Let’s Talk Ice Cream and Music with Joe Settineri!

What better way to learn about artist we all know and love than to find out about their sweet tooth right? Music Matters Magazine had a chance to speak with Joe Settineri than to discover your favorite ice cream treats and talk a little about what is going on in your world of music. So, let’s dive right into and get the inside scoop (pun intended)!

Joe: Hi! Doing this from the road in Nashville where it’s a gazillion degrees and this weather SCREAMS ice cream!

Question: What is your favorite ice cream flavor?

Joe: It’s a 3-way tie folks … Grasshopper Pie (Mint + Oreo Cookies), Cherry Garcia from Ben & Jerry’s, and McDonald’s Vanilla. All equally rock, and there is a proper time and place for each one!

Q: Do you prefer it in a bowl, cone, and waffle?

Joe: In a bowl (cup) 100% (except for McDonalds Ice Cream which is always best in their cone!)

Q: How many scoops make up the perfect ice cream treat?

Joe: One scoop always. Just enough to satiate my craving, and at a lot of places one scoop really means 12 scoops, so I feel good about at least ordering 1 scoop (while I eat all 12 scoops).

Q: Fruit or candy toppings? And what kinds?

Joe: No toppings for me. My kids, on the other hand, will gladly use ice cream as a chance to consume a year’s worth of candy toppings.

Q: Is ice cream a year-round thing or only summer time when it’s warm?

Joe: We are an all-seasons ice cream family. Whether we are home in sunny, warm Los Angeles or in New York City in the winter, we can usually find an excuse to get ice cream.

Q: Favorite ice cream shop?

Joe: Stucchi’s in Ann Arbor, MI. I used to go there all the time when I was there in college and still dream about it.

Q: Do you have a favorite brand of ice cream? (Blue Bell, Eddy’s, Häagen-Dazs, etc.)

Joe: My favorite ice cream brand is always the brand that’s being sold in the ice cream shop closest to me. I’m an equal-opportunity ice cream consumer!

Q: Is frozen yogurt just as good as ice cream?

Joe: Nope — not unless you cover it in fudge sauce and crumbled up Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and that defeats the purpose.

Q: Any particular instrument you fancy most using when writing?

Joe: Yes – I have a very inexpensive baby grand piano that I got from Craig’s List, and I use that when I write. I have a whole fancy keyboard set up in my studio, but I never write with it. I prefer a quiet morning in my living room with just my piano and me.

Q: With each song written do you sense your abilities to write becoming easier and able to flow from you unhindered?

Joe: I do. I still have many days where I doubt my abilities and my craft, but for the most part, the longer I do this the better the ideas are and the easier it is to get them out of me and onto paper.

Q: Was songwriting always your forte Joe? What was your direction prior?

Joe :I have always loved song writing, but lacked the confidence to let other people see that side of me. I did a lot of stage work and sang only songs written by other people. One day I just sang a couple of songs for a friend and the ball started rolling from there. It felt so good to sing my own ideas in my own voice.