We had the good fortune of connecting with Philip Al-Hajj and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Philip, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
We always have been, and probably forever will be, musicians first. More importantly, independent musicians which always meant, recording our own music, releasing our own albums and planning our own shows and tours. After touring and living in our tour bus with our first band (Clepto) for a year and a half back in 2012, we decided to take on a space in mid City Los Angeles and turn it into a recording studio (originally, just to record our next album release). It turns out that having your own studio has too many advantages and ever since then, we have been on the quest to having a self sustaining studio where we can practice, record and keep alive while we tour. This gave birth to our latest business Orange County Sound Studios for our current band The Hajj.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Our band is called The Hajj and our studio is Orange County Sound Studios. The band, we are two brothers; a two-piece psychedelic punk rock band with an eastern twist. We are proud to have independently toured throughout North America and Europe and with each show we play we gain more fans and friends! Our studio, OC Sound Studios, is a 2000 square foot  warehouse where we have 16  rooms, some are for Recording and  others are monthly and hourly studio rooms. Both ventures keep us way busy between planning where to tour next, booking bands to rehearse and constantly moving tons of  gear aroundn the emails and calls are endless!

It wasn’t easy to get to the point we are in right now though. We originally, form 2000, were in a 4 piece band and we’ve been through hell and back with those guys. Unfortunately our paths kinda veered to different directions and now there were two. We didn’t let this stop us to get to our dream of having an internationally recognized band along with a recording studio here in California to keep us going. We have learned that nobody’s opinion and help matters more than your own. You have to have your own drive and determination to get through what it is you need to get through. Of course, accept all help that is offered to you but the hard work will have to be done by yourself. Everyone has their own inner demons they have to fight so don’t hold grudges and cut out the bad seeds out of your life. Know that you will not always succeed, and even if you lose everything, you can get yourself back to where you were and even better! Surround yourself with people that want to see you succeed!

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Living in Southern California, there are hundreds of bucket list places/activities that people would want to visit. If our best friend was visiting though, we would do a few different types of things. We would eat at a couple staple Mexican spots here in Anaheim and East Los Angeles, we would hit up Little Arabia here in a Anaheim for some authentic Arabic food. We would most definitely go hit up a couple of our favorite beaches including Laguna Beach, Palos Verdes Beach and Venice Beach, most likely hit up a drum circle if its the right time of the month too! Mariachi plaza in Los Angeles is another super cultural and cool area to go check out and get some authentic goat Birria tacos or maybe a Mariscos Fish and shrimp cevice. As you can see we love food and the beach!
We could easily find an epic show going around the area too, maybe check out the legendary Rainbow bar and Grill, The Whiskey Agogo and The legendary Troubadour while we’re at it. If its also the right time of week/month we would go check out one of the epic outdoor swap meets like the one in Santa Fe Springs and then go check out the Art Walk in LA. If we’re feeling it we could even hit up a late night LA style dance party/rave, although those go pretty late and we’re not really into those kinds of substances, the music is great though!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Our Shoutout has to undeniably go towards our family, our parents who raised us without any expectations or limitations, always allowing us to do what we wanted especially with music and our self expression. From our first exposure to music within our family and cultural backgrounds back in island of Cyprus, to our first ever instruments both of our parents have been uber-supportive to what we did, as long as we kept our Selves and mission intact with love and kindheartedness in the forefront of it all!

Website: www.thehajjmusic.com / www.ocsoundstudios.com

Instagram: @TheHajjMusic / @ocsoundstudios

Facebook: PhilipAlHajj / Freddie.alhajj / thehajjmusic / ocsoundstudios

Image Credits
Salvatore J Baxter (SalsPhotos.net)

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