The Driver Era Open Up About Being Independent Artists

The Driver Era are getting candid about how being previously signed to a major record label helped shape what they are now.

The brother duo – Ross and Rocky Lynch – sat down and talked about their time with Hollywood Records as R5 and going the independent route with their new sound.

“When you sign to a label, they want to get hands on,” Ross told Alt Press. “They wanna be a part of the creative process. They wanted to be involved. [Our original songs] weren’t your typical pop-rock stuff.”

“And maybe that’s why [Hollywood Records] didn’t f–k with it so much,” Rocky added. “It ended up working out perfectly. Maybe because we were striving for this the whole time. Our minds were thinking about how we could get the music how we wanted it. We arrived there with the Driver Era.”

“Through this experience, we’ve now been signed to a major label. We know what that entails,” Ross said. “Because we’ve been in the industry now for 10-plus years, it’s great to know how to navigate it. To learn how to really trust ourselves and our own intuition. Because truthfully, if we were in that scenario again, it would probably turn out differently.”

“So there’s this Wiz Khalifa song,” Rocky added about going independent. “During the intro, he’s talking about the music industry, and he’s like, ‘Yo, this ain’t as easy as it looks… it’s easier.’ That’s how it feels with the Driver Era and being independent. There’s so much less bullsh-t.”