Børns playing his Fender Shell Pink Offset Mustang as part of his recent collaboration with the guitar company
In the music industry today there are few artists as versatile or intriguing as emerging alternative singer Børns. From his upbringing in a small town outside of Grand Rapids, Michigan, Garret Borns has traded his small town roots for the big spotlight, rocking out at festivals of the likes of Coachella, and even landing a spot on the Gucci runway. With evident talent and a passion for creating new things, Børns has paved his own pathway in the entertainment industry.
Børns has made a major splash since the release of his 2015 debut album Dopamine, performing in front of sold out venues across America and receiving gold certification for his breakout hit “Electric Love”. I sat down with Børns to discuss musical influences, upcoming projects, and his recent participation in Fender’s new creative video project:
What were some of your early influences that brought you into music?
GB- I grew up listening to a lot of 60s and 70s music, lots of upbeat stuff like Earth Wind and Fire and the Bee Gees. I feel like I learned a lot about songwriting from Roy Orbison and Harry Nilssonn, and obviously the Beatles and Elvis. I was constantly trying to impersonate them at a young age. It was just about writing songs and learning about the craft of songwriting.
When did you realize that you wanted to pursue music as a career?
GB- I suppose have always been interested in music but it was never really the center point of what I was doing, it was always an accompanying thing. I was trying to go to film school once I graduated high school, and I was scoring a lot of my own pieces. I realized I really enjoyed making music, and I started traveling on my own and writing in New York City. Then I came out to Los Angeles and found management out here, made a record, and started touring for a little while, and now here I am.
BD-Was there ever any backup plan?
GB- I don’t know if I ever looked at it like I needed a backup plan, I always just kind of thought that I would make it work. At a young age I made a pact with myself that I never wanted to be miserable doing something I didn’t want to do, I was always going to just make art work out.
You’ve gotten a lot of buzz for living in a tree house and for living with fellow artist Zella Day. How do these environments that you surround yourself in impact the music that you make?
GB- I definitely think that my entire lifestyle goes into the record. When I first moved to LA I found a really peaceful place up in the hills where there was a lot of trees and stray cats. The things that I was doing, the music I was listening to, they all influenced my recording at that point. I think my lifestyle always goes into the record. I like to live a record and have it be a combination of my thoughts and feelings at that point in time.
Is there any perfect environment you’ve found?
The perfect environment is wherever I am at one point. Sometimes crafting what you think will be the perfect environment makes it too contrived. I think that art should be made with the materials that you have around you and what you can do with that, I think that’s where creativity really comes in.
When did you start playing the guitar and other instruments, and how did you begin to incorporate these sounds into your music?
GB- Well that’s kind of the only way that I know how to make music. I grew up playing a baby grand piano. I started playing the guitar a lot later, after I graduated high school. My friends that are guitarists tell me that I play the guitar like a piano, which is interesting. I think that it gives it sort of a unique sound, I suppose.
Now you recently got tapped by Fender to be a part of their new creative video series, how did that turn out?
GB- Yeah I wrote the script for them when they said that they wanted to collaborate. I’ve had such a great relationship with Fender over the past couple of years touring and they’ve been awesome to work with and given my band and me some beautiful instruments to play so that has been a dream come true. It was fun writing a script for this piece. It was the first thing that came into my head, and I sent it to them and they really liked it so we just made it.
Any other upcoming projects to look forward to?
GB- Yeah, we are going on tour very soon and then just building up into the album release in January. Definitely some good stuff to stay tuned for!
Check out Børns in his co-directed Fender Creative Video below