Meet Lawrence Hearn | Music Producer / Songwriter

We had the good fortune of connecting with Lawrence Hearn and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Lawrence, what role has risk played in your life or career?
This is an excellent question, as there are a myriad of different perspectives one could draw upon when attempting to answer it. For me, it’s pretty simple. There’s that ago old idiom “Fortune Favors The Bold”. Or “No Risk No Reward”. Of course, you can find yourself falling into a fairly reckless spiral if these schools of thought aren’t approached with some modicum of nuance, but I do tend to just roll the dice and see what happens. I never wanted to be a 9 to 5, house, kids etc kind of person. That works great for some people and I don’t begrudge them that. For me, my art and pursuit of improving upon it are paramount and essential to my very existence; so I really have no choice but to take risks (and believe me, I’ve taken a lot of them). Does it always work out the way I plan? Absolutely not. But so far, nobody has eaten me. As it stands right now, my life would not be sustainable if it had not been for the risks I decided to take in my late 20s and 30s. Walking away from decent paying jobs with good benefits, moving to new cities with zero connections or prospects.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I began playing in bands when I was in high school after doing theater for a few years. I really only got into it because it afforded me more stage time (I had very little inclination of ever becoming a professional songwriter/producer. After playing out and cutting my teeth doing amateur home recordings for a few years, I was introduced to Les Scott (an established and esteemed music producer based out of Scottsdale, AZ) and he took me under his wing, teaching me the ins and outs of professional music recording, production and mixing, as well as music publishing and commission songwriting.

From there I made a few records and toured with a few bands until about the time I turned 30 when I decided to move away from the writing side of things and focus more on the production/engineering aspects. I spent the next 10 years in Portland, OR where I recorded local artists and continued to hone my craft and skills as a mix engineer.

Now, I’ve kind of found a balance between being an artist and a tradesman and am using everything I’ve learned to make my latest project “The Broadcast Royalties” the best thing it can possibly be. My goal with TBR (aside from making cool music) is to spread awareness about mental health, emotional intelligence and to help normalize these things. A lot of my lyrics touch on these subjects as well.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Does Bisbee, AZ count? Anytime somebody visits, I take them to Bisbee because it’s insane.

Lately I’ve been really into Jobot (Downtown on the Roosevelt strip). It reminds me a lot of Portland and the vibe there.

My goto bar is Shady’s on 27th St. and Indian School. I like to refer to it as an “executive dive bar”.

Best pizza in town is The Hungry Homie, a pop up that can be found all over the place.

For fancy, upscale cocktails, The Merc Bar at 24th St and Camelback.

Most of what I like about the valley lies outside of the asphalt grid tho. The outlying desert (especially in the Winter) is beautiful and very unique. There are so many weird little towns and stops to explore. It’s magic out there.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Arizona Autism – http://azaunited.org

Website: http://thebroadcastroyalties.com

Instagram: @thebroadcastroyalties

Image Credits
Alleyway photo by Cy Nichols: Instragram @fotodecy