DIFFERENT SHADES OF RYAN ROSS HERNANDEZ

Ryan Ross Hernandez is early. By nearly an hour. This almost never happens in interviews with musicians, but Hernandez is someone who prides himself on being what one might call an "unusualist." I arrive in the hotel lobby to find that the multiplatinum singer has draped his rangy six-three frame (to use the obligatory description) on a leather couch, the better to savor his glass of Laphroaig single-malt Scotch.

Hernandez's chosen venue for this evening's interview is the Hollywood celebrity-hub hotel Chateau Marmont. This might seem somewhat incongruous for a man who is known for dressing, as he puts it, "like a schlub," but for most of the last thirteen months Hernandez has been fully immersed in the Southern California experience, recording Let a Man Be Lost at a rented house in the famed Mulholland Drive, near right between Santa Monica Mountains and the Hollywood Hills—the later of which he owns an 8.6 million dollar mansion but mentioned that he planned on putting it on the market soon as he wanted to move into somewhere more homey. After a short discussion about cars, mostly about his Land Rover Defender, a vehicle that Hernandez has managed to acquire despite the fact that its sale is prohibited in the United States for safety reasons.

Rolling Stone did not only give Let a Man Be Lost a perfect, 5 stars, but it also named you, the only pop star capable of bringing musical styles like blues and soul from the sixties and seventies, to a mainstream audience in the 21st century. Is that an honor for you?

Yes, it certainly is. I've followed Rolling Stone long enough to know that they don't just give out 5 star reviews. They give out cover stories to anyone, but that's a different subject. But yeah, I mean, I never really go into the studio and think to myself; "Hmm... what genre from eras ago, could I bring to an audience that was born in the late-seventies to early to mid eighties?" That's never really what I go in to do when I make a record. I've been very lucky enough to be an artist who has met success by doing whatever the fuck I want.

Alica Lena, you have worked as a producer for both her records as well as collaborating on a song with her. What's it about Alica that attracted you to work with her as extensive as you have?

Alicia is one of the biggest pop stars in world, who doesn't know she's a star. The girl is the most genuine artist I've ever met. If she tells you she can't believe such and such happened, she really didn't see it coming. So, Alica Lena is the last person to know she's an amazing artist. Which I think is totally sweet. I think it's nice for America to watch somebody appreciate the kind of success that she has had. We actually talked the other day, and I told her that if by the fourth album she makes, she doesn't believe she's as good as people tell her she is, as I tell her she is, she has to go to therapy to have a professional tell her; 'You're that good.'So it's great to see someone who is that hugely talented and still is able to receive pleasure in all moments. Because I'm dead inside. (chuckles)

Yes, I've heard that before... I'm just kidding. You've worked with her a lot on her records, but do you think you would ever want to have her on one of your own?

Absolutely. The only time I've had another artist's name underneath mine on the back of an album cover is Miss Vanity. Which was such an organic process working with her, and the song came out to be one of the best on Let a Man Be Lost but we both looked each other in the eyes after we made that song and without words we told each other that we understood this song was not made for radio. Yet my label pushed it be a single, and it failed miserably. At least now I could wag the finger at my label and be like, 'I told you so.'

My point is, that in my mind, I'm very picky as to who I work with. You see some artists who do twenty collabs a year, but I've only done three or fours in seven years. To have someone come in and work on a song with me, for one of my records I have to hold that artist at a very high standard to let them in and work with me.

To answer your question, if in the future I have a song that I feel needs female vocals or just a special touch or feel, the first person I would call would be Alicia. I remember being asked a few years ago if I could make an entire duet or collaboration album with someone, who would that person be? And back then I didn't know. But if today I was asked that same question I would say Alicia Lena because I know her well enough to know that we can meet in the same wave length, at a musical level. That's by no means me making a statement about what's gonna happen, but it's really great to know that there's someone you click with on a musical level. That maybe down the line, you could make a record with to fascinate people.

I feel like you're at a point of your career where you can pretty much get away with anything. You already have a built foundation of music over the course of your career that people respect greatly. Where's if you're a rookie on your first album, you wouldn't make it to Madison Square Garden.

(laughs) I've thought about this a lot and I would never abuse it. The only thing my fans worry about is losing touch with me, by way of me losing touch with them, and me losing touch with myself. I think that with every new record I release, and reading the fans response on how they feel about the record, I think there is this sort of collective sigh of relief. I think now that people establish a relativity; If I see him here and he is going goofing off in front of a camera or he is in a place that I can't recognize both physically or lifestyle wise, and he still puts out a record that relates to my life. Then that first part, wasn't so bad. My music is my bulletproof armor. Knowing that I have a record, that I have a reason to be here. That I'm not in the "celebrity world", or having a large constant flow of income for any reason other than my music.

So Ryan, you're nominated for a mind-blowing, 9 International Music Awards aka Birdies. If I'm not mistaken, that's by far the most of any band or artist. You've already won six of these, but how does it feel to be nominated for this many awards?

It's crazy. I mean, I had no idea that people still gave a shit about what I did. But it's exciting as well, you know, to be recognized by fans, and fellow recording artists.

Will you be attending the IMAs?

Yeah, I'll definitely be attending. It's gonna be a both fun and strange night for me. I try to keep up with everyone in the music world, but there's this long stream of new artists that I have no idea who they are. Everyone is going to be very happy to see each other and meet each other. So I'm excited to see how many people actually know who I am, as well as see how many people I actually know. The best parts are gonna be backstage, because I'm gonna be walking that those halls and I'm gonna be like, "Are you in Riot in the Boulevard or are you Matty?" Because I'm getting old now, I'm thirty-one, so I don't know everybody's face. I'll be like the geezer. Like, "I'm sorry, I know the song. But are you, are you Brittany Knox? Michelle Green? That girl from Suburban Sunrise?" But now I can get away with that, because instead of being out of the loop and young, I'm out of the loop and a little old. "I'm sorry I listen to NPR. Who are you?" (laughs)

Around the time that Let a Man Be Lost was released late last year, you said that a film will be made for the record. Is that still in the works?

Yeah, it still is, it's still in a development stage at the moment, and personnel is currently being hired. I just want to film it and not have it interfere with other things that I might be doing this year, but I think it deserves its own full attention. Starting May and wrapping it up in early June, is what we are aiming for right now then handing it off for editing and post-production to have it possibly be released late this year or in the first month or two of 2012.

Now at one point it was going to be a compilation of short films, but that's not it anymore. Tell us what changed your mind to have it become a film on its own.

The simple fact that if you added the running times for each short film, you would have a feature length film. So what I did was as best I could, take the parts that connected each short film and created the script for the film.

Will you be the protagonist of the film?

Yes I am. A bit nervous about that because I haven't acted since Something's Missing, which was filmed in 2008, so I gotta get into that mindset rather quickly. But I'm excited for the project. But there's a fantastic cast with me, that I'm anxious to work with. I wish I give you more details but I'm not allowed to.

Let's move back to the music subject. You are constantly rated as one of the world's best guitarist. How did you become so good at it?

Well, thank you.

Well it just seems like a bit 70s being a great guitarist these days.

Yeah, you know, it actually is. I came from one of, if not the very last couple of years from generation where we didn't have computers around. So we didn't waste as much time on the internet as we do now. I had large chunks of time to devote to actually doing something. So I was really lucky to be raised in that period of time. I think if I was born five years later, I probably wouldn't be as good of a guitar player as I am today, if I even picked up a guitar. I also didn't have a lot of friends when I was in school, like I never hanged out with any of them outside of school, so I pretty much had nine hours from the point I got home from school and the point where I went to bed, to really just invest all my free time at becoming really good at this. I really didn't have faith in anything else I could do, so I just put all the passion I had to music into becoming really good at it. It was never to become "the best" because what I did was imitate my idols, my guitar idols. Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, B.B. King, Buddy Guy. And I somehow found that by trying to imitate those legends and not being able to sound like any of them, I sort of found my own style.

One thing that impresses people about you is that unlike many other guitarists, you can play a wide range of genres with your guitar playing.

Well that's what I love about being a guitar playing. I have different facets to what I'm able to do. So I can have my trio and play power blues-rock, and I could have a pop band, and I could play jazz music if I want to. I can even channel hip-hop if I have to. And just as easily I can pick up an acoustic guitar and do fine with just that. I feel really blessed to be able to do so many different things inside of this one instrument, that I have this on-and-off switch between musical styles, you know.

Let's talk a little about your latest album, Let a Man Be Lost. While the album has been critical acclaimed, I don't think a single negative review has been made about the album, and it has also met a great deal of commercial success. The album itself has a pretty dark overall theme to it. I'm sure everyone who has heard the album have their own interpretations, but to you personally as the person who created the record, what is Let a Man Be Lost for you?

I think the finger is squarely on me on Let a Man Be Lost. Most, if not the entire record is about a man who can't yet get it together but wants to and knows he eventually, probably will. But can't move time any faster than time is going. I don't want to close down on my demographics here, but if you're a male and you're single and you're thirty-one years old, you're gonna love this record. I don't get that dark. I'm not that dark of a human being, but if I was going to make my dark, brooding record that's probably it. It's about as brooding as I get. It's just about the time in my life. I think when you're in your late-twenties and early-thirties, as a man especially in this day and age. There's a lot of struggle involved. Transitioning from free willing twenties, to something a little more solid in the thirties and forties and beyond. Which I think it takes a minute to convert. Let a Man Be Lost is sort of, about those years where we're all trying to figure out how to get to the point where we level off.

You said recently that you were closing up shop on making pop songs. What does that mean for the follow-up to Let a Man Be Lost?

It means that it'll take a hell of a long time to make. (chuckles) I don't know how I'm going to follow-up Let a Man Be Lost. I'm really, really happy with it. I feel like it speaks perfectly well for who I am. I have little bits of stuff that trace a wide-range of genres. If I wanted to start an R&B, or a jazz, or a soul record tomorrow, I could. If I wanted to make a folk record I could do that too. Whatever I do after Let a Man Be Lost, musically, needs to have a completely different approach to it. I'm a man who is happy with his records because they keep changing, and they keep evolving out of comparison to the last record. I have a few ideas though, already building in my head.

Do you have any concept for it, already in mind?

I actually do. I have this idea, that I've had for a very long time, a film inside an album. I'm not talking about a score inside a film, but an actual film inside an album. Creating an album as if it were script to a movie. That idea just fascinates me, and I think I'll start messing around with that idea soon.

So you're planning on touring for Let a Man Be Lost?

I don't know. I'm having this battle within on whether I should or not. I know if I go out and play these songs every night, I'm going to fall in love with the album even more, an album that I already think is the definition of a perfect record. That's bad because then I wouldn't feel the need to make another record until God knows when.

But we can expect you to perform in some places this year, right?

Yeah, for the most part it'll be very scattered around, but I'll be playing some shows, totally.

Any festivals?

I have this strange thing with festivals that make me uncomfortable playing. I've played some festivals in the past that it's very genre oriented, and built around a genre that I have no business with, so I don't like being stuck playing in front of crowd that I'm not really their thing.

Some of the biggest songs in your career have been songs about sadness and heartbreak. Is it safe to say that you've had your heartbroken many times before?

I don't look at it like that. I think if you get involved in a matter of the heart, you sort of have to accept the ups-and-downs. I don't really subscribe to the idea of men or women at the exit of a relationship going, "WHAT?! How did that happen?" Well it's very easy for that to happen. It's coupling. You're trying to make something work that probably not gonna work. It's like landing a ship shuttle. Every time a ship shuttle lands, I'm like, "That's really not suppose to happen that way." Being in a relationship or trying to find the right relationship, is like trying to land a ship shuttle. You know what I mean? It's pretty hard.

Then it's how to get out of the ship shuttle.

Yeah, yes. Sometimes that door could get sticky. (laughs)

In relationships, do you use the "it's not you, it's me" routine?

Oh no, it's always me. There's no doubt about it. It's always me.

What kind of an ex-boyfriend would you say you are?

I'm the type who tries to help, at the same time I'm hurting. Which just adds insult to injury. It's a terrible thing to disappoint somebody. So you're giving somebody bad news and you're also sending mix signals, because you can't stand actually hurting them. It's terrible. I mean, you have to learn as a man, as you get older, to disappoint somebody and realize that at least for right now, you're not also going to be able to 'wow' them. That's always a weird feeling for me because I don't like disappointing people at all.

Okay, so it's kind of like a restrain order you put on yourself, right?

I'm learning as I get older to look at the big picture and see that I can't be the hero and the villain at the same time. Sometimes you have to be the villain and be the hero later on. Does that make any sense?

No, yes it actually does. It would be the nicest thing you could do. So right now you're single, correct?

Yeah I'm single right now. I don't think anyone wants to get involved with me right now. I'm basically damaged goods. You know how some women date men who are damaged to make themselves mentally healthier? For me, I'm only dating divorced women now, but divorced women with no kids. I have this theory that women who get married in their twenties and get divorced before their thirty, have to seriously lower their exceptions from thereon. Then that's when a guy like me steps in. (chuckles)

But last year you had a relationship, or you at least dated for a period of time, Nadia Berry of GirlSpice. When did you guys break-up?

When did we break up. We broke up in December, I think. I have nothing but good things to say about that woman. She's one of the sweetest souls I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. I will never regret the time we spent together. It just wasn't right.

The people you've dated have often been a subject of an enormous amount of discussion.

That's true.

But it's been a positive experience?

It's been an experience. I'm going through the same thing everyone else went through when they were thirty-one.

Well not every thirty-one year old is dating women like Nadia Berry. That's different, you'll agree, than most thirty-one year old's.

No, it's not different. It's not different. Figuring out your life, figuring out your mate, your partner, and who's that suppose to be and when that's suppose to be. That's different than nobody else.

So you want to settle down one day?

Of course. What kind of question is that? Everybody wants to settle down. Everybody, yeah. Look, if my first relationship had gone right, I would be married right now and have babies. I'd be like, "I'm with my college girlfriend." Any one of them are designed to last. Any relationship has a chance to last.

What is one question no one has ever asked you that you wish someone would?

"How great are you?" That's the question I want someone to ask me. If more people would just ask me that because that's the one question I'm ready to answer. If only someone would think of asking that; how great are you? Then I'd would say, "That's a fantastic question. I'm pretty fucking great, thank you." And if they were to ask me why, I'd answer by saying, "I had sex with every single member of GirlSpice... At the same time. Bitches."