Today we’d like to introduce you to Tyler Marino.
Hi Tyler, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I was raised in a very creative and musical household. My mother is an artist and my father was a musician. I looked up to both my parents and their many talents. After watching my father play drums for years, I began to show interest in the instrument. When I was 5 years old, my father began teaching me how to play drums. I quickly fell in love and it became my at home activity I’d race home from school to do.
When I was in the 5th Grade, I started my first cover band ( The Pacific Blues ) with some friends in my class, including childhood friend Davy Hitzeman ( Bass Guitar ). We put on our first performance at the D.A.R.E Assembly and even performed an original song we wrote, “Just Say No”. From there, we ended up playing a variety of different events including, parties, development openings, rodeos, talent shows, parades, etc.
In middle school, our guitar player parted ways with us, and I quickly became friends with another guitarist at my school who introduced me to pop punk music, and we created a new group. This lineup would hold strong for awhile, as we entered high school.
During high school, we really ramped up and begin playing any shows we could jump on. We went through a few different band names ( including Free Refill ) until we stuck with The Eukaryotics. It was a name I came up with while sitting in Biology class. Being from the small town, Alpine, I worked at the local community center. I set up events and weddings, which eventually lead to the idea of live music at the facility. We started throwing our own shows at the Alpine community center, inviting bands from all over ( some touring ), and quickly developed a nice little music scene in our home town.
Later in high school, we went through a line up change that included parting ways with my long time friend on bass ( Davy ). To date, this was one of the most difficult things we had to do. He was very athletic and on the high school football team, which eventually clashed with our practices and performances. We made the call to loosen his load a little, as we didn’t want him to burn himself out. Still, parting ways with a musician you’ve worked with for years is very difficult and emotional. Luckily, our friendship continued as the lineup changed.
With new additions to our lineup, we were now a 5 piece metal band. We called ourselves “Trigger My Nightmare”. We begin climbing the local scene ladder, playing with acts such as, Stick To Your Guns, Himsa, The Agony Scene, First Blood, Stretch Arm Strong, and Sick Of It All, to name a few. Things were looking up as we were invited on a small mini tour with local band , “The Dog And Pony Show”. Still, all good things must come to an end for some.
After high school, the group parted ways, and two members joined another band that ended up doing music for a living. I was both happy for my old brothers but also a tad jealous. I mean, who wouldn’t be? I decided to go to college for media, graphics and web, since that was my second passion behind music. After all, I was was responsible for our bands graphics, flyers and website. I even took media and web classes in high school, so I decided to further my education in that field.
During college, I began designing skateboards for local board shop Hanger 94. I even won a T-Shirt contest from a vendor at the shop and had my design printed worldwide.
Shortly after college, I began working at Legend 3D, converting Hollywood films from 2D to Stereoscopic 3D. I was lucky enough to help convert some pretty cool films including, The Shrek Trilogy, Transformers: Dark Of The Moon, Top Gun, Hugo, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Man Of Steel, Maleficent, The Little Mermaid and Jupiter Ascending to name a few. I met some great people at that company and developed lasting friendships. I also began dabbling in Film Composing for short films and local film festivals with coworkers/friends. This was definitely one of the busiest, funnest, yet chaotic times of my life. Again, all good things must come to an end to for some and the company relocated to Canada. I did not follow and found myself taking on numerous jobs to survive.
Years later, I’m still trying to find where I belong/fit in. It’s been anything but easy, but I refuse to change who I am and/or give up on the things that keep my heart beating. One of my biggest driving forces is my beautiful little family. I’ve been with my fiancé ( Kayla ) for 10 years and we now have two beautiful, funny little kids that mean the world to us. Kayla and I have been through a lot over the last few years and I can’t thank her enough for standing by me.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention, I’m making music again. I connected with a metal vocalist a couple years ago who has quickly become my best friend and creative partner. Not only is he (James Finona) an extremely talented lyricist, vocalist and artist, but also a father of two and real genuine person. We’ve both taught each other a lot over the last couple years and this guy has helped me regain my passion for music. In fact, we have a metal project in the works. The name of our group/project is “Now We Rise”. You can check us out on any music streaming platform. I currently write our instrumentals, sending them his way ( since he’s from Orange County ), he records his vocals, sends them to me, and I throw them in the mix. For now, the way we do things works and fits into our current life schedule. We have two self recorded songs uploaded everywhere, but we’re also working on putting together a self produced EP. To me, finding talented musicians to collaborate with is always fun, but a lasting project needs chemistry. I feel James and I have that. We only just recently started sharing our original work on the internet, but I’m excited to see where this project leads.
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?
The road has been anything but smooth. As a kid, I was the typical target for the playground bully, as I wasn’t you’re cookie cutter elementary kid. At the time, my favorite band was KISS, so I can see where some kids were confused and saw me as a target. I wasn’t into what most other kids were into. I was into horror films, classic rock music and other things most kids my age were clueless too.
As an adult, I’ve dealt with everything from stolen work to untrue rumors. Haters going to hate, but I can’t believe how far some will take it. Another constant battle I deal with is others who don’t understand what makes an artist/musician. Constantly telling me to grow up and give up on music, as if being musician was a choice per say. The way I see it, no one should ever give up anything that makes them feel whole. I wouldn’t tell someone who enjoys taking their dirt bikes to the desert to give up riding, just because they didn’t become a professional Motocross Racer. Or I wouldn’t ask the person who enjoys surfing to stop just because they didn’t become the next Kelly Slater. That would be ignorant and downright selfish of me to interfere with someone else’s natural high. Music and/or art is no different, and the ones who create it, including myself, do so because it’s who we are. Asking someone to stop doing what makes them happy is like asking someone to die young.
The hardest thing I’ve ever had to deal with, by far, was losing my father to COVID this year. He was my role model, favorite musician and teacher of life on so many levels. If I may, I would like to take this time to tell the readers how real COVID is. My father was a brut and his death was definitely unexpected. No one should have to say goodbye to a loved one behind a sliding glass door, hooked up to ventilators and machines. If we all did our part as people and looked after one another, instead of getting political about a pandemic, we could limit the amount of lost lives during this time. Unfortunately, I’ve lost a lot of “friends” during this time who struggle to find any ounce empathy within. I just don’t have room for those kind of people in my life anymore, especially after losing my hero. I vow to make him proud and try the best I can to be half the father he was. He was one of a kind and irreplaceable. I was extremely fortunate to be born his son.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I do a lot of different things, but I’m most passionate about film and music. As a kid, I always made my own home movies to present to my family. We’d have movie night, pop some corn, and watch the latest installment of whatever film my sister and I were making. That being said, I’m really proud of working for Legend 3D. Got my name in the credits of a few major Hollywood films and it was the first time I realized how in reach working on movies was. Again, it was a very chaotic time, mainly cause of the hours, but also a lot of fun to collaborate with like-minded people inside /outside of work.
On a music level, up until recently, I was very proud of my old metal band “Trigger My Nightmare”. We gained a lot of traction for a local band, enough to allow two members to do it for a living. Although I’m still extremely proud of what we all accomplished at such a young age ( for a local band ), I would have to say I’m most proud of the new project I’m involved with. Right now, it’s just myself and my good buddy James Finona. Two dads who refuse to let their love/passion die for metal music. Our goal is to not only inspire those with lost passions, to pick them up again, but to be a voice for those who feel like they have no voice. To be the light for anyone who as ever experienced depression, bullying, racism, sexism, homophobia or any other difference rooted in hate. We’re not giving up, so neither should you.
What was your favorite childhood memory?
Selecting a single childhood memory is difficult for me. Not because I can’t remember any, but because there’s too many. I was lucky enough to be raised in a very unique, loving and entertaining family. Everyone in my family has their own talent unique to them. I often call my family “The Talented Misfits”, because we’ve never fit in to what most of society dubs “normal”. Don’t believe me?
My family started a group of marching clowns on drums named “The Jesters”. You heard that right. Lead by my father and mother, the whole family would take part in parades, dress as clowns, and perform military sounding drum cadences written by my father. I got to march along side them, in full makeup, until I was old enough to carry and play my own drum. Those were hands down, some of the best times of my life. What kid wouldn’t have fun with that? Like I said, my family never fit in to what most of society dubbed as “normal”…but I didn’t care. I am forever grateful for those who raised me and even more so proud to be a Marino. We’re a different breed for sure, but I couldn’t ask for a more kick-ass family.
Contact Info:
- Email: contact@tylermarino.com
- Website: http://www.tylermarino.com
- Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/tyler_marino
- Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tylermarino
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/c/EDIKITPRODUCTIONS
- SoundCloud: http://www.soundcloud.com/tyler-marino
- Other: http://www.nowwerisemusic.com
Image Credits:
Kayla Rudolph
Burk McSwain
