:06 Speaker 2: Be a part of us physically.

7:08 Speaker 1: But the voice is like the one instrument where some

7:10 Speaker 1: people just seem to be able to to conduct that

7:13 Speaker 1: instrument naturally without any training.

7:16 Speaker 2: Is that the case with you?

7:18 Speaker 3: Well, yes, I can't play an instrument, never had a

7:22 Speaker 3: formal you know, voice lesson or anything. But sing about

7:27 Speaker 3: when you write your own song, you're singing them to

7:31 Speaker 3: what feels good and comfortable to you. You're not singing

7:33 Speaker 3: somebody else's song to the songs that I've written. I'm

7:37 Speaker 3: singing it, you know, to suit my own voice.

7:41 Speaker 1: Yeah, so you so you're naturally able to sing that way.

7:46 Speaker 2: That's like how how did you?

7:49 Speaker 1: I mean, did you realize that about yourself from a

7:51 Speaker 1: young age that you could sing or is that something

7:53 Speaker 1: that kind of came as you were starting to write

7:56 Speaker 1: these songs and bring them to your guitar teacher and say, hey,

7:58 Speaker 1: what do you think I mean?

7:59 Speaker 2: Is that?

8:00 Speaker 1: Is that something you always knew that you had or

8:01 Speaker 1: did you develop that more recently when you started really

8:04 Speaker 1: getting into writing.

8:06 Speaker 3: Yes, I never knew I had, you know, that, you know,

8:09 Speaker 3: would be able to sing. Yeah, so when I started

8:12 Speaker 3: singing my songs into my phone. Initially, when I found

8:19 Speaker 3: out about this producer, it was just wonderful. Voodoo v

8:23 Speaker 3: U d U studios in Port Jefferson and Long Island.

8:29 Speaker 3: I sent him my song which I recorded over the phone.

8:32 Speaker 3: I'm like, well, you know, I like to hire a singer. Yaha, YadA, YadA.

8:36 Speaker 3: He's like, no, you stayed in tea and that's really

8:38 Speaker 3: hard to do with new music. He's like, we could

8:40 Speaker 3: work with you. Oh wow, Okay, I'd rather sing my

8:44 Speaker 3: own songs. Of course, I would rather sing, But I

8:47 Speaker 3: never even dreamed about it. I was all set to

8:49 Speaker 3: hire a singer.

8:50 Speaker 2: How cool is that?

8:51 Speaker 1: Though, Like to get that kind of validation where you're

8:54 Speaker 1: going into a situation where you're like, I have the song,

8:57 Speaker 1: I want to hire someone to sing it, and then

8:59 Speaker 1: the producer says, you know, why don't you sing it?

9:02 Speaker 1: You know you're you're good enough. You know the way

9:04 Speaker 1: you sing it is great. Why don't you do it?

9:06 Speaker 1: I mean that must have been that must have been

9:08 Speaker 1: a pretty affirming moment for you.

9:10 Speaker 4: I would imagine it was a shocking and I'm pleasantly

9:15 Speaker 4: surprised that he thought that.

9:16 Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm like, okay, well, I'll give it a try,

9:19 Speaker 3: and what's doorest that can happen? If it doesn't sound good,

9:21 Speaker 3: I'll hire a singer plan anyway, you know.

9:25 Speaker 2: Yeah, Oh that's fantastic.

9:27 Speaker 1: So that studio they did all the the the what

9:31 Speaker 1: what's the name of the studio again?

9:34 Speaker 3: Voodoo? It's stilled the like Victor, you like Umbrella, d

9:38 Speaker 3: like David, you like Umbrella?

9:40 Speaker 2: Okay?

9:40 Speaker 3: Studios in Port Jefferson.

9:42 Speaker 2: Okay, okay.

9:44 Speaker 1: And then now have you just recorded the one song

9:46 Speaker 1: there or do you do intend to go because obviously

9:49 Speaker 1: because I assume you're going to be recording more singles

9:51 Speaker 1: in the future.

9:53 Speaker 3: Yes, I have about four others that are ready to

9:57 Speaker 3: be mastered.

9:58 Speaker 2: Oh wow, excellent.

10:00 Speaker 3: Yes, And I never know. I'm always thinking, okay, well

10:02 Speaker 3: that might be the last song I'm writing. And then

10:05 Speaker 3: and then a lot of my songs they come from

10:07 Speaker 3: either something from someone has said, like this song, it

10:12 Speaker 3: could be a mishurt lyric. I'll get a line and

10:14 Speaker 3: it's totally mis hurt lyrics, and then I'll set the

10:18 Speaker 3: radio off right away and I'm like, okay, I've been

10:21 Speaker 3: driving the car. That's when you get your best ideas.

10:23 Speaker 3: I'm like, what light, red light? And you want it

10:25 Speaker 3: to last really long? The red life. Of course, when

10:27 Speaker 3: you want it to last long, it just it turns

10:30 Speaker 3: green right away. And so I either put the recording,

10:33 Speaker 3: you know, my phone on and start singing it, or

10:35 Speaker 3: I have a pad and paper next to me and

10:37 Speaker 3: start writing it. So my best ideas come when i'm driving,

10:41 Speaker 3: and you know, it's hard to write things down, and

10:44 Speaker 3: when i'm doing dishes. I'm doing dishes, very bad days

10:48 Speaker 3: that like i'm starting to do the dishes, something will

10:50 Speaker 3: come to me and I have plans and literally I'll

10:53 Speaker 3: have to sit down until the words stop, you know,

10:55 Speaker 3: because if you put it off until later, they're gone.

10:59 Speaker 2: Yeah.

11:00 Speaker 1: That's a good a good problem to have though, that

11:02 Speaker 1: you've got all these ideas and so you've got so

11:05 Speaker 1: you've got four more that you're planning to record, and

11:07 Speaker 1: then so do you intend.

11:09 Speaker 3: To Uh they recorded, they're just ready to be mastered.

11:11 Speaker 2: Oh they're oh, they're already Oh, they're already recorded.

11:14 Speaker 1: They're ready to be mastered. Oh that's fantastic. And will

11:16 Speaker 1: these will these be? Will these be released as singles?

11:19 Speaker 1: Or do you intend to put out an EP or

11:20 Speaker 1: an album or what's what's kind of the long term plan?

11:24 Speaker 3: Well, I come, I'm just winging it because I don't

11:28 Speaker 3: know what I'm doing.

11:29 Speaker 4: But uh sure, sometimes.

11:31 Speaker 3: Like going to keep taking that next step and you

11:34 Speaker 3: figure out as I go along. I guess I'll release

11:38 Speaker 3: them as singles.

11:39 Speaker 1: I guess, yeah, yeah, No, that's that's fantastic. You know,

11:43 Speaker 1: we live in a time when you have so many

11:45 Speaker 1: different options in terms of how you release music. If

11:48 Speaker 1: you want to do an album, if you want to

11:50 Speaker 1: do an EP, if you just want to do singles.

11:52 Speaker 1: You know, some artists now they'll release a series of

11:54 Speaker 1: singles that eventually coalesce into an EP or an album,

11:58 Speaker 1: which is kind of the inverse of how it used

12:00 Speaker 1: to be. You know, when I was growing up, it

12:02 Speaker 1: was you know, the album and it would have a

12:04 Speaker 1: series of singles. Now some artists are doing the inversion

12:07 Speaker 1: of that. But you can you know, there are no

12:10 Speaker 1: you know, you were talking about rules and breaking the

12:12 Speaker 1: rules of songwriting, and you know, there's really no rules

12:14 Speaker 1: to how you release music anymore either in terms of

12:17 Speaker 1: I mean, there are things that you can do promotionally,

12:19 Speaker 1: that you should do promotionally, but as far as but

12:22 Speaker 1: as far as some sort of a schedule, uh, in

12:25 Speaker 1: terms of how you release the music and in what format.

12:29 Speaker 2: You know, there's you've got.

12:30 Speaker 1: You've got a lot of freedom now in the industry, uh,

12:33 Speaker 1: in terms of how you do that. So uh, we

12:36 Speaker 1: will be uh, we will be watching with great interest

12:38 Speaker 1: to see how your your career progresses. Do you do

12:40 Speaker 1: you have any kind of do you have any kind

12:42 Speaker 1: of an idea of when the next single is going

12:44 Speaker 1: to be out after the mastering's done, I assume it'll

12:46 Speaker 1: be ready to go right.

12:48 Speaker 4: Oh, I'll give this.

12:49 Speaker 3: A couple of monthly things and before months.

12:51 Speaker 2: And I know, yeah, yeah, fantastic, fantastic.

12:57 Speaker 4: Yeah.

12:57 Speaker 2: Did you grow up in New York?

13:00 Speaker 3: I grew up in Brooklyn for thirteen years, and then

13:04 Speaker 3: I moved to Queens, which is another borough in New

13:06 Speaker 3: York City, Brooklyn and Queens, and then I moved out

13:09 Speaker 3: to Long Island and just you know, a little more trees,

13:15 Speaker 3: more parks and stuff like that. I really like Long Island.

13:18 Speaker 1: Yeah, no, but it sounds like you're a real New Yorker.

13:21 Speaker 1: You've you've been there, You've been there most of your

13:23 Speaker 1: if not your whole life, right.

13:26 Speaker 3: Yes, the whole life. Yeah, definitely a real New.

13:29 Speaker 1: New York excellent. Well, there's a lot of great music

13:32 Speaker 1: that comes out of that area. So you're in a

13:33 Speaker 1: You're in a good place, that's for sure. That's for sure. Well, Linda,

13:37 Speaker 1: let let me ask you this and again, congratulations on

13:40 Speaker 1: the single Bridges Burned.

13:41 Speaker 2: And where should you know?

13:44 Speaker 1: Because you are going to be releasing new music in

13:45 Speaker 1: the future in addition to this, So where should people

13:48 Speaker 1: go online? Where's the best place for people to go

13:50 Speaker 1: online to keep up with everything that you're doing? Uh

13:52 Speaker 1: so that, uh so that they know when when new

13:55 Speaker 1: new music is coming out.

13:58 Speaker 3: Okay, Well I am on Graham at Linda Avalanda. I

14:02 Speaker 3: guess because I literally just start Instagram three weeks ago. Okay,

14:06 Speaker 3: I had no online presence before releasing this.

14:09 Speaker 4: Oh wow, I do have a I do have a

14:11 Speaker 4: YouTube video.

14:12 Speaker 3: Yes, you have to put in probably my name first,

14:15 Speaker 3: Linda Avalanza, then bridges Burned.

14:18 Speaker 4: Ye.

14:18 Speaker 3: If you do it the other way, the things will

14:20 Speaker 3: come up. And my song is out on all of

14:24 Speaker 3: the streaming services. Yep, so people can access my song there, yep.

14:30 Speaker 1: Excellent, excellent. Well you're off to a great start. And

14:32 Speaker 1: when the next single is ready to be released, I

14:36 Speaker 1: hope that you'll send it to us, and you know

14:38 Speaker 1: we'd love to give it a spin here and have

14:40 Speaker 1: you back on to talk some more.

14:42 Speaker 3: Oh, definitely, thank you so much.

14:44 Speaker 1: All right, Linda Avelinda, congratulations again on the single and

14:47 Speaker 1: we'll let you go, but thank you for joining us today.

14:51 Speaker 2: Thank you, all right, you got it, Bye bye, take

14:53 Speaker 2: care you too.

14:54 Speaker 4: Hi.

14:55 Speaker 1: All right, that is Linda Avelinda again if you missed it.

14:58 Speaker 1: We played her new single Old Bridges Burned and I

15:02 Speaker 1: look forward to hearing more from her in the future.

15:07 Speaker 1: M