Today we’d like to introduce you to JESQUESÁN.
Hi JESQUESÁN, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
In 2024, I started doing open mics again in January after barely leaving home for over 3 years. I still didn’t feel like a musician, so I ended up giving standup comedy a try a few times for a couple of months, and rarely, because leaving the house still made me very anxious.
A few years back, I started growing my hair from the day I found out about The Great Cut 2024, a world-record charity donation benefiting Children With Hair Loss, hosted by The Longhairs. The Great Cut 2019 had earned the Guinness World Record for most hair donated to charity in 24 hours, and I wanted to see if my contribution could’ve helped The Longhairs earn the world record once more. By March 16, I ended up donating 3 years’ worth of hair, leaving the event with a shaved head.
How does that relate to my music story, you may ask? Well, the event had live music hosted by Jefferson Jay. He had booked all performers, and since I was going to regrow my hair for 2030, I thought it would be pretty cool to donate my hair after playing some music, but for that I had to start performing once more, to get on Jefferson Jay and The Longhairs’ radar so they’d book me for the next event. Playing music at The Great Cut 2030 became my biggest inspiration for my return to music.
I started playing more often during Spring and Summer. It wasn’t easy at the start. I had to find my voice again and relearn the skills I had lost. I only played the Lestat’s open mic for the first six months before I started meeting new people who introduced me to more open mics.
Relearning my guitar and singing skills was easier than relearning my social skills, because I had barely done any socializing for a good 3 years. Going to Writers ‘Round was most helpful in that regard, because everyone’s so welcoming and talkative, and I really enjoyed getting to know the regulars.
By the Fall, I started helping out Tasty Beige, Mitch Tasty and Beige Radio, a booking partnership that produced shows at Mission Brewery. My involvement with them began when I got booked for a show in November. It was my first show in 4 years, so it really meant a lot. I came to name it my “Grand Return Show,” because it solidified my full return to the music scene after slowly regaining my stage confidence and guitar and singing skills for about a year.
After my November 23rd show, it no longer felt like I was in my journey of returning. I began to feel that I was fully back. And I’d like to quote a song from a fellow singer-songwriter that I used to know in my past life, before my self-house arrest: “I thought maybe I lost myself wholly, but here I am again. Deep down in my heart, I feel the start of new life sprouting.”
Hope Will Lead Me Home by Patricia Camille was most inspiring to my new life in the music scene, because even if I was performing shows again, as an autistic person who struggles with depression, there are still moments I start considering quitting music again, when I get burnt out and overwhelmed by emotions.
It had been a while since I’d heard my own voice, and the music scene was the home I had come back to. I really didn’t wanna leave again after all the work I put in, making new friends, reconnecting with old ones, and getting reaccustomed to being a musician.
In 2025, I went through a really bad depression for over the first half of the year. Hope Will Lead Me Home continued to be my sort of theme song, as well as finding inspiration in music by friends of mine, most notably Pacific Ocean Running Club.
By the beginning of the second half, I discovered Raine Arcas when they followed me on Instagram. I listened to their music, and it was the best thing I’ve ever heard in all of my years in the San Diego music scene. I became an instant fan, with the newfound purpose of making all of my friends listen and become fans too. I also tried to find cool opportunities for them so they could reach more people. I guess you could say I am doing exactly the opposite of gatekeeping an independent artist I really like.
After a full year of helping Tasty Beige with the Mission Brewery shows, Mitch Tasty got a new job at a brewery in Boston. When he moved out, his place in booking the shows fell to me. I became Beige Radio’s new partner, and we started booking shows as “Jes y Wes Presentan.”
My first official Mission Brewery show as part of Jes y Wes last October took place on my birthday, and I had to have Raine Arcas on the lineup, because that was enough to be one of the best birthday presents ever. We also had Kisui, whom I met through Writers ‘Round. She just kept getting better and better since the first time I saw her perform, improving a lot in just a few months. I found that to be very admirable. I also got Beige Radio on the bill, and myself.
In just a couple of months, we went from the usual monthly Tasty Beige show to producing 2 more shows in October, moving up to 6 Jes y Wes shows that will be taking place this December.
This November 23rd, I celebrated my first anniversary of performing shows since my return to music, also celebrating a full year of being accompanied on the saxophone by Lindy Edwards from Salty Eddies, who’s been performing with me at every show I’ve played since my “Grand Return.”
Apart from booking as part of Jes y Wes, I’d like to start booking on my own this 2026, and also help starting musicians out with booking for them.
I’m really looking forward to this December, to finish the year with a bang, and become even more involved in the music scene than the last couple of years since my return.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Sorry for just laying it on you like that, but let me tell you. I am a very neurodivergent individual. Diagnosed Autism and ADHD (AuDHD) are the most prevalent, but I also have dyslexia, dyscalculia, mild Tourette, and, let’s not forget, major depressive disorder, social anxiety, and agoraphobia. They tend to make my day‑to‑day life harder than it should be, but I’ve learned to work through it, otherwise I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing right now.
I’m still very bad at socializing, and I can’t even hold eye contact with family and friends (not even pets)—kind of a joke, but kind of true too.
I’m very thankful for instant messaging. It’s very helpful for expressing things I’m not able to say in person, although, as a personal challenge, I’m trying my best to be offline as much as possible nowadays.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’ve been told that my songs have very sad lyrics but a really upbeat, fun rhythm, and it’s kinda funny when people start dancing to the most depressive stuff I’ve ever written.
Also, I like to encourage and help local musicians in any way I can. I’d like to work as a booking agent for musicians. I’m trying my best to find opportunities for a few that I find most inspiring, and I see a lot of potential in the future of their music careers. I’m not getting paid, nor do I expect to. I’m very appreciative of the experience I’ve gained from helping them. Maybe in my 40s, when I become more legit, I can make this a real business.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
I’m a hopeless panromantic autigender.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jesquesan
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@jesquesan
- Soundcloud: https://www.soundcloud.com/jesquesan
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@jesquesan
Image Credits
Lensman Michael TM
Beige Radio
