I sat down with the electronic music composer and talked about the link between music and science, ditching prom to go to Coachella and the road to a self-produced album.
Q: How did you get into music?
A: Music has been a part of my whole life. My mom is always playing music, so it’s always been around me. But what really changed my life, I guess, when I fell in love with electronic music, is I went to Coachella music festival instead of going to my junior prom. It changed my life. I really didn’t know that that whole live-music world existed, and from there I just fell in love with it. I didn’t go to my senior prom, either – I went back to Coachella, and I’ve gone every year since.
Q: Is (music) what you’re going to do? I saw in your bio that you have a degree in molecular biology?
A: I got a degree at Fort Lewis in cellular and molecular biology, but music is my passion. I don’t regret at all getting that degree; everything was such a learning experience and brought me to where I am now.
Q: It seems like science would play a really big role in – especially doing electronic music – do you feel that your scientific training …
A: There’s definitely deep thinking that goes into both. A lot of what science and what I’ve studied these days is about like looking at cells and trying to figure out new medical and research-type things, so it’s cool with music, too. There’s anything you can do and so many possibilities, so there’s definitely a lot of deep thinking that goes into it
Q: Tell me about your music.
A: My music is high-energy, aggressive electronic music. It’s all house-based, so there’s a beat on every quarter note. I love house music; that’s where it all stems, I love the driving beat. So, everything’s kind of based off that. Really, the goal of what I’m creating and trying to do is I want people when they come to my show to almost feel like they’re in an action movie. I want it to be an intense experience that you can’t really get anywhere else.
Q: You released your debut album “Brain Spiders” last summer.
A: I’ve been working on “Brain Spiders” for … it was about three years in the making. I kind of started meloD in 2013. I found music as my way to put my feelings toward something. What “Brain Spiders” is – I’m so afraid of spiders; it’s like my only weakness. I made up my own metaphor because everyone has these thoughts in their head they wish they could just stop thinking about that are crippling to life. … That was the whole concept behind everything, and the whole album was a learning process.
Q: Is it self-produced?
A: Oh yeah. Every single sound, every single note on the album, I made. I organized, composed, the vocals are all me. I composed it, mixed it, mastered it. I got all the art … I did it all by myself.
Q: Was it fun?
A: It was super-fun. It’s what I love. I think about music all the time. … It’s what I like to talk to my friends about. I just knew that no matter what, if I did something with music, I’d be happy; it’s just what I love.
Q: Was it a pretty easy process once you got down to it?
A: There were a lot of things that were difficult. What was actually really cool about the process was, going along, I kept running into things I never even dreamed I’d have to know. I was like, ‘I just want to make music.’ But then when it actually came to releasing the album, there was a lot of stuff, as far as artwork – I had to learn how to do my own artwork, and promotion, formatting stuff … there was just a lot.
Q: So what’s next for you?
A: I would love to continue playing shows. I’m also always working on music. I don’t know exactly how it’s going to come out in the future, but I’m really excited about it. … One more thing: I’d like to just say, kind of give a shout-out to the community because there’ve been a lot of people in the community that have stepped out and helped me along the way. … It’s really been this town, honestly, this community that has given me so many opportunities to be where I’m at now.