In the age of social media, the communication gap between artists and their fans has become almost nonexistent. Fans now have the ability to reach out to their favorite artists by simply tagging them in a tweet with hopes that he or she will “like” what’s shared or better yet, directly respond. Oh how awesome this would have been to have back in the 1980s-90s when we Blockheads were writing fan snail-mail to our favorite members of the New Kids On The Block, waiting for what seemed to be an eternity for a response (and sometimes it actually was … ::ahem:: still waiting. I’m looking at you Joey Joe).
But social media has also provided a platform for artists and fans alike to create new avenues for projects; most recently, Justin Fabus‘ country take on NKOTB’s “2 In The Morning.”
We caught up with Fabus to talk about how the pieces fell into place leading up to the perfect country cover.
CN: For our readers who may not be familiar with you, could you tell us a little bit about yourself?
JF: Absolutely! I was born and raised in Pittsburgh. I have a older brother who is a Homicide Detective for the city of Pittsburgh and I’ve been blessed to have the opportunity to chase this crazy music dream for as long as I can remember.
CN: Do you remember the moment when you discovered music? How long have you wanted to pursue a musical career?
JF: My mother always sang to me while I was growing up and my grandfather would play his Frank Sinatra and Louie Armstrong cassettes for me everyday.
I’ve wanted to be a musician since the first moment I was able to comprehend a song.
CN: Which musicians have influenced you both personally and as an artist?
JF: There’s quite a few. I would say Billy Joel, Waylon Jennings, Bruce Springsteen, Sam Cook, Richard Marx and Tim McGraw
CN: Ok I’m going to be honest and open right now – I grew up a total Blockhead. How long have you been listening to New Kids On The Block?
JF: That’s awesome! I’ve been listening to the New Kids on the Block ever since I was given their action figures when I was young boy.
CN: You just released your cover of “2 In the Morning” which is off NKOTB’s 2008 comeback album THE BLOCK – and it’s awesome! What was it about that track that made you not only want to cover it, but cover it as a country song?
JF: Thank you so much! It was the songwriting and vocal performance that really had an influence on me. Everyone can relate to what that song is about. In a relationship, we all have been in that situation unfortunately maybe more times than we would like to admit. As to the vocal performance, you can feel it inside you when those guys are singing that song and that’s all the elements of a great country song. It’s real, it’s relatable and it speaks to you.
CN: Starting off with acoustic guitar, fiddle and piano in place of the more techno beat of the original gives a completely different vibe to the song – not just a country vibe, but a more intimate one, while the harmonies are still very New Kids-esque. Who did the arrangement?
JF: I have to give a lot of the credit to my band leader and bass player Ryan Yingst who actually produced the track as well. I brought the idea to him how I wanted to cover the song but make it mine own and make a country version of it. Replacing the beats with actual drums and replacing the synth sounds with a fiddle and steel guitar. From there, Ryan starting working out melodies on the fiddle and acoustic guitar and it just took off after that.
CN: Thanks to social media, you and Donnie Wahlberg connected via Twitter over the song. Tell us how that conversation started.
JF: It’s kind of crazy how it actually came about. I was tweeting one day like I normally do and I was listening to my shuffle on Apple Music and “2 In The Morning” came on. Since the first time I ever heard that song I could always hear a country version in my head so I just ended up tweeting how I was listening to it and how much I’ve always loved the song and that there was a country version screaming to be made.
Prior to any of this happening, I had some fans that followed me that were also huge Blockheads. After I sent the tweet out, a Blockhead ended up retweeting it but mentioning Donnie in her retweet.
CN: When did Donnie give his blessing that you could release the single?
JF: After that Blockhead mentioned Donnie in the retweet, Donnie ending up seeing it and tweeted back to me saying he agreed that there was a country version there and to take a swing at it but most importantly make sure I put my heart into it because it was a true story of his life. Once he gave me his blessing the Blockheads saw it and started campaigning for it as well.
CN: Any chance you’ll be joining the five boys from Beantown somewhere on their Mixtape Tour this year?
JF: Haha, I’ll keep ya guessing on that one but I will say crazier things have happened.
We Blockheads are keeping our fingers crossed!
Justin was also recently invited by Donnie and his wife Jenny McCarthy to participate in the Generation Rescue Celebrity Poker Tournament to raise money for Autism.
For more information on Justin Fabus, visit his website at www.justinfabus.com and follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.