Independent music seems to be all the new rage. People are more interested in seeing the bands that play in their own area religiously than pay an arm and a leg to see Justin Bieber (more than once). Cities in the united states are recognizing their independent music scene, including Denver, which is hometown for bands like The Fray and 3oh!3. Today a new singer, Rachel Helmick (who goes by I Feel Infinite) is ready to be the next new artist to come out of Denver and make it big.
Born and raised in Denver, Colorado, Rachel says that music has impacted her life since she can remember. “Both of my parents are musicians, and I know I get all my ideas from them.” Helmick picked up the guitar when she was just three years old and claims she “instantly fell in love.” The piano lessons cam two years later when Helmick was five, and the drum lessons followed a few years later.
Rachel begun writing songs when she was five years-old, but never got the chance to record in a studio until she was about sixteen. “I never knew how to record a song. I had no idea who to call, so I decided I’d do it myself.” She begun to use simple programs like garage band to help her write beats to go with her songs, this developed into a new passion of not only writing, but also producing music. “I got really into it. I couldn’t stop making songs, it was surreal to me that I could do it all myself.”
In a time where fame is everything, Rachel understands that she may never make it to the big time, or ever sell as many albums as someone like Britney Spears. “I’m not interested in that.” She said when asked what she would do if she sold a million records. “To me, it’s just music. I love writing and performing comes along with that. If I only played shows to 6 people a night for the rest of my life, but it made them happy, I’d be set.” Her witty persona came along with that sentence and Helmick smirked, “A million copies would be legit though.”
Rachel is pretty ordinary for a sixteen year-old girl. She attends Kent High School in Denver, and focuses on as many music classes as she can while in school. “I take everything. Choir, Guitar and Piano, it helps me get better.” She is incredibly talented and though she stays up sometimes until 4 in the morning writing music, she still maintains a 4.0 GPA as a High School senior.
She began working on her first EP (extended play) after being inspired by one of her favorite local bands, Kill Paradise. “I just loved watching his career blossom and it inspired me to do what he was doing.” She finished the EP when she was just fourteen and worked on finalizing it for another year. “I had to do everything myself. All the instruments, vocals, I wanted it to be perfect.” The EP was released in January 2010, and soon after Rachel began working on her first full length album.
“I’m doing this project myself and I’m already about a year and half into it.” Helmick thinks she will have the project completed by August and hopes to have an October release. “Before I release the album I’m going to do some shows and get my name out there, at least a little bit.” Helmick has played many small venues in the Denver area, including small coffee shops and mini-theater type venues. “I could play small places for the rest of my life, there isn’t any pressure, it’s great.”
As a performer, Rachel is stunning. She performed a one on one acoustic set during the interview and showed her true talent with her voice and guitar. “I love doing acoustic sets. They are so much more personal and it really gets to show my audience where these songs come from. My guitar, and my voice.”
To get herself out there Rachel relies on things such as twitter, facebook and myspace. “I actually recently just deleted my twitter because it was giving me some technical difficulties. It sucks cause I had close to one thousand followers and they were all so great.” Rachel recently got her twitter page back and is hoping that her loyal followers will reconnect with her. “I promote all my shows through facebook and sometimes myspace, even though no one really cares about that anymore.”
She may only be sixteen years-old but Rachel Helmick is going somewhere fast. She is currently working on her debut independent album, which will be released early this fall. You can check out her self-produced EP, “Lace up My Shoes,” on iTunes now.
You can follow Rachel on twitter here
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