I am the director of Camerata Los Angeles! I pretty much run the ship on my own; I organize events and collaborative projects and am currently experimenting with ways to integrate community involvement in the process of my work without disrupting the creative flow. (On this note, I’d like to shout out Flux Psyche, Hailey Roper and Ravenous Dreams Entertainment for helping me set up some of our past events!)
Camerata started after I hosted a concert in my backyard a few years ago; a lot of people really dug the vibe and suggested I try to do it more often, so I began organizing into it a collective. Since September 19, we’ve had a bunch of concerts, art galleries, a film show, and released some mixtapes and sample packs! It’s been a hell of a ride. I want Camerata to be a tool for myself and other artists to find and create new spaces and audiences for their art; whether it’s through music, illustration, clothing, film, or anything in between. I essentially want it to be something through which I, and other folks, can manifest our creative ideas into reality.
[If you would like to work with Camerata, ask questions or check out some of their upcoming events, see their Instagram at @cameratalosangeles]
I spent most of my life growing up in a small neighborhood in southeast Whittier. I grew up with an encouraging family who have always supported my artistic goals; I’m entirely grateful for them. I moved around a bit when I was younger, from West Covina to Whittier, and then to my grandparents’ home a couple of times all in the span of five years before settling down in Whittier for good.
In my first year and a half of college I had massive anxiety- I was recovering from schizophrenia, for one, which made things pretty rough. At that point in my life I was paying more attention to the news of the world and became pessimistic; this was all around the time with everything going on with North Korea and China, climate change, and Trump being elected during my second year [of college] so that was definitely wild. I specifically remember a number of days that would feel similar- like I was living through the same level of a videogame I hadn’t yet progressed past. I would drive my beat-up Sedan to a train station, ride the Metro to the Union Station, take the bus to Cal State LA, all while listening to Peter Gabriel or Christian Scott. I’d then most often ride back, and not really feel much but emptiness and dread.
I’m happy to say that things are much better now, though; it’s quite a blur looking back, but I remember dropping out of college for a bit and trying to actually rest myself- which is tougher than it sounds. I ended up finding ways to organize the different worries I had, and in some cases still have, and discover new ways to become hopeful about the things I can actively work towards changing. Witnessing so many people organize for issues regarding abortion, environmental justice and equity, from when I really started noticing these movements to 2016, all the way up to George Floyd influencing the Black Lives Matter movement and COVID strikes in 2020 has been incredibly inspiring. Viewing these ongoing confrontations between the working class and the owning class as an interconnected struggle in which more and more people are waking up from the neoliberal illusion has really helped me get a grip of where I want to be in the future and how I wanna get there.
I [officially] get by as a music teacher, while very occasionally getting paid for playing shows or recording tracks for local artists. I’m the drummer of a few bands; the leftist punk band Big Hat Logan, the progressive posthardcore band Ravenous Wolves, and the 90s-alternative-rock-inspired group Dead Spaghetti. I am also actually slated to get my A.A. in Film Studies this coming semester! After that I may attempt to complete my B.A. in Film, or maybe music.
I got into drumming when I was 10 years old; I saw a drum kit in my cousin’s room on Christmas Eve and discovered it was the most fun I had ever had. Since then, I’ve played hundreds of shows with different bands, and recorded songs for multiple local artists as a session artist. It’s been a blast so far!
Of course, current socioeconomic conditions make it pretty tough for anyone wanting to pursue the arts as a career in a financially sustainable manner but, at this point, if I have any advice to give about that I’d say: Don’t give a fuck! Really, don’t! So many folks in our generation are discovering that “careers” and “making a living” are becoming more illusory concepts as capitalism slowly grinds itself out and becomes less sustainable to maintain on a global level. So if you enjoy making music or creating in any sort of way, just do it. Don’t focus on making it a career or “making it big.” Those things will only get in the way of you truly enjoying art for the art’s sake. If you love what you do and continue finding new ways to do it, you will find a community of people who love you for what you create and will help you out through thick and thin- and in the end, that is far more important than “making it” the way we are taught to.
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