Artist, Composer, Graphic Art

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Networking. ANXIETY. DEPRESSION. PEOPLE. Medicine. Psychology. All in one.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I got the newest Macbook Pro. Ive got logic, an acoustic enhancing recording studio, and costless plugings from Waves, Abbey Road, and Anatares tech for mixing & mastering vocals.

Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.

A: Im too new to this for an interview. I just have lots of anxiety: it keeps me always working. So just hit me up and Id love to get to know you better and work with you!

Q: Tell us about a project you worked on you are especially proud of and why. What was your role?

A: A song for my dead girlfriend. And continuing to keep her legacy alive and aiding her mom in the campaign and Non Profit organisation she is creating called Team Riley. That will forever be my most sentimental song. But I am stoked to release the song with Tylayaweh and the Ep's.. but above that im proud to see what things will be like as I continue to matrue and expand my horizons on my journey as an Artist! Thank you for this interview, I have never been this open and detailed about any sort of interview before.. and I cannot wait to work with others to benefit their dream, as well as continuing to expand my reality that was a dream. Because I said I would be satisfied if I recieved 100 messages or emails from people saying how I impacted them.. and I hit that number in June and to see more and more people even if just a bit better themselves from me.. then on my death bed I will be able to look back and find happiness. Best, August Storm

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: Im working on a few things, my first crossplatform EP, as well as and EP with Lil Moe, LilTracy, and Mackned. But at any given point I can feel inspiration to make something because I can never catch a break from stress. I am mostly however, working on increasing my vocal range, as well as different vibes in 90s grunge, and trying to somehow bring my version of Grunge Alternative Punk Rap more together, so I stand out more. I really admire how XXX incorporated Screamo into trap. Things that like make artists great, not copying what everyone else does. Dont get me wrong copying is the best form of flattery.. but I would like to incorporate my own personal cadences and thoughts into genres that you typically wouldnt hear it in..

Q: Is there anyone on SoundBetter you know and would recommend to your clients?

A: Most of the people I know in the music Industry already have the blue checkmark and have been touring for multiple years.. so I feel like the lesser anytime im around them. Ive always just wanted to be the best at everything I do so its humbling to know that people i looked up to in my late teens despite the gap between us, still acknowledged me and took me in. For me, I recommend it because between occasional Studio Time, full time pre-med at ASU, and keeping my life taped together finacially, I cant afford to spend 12-1300$ on every song. So a Website like this with other Artists and Producers who're verified and ready to help will be amazing time wise! But, ill recommend it to my entire social media community because it really is a great way for those to improve their quality, as well as add to their resume!

Q: What's the biggest misconception about what you do?

A: People think im a drug addict. im not anymore, and people shamed me for talking about my abuse of it. Yet they didn't stop to think about what lead me to drugs, and people back in my hometown know exactly why.. yet they are the ones who perceive me as a Satanic Worshiper, junkie, flunky even though the majority of the people I knew didnt go out of state for college.. and as of now the few "friends" I have back home have started to do college part time and work a 9-5.. while theres nothing wrong with that it still shows in how I act that I think its unfair for them to treat me that way. Im not a stanic worshiper.. yes I can be extremely sadistic and masochistic in my music but thats because those are the thoughts flowing through my brain.. I guess people who grew up around me cant accept that 7 suicides.. a couple heartbreaks that lead my overdoses.. and mental health could affect me different from them. Because I was always wearing a mask. You will NEVER hear me talk about my problems to anyone except my Foster Father, mom, Step Dad, and the 5 brother I would die for. I want to be someone others can relate to. Pain is UNIVERSAL.. so knowing that theres people I impact who have depression makes the world for me.. because I will never be happy. I dont want people to have to suffer what ive been through. Another misconception is who I am because in the past year ive assumed 4 or 5 different names I went by, until in October.. settled on YungAugust.. but everything else is either under an old alias or hasnt been released yet.. so anyone whos not apart of the music I make are allowed to have their opinions.. it is nice though, I do not like my old habit of glorifying my drug abuse.. so with YungAugust it feels like a clean slate. I will still reference drugs because it is a topic that has become unavoidable.. but I will try my best to remove the idea that "hes talking about cocaine and recreational use of Benzos and Pain killers.. so maybe I should too" out of it. Goth Grey

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Analog is cool! Dont get me wrong, but weve progressed into a state of binary values.. everything boils down to a 1 or a 0 at the very core, so digital.. but Analog in Digital is genius and I love how we were able to not only conver analog into Digital but combine them as an option! So Cool.

Q: What's your 'promise' to your clients?

A: My promise is to uphold my honesty to the question "What questions do you ask prospective clients?" in this interview.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: The release.. after loosing so many people in my life and storing that and becoming someone that litterally depics Yang turning to Yin but the dot being a hole.. missing that bit of good in him. Now my job is making me become a better person, not a good person but not who I used to be.

Q: What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?

A: I dont really have customers as im mostly and artist. I would be Work for Hire via instagram dm requests and through referrals from friends.. but my main focus was just me. Id like to expand that and be verified to not only as an artist, but also as someone who can help others bring their vision to life.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: Monetary value is not what I seek in this industry, its change and an emotion that I am incapable of being able to feel anymore.. which is happiness. And I miss that, but to see happiness from someone else through my help, well that is enough for me. My questions mostly depend on time and specifics because once again, its not my song ive been hired to work on it and improve it with his suggestions.

Q: What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?

A: Dont be hesitant to critique us.. its your work after all we are just hired to help. We are trying to bring your art to life so dont be afraid to say no. I want more this, or how about this, or i like the idea of this, but lets add that.

Q: If you were on a desert island and could take just 5 pieces of gear, what would they be?

A: 1.Fishing Supplies 2. my phone. 3. Speaker. 4. Water filter 5. water powered generator. why my phone and a speaker? Because like I said without music I would be dead.. so there would be no point of bringing anything to a desert Island if I wasnt alive to go there in the first place.. I dont like spending hours on instagram or snapchat or replying to texts.. but I will spend days listening to music and working on music with my devices.. I dont like to post to instagram, and as a result.. ive lost a significant following from 18k to 11.5k on Instagram because I dont post every day and interact on social media like they say to. Its just not realistic given my resposibilities and hobbies that come before telling the entire world about my starbucks or whatever.

Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?

A: My first song was released February 23rd.. just as another mainstream kid who put his music on soundcloud.. but I released my emotion into the song, because for 19 years i never went to any sort of therapy.. and then with no real direction took any sort of guitar based beat and I wasn't trying to imitate anyones style.. I just just phrased my emotion into a cadence that I saw worked with the tempo. I started to gain an audience from this and just kept putting music out.. because when my emotion builds up until I explode.. and when that happened in the past it was always self harm. So I figured the more I put out the damage of the explosion would be less and less. To an extent it worked until May when I died. Thats when I became serious and not selfish with my music. I started making music to make others feel less alone, but also hoping that by becoming apart of my community I would feel less alone. Thats not how the industry works unfortunately.. so that was hard to realize but it still made me feel good that I was able to help someone out. Around March apparently I did something right because Lil Moe reached out to me, and next thing I know I made a song with lil Tracy called Made it Clear. He liked what I brought and reached out to moe to make another song with me, and next thing I know Im making an entire EP with him that features people like Famous Dex and Mackned. GothBoiClique was awesome and still is. Slowly I met and worked with producers like Charlie Chuffler, Fishnarc, Bighead, capncruch, and Ledderick that drew attention to my name due to their names being associated with Lil Peep and other artists so people began checking my music out more and more frequently. Then I had my first concert.. had a panic attack and left mid show. But I saved up enough and In October performed at a venue in Tempe that holds up to 2.5k people. That was insane. Late October I got an A&r from Universal Music, who is currently the reason im working with Tylayaweh. I had never heard of him before until he told me to listen to him.. I was on board because it reminds me of my music.. doesnt quite fit to one specific genre but takes multiple traits from various genres and mixes it into a batch of emotion. (I found out a week ago he's currently on tour with Post Malone and that mind fucked me). I have only been writing music and releasing it for 9 months, but I have been writing poems since kindergarten. Its what I do, I just write my emotions down when I get that gut feeling to, or somethings on my mind.. and I took choir for 11 years so ive been doing it my whole life but only under an alias and publicly for 9 months.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Definitely guitar based. I LOVE anything with a guitar in it regardless of the genre. But Evolving, I like the Grunge lyrics on alternative beats, grunge on hip hop rap, alternative on rap.. I want to constantly be able to appeal to anyone regardless of what genre their music is in.. im still very new to this so its too early to say with certainty of my style.. but its what im striving for.

Q: Which artist would you like to work with and why?

A: Travis Barker, nothing, nowhere., YungBlud, Lund, Paris Shadows, Ryan Caraveo, Machine Gun Kelly after Hotel Diablo, and EVERY one of the extensive list of influences i listed above. But given the restrictions they Have to be alive, and have to actively be engaged in the Music Industry, it would have to be Lund, Travis Barker, Jutes, or nothing, nowhere. because they have become such a big part of my life as all of them have kept me from committing suicide at a point in my late teens. So I cant just pick one.. that wouldn't be possible.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Be unique.. theres already industry plants for every artist that exists, a whole long line of them, then theres those who try to to sound like X or Snot or this or that and then everything sounds the same. But eventually one name will start to be brought up more than anyone else's due to their own taste.. whether that's lyrics, vocals, style, or even just vibe that brings that artist forward! Quality isnt everything.. dont focus so hard on production quality that you loose value in sentimentality and money just because you want "clout." Just be you and dance and sing and whatever you want. Because its your music and interpretation of art.

Q: What type of music do you usually work on?

A: The easiest for me is Grunge trap rock rap. But now, I try to really make my music stand out from the "Soundcloud" sterotypes that include lack of originality, constant repeptition, and lack of depth. All of my influences pioneered the way Alternative and Rock is today. Rolling Stones, The beatles, Elton John, Motley Crue, White Snake, Pixies, Nirvana, Mad Dog, Alice in Chains, Slipnot, Suicidal Tendencies, Mad Dog, Linkin park, Red Hot Chili Peppers, sum41, blink 182, My Chemical Romance.. I mean the list goes on.. they didnt have access to the autotune we have today and so progressively my vocals have been improving and ive begun working on more complex song where I cannot solely rely on Autotune. But I still like to make the new genre of guitar based trap, thats my main focus since the genre of my collaborations are more on the HipHop new wave side of alternative, or just straight up Hip Hip Rap.. so its fun to bring my style of music into a completely different genre of music on a feature and still make people bop and want to listen to more!

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: My life. I died the night I recorded AntiSocialMonophobic prod fishnarc and charlie.. listen to those lyrics, and i died that night. And my best friend was over.. when he left in the morning I was blocking the door and he said I was unresponsive and he thought that I was just asleep.. but I wasnt, and then his mom blamed him for my death which i know EXACTLY how that feels I found my best friend hanging from our school goalpost at 4am because i was 20 minutes late to meeting up with him. And for 3 years his brother blamed me.. but there is truth in the statement.. i could have saved him if I had just stopped fucking that girl and said im leaving i made these plans last week.. but no.. i just saw the next question its a two in one. So after dying and me playing that song when he was there when I recorded it, moved my body out of the way and left and had his mom making hi, feel even worse about himself.. thats when I let go of the drug talk. Everybody wants to be mainstream so theres a never ending amount of mainstream music, but for me its not about how much money I make.. and if I start making enough money to financially support myself in any sort of luxurious lifestyle, I hope I dont loose sight on why i make it. Its about making a difference, and staying true to myself until the end. i dont know dying again really made me realise how passionate I was towards music, even though I lack empathy for almost every living being. When i talk about cutting my wrist and why i did drugs I didn't explain why.. because it hurt too much to talk about hence why I was doing them in the first pace. But you can tell that it was still heart felt despite the drug abuse in them.. and even now if we met in person I would probably try to avoid talking about my past. Yet another form for raising song production even if the lyrics sucks, makes me so passionate about it. Now I need to learn to talk about the emotion i felt not the drugs that kept me fro, feeling because believe me. Ive done way to much wrong, and that leads to the next question .

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: I never have struggled with cadence or rhyming.. on paper, freestyling hell no my brain thinks way too fast for me to freestyle. But give me 15 minutes anda composition I like and itll be smellin like teen spirit. I miss Kurt.. I bought this instrumental that zillakami made a song over that got leaked, but he hadn't bought the beat so I hit up the producer and asked if it was available so i bought it. I ended up watching some show all day and then finally cranked it out in a few hours sent it to my homie and he was like woah i thought that was him for a minute. When the beat is naturally in an easy octave for me I don't need any sort of mixing and engineering.. just throw on autotune to 188-140db to theres like 12-32 herts of that tunage but eq, clean up the edges and the pshshshhshs, layer it and I can knock 40 recordings out in my room in 4 hours. I just dont. I challenge myself, buy instrumentals that really require a much higher tuned voice than mine for, and thats why it said i have 30 tracks I needed ,astered was because of all the songs I recorded back in april and May that were too embarrassing for me.. I kinda forgot that I had to start somewhere.. But my laptop is big for me.. music is my escape, its my lifeline.. ive been up for four nights doing . nothing but trying to learn how to use Logics plugins.. lotta youtube but this past month everyone who actually supports me has noticed major changes in my vocals, I can sing raspy, deep, my PERFECT rap genre of rock before 2011 when it just got weird was Sum41.. I think my voice improved from just listening to em on repeat for a month.. so Id say just jamming out to some good ole rock or even Night Lovell and Eminem when im in the mood and I dont even really think.. i let the holes in my lungs from Juuling just whistle away.

Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?

A: I dropped my first song watch me on February 23rd I think.. I remember I was so tied of everything building up inside me I just called my home boy over and he pulled throught with his set up and we ended up doing a one take with it suprisingly! But growing up i took choir just hated it because I was forced to do it.. then shit got real fast when everyone I loved started killing themselves.. and after an life threatening incident i just decided to open up the notebook i had been writting poems in for months, went on youtube typed sad guitar beat and sure enough it was peep beat. I was more hoping for an acoustic heartbroken beat but I think it didnt turn out too bad. Its mad too.. Peep was one of my favorite artists.. and i NEVER thought id be anywhere near where I am, im making music with his friends, its special.