Meet Chris del Camino | Touring Musician & Songwriter/Producer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Chris del Camino and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Chris, is there something you can share with us that those outside of the industry might not be aware of?
You’re not just a musician, you’re an entrepreneur at the helm of a one person brand and business. Certain industries and careers associated are more depicted in pop culture than others–musician being a great example. From TV shows to movies, magazines and books, we receive depictions and from them, form ideas and whole fantasies sometimes, about what it means and how it feels to be a musician: being on a stage with lots of people, touring the world, making a ton of money, living an awesome life as a rockstar musician, or DJ, etc. Some of that might ring true for the top 1% of 1% of musicians in the world, but all the rest of us are out here working many different hustles and putting on many different hats to function in many different capacities. What it actually looks and feels like to be a successful career musician is not really depicted accurately, so many give up when their dreams don’t come true. So at different times, we have to outgrow these TV & movie-based expectations and get real with what it takes to be a real player in the industry: learn the business, grow a network, learn to seek and grow from feedback, endlessly seeking to improve on all fronts, willing to do non-music related activities like marketing, press writing, project management, invoicing, taxes, social media, content creation, online ad management, the list goes on. It seems daunting when you jot it all down and realize what’s up, but there are so many resources available online and within one’s network when you start looking.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Over the years I’ve created tons both collaboratively and on my own, and I love both processes. I’ve been composing on the computer since my teenage years, as well as a part of a band or ensemble in one form or another for just as long; middle & high school band ensembles, a ska punk turned trad ska band, a Rod Stewart cover band named “One Nation Under Rod”, the UCSB Middle East Ensemble, and most recently, HIRIE, to give some examples. Ultimately I feel like collaboration both in live projects and in writing songs and creating records is the ultimate experience and I’m grateful for what that brings, while all my work on my own as a player, composer, songwriter and producer is what has helped open up collaborative opportunities and fuel the process.

I think what sets me apart from others is my unique set of influences the kinds of freedoms I felt I had when developing as a young musician. I am a bi-ethnic American with a Mexican mother and Anglo-American father. I’m white passing in appearance, though have always felt more connected to my Mexican side, probably because I grew up raised by my single mom and spent my earliest years in a household also living with my Mexican grandma and uncle. Although I’m over it now, growing up I felt a bit disconnected from either the Anglo or Mexican side of me, or rather, not totally accepted by my Mexican side and not as interested in connecting or feeling a part of the Anglo side of me. Nowadays, I’m just me, and feeling or being seen as part of one or the other side of my heritage isn’t important. But when you’re a teen it’s a different story, hah, and I think those feelings let me explore cultures and art more creatively and uniquely than if I had been less, uh, complicated.

Other of my influences stem from my computer geekdom as part of the PC Demoscene of the mid 1990’s, writing 8-bit “chiptune” tracks with a MS-DOS based composition app called a “tracker”–super rudimentary use of samples and simpler-than-MIDI control of the notes and melodies. That’s how I cut my teeth as a composer, and led to my first credits as a composer for budget PC games and later on, some pretty cool Nintendo GameBoy titles like Toki Tori and Mia Hamm Soccer. While in college at UCSB, I was a member of several different kinds of ensembles but the most impactful is definitely the UCSB Middle East Ensemble, where we learned and played tunes from all over the Near/Middle East as well as former Ottoman regions, so anything from Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, down to Morocco and over to Egypt, Jordan, Palestine, Saudi Arabia and up to Iran and Afghanistan. I actually played accordion with this group for several years and it took us all the way to Egypt where we got to take stage at the Cairo Opera House! Lastly, Jamaican music and the genres it has influenced have all had a huge impact on me, from the music of ska, rocksteady, dub, reggae, dancehall, to things like dubstep and reggaeton, and from playing in a ska band in my teens, to a reggae/jam band in my 20’s and helping start the reggae/pop act HIRIE more recently.

Who I am today is because of all the particular corners of music (and there are millions) I have chosen to explore and with the unique lens I’ve had to explore it. On a professional level, I’ve been able to leverage my diverse experiences and influences thanks to the dedication and inspiration I’ve drawn over the years from the various musics I’ve studied, instruments I’ve played and bands I’ve been a part of. I think every individual as a creator hits forks in the road, shifts gears or areas of focus, and that’s inevitable. But I’ve noticed some think of every shift as a setback or a slowdown, whereas I’ve always tried to move forward and continue to grow through new challenges while keeping hold of my past influences and experiences. Expressing this is part of how I come across as an artist and songwriter, in the sound I create in the records I put out.

Putting all that uniqueness aside is something that has to be learned and it’s kind of necessary when you’re tasked with creating something for a particular vision, purpose or goal. I.e., working for hire. So that’s definitely been a challenge in some instances. I was lucky as an early creator in the soundtracks I was paid to do barely out of my teens, because I just kind of wrote what felt good without thinking too hard about it and, probably largely because on the GameBoy chip everything sounds like bleeps and bloops, I didn’t have a ton of revisionary requests come and break my naive spirit! But it’s inevitable as a collaborator to have to learn when to put aside your wild-and-wacky box of freaky-deeky uniqueness, and help craft within the parameters of someone else’s vision, calling on your unique set of tools if and when they are needed, as it were.

Art gave me freedom from the disconnection I felt as a kid. As an adult, it helps me create connection and explore what it means to be me–be that via the lense of a bi-cultural person or an American, or perhaps as a Mexican-American or as a Californian who grew up in the 90’s, just to name a few lenses I could choose to see from.. Seeing the power of creative expression–how it helped connect me to other people, to audiences, to cultures of the world–that is what my brand is about. I think the world of music is shifting to allow for greater and greater uniqueness, with new sub-genres and fusions popping up all the time. Hell, some artists are even basically their own genres these days. I think it’s super dope. So as a brand I want to promote that same vibe of ultimate exploration of ones unique self and expressing that through their creativity and collaboration.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
It’s hard to say where I’d start or what order, but I know I’d show them the beaches probably first. Let’s say OB. Grab a drink, hit the farmers market or a funky thrift store. Last time I scored some cool silver pieces at an antique place down there. Maybe hang around if there’s something cool going down at Winston’s. Cruise up to Mission Beach and scope the vibe at the boardwalk over by Belmont Park. I mean we’re showing someone from out of town right? Lols. Onward up the coast to PB for a quick bite or hit up that dope ice cream sandwich spot on Mission. The next morning it might be cool to start at the La Jolla Cove, scope the seals, have a bite downtown LJ there. I miss Porkylands there but Puesto was good when I ate there last. On the way out to the 5 hit up Mt. Soledad and show them the views of San Diego from there, then cruise down to explore the North Park/Hillcrest area. In the 2010’s I lived in North Park, Normal Heights, University Heights, all these spots kinda around Balboa Park. There are too many spots I’d want to eat at to list! Off the top I’m thinking Pop Pie and Dao Fu. Def would scope Balboa Park and walk through the various parts before heading down to Barrio Logan. Highly consider a stop at Cuatro Milpas also, and then the art at Chicano Park def must see. From there, the Gaslamp would be fun for a quick stop and maybe a bite in the East Village area. There’d have to be a whole list of Mexican eateries to stop at though too, because there’s always “the” spot for fish tacos, for tacos al pastor, or my latest discovery is the bomb torta especial at Los Panchos on Friars. Anyway, there are some ideas off the top!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’d like to shout out Cliff Keller and the San Diego Songwriters meetup group. I was more active in the group in the mid-2010’s around the time HIRIE was starting up. It was a super friendly group of San Diego based songwriters and musicians who would meet throughout the year to share their songs and give and receive feedback, oftentimes with special guests coming to offer their advice and critique. There was also a super cool period of songwriter showcases held at Rebecca’s in South Park before it closed down. I always think it’s great to be a part of a larger artist community wherever you live, and this group in San Diego served as a great place to find that community while also advancing the artistry and craft of writing songs. Bigups to Cliff & Karin Keller & the SD songwriter community!

Website: https://chrisdelcamino.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chrisdelcamino

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-del-camino-33223310

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chrisdelcamino

Image Credits
Laurel del Camino, Jamey Jetton, Joser Cavada, Liz Villagomez, Mario Supnet