Caleb Fytczyk boasts a voice to match classic singers. Photos submitted
By Tom Victoria
Caleb Fytczyk has a voice to rival the crooners of old. Whether a cover or original song, he belts out tunes with a sonorous voice Frank, Dean and Bing would appreciate.
The singer is shifting his style.
“I'm going more in a rock direction now, more soft rock,” he said.” But it's a '60s oldies style for some of the stuff I've made before. I put out a cover of Put Your Head on My Shoulder and Missing You and Burning. Those are jazzy sort of Steven Sanchez vibes.”
One of Caleb’s releases is a new version of one of his older tunes, Yours - Alternate Version.
“Yours is a song about longing for the one you love, and the desire to be wanted and loved by another person, the desire to be yours,” he said.
Before the cover of Put Your Head on My Shoulder, Caleb released another song.
“The one before that was Divine,” he said. “That came out August 7, if I'm not mistaken. That's a longer song. I put three guitar solos in there, more of a rock vibe.”
Caleb, 18, of Battle Creek, Michigan, always liked to sing.
“Ever since I was a kid,” he said. “Can't really put an exact age on it. Singing professionally in front of people, probably only in the last four years or so.”
Classic crooners caught Caleb’s ear.
“I've liked older music,” he said. “I'll listen to some Frank Sinatra while I'm cooking in the kitchen or something. I listen to pretty much all kinds of music, but I've always liked older music.”
Caleb also plays guitar.
Caleb is inspired by real life for his music.
“I write about relationships I've had, emotions, being in love, being not in love,” he said. “Just the human experience.”
Caleb cited an older tune as an example.
“Don't Go is a bit more than just desire,” he said. “People I've talked to sometimes think that it's about getting dumped or something like that, but actually it's not. I made that song when my girlfriend at the time was very depressed, and there were nights where I wasn't sure if she would still be alive in the morning. That song is about that uncertainty, that weight of not knowing. I sorta felt helpless in that situation, so I wrote a song about it.”
Anyone dating Caleb doesn’t have to fret too much about named in a song.
“It's not like I'm gonna name-call because that'd just be weird if it doesn't go so well in the future,” he said. “My first album, I made it to be a story of sorts. RARITY is you're interested in a girl, and then it progresses, now he's in love, they're in a relationship. And then there's a turning point right after …fall where there's been a breakup, there's been some issues, and then the ending with Ignorance is Bliss is the acceptance of that. Those were all songs that I wrote in high school. They weren't all from the same relationship, but who cares? Put them in the same album.”
Caleb explained his songwriting process.
The lyrics, usually those come first,” he said. “I'll find a chord progression I like, find some backing music, figure out the vibe I'm going for. And then it's all in a spur of a moment. I'll write the whole song in 15 minutes, all the lyrics. I'll just be feeling it. And then after that, I try and figure some kind of melody out. Either I'll be singing it or I'll play the melody on my guitar, something like that. But yeah, the lyrics come first for me.”
Caleb factors in his deep voice.
“I usually try to keep the voice as the centerpiece, but not always,” he said, pointing to his remake. “It's an alternate version of Yours. I changed it around, made it more like a shoegaze style where the voice isn't really the centerpiece. Usually though, it's based around the voice.”
Caleb would like to perform live in the future.
“I would if I had an opportunity, but I don't think I'm really at that stage at this point,” he said. “I'm not really a big artist quite yet. But in the future, I totally would.”
Caleb is open to a drastic style change down the road.
“I would love being in a band,” he said. “That'd be great. If you look at my music now, this wouldn't make any sense, but the dream would be to be in a metal band. That'd be so cool. I love metal music. I'm a huge metalhead even though I don't really write metal music. I listen to all sorts of music and then I just make whatever feels right.”
Caleb recalled the first musical act that impacted him as a youth.
“Probably back when I was maybe 10 years old,” he said. “My dad put some Skillet on in the car. I don't really listen to it much anymore, but when I was 10, man, that was cool. It's like, man, who is this? This is great. That was probably the first time I was like, I gotta know who this is.”
Caleb cited a later influence.
“I'm heavily inspired by the emotion of Jeff Buckley,” he said. “Our singing styles are pretty different because he's a lot more tenor and I'm a lot more baritone, but his musicality, the dynamics that he does in his music are something I try to compare to because he does it really well. The emotion that he brings, especially in some of his quieter songs like his cover of Hallelujah is just so good. You can feel what he's feeling in his words. I try to be like that.”
Caleb’s musical path began at a young age.
“Probably 8 years old,” he said. “I started piano lessons when I was 8, so probably around then. I'm sure I was singing some random ABC song and my grandmother would be like, oh, it's such a great voice.”
Caleb’s family encouraged him to make music.
“My parents, they pushed me to actually start releasing music,” he said. “I started getting more into making music. I was writing songs, making my own music. I bought a DAW. I'm playing the demos for my parents. They're like, man, this is really good. You should release this.”
Caleb resisted the idea initially.
“It's like, it's just something I make for fun,” he said. “It's just a hobby. And they're like, you gotta put it out there. So that's what I did.”
Caleb is furthering his education.
I'm attending college for a radiography program, be an x-ray tech or something,” he said. “Just because I know that music doesn't really work out for most people. It could, but it might not. And that's okay. At the end of the day, if it's just a hobby, that's all right because I love doing it. If I can keep doing it, then I'll be happy. But if that can be my job, then that'd be great because then I wouldn't have to work a day job.”
Caleb isn’t adverse to taking his music as far as it can go despite the pitfalls that come with fame.
“There are some areas of being a super popular celebrity that definitely aren't that great,” he said. “If it did happen, I would be okay with that. If I could be reaching people with a really wide reach, that'd be great. I just want my music to have a positive impact on people and if that can be millions of people, then great.”
Caleb takes steps to take care of his voice.
“I drink plenty of water,” he said. “That's about it. If I'm doing a song that’s really high or really low or something that's a little bit more difficult, I'll do a vocal warm-up or something like that, but that's about it.”
Caleb wouldn’t make any drastic changes to his appearance in a musical persona.
“If I was the lead singer of some heavy metal band, maybe I would wear big heavy eyeliner more often,” he said. “But for the most part, I'd probably look about the same. I'm planning on getting some more piercings, maybe get my eyebrow done. But for the most part, I'll probably look about the same. It's not the music that shapes the person, it's the person that shapes the music.”
Caleb would like folks to remember one thing above all as a musician.
“I want to be remembered as authentic,” he said. “The most important part would be like, oh man, that guy, his music was some authentic stuff right there. I could feel that, I could relate to that, that was real. I feel like that's really important.”
Caleb stays motivated to make music.
“I'm going to school and I'm working an almost full-time job,” he said. “I'm just doing four days a week right now, but I don't have a lot of time. The thing that motivates me the most is that I just really like doing it. It feeds my soul. It's who I am. I gotta make music whether that be actually creating something to be released or practicing playing something on my guitar, learning how to play a cool drum intro or something. I'm a musical person.”
Music was always Caleb’s preferred art form.
“Acting, I did some school plays and that was fun, but it's not quite the same as music because for one thing, I'm better at it,” he said. “I'm not as good at acting as I am at making music. I enjoy it more. It feels more me, feels like it's what I should be doing.”
Caleb finds it easier to express himself through music.
“It gives me more time to figure out the exact words I want to put on paper and sing,” he said. “When you're just talking to somebody, it's gotta be all at once, and that's scary. When you're making a song, you've got weeks and weeks to make it, or shoot, however long you want. I express myself in my music for sure. I use that as an outlet for my emotions at times.”
Caleb offered advice to aspiring musicians.
“Honestly, just do it,” he said. “What's stopping you? If it sucks, then oh well. What's the downside? You're not gonna lose anything by putting it out there. You can only win.”
Caleb’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/calebfytczykmusicofficial/
Caleb’s music: https://music.youtube.com/channel/UCkWPRxNkkRUlGXCbWKQUEfg