Check out Ish Reyez’s Artwork

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ish Reyez.

Ish, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
Growing up I watched my family perform music for fun and emotionally express themselves on stage without any hesitation. But that was my problem. I was to shy to express myself like that, so I took to writing. At the age of five, I started writing my own gospel music accompanied by no instruments. Not too long after that, I spent my time learning percussion, and vocals. From middle school, all the way through High school I spent my days in choir, band, and theatre classes breaking the wall between me and wanting to be a performer.

My eighth-grade year of middle school I moved from my home town Holland, Michigan to New Jersey where I would learn how to harness my ability to write and focus my lyrics on perspective while still being very socially inactive.

Not too long after the move to New Jersey, I moved to Chicago where unknowingly I would attempt to master the guitar. During those couple of years in the windy city, my brother would introduce me to musicians which I can definitely say influenced me still till this day such as John Mayer, Jack Johnson, and Frank Ocean.

As I spent the rest of my high school years constructing my sound I was able to achieve some awesome goals such as performing live multiple times for my school choir and even sneaking in a couple of solos! I even got the opportunity to play a nonprofit organization called relay for life. They chose me to do a set for 40 minutes and even had me play for the ceremony. Since then I’ve graduated high school started college and began making a name for myself as a local artist playing shows here in the Phoenix area.

We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
It’ll just be a long day where all I can really think about is my guitar and rainbow carpet, so right after school, I catch the I 10 and head home for a good writing session. Most songs I write tend to focus on the ups and downs of relationships, and most of the ideas come from my perspective of them. I usually start off with how I felt that day and what the biggest impact was and just work. From there I tell my story and my perspective of others to try and communicate the best way to deal with a relationship in hopes someone hears my songs and feels like there’s something more than heartbreak, or that sometimes things weren’t meant to be and thats okay!

My music I feel emotionally allows me and my audience to connect, especially when I play live. The love after every show seems unreal with people not only giving love for the music but explaining how it actually impacts them in there day to day, and thats what drives me.

Have things improved for artists? What should cities do to empower artists?
As days go by it seems like people become more interested in what artist have to say, with that being said more artist are being recognized for there unique sound and lyric style. So conditions are not the worst but there is still a lot of beautiful voices out there and a lot of artists that deserves to be heard that won’t, so I would say focus. Understand what you want and attack with all you have and people will start to hear.
Cities such as Phoenix do a great job with allowing their local artist to play and showcase their art. Places like Sozo coffeehouse or JCs steakhouse give artist access to instruments and equipment to perform live with. They are also very helpful when it comes to networking — introducing you to other artists and people who have connections.

Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
In December of 2018, I dropped my first single called “Bedside convo” on almost all platforms including Spotify, Youtube, and Apple music. You can check out my youtube and social media accounts for acoustic/live versions of my music. Just search for my name! I am currently working on my First EP to be released this summer which will contain four original songs, so stay tuned and keep up to hear more about that and any upcoming shows in the Phoenix area!

Contact Info:

• Email: robereye99@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ishreyez/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100013372862326
• Other: https://youtu.be/OFUXPY-jxRI

Getting in touch: VoyagePhoenix is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.