Venice Beach-native, Cam Avery is THE upcoming pop-prince to fall in love with next. Poppy beats and dreamy imagery fills his discography with teenage wonder and romantic hopes.

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Who are your primary fashion inspirations?

I’ve taken a lot of fashion tips from Kurt Cobain. I love flannels, jeans, sneakers. I have more of a skater kind of look. Iʻve always been attracted to simple fashion, you know? I’m not much of an expensive kind of person; I like to get a lot of my stuff from thrift stores! A big inspiration would be one of my big inspirations. I used to bleach dye a lot of my clothes and paint them too; I would add small patches to the sides and stuff.

Do you have any brands that you’re loyal to?

I love, Vans, Volcom, and Nike.

 

What is your song writing process like?

I always start with the music first. It usually starts with my hooks and the chorus. I don’t necessarily like to always build my songs around the chorus after I think of it. Gosh, I make so much music. Iʻm one of those people that will make 20 songs and only like one of them and then I don’t even like that one much, so I have to make another 20 songs. I always come back to them to see if I can make something out of it. I feel like my process is relatable—to other musicians at least—Iʻll write a verse sometimes for one song but then use it in a different one. Sometimes I’ll write all the melodies for a song and then step away for two weeks or until the missing piece comes to me. I want my music to mean something in a vague way so anyone listening to it can understand and relate to the message from their own experiences.

 

Do you find that the videos you make on tik tok help you out of a rut by doing something random?

I’ve been producing since I was in high school, so about six years now. When I started producing, I would make all sorts of beats—you name it I did it—and then I started to focus more on indie pop which is what I do now. I try to think outside of the box and test my limits. I feel like everyone starts their music on the computer now, so I’ve been trying to get away from that and just work with my guitar or ukulele. The musicians I really admire are the ones that can do it all; they can pick up an instrument; they can start on a computer; they can start just by writing lyrics. I want to be able to do a little bit of it all and making beats has been a great way to get started.

 

What was it like growing up in LA? How would you say it shaped you not only as a musician but also as a person?

La is a very special place; everyone all over the world dreams of coming here, right? I love LA; its so lively; the art around here is fucking awesome. I live right by Venice Beach and grew up around here. I grew up skateboarding all over LA and loving the architecture. You have a lot of crazy people around here too hah!

I feel like people who live in LA have to live up to LA standards; they live up to the stereotypes. Youʻll see Lamborghinis around every corner—youʻll even see them in the ghettos! I feel like you have to put up a front here but ever since the pandemic hit, I feel like it really showed the worldʻs true colors—especially on social media; we got to see everyone’s views on anything and everything. I definitely feel like I didnʻt like LA as much recently as I did growing up.

 

What juice would you be?

            Definitely a peach mango juice—Iʻm a very fruity kind of dude, I love fruits.

 

What went into filming the Bulletproof music video?

That was super  fun! It was really random, I wasnʻt planning on doing a music video, I wasnʻt even planning to release Bulletproof in the first place. I was going through songs I had written, and my manager was like “ we have to release something now”. I plan on releasing an EP with plenty of songs at the end of the year. The dudes  I made the video are roommates and I work with one of them at the sandwich shop. He goes to college for directing, he wants to make short films and music videos, and he was like “me and my roommate really like your music!” So, I told them about Bulletproof coming out and they were like “Dude! We would love to shoot a music video for it.” We ended up shooting over a weekend all over LA; we shot at a beach, Venice de Niles, near my house, and a really cool park near Hollywood! The brought up the idea of having the girl in the video and I really liked the way the shots with her came out.

 

What are your hobbies outside of music?

I love to journal; I just do a lot of writing; I really like to write how Iʻm feeling. I work a lot, so I guess thatʻs technically one of my hobbies. I also love to play basketball, that’s something I grew up doing and still enjoy.

 

How do you see music from your childhood influencing what you write now?

I grew up listening to Bob Marley, nirvana, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. I listened to a ton of rock and whatever was on the radio. Linkin Park was one of my favorite bands; Paramore and Haley Williams will always be one of my biggest inspirations for my writing.

 

What is your favorite live performance memory?

I was in a band for about 5+ years or so, it consisted of me, my two younger sisters, and some old friends of mine. We got into a competition through a program hosted the House of Blues and did workshops where you met a ton of people in the music industry and learn from them. At the end of the program there was a huge performance at the Wheelturn; there was over 2000 people there. When I went on the stage, I saw all of these people and got kind of nervous for the first time ever but after our first song I got over it and had a blast. It is such a beautiful venue; it kind of looks like a castle!

 

What are two things you need for the perfect beach day?

I love to play ukulele so most of the time I bring it with me or a speaker—I need to listen to music wherever I go. Recently Iʻve been listening to 88.1 K-jazz; it’s a local jazz station that runs out of somewhere around here, I think maybe around USC. Iʻve been making more jazz influenced music because Iʻve been addicted to this station.

Whenever I go to the beach, I always bring this really big blanket with me. You can fold it into a bag and carry things with it and then unzip it back into blanket.

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~Reagan Thornley