Spotlight

Spotlight - queer father

Meet queer father, the Midwestern gothic singer-songwriter crafting maximalist drama through authentic musical storytelling. Their unique journey from theater to music will inspire you.

Please introduce yourself and share a bit about your background.

Hi! I'm TL. I grew up in theatre and gradually shifted more and more to music the older I got. I studied classical voice and music technology in college and got exposed to a whole new world of what I could do with my voice and my playing, and I never looked back.

Tell us a bit about yourself. (Location, artist name, the works!)

I release music under the name queer father, and I'm a singer-songwriter based in South Bend, Indiana. I use music as a way to express my inner world and how I view the world around me.

What's your musical origin story? (when did you start? What inspired you?)

I was always making up songs when I was a little kid and onward, but I didn't really start getting deeper into songwriting until I was a bit older, towards the end of my teenage years. It was as if whenever something happened, my first instinct would be to write about it and document the emotions.

What were the driving forces or pivotal moments that inspired you to pursue music?

I'd wanted to pursue music for a long while, but was already scared to because I have a terrible fear of failure. 2020 was a terrible year for me for a plethora of reasons, and something about those experiences led me to just go for it, because if not now, when?

How would you describe your style of music?

Midwestern gothic singer-songwriter with a maximalist drama queen edge.

How is your personality reflected in your work?

I want everything I do to be a reflection of who I am, so whether it's through humor or pop culture references in the lyrics, a funny little audio sample, or something weird in the instrumentation, all those aspects of my personality seep into my work one way or another. I am so proud of who and what I am, so every little aspect of my identity is dripping over my work, and all my various influences find a way to show themselves somehow, even in ways that you may not expect.

Describe your creative process when you write new music.

It depends on the song. Sometimes it starts when someone says something and my brain goes down a spiral, or maybe I'm walking and humming to myself and end up with a cool melody. Sometimes a song just walks up to me fully formed, and other times I'm collecting little fragments of lyrics, melodies, and chords until eventually I settle on something I like.

What is the name of your latest release?

"Why Would You Inch Your Way Back Into Me?", which came out in October 2024.

What was the inspiration for that release?

After my second album, "hope less", which came out in June 2022, I felt like I'd closed a door on a lot of issues that had plagued me since childhood. I'd moved into a new phase of my life and was reflecting a lot about past experiences and how I was engaging with the world around me at the time, and the songs started to come.

What challenges or unexpected moments did you encounter during the writing/recording process?

As I was writing, I got an organ that very quickly became my favorite thing to play, and it found its way into a lot of the songs. However, I was not prepared for how difficult it is to record and mix that thing. It's so loud! I spent days trying to figure out good mic placements for it. Figuring out the track listing was also pretty difficult. Every time I thought I had it down, something in me would tell me to rearrange it again. Eventually, I finally settled on the final one, and I wouldn't change a thing about it.

What strategies do you find most effective for promoting your music?

Just being myself! I realized I hate feeling like I'm being sold something, so why would I try to be a pushy salesperson about my work to others? So I go about it very casually, and I started noticing far better results once I stopped trying to fit into the box of what promoting your music in the 2020s is supposed to look like and started just being me.

How do you engage with your fans online and offline?

By being there authentically. I love connecting with other people, and whether that's talking to people after shows or striking up a conversation with someone after they sent me a DM, I focus on just being present without any pretense or artifice.