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Speaker 0 00:00:00 On the third floor of Willard, a group of students formed a band.
Speaker 3 00:00:16 Our name is blue boy. Yeah, it came about because it, we were influenced by this I Mac to Marcos song, blue boy,
Speaker 0 00:00:32 The band is made up of Lucas, Okie a guitarist and vocalist Stevan Ortiz. Villacorta also a guitarist and vocalist, Austin Alrich, a bass, a Daniel Zimerman a drummer today for w on your news arts and entertainment segment, we will be hearing about the story of musicians. Esteban, Daniel Lucas, and Austin. Esteban started playing music at seven years old.
Speaker 3 00:00:59 My dad taught me guitar. It was just lessons with him play about once a week. And then that led to me getting group sessions with my friend. So we played together and we took lessons with my dad up until I was about 12.
Speaker 0 00:01:10 Then after a brief stint with coral music, Esteban wanted to try out the rock and roll scene by middle school.
Speaker 3 00:01:16 I've always loved rock and roll and indie rock, alternative rock. And I was like, I wanna do that because I think as a kid, especially as a theater kid, there is a sense of it's so cool to have the attention on me. There's also this fantastical nature of what a rock star is
Speaker 0 00:01:31 In middle school. Esteban started forging friendships with other musicians. Soon after they created a band by eighth grade,
Speaker 3 00:01:37 We jammed together and it was really fun. We sounded terrible. The first thing we ever played was bring Stu. It was really bad pot. Uh, the vibe was amazing. We loved just being able to play with each other. And I thought there was like this amazing a community that came with it. Cause we decided to keep playing
Speaker 0 00:01:51 The band persisted
Speaker 3 00:01:53 Together. We form not alone. And we play for five years. Playing life shows, writing music, playing covers. We ended up recording an album, which was like the peak of, of my music career so far, I think. And it's been released for a while it to call instead of sleeping,
Speaker 4 00:02:08 Keep it together. Don, shut your eyes. I'll sit you until you are fine.
Speaker 0 00:02:24 That's mom's motivation for being in a band. Also evolved as he grew up.
Speaker 3 00:02:29 But as I grew up, it became more of just, I really enjoy telling story through songs, but not just that. I, I find it very therapeutic. I find most of the time that the, the best songs that I write or the most fulfills songs that I write are ones that I sit down and I write in one take, just because it's, it's purely what I'm feeling in that moment. But when you're 12, 13, it definitely is more like image based for me.
Speaker 0 00:02:57 By the time Esteban came to Northwestern, he really focused on developing his musical theater skills, but he missed being in a band. Luckily Esteban's roommate Lucas, a theater and computer science student also wanted to start performing again.
Speaker 5 00:03:11 I kind of have been singing like forever. I didn't really start taking it seriously until I started taking guitar lessons. I think maybe for the same reason as salon, I thought it was cool. <laugh> you know, I thought, I thought, I thought I'd be cool if I play guitar <laugh> um, my brother shows the drums and I started doing musical theater to
Speaker 0 00:03:29 Lucas. Also had a band in high school called night loops. He met his bandmates at a summer arts camp in Seattle.
Speaker 5 00:03:44 And I honestly think that it was just such a wonderful experience for me bonding with, with these three friends of mine over music. And I think that I'm not a musician for any philosophical reason. That's not really the word I'm looking for, but I honestly genuinely am a musician just because it's fun.
Speaker 0 00:04:05 Esteban and Lucas knew each other from their mutual childhoods in Seattle. They even performed in two theater productions together.
Speaker 5 00:04:11 We were friends because we'd been in a production together. We had two productions together.
Speaker 3 00:04:15 We spent like a whole seven months seeing each other almost every single day. Yeah,
Speaker 5 00:04:18 We did west side story, uh, after the avenue theater. And then
Speaker 3 00:04:22 We did the miraculous journey that were Toula at Seattle children's theater.
Speaker 5 00:04:25 I was like living for Roy, but then I was also like, well, one gets in, obviously I'm gonna be his roommate. And he calls me and,
Speaker 0 00:04:31 And they're living together again next year in the same woo room 3, 4, 5, Then Lucas. And Ason teamed up with Daniel
Speaker 3 00:04:45 With Daniel Zimer since June, July.
Speaker 5 00:04:48 I know Daniel.
Speaker 3 00:04:49 I knew Daniel before Lucas just through social media. Yeah. And I loved his music that he made with his partner. Um, his songwriting partner, Andrew Wolf back home. I thought it was really, really good. And I remember texting Luke cuz like ho to listen to this guy's music. Yeah. He's an amazing drummer. He studies jazz drumming and like he's
Speaker 5 00:05:07 So insanely good.
Speaker 3 00:05:07 He's insanely talent and skilled and writes really good rock music or indie music.
Speaker 5 00:05:12 Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:05:12 We should start with,
Speaker 0 00:05:26 And then Austin,
Speaker 3 00:05:27 He's also a really quick,
Speaker 5 00:05:29 Yeah. He
Speaker 3 00:05:29 Also player really fast and will often even like work with us to like help us figure out where we're playing and we'll play true. Our keys are
Speaker 5 00:05:37 At the time I'm like Austin, what of the chords? I have no idea what I'm doing. <laugh>
Speaker 0 00:05:42 And in just two weeks, warming blue boy secured their first gig for w Nur music, the other branch of this radio station at the show, they perform their first and only original song to date. The song they wrote is called doorway.
Speaker 3 00:06:12 I mean, I've had the cords in my pocket for a while.
Speaker 5 00:06:14 Yeah. You had the cords, you already had the, and
Speaker 3 00:06:15 So I just pulled them out. I started playing and it was, and this is why I love playing collaboratively as musicians.
Speaker 5 00:06:20 Yeah, I did. It was not your original vision at all.
Speaker 3 00:06:22 What
Speaker 5 00:06:23 The, what we ended up with?
Speaker 3 00:06:24 No, what we ended up with was not the original vision at all, but it was more so like more so what I'm getting at is like I started playing and then kinda like the whole room went like I quick second. And then I just started playing.
Speaker 5 00:06:37 Yeah. They
Speaker 3 00:06:38 Only started hit drop. Yeah. And then movie started picking it up too. And we just jammed out and I started humming a melody. And then after like five minutes of like, not knowing where to go there, we like and said, do we like this? Okay, cool. What can we,
Speaker 5 00:06:51 Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:06:57 Song is about feeling trapped, but it is not necessarily stem from personal experience.
Speaker 5 00:07:01 Pretty like improvised. Like I honestly think that, like we just started with words and then like assembled them into a meaning. I also think that songs don't always have to 100% be from personal experience. Mm-hmm <affirmative> I think that like everyone has felt trapped before in some way. And I think like taking just some universal human concept and taking creative license with that and going somewhere new with it is like how good songs are made.
Speaker 0 00:07:30 What's next more music and more gigs
Speaker 5 00:07:34 Have fun. Write songs, have
Speaker 3 00:07:35 Fun writes songs. I think my, my, my big goal is I hope you write more songs. Yeah. Like I hope by the time that we at least end the spring quarter, we have like at least four to five songs kind of under our belt that like we're proud about we're better polished.
Speaker 5 00:07:47 Yeah. I also think like finding our sound is like something that will eventually inevitably obviously happen
Speaker 0 00:08:00 Recording for w on your news. I'm Markal.
