Perhaps you recognize Sean Patrick Malone from Alpha Phi’s “Alpha Male” beauty and talent pageant three years ago in which he won second place after performing a sexualized rendition of John Mayer’s song “Who Says.” Or maybe he’s that charismatic, quirky and handsome, blonde, boyband look-alike in your finance and statistics section.
However you may know him, ladies, we can all agree that Sean is going to make it big in music; I mean, he’s already a YouTube sensation.
Check it:
As a singer/songwriter, what open-mic coffee shop do you most frequent?“I’m on the board of MPC, Music Production Club, and we have an open-mic every Tuesday night at the Coffee Collaborative. So I think I play there the most. I’m also a big fan of Bean Night, which has existed since before I came to UCSB. It’s at some random house every time. It use to be at the Rainbow House, and then it was on Abrego. It’s probably one of the most hippie things ever to happen at UCSB. I’ve seen people perform instruments that are not instruments.”
What’s the biggest difference between playing for YouTube and playing for an audience?“When you play in front of a camera a lot you can forget what playing in front of a real audience is like. Playing for an audience is like a whole different ballpark. When you play for Youtube, you don’t get feedback. I’m looking into a camera lens and it doesn’t feel real. When I’m playing for an audience, everyone matters. If one person isn’t having a good time then the whole show is dedicated to that person.”
How did you become a ‘YouTube sensation’?“In 2011, before I was even big on YouTube, I probably had 30,000 views…”
That’s pretty big.“Not really because I have 4 million views now. Anyways, some guy on YouTube made a fake account, took my videos and posted them. He advertised them, put them on Reddit, and other sites like that. He actually did a good PR job because one of my videos got 200,000 views in a matter of days. So naturally, I replied back to Reddit and posted that he stole my music, because he was getting credit for my face and my music… and that is when I blew up for the first time.”
Do you read the comment section of your YouTube videos?“Sometimes. It’s feedback for the faceless, perhaps for people who are too afraid to say something in person. It can be a positive comment from someone who would be too afraid to say something in real life, or a negative comment, for the same reason. Most of comments are positive, but it’s those negative comments that stick. It starts to build up after a while. And sometimes a negative comment can feel 10x heavier than a positive comment can lift me. Someone not having a good time at a concert is not the same thing as reading a comment that says, “you suck” on the Internet.”
Do you get fan mail?“Always.”
What’s the most interesting letter or comment you’ve gotten?“Originally when I started my channel, I was mostly a blues artist. My biggest influence is Stevie Vaughan, so most of my fans were like 50 or 60 year old guys, like old guys. That wasn’t weird because Stevie Vaughan was an old blues musician and he died before I was even born. What got weird was when I changed my YouTube dynamic to attract younger girls.”
That is weird.“Well that’s who the majority of YouTube viewers are, so it was really a marketing strategy. So I tried to be more like Justin Bieber, Rihanna, John Mayer, etc, and that attracted the younger audience. But the weird part is that the older guys stuck around! So I have a few consistent fans that are 60-year-old men who will comment on every video and tell me how attractive my face is, my voice is, all of that.”
You’re from San Diego, right?“Yep. Born and raised.”
And now you’re in Santa Barbara. Where will you go next? SoHo? Nashville?“SoHo? I’m not moving to SoHo, that’s for sure. It’s funny that you said Nashville, because a lot of the people I met at The Voice are from there. I wouldn’t say that I have plans to move to Nashville but I’d like to visit. My next move is probably going to be to Los Angeles. LA is like the land of opportunity. I have a lot of musical friends there who I want to network with. Everything ‘big’ that I’ve done, all of my music connections, are in LA. And those are the kinds of people I want to be around. Music is something I want to dive into.”
Have you ever auditioned for any televised talent shows?“I auditioned for American Idol and The Voice. Made it through a few rounds of American Idol, and many rounds for The Voice.”
Will we be seeing you on The Voice any time soon?“I was filmed, but it wasn’t put on TV. I auditioned out of the blue. I was actually invited because they saw me on YouTube. I had a horrible audition though. They asked me to play a pop song and I froze.”
Is that why you didn’t make it through?“No, I made it through, that’s the funny part. They really loved my Taylor Swift cover. It was ‘Love Story.’ I had to miss school for a month to go to the next audition. I missed finals week. I was living in a hotel in Burbank where all expenses were paid for. Everyone there was SUPER talented. Amazing singers, amazing personalities. Literally the only reason I stood out was because I was one of the only contestants who could play guitar. Most of my friends who were at The Voice are now in Nashville.”
Why weren’t you televised?“The producers told me that my story wasn’t interesting enough. I told them that I was a normal kid who went to UCSB and grew up in San Diego. They were like, ‘can you be more interesting?’ So I told them that my grandfather was an avocado farmer, so they were like, ‘so you’re saying that you grew up on an avocado farm…’ and immediately I was put into the ‘I’m a country boy singing Taylor Swift covers’ category. The producers were like, ‘tell me that you’re tired of singing to the trees and that you’re ready to sing to the judges.’”
Did you say it?“Oh yeah.”
If you want to see more of Sean’s face and music, check out his YouTube channel: Youtube.com/SeanStrums
And don’t forget to like his Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/SeanStrums