Check Out Anthony Rankin’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Anthony Rankin.

Hi Anthony, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
I was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA. My dad played drums professionally, so music was a big part of my household growing up. When I was eight, I received an electric guitar for Christmas and started taking lessons at a local music store. Not long after, my dad started taking me to blues bars to sit in and cut my teeth. Everything more or less snowballed from there. I became enamored with performing and attempting to make recordings at home, playing every instrument myself, and started releasing my own self-produced music as an early teenager while continuing to develop as a live performer.

After high school, I attended Duquesne University to study jazz and earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Sound Recording.

From there, I found myself working at a legendary homegrown recording studio in the region – Studio L – where I engineered, co-produced, wrote, arranged, and performed as a one-man studio band on thousands of sessions under the tutelage of owner/producer and Emmy winner Rick Witkowski, himself a legend in the classic rock and TV music worlds. In my time there, I would have free reign of the studio during off-hours, so I would work relentlessly on my own music when I wasn’t recording for other artists.

Then one day, Nashville unexpectedly came calling. I packed up and moved with little preparation or notice and found myself suddenly immersed in the songwriting culture of Music City. Not long after, I began to get calls to lend my skills as a sideman for major label acts. This led to me fortuitously meeting Victor Brodén, bassist extraordinaire, and native Swede, who would become my best friend and closest collaborator for many years.

Victor and I began working on original music together after connecting deeply over our mutual love for Prince, Bruce Springsteen, and all things Max Martin. This bond would eventually blossom into a full-blown band that we founded called The Love Elektrik, combining our funk influences with our love of slick, contemporary pop. We became a cult figure in Nashville, and had a few-year run of amazing shows, record releases, and music videos, as early pioneers of what is now Nashville’s burgeoning pop scene.

Victor relocated to Los Angeles in 2018 to pursue some of his own lifelong dreams, and I continued to produce other artists and tour as a sideman out of Nashville. Then the pandemic hit. I was kind of jolted back to square one in many ways, but it slowly made me rediscover my perspective as a solo artist. I released “Back 4 U” in the summer of 2020, my first solo release of any kind in ten years. This is when the moniker ANTi was officially cemented. “Love Somebody” followed the next year, and I began to feel the pull to recommit myself to my own artistry while simultaneously accelerating my career as a producer and songwriter for other artists I believe in.

Fast forward to 2023, and I feel like I’ve finally got something substantial to say again as an artist and singer. The first release of this era (“Close To You”) is actually a collaboration and my first with incredibly gifted producer/writer SCi-FY, who helped me to get out of my own way and lean fully into my instincts and synthpop roots. It’s the first page in a new chapter with tons of exciting music to come.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I don’t think a single person who has survived the music industry has ever experienced a smooth road. I certainly have dealt with the struggles and disappointments of most musicians and artists at various points along the way – being broke a lot more years than having any kind of financial security; seeing promising opportunities and deals seemingly evaporate overnight after months or years of cultivating them; personal relationships becoming the collateral damage of the intensity it takes to pursue a life in this arena…

I’ve been luckier than most in that I have a great home life and a supportive partner, deeply rewarding friendships in and outside of the business, and I’ve somehow been able to pay my rent with a guitar all these years, even if it’s been by the skin of my teeth. That’s not to say more struggles and disappointments aren’t waiting somewhere around the corner, as they always will be in an industry where nothing stays the same and the job requirement is 24/7.

But just that I’ve been relatively unscathed by a lot of the personal demons that tend to proliferate in the entertainment industry. I feel lucky in that way, that I’ve been able to stay pretty grounded through it all.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
For most of my professional life, I have performed a balancing act between being a self-contained artist/writer/producer and having been sought-after by other artists for my skills as a guitarist, singer, and multi-instrumentalist, whether on tour or in the studio.

I’ve been lucky enough to tour with artists who have sold millions of records and record with Grammy-winning producers. For the last few years, however, I feel like I’m finally becoming known for my own work as a producer and songwriter, which is really where I have pointed my compass for a long time.

In Nashville, I live a sort of double life. Some of my peers know me mostly as a touring guitarist and singer for country stars like Gary Allan, some know me primarily as the frontman for The Love Elektrik, and some know me only as a producer for emerging artists and writers. I’ve gotten to make national TV appearances like The Today Show, and have played in front of tens of thousands of people, but what I’m most proud of I think is being able to be a total chameleon and find a role or a space where I can offer value in almost any musical situation, big or small.

I approach producing and writing in a very similar way, maybe akin to someone like Greg Kurstin who I look up to tremendously. While “capital-P” pop music is my North Star, I just love music period, and find joy and reward in participating in the creative process, whether it’s German synth-wave or soulful Americana, or indie rock. I try to be the piece that is missing in a session or in a live situation.

Sometimes that can mean being the meticulous overseer of an entire album, or it could mean just playing three chords on an acoustic guitar and making them feel the best they possibly can. I have had a lifelong obsession and curiosity with the musical process, and that continues to this day.

If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
I was a pretty shy kid, an introvert. I was good at school, got good grades, and had friends, but definitely was not what you’d call popular. I kind of fit in everywhere and nowhere, which is sort of an overarching theme of my life. No surprise, from around the age of 11 or 12, music was my only interest.

Prior to that, it was music, karate, and maybe baseball. As introverted as I might’ve been social, I would absolutely come alive and command a stage if you strapped a guitar to my body, even as a teenager. I think performing gave me a huge outlet for that part of my personality, where I could become a character separate from my shy, real-life self. I still experience that a bit even as an adult.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.antisongs.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/anti_songz
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/anti.songz
• SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/anti-songz 

Image Credits
Sean McGee