Today we’d like to introduce you to Thor Speeler.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I’ve been singing, performing, and making music as long as I can remember. My earliest memory of performing would probably be singing a solo in an elementary school play (I believe this was the third grade). I fell in love with the feeling of being onstage.
I grew up on a wide variety of musical styles, which had a massive impact on my current approach to creating music and my overall philosophy towards music in general. My dad frequently played classic rock bands such as Pink Floyd and Creedence Clearwater Revival, as well as New Age artists such as Ray Lynch and Andreas Vollenweider, who remain favorites of mine to this day. My mom introduced me to artists such as David Bowie, Prince, ELO, and The Cure, who also remain personal favorites of mine as well as major influences. Alongside artists such as these, there was a fair amount of classical music, country, classic Broadway tunes, and old school hip hop/R&B playing in my household at all times. All this to say, I grew up with a broad exposure to many types of music and an overall wide understanding of what music could be.
When I was 11 or 12 years old, I went to my first large-scale concert: My Chemical Romance’s Black Parade tour. I was absolutely captivated, mesmerized by the marriage of music and visual presentation to create something that was more than simply songs. It was an experience. It was something in which you could lose yourself. From that moment on, I realized I would never be satisfied as simply an enjoyer of music. I had to create it. I wanted to be the person on the other side of things. I wanted to create musical experiences in which people could lose themselves. At the same time, I had difficulty expressing my own feelings, and found music to be an avenue through which I could share feelings that felt to big or too difficult to speak aloud to friends and family.
I started my first punk band in high school. We were far from perfect, but we had fun, made a few cool tunes, and learned a lot (quick aside – that band’s co-founder, Oli Conlon, now plays bass and sings in ATL based punk trio The Carolyn. If punk is your thing, go give them a listen). During that time, I began to experiment with electronic music. I had absolutely no earthly idea of what I was doing, but I fell in love with the process. I was fascinated by the idea of what was essentially endless possibilities at my fingertips, with the only real limit being my imagination.
I went to college in Philadelphia and started another band, still with punk undertones but leaning more heavily into psychedelic and folk influences. I learned a lot from that project about songwriting, collaboration, music theory, and so on. We had some cool opportunities and I was able to grow and progress artistically. During that time period, I also studied theatre and performed around the city, and began to explore solo artistry in a more serious way. Initially I leaned very heavily into the realm of experimental music, eschewing any discernible structure almost as a rule. Eventually that began to feel boring and contrarian. As that second band drew to a close, I took what I had learned from both projects and poured that into what is now the newest iteration of my musical journey.
I moved back to GA in early 2020 and was hoping to integrate myself into the ATL and Athens scenes as quickly as possible. Covid obviously uprooted those plans. While I was stuck at home during lockdown, alone most of the time, I began to play with electronic music again. I got myself a handful of synths and downloaded Ableton, and just started playing. As I began writing new songs and reworking old songs into this newer framework, it truly felt as though I was stepping into an entire new realm of possibilities. I was finally able to create music I was hearing in my head in a way that previously felt unattainable.
Around this time, I joined a group called The Ghost Factory as the primary composer for the podcast Who Killed Alaska. This project opened even more possibilities and opportunities creatively. I’ve always loved film scoring, and this was an opportunity to effectively do the same thing, albeit with an audiodrama rather than film. Because my role in this project was and continues to be helping the creator of the show to see his vision come to life, I have had to step into even more unexpected realms musically and stretch and grow as a musician and artist in ways I could never have anticipated.
Part of the beauty of creating synth-based and sample-based music for me is that there is no blueprint, no right or wrong way of doing it. You’re largely on your own, limited only by your imagination. Budgetary restraints simply become opportunities for experimentation. Happy accidents are frequent, and take songs in exciting and unexpected directions. Throughout all of this, I’ve been so fortunate to connect and collaborate with other musicians and artists both local and international. I’ve made many good friends and created art that I love and am proud of. While I would love to gain access to larger and better opportunities to perform for and share my music with a wider audience, I relish in the personal victories I’ve had in this journey, and feel so grateful to the small but supportive following I’ve managed to garner. To me, that in itself is success.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
In some ways, yes, in some ways, no. I’ve been fortunate to have a lot of supportive people in my life. My partner, my family, and my friends have always gone above and beyond to support me in my artistic endeavors and I’m grateful for that.
A lot of the bumps in the road have been self-imposed. Not all of them, but a lot. A big issue for me both creatively and just in general for many years was a struggle with substance abuse issues. I was a heavy drinker for the first half of my 20s, as well as some other things. All of this eventually spiraled out of control, and among other things, definitely hindered me as an artist.
I think a lot of younger musicians and artists in general fall into this trap of believing that drugs, alcohol, whatever are going to somehow “expand your mind” and help you go on some sort of crazy artistic journey, but I think that’s total nonsense. The less in touch you are with yourself, and the more mentally fatigued and exhausted you become as a result of these things, the less you’ll be able to create meaningful work. Thinking that will help you really stems from self-doubt. I also believe that artists, especially younger artists, tend to feel things very deeply, and might be susceptible to depression, anxiety, etc. Substances can be a cope for that. At any rate, I’m going on six years of sobriety and am definitely at the highest point I’ve ever been creatively. It isn’t something I want to preach about or make my “thing” per se, but I do have some songs that touch on that topic a bit.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
The “cool” answer here is that I do some film and podcast scoring. As I mentioned before, I’ve been doing the score for the show Who Killed Alaska for four or five years now, and that’s been a fun journey. I’ve also done some short films, animated shorts, etc. I actually just did an original song for a short film written and directed by a friend of mine called Have A Nice Trip. That should be coming out sometime in the not too distant future, but there isn’t an official release date yet. Probably late this year or early next year.
The day-to-day job is that I run the disposition team for a company that specializes in off-market real estate deals. We have a group of people who get group and one-on-one coaching as well, alongside access to our sales team. It’s a newer operation but we’ve got some really smart and experienced people on the team and it’s starting to take off which is really cool to see. I don’t really want to make this interview about that aspect of my life, but if anyone wants to get out of the 9-5 grind they’re welcome to hit me up on Instagram and we can discuss.
Alright, so to wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
I have a new single out called “Crazy That I Haven’t Seen You,” and I also released an EP called “Vestige” earlier this year. Those are on all the streaming things soooo go listen!
I’m a part of a duo called Something Haunted with my good friend Bryant Perez. We dropped our debut single “Path” alongside a music video a while back, and we’re currently working on our next video. Go check out Bryant’s solo stuff as well.
Maybe also just a quick shout out to my good friend Zach, who connected me with you guys! They just dropped an EP under the moniker “Old Trees” so go check that out.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/thorspeelermusic
- Instagram: @thorspeelermusic
- Other: https://www.whokilledalaska.com
Image Credits
The live photo I used as my main photo was taken by @brashermedia, all cover art is by me, the flying saucer promo image is by Savannah-based artist Anthony Barbara (@anthonys.comix.cantina), and the polaroid of my duo Something Haunted was taken by Covington-based photographer Nick Sweat (@nicksweat.amr)
