Today we’d like to introduce you to Chris del Camino.
Chris, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
My story as a musician began here in San Diego at Bird Rock Elementary and, like most band nerds, began with the little white plastic recorded called a flutophone most renowned for being one of the most annoying musical instruments perhaps ever made. Luckily, the next year when presented the opportunity, I chose to pursue playing saxophone. Fast forward some years of playing in school band, I’d join an already established ska band of fellow La Jolla Highschool classmates called “The Legends of Brass.” I continued on with bands in college while studying music composition at UCSB. I dabbled in composing videogame soundtracks for the then popular Gameboy & Gameboy Color platforms, along with several PC and mobile platform games as well.
In early 2014 after having returned from traveling Europe for a year with my now wife (where we took to the streets busking playing accordion and darbuka in between couchsurfing and WWOOFing haha), I had begun to seek more musical opportunities playing whatever I knew how to play–keyboards, woodwinds, accordion. After a brief stint with various projects (ranging from funk and party tunes to Cajun Zydeco, Tejano & Norteño Mexican music, even Brazilian forró and Balkan and Middle Eastern projects) I eventually met Trish, the founder and lead singer of San Diego based reggae/tropical pop band, HIRIE.
We were lucky enough to have been taken under the wing of E.N. Young, who was at that time playing keyboards and touring with Tribal Seeds. He produced our first album and we were blessed with the opportunity to go on a coast-to-coast tour for a month opening for Tribal Seeds and Fortunate Youth. From there, the years went on, we’ve released three full-length albums, a handful of singles and I’ve been super grateful to have contributed in the form of songwriting, co-writing, production, and recording woodwinds (and even some keys, vocals and synths) in all of our projects.
We have a solid base of fans and supporters who come out to our shows across the country and cheer us on both live in concert and on social media, so it’s been a super awesome journey to see how we’ve grown as a band, how the scene we’re a part of has grown and what it means to be providing meaning, experiences, and both live and recorded music to people around the country and around the world. The feeling is indescribable to open up to a smiling crowd singing the words to the songs we’ve written.
Aside from my efforts and time spent on tour and in the studio with HIRIE, I also put out my own music under by own name as well as under the moniker ‘beek’ which I’ve used since I was around 15 to put out ‘8-bit’ videogame inspired music (also known as VGM). I love collaborating with others, be it writing and recording horns for records or as a production/songwriting collaborator. I also have a growing library of royalty-free music which I’m constantly adding to, and have been featured in games and ads, including a pretty funny 5-Hour Energy commercial I didn’t even know about until a friend sat up from his bed upon hearing it, to call me and say, “Hey I just heard your music on the TV.”
Another side hustle which has turned into more and more of a thing for me has been as a voiceover artist. Over the last ten years, what started as a trickle of freelance voiceover projects is now a solid part-time endeavor occupying a good chunk of my workweek. From recording 30+ hours of children’s books for a more modernized reading robot (anyone remember Teddy Ruckspin? something akin to that) to voicing YouTube videos for new businesses, services and apps, to consumer content like sneaker reviews and “top 10” lists (for example, top 10 times guests were embarrassed on the Ellen show or top 10 ways to preserve your sanity during the Coronavirus pandemic)… I never really thought I had “that” voice when I started, just out of college, but now that my voice has been employed in so many contexts and ways, I truly think that anybody can have a voice and that it just needs development and a chance to activate and shine.
So you could say I’m pretty much employing a “spinning plate” business model, necessary these days for musicians and freelancers, where flexibility is key and the ability to pivot, adapt and grow can be super vital.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Things aren’t always smooth. And when they seem smooth, there’s usually bumps along the way. When I moved back to San Diego after being done with UCSB and my travels, I fell pretty flat with not much going on. Maybe it was a result of having your typical rent-paying “boring” job out of college and not wanting to return to that, but not having the tools or mindset that a modern musician and freelancer needs to have. Luckily for me, my partner and wife (aka “my manager” as she’s informally been for years) has pushed me to put myself out there, make connections, take risks and meet people. She’s the reason I met Trish, spurring me to collaborate, resulting in the formation of our band, HIRIE.
As a musician, there is always a struggle of where to put your energies… There are so many things to always be developing, just like an athlete always keeping up the pace to be the best. As a songwriter, a saxophonist, a voiceover artist, a producer, with multiple projects happening at once, it’s easy to feel scattered. So lately, prioritizing where my energy and time go has been super key. Now, as a parent with a toddler to teach and entertain, learning to be even more laser-focused and motivated has been my most pressing struggle. (If anyone has any pro-tips, please. I’m game, ha!)… Needless to say, parenting has been a blessing beyond belief and I welcome the challenges it poses to me as a human and as a professional.
We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
What I offer to anyone I meet–be it as a saxophonist just jumping into a jam at an open mic or as a paid session musician on a record, to a voiceover artist or a musical collaborator–is my unique perspective combined with years of dedication and struggle to my art. I was self-taught for the first ten years as a saxophonist and composer. But I’ve also taken lessons from some great and wonderful minds, also. I understand and respect all the myriad ways others as individuals can see and approach their endeavors, be it their business or music endeavors. I honor and acknowledge that it is our unique paths and choices that make us who we are and reflects in the things we say, do and create. I think that embracing my own uniqueness while staying humble and open-minded allows me to draw the uniqueness out in those with whom I collaborate in order to create something amazing, and it’s those exciting moments of creation that I seek the most.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
With this pandemic being the number one thing affecting us all as a mass human experience, my plans for the future are basically, learning to let go of what I had been expecting and projecting for 2020 and trying to embrace the now. I, along with just about every other performer (along with millions of others in general, not even performers) have all put our jobs and lives on pause. Concerts, tours, festivals, even collaborating in person with my band are all currently indefinitely on hold as humanity joins to tackle this huge threat to our health and safety.
Needless to say though, I am confident that life will resume to some sort of normality after we squash this deadly bug and am looking forward to once again connecting with fans on stage and with my band, as well as shaping our experiences and stories into new music. (Did I mention how much I love the creation process from backyard jams to finishing touches in the studio?!)
In these current moments, I’m just trying to be there for my family and be uplifting and positive on my social media as best I can (and currently do that in the form of a super zany cooking micro-show composed of snapshots of my cooking process on my Instagram story). I’m trying to figure out a way to maintain my saxophone chops without driving my downstairs neighbors into mental perdition. Our band is pivoting our creative approach to accommodate not being able to be in the same room with each other. I see so many creatives and musicians online finding new ways to connect and shine so I’m excited to see the positive outcomes this whole pandemic will have on a culture; I’m really hoping we learn to really connect with one another both online and in real life once stuff goes “back to normal”, or, as normal as we can make it after all this.
Pricing:
- Teaching saxophone, music theory, songwriting & production via Skype/Zoom right now for $50 a lesson
Contact Info:
- Website: chrisdelcamino.com
- Phone: (858) 230-8066
- Email: chrisdelcamino@gmail.com
- Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/chrisdelcamino
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chrisdelcamino/
Image Credit:
Sepia color photo (c) 2019 Chris del Camino; Colorful photo wearing “peace” hat copyright (c) 2019 Scott E. Johnson onstage holding microphone in yellow shirt copyright (c) 2018 Natalie Colunga; Holding sax surrounded by crowd copyright (c) 2020 Chance Rajkowski
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