Everybody's Free to Feel Good.

Over the 6 years of producing this album, I've directly experienced death, suicide, depression, fear, loss, grief, anger, pain and tremendous disappointments. However, these traumas molded me into the artist that you're listening to today. All those experiences, that appeared to be negative, were the best opportunities for me to grow. I hope you can hear and feel the growth and progression through this project.

This album isn't only for myself, as a personal diary to the world. It also serves as the most sincere thank you to everyone in my life who I've encountered along the way. My family, close friends, supporters, other artists; everyone, everywhere.

Thank you.

Music has changed my life in ways I cannot begin to describe. I certainly hope this album will do the same for you.

Sunscreen (Everybody's Free) Side A

Last December, Sharon and I traveled from New Jersey to California by train. I was inspired to do so, by an artist I really love, Fred Again.

We arrived late for the trains departure from LA to Philly. So, we ended up having dinner with our Uber driver Tina, which became a friendship that I'll never forget. Tina was experiencing hardships in her life (as we all do) and she was in a very vulnerable place and needed someone to confide in. Sharon and I held space for her over dinner, which I believe really helped.

Goes to show that everyone is going through something. Be kind to everyone. Have compassion, perspective and love for all people and life.

I sampled Quindon Tarver during a live stream he hosted on Instagram shortly before he passed away, where he talks about his experience in the music industry and having to find your own way through the noise of it all.

https://linktr.ee/teezmusic

Sunscreen

Be Somebody (Happiness)

Official Visualizer

This record is a reminder to you. That you are an infinitely creative being. All the creative power that exists in this universe is within you. You are fully capable of achieving your desires, goals and aspirations, regardless of your circumstances.

Miracles HAPPEN.

When I was living in Kansas, after exiting the military, I was DJing full time at a college sports bar, watching hundreds of hours of DJ Snake interviews. Literally, every day, every hour, compulsively. I was studying Will's story. His upbringing, his origins and his journey. Trying my best to connect the dots and understand success.

Fast forward to 2016 I had the opportunity of meeting William in person at a show in New York City. He said to me that night, "don't ever quit. No matter what." and I never forgot it.

1 year later, I was working full time as a mortician technician, transporting deceased bodies during the graveyard shift (no pun intended). I was miserable and severely depressed during this time. I was always a month behind on rent, my car was in repossession status, the relationship I was in was not good, I felt disconnected from all my loved ones and everyone who I cared about, living in desperate isolation and despair. Amongst all that, I felt my music was a dead end, without a means to an end. It felt like I had no purpose or meaning.

During the darkest night of my soul, I wrote out a sincere suicide note and was preparing to hang myself in the room I was renting. In rage, I smashed the chair at my desk and curled up in a ball begging God to save me from the pain I felt in my heart. I cried, screamed, mourned and had a meltdown. Luckily, calmness eventually entered my being and I talked myself out of making the life ending decision.

Within the matter of a couple of weeks, while continuing to fight off the same demons and slowly losing the little resilience I had left in my spirit, I received a WhatsApp message, from William. He shared with me that my track was going to be the debut of his record label and he would support "Whistle" main stage at Ultra Music Festival in Miami.

In the matter of one month, I went from being on the verge of suicide, to headlining my first ever show in San Francisco, with my song being the #1 most supported track in all of EDM for the year of 2018.

Thank you God. Thank you Snake. Thank you life.

Imagine ft. Mom

Imagine Ft. Mom

This record began on piano. I had the top melody in my head and recorded a few takes, with lyrics originally in mind : 

"Look at the world that we made. 
Me and machines are the same.
Why do we make so much pain?
Look at the world that we made." 

These words made me feel happy, but also at the same time existential. Realizing that technology has been humanity's greatest achievement, while simultaneously our greatest threat to our survival. 

My hope is that we begin utilizing technology for peaceful, sustainable and unifying purposes, rather than not. For a happy ending into our future. 

We use technology to create beautiful music, which heals the world. At the same time, we create weapons to destroy each other. Which is a paradox.

Me & Machines (Happy Ending)

My Dad and I having a conversation on our way to Philadelphia International Airport. I wasn't intentionally recording our conversation, I was filming the city skyline on my Sony camera. When I went back to watch the footage, while listening to the audio, I noticed my Dad and I were having a pretty philosophical conversation, that we typically don't have too often.

"The world is done." - My pops is a very down to earth, realistic, day-to-day hustling man who has a very a-matter-a-fact way of looking at the world. Resilient and tough. Which has helped mold me into the person I am today.

Dad and I have different predictions on how the world is going to unfold. I agree with him regarding cycles repeating throughout human history. That is inevitable. However, I feel that we can control the outcome of these cycles. Whether in a upwards or downwards momentum. For the light or for the darkness.

We choose.

Cycles (Intro)

A Wonderful Life was a film that I watched in High School, that impacted me for the rest of my life.

It was about a man who aspired to venture out and explore the world, leaving his hometown and making something bigger of his life. Which resonated with me deeply.

Having grown up in Ocean County, New Jersey, I've seen many examples of possible outcomes when you decide to stay local. You may end up in jail, addicted to drugs, continue working the same job you worked in high school, become a Cop, EMT or firefighter, or have children too early in your youth and have to work ridiculous amounts to make ends meet. Not judging these life paths, but I've always felt the call to leave New Jersey the moment the opportunity presented itself (like enlisting in the U.S Army at 18).

Leaving New Jersey and going into the unknown is the best decision I've ever made in my life.

You gotta jump in to swim.

A Wonderful Life

This track was inspired by Amber Run's record "5am". This is where the piano chords are sampled from, which the rest of the track is built upon.

5am was a track that held me together during a relationship I was in back in 2017.

I was in an emotional codependent relationship (for no ones fault but my own). I would spend my nights awake, restless, with a very real sense of emptiness in my heart, which I was attempting to fill with this other person. Even though, time after time, I had clear examples of the effort being futile.

What was once a record that brought forth dense emotions out of me, became a surprisingly beautiful one. Once I met my fiancé, the message of 5am spoke to me differently, in a way it hasn't before. Transforming from "I will stick with this difficult situation until it's gone.." to "I am so fortunate to be with this person and will love them until they're gone..".

At the end of the record, you'll hear an audio clip from my fiancé that she sent to me within the first couple of weeks that we knew each other and began talking.

Until It's Gone

Let me set the scene of the where and when this record was created.

My old friend Salami Johnson and I were sharing one bedroom together in the basement of a house my Uncle Adel rented out in Rahway, New Jersey. It was the middle of January, freezing and we had a tiny space heater to keep us comfortable. We would fill the room with hookah smoke and do our best to enjoy ourselves. Salami (Sam) slept on our couch, I took the floor.

I wanted to make a track that felt warm and basically tropical. Ironic to think that a track that is suitable for a hot beach day was made in the hood during an ice cold north jersey winter.

What To Say

This track is the most sentimental, intimate and nostalgic on the whole album.

Titled after my favorite place on earth; Beachwood, New Jersey.

The intro has a voice memo of Mom showing off family photo albums of my brothers and I growing up in Beachwood. The ticking throughout the whole track is sampled from an old school clock that has been in my family (specifically on my parents night stand) for as long as I can remember.

My intention is to take the listener into my childhood throughout Beachwood. They can feel the love of family, the deep story and connection to home. Beautiful, warm summer nights. Harsh, gray, cold winters, with a crackling fireplace.

The track ends with my fiancé and I saying goodbye to my Mom at 5am before we left back to California during Christmas of 2021.

It never gets easier saying goodbye to my parents and family. Every time I visit home, everyone is a bit older, there is more dust on the shelves, the neighborhood changes and life moves forward - which can be uncomfortable for me at times. Coming to grips with the reality that one day all of this will be a forgotten memory of a story.

Beachwood

My brother Adam and I have grown up together since the 1st grade at Pine Beach elementary school. When I first moved out to California in 2017, he was my piece of home living local to Los Angeles.

Throughout the ups and downs of pursuing this music journey, between living situations, sleeping in my car and other circumstances, Adam has always been there for me.

Last year, Adam sent me a video of his grandpa Cliff improvising on the piano. This is very special because Cliff is battling alzheimer's syndrome. When he plays music, he's able to memorize different melodies and patterns.

"He's making it up, he's improving!"

I figured who else to have featured on the album besides Adam's grandpa Cliff.

When I visited home during this past summer, I showed this demo to Cliff and the look on his face was worth every moment spent on this track.

I hope you all enjoy "Remember" as much as Cliff and I do.

Remember

Remember ft. Cliff Amburg

I wanted to make a very special record for my fiancê Sharon. This was the first record that I ever recorded live guitar on - Sharon being the main inspiration in doing so. Sha would always tell me to "record more guitar.. why don't you record more guitar.." - so, eventually I did.

In doing so, dedicating this song to Sharon. The love of my life. Thank you for all you've done for us. I can never repay you for all the personal growth you helped me through during these times at apartment 16.

Forever and always.

At the end of the record you'll hear my Dad. It was around this time he sent me a video message of having a fire in our backyard, as its "that time of year again.." - it felt special to me, so I included the sample towards the end.

Sharon

Everybody's free, to feel good.

Growing up, I'd hear the original of Sunscreen by Baz Luhrmann and Quindon Tarver almost on a daily basis. I have loving memories of my Mom dancing to that song in our living, sharing the lyrics with me, almost like a set of guidelines to live life by, which I've always referenced along the way.

I will dispense this advice, now :

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth; or never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded. But trust me, in 20 years you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.

Don't worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing Bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4 PM on some idle Tuesday.

Do one thing every day that scares you.

Sing.

Don't be reckless with other people's hearts; don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Floss.

Don't waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long, and in the end, it's only with yourself.

Remember the compliments you receive; forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements.

Stretch.

Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don't.

Get plenty of calcium.

Be kind to your knees, you'll miss them when they're gone.

Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't.
Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't.
Maybe you'll divorce at 40.
Maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary.
Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance; so are everybody else's.

Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Don't be afraid of it, or what other people think of it. It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.

Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room.

Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.

Do not read beauty magazines; they will only make you feel ugly.

Get to know your parents; you never know when they'll be gone for good.

Be nice to your siblings; they are your best link to your past and the
People most likely to stick with you in the future.

Understand that friends come and go, but for the precious few you should hold on.

Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard.

Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.

Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths: prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too will get old-- and when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.

Respect your elders.

Don't expect anyone else to support you.

Maybe you have a trust fund, maybe you have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one might run out.

Don't mess too much with your hair, or by the time you're 40, it will look 85.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.

But trust me on the sunscreen.

Sunscreen ft. Quindon Tarver

Soul, this one is special.

My intention with this record was to make an overly uplifting and triumphant track that is a guaranteed mood enhancer. As simple as that. Have the sunshine shine through the rain.

Even on your worse day, you can throw Soul on and make it a bit better.

Soul (Spirit Body)

Explore, is an attempt at captivating the world of LSD and the dissolving ego. Being unable to use words, to describe, compare or reference anything prior to the experience - music has a way of translating what can't be explained.

The vocal sample on the track is from a clinical study of LSD conducted in the mid 1950's on an average American housewife. As she attempts to describe her perception to the interviewer, she floats down the stream of psychedelia.

Sunscreen (Everybody's Free) Side A

Teez