Scruggs prepares new album

First realizing his love for music as a child in his church’s choir, senior Tyler Scruggs has since developed a professional career in “indie pop” music. Though he has been writing songs for most of his life, he began doing so on a professional level in 2010, and now has one completed album and one in progress; he has also performed and competed in a variety of venues.

He began his professional music career when he released his first Extended Play, three track album two years ago. Eager to continue, the next year he completed his first official album, “Robots Live Forever.” The album, comprised of ten songs and released Nov. 22, 2011, has sold over 150 copies and brought him some of his earliest fans. He found that “the creation preceded the creator” in many cases, as people at school that he had never met began to recognize him for his music. Still, he was somewhat unsatisfied with the most common reaction to his first album: that it was “cute.”

Now working on his second album, “Concerns,” which he plans to release in early spring 2013, Scruggs is pushing against the cuteness factor by making some alterations to his musical style and by shifting his music’s focus and message. For instance, this second album is “broadening the scope” of Scruggs’ music by incorporating different instruments, such as horns, and by pulling inspiration from what he calls the recent “folk movement.”

“I even make some nerdy references to pop culture to broaden the appeal a bit, like in my song ‘Body of Thor,’” Scruggs said.

In addition, “Concerns” is a much more introverted, honest album than his first and “deals with teen issues,” as he wishes to convey positive, supportive messages to his largest group of fans: teens. For instance, his single “Urgency” completely breaks away from the “cuteness” of his earlier songs by discussing abstinence, and other songs on the album work to break pop culture’s stereotypes about what “ideal, cool” teens should look like and how they should act.

This album has even been played on an Internet radio station in Los Angeles and a college radio station in Washington, D.C.

Scruggs has not only created music, but also performed it in a variety of locations and for various audiences. Prior to the release of his first album, he competed in the Arizona Battle of the Bands, his first major performance, and earned a spot in the top six, a “small but great start” to his musical career, he believes. He has since moved to California and found many new performance venues here.

“Since the release of ‘Robots Live Forever,’ I have been performing all over Los Angeles in support of my record,” Scruggs said.

For example, he has performed for both teen and adult audiences at coffee shops in North Hollywood and at AMPLYFi, a Hollywood music venue. He is also scheduled to perform on Dec. 13 on Nickelodeon star Matt Bennett’s show, “This Show is Your Show.”

“I will be debuting new songs off my album during the show, which will be at the Nerdist Theatre at Meltdown Comics in Hollywood. I love performing at this theater– I’ve never felt so at home,” Scruggs said.

In preparation for this show and for the release of “Concerns,” Scruggs spends about ten hours each week striving to make his music “exact and perfect.”

“This has really grown from a hobby to a job in the year since my album’s release, which is exciting but also scary,” Scruggs said.