SU senior Austin Holmes and his ‘Drive’ to reach success

When Austin Holmes walked into Starbucks for our interview, he was immediately quick to embrace fellow patrons and staff with hugs, “hellos” and “how are you(s)?”

An acting major and senior at SU, Austin smiles ear to ear as I congratulate him on the release of his new EP “Drive” which premiered on Soundcloud October 29. However, this is one of many of Austin’s career highlights.

“I performed at BET’s Apollo Live at the world famous Apollo stage, which aired on television. I think that’s the moment when people started to take me seriously,” he said.

In addition, Austin has been a passionate singer and actor from the get-go. He started acting and performing in the fifth grade, and “was always in a lot of school plays.”

The Upper Marlboro, Maryland native was first inspired to write his catchy hip-hop tune (which he said was inspired by Chris Brown, Ariana Grande, Frank Ocean and John Legend) when he met Big Sean in Syracuse in February 2013.

Austin had the opportunity to sing to Big Sean, and the rapper was an immediate fan. Two months later, Austin created his YouTube channel, which soon grew in followers and fans. His most popular video has approximately 75,000 views to date.

However, Austin, who writes all of his own music, does not take all the credit for his work. His manager, Alli Reich, also a senior, has been one of his best friends since freshman year. He also worked with SU student Daquan Thomas to “help him build up his Instagram and YouTube followers.” Fun fact, Austin’s Instagram has 10,00 followers (so jealous).

“I think, especially nowadays, you can’t do anything without social media,” he said. At a time, he considered social media one of his biggest challenges, as the goal is to get his music to spread across the web.

“Of course, people want to support you, but will people actually share your music? Of course, getting it out there and getting more views, you know, how do you do that?” he told The Tab.Austin also credits his voice teacher and Syracuse faculty member Laura Enslin for his success.

“She really helped me a lot when I first got here freshman year, and also when I was in Hairspray (he played Seaweed). She heard the song today and was so excited. She was paying attention to how I was actually singing and the tone in my voice, and she was really proud of me,” he told The Tab.

He also credits the Music and African-American Studies faculty for helping him stay positive.

“I think Syracuse University is a place that has unlimited opportunities if you take advantage of them. The students that work on their craft by themselves do so well in the long run, and I was so inspired to take advantage of the drama school, music industry school and the studios,” he said.

In fact, he recently filmed the music video for his new EP in the photography studios. The video is set to be released in the near future, as it is still in the editing process.

Austin is also a fan of the queen bee herself, no other than Beyonce. “I’m so interested in the performance aspect, and she definitely does this. She’s also so focused on the business side; you cant just be all songs. Even with her movies, owning her own companies, are all things I’d love to do in the future.”

Now, Austin is beginning to wrap up his final semester here in Syracuse, as he heads down to New York City in the spring for a program called the Tepper Semester, a program from SU’s Drama Department where students live and take classes down in the city.

“Of course I’m very excited to go to class and learn so much from these amazing professors, but I want to look for different open mics and keep promoting the EP and performing all the time, and to get signed by a record label. That’s the goal,” he said with a smile.

For more on Holmes, follow his Twitter, Instagram and  Youtube.