Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Alberto Flores. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alberto , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

When the pandemic initially took over the world and shut down live events, our band had just put out a 4-track EP. It immediately eliminated any chance to play live in Phoenix. During this time, we kept writing, composing, just learning our craft in general. Eventually, when vaccines were being rolled out, we had written a larger piece that we wanted to record with a large band. It was super risky at the time, we needed to find a person for everything. From drummer to bassist to violinist and pianist, we asked anybody who knew how to play an instrument to help us play our songs.

Venues were still not exactly open for bands yet, but we wanted to play this live in a some capacity. We eventually came to the idea of recording our album as a live concert. We landed on the Herberger Theater Center as our stage. Along with a band, we needed to find audio engineers, a photographer, a videographer. While a lot of the collaborators used this opportunity to work on their respective mediums, we still needed money to pay for everything. Money was the last thing we had on our hands.

Kickstarter became our way of funding this project. We needed a couple grand, a lot to us then, and we actually met our funding goal! It was pretty wild how we were putting everything together, almost haphazardly. Months of rehearsals, planning and songwriting resulted in our 8-track live album, ‘Candy Blossom – Live at the Herberger’.

The live concert was by no means perfect. In the end, we were happy with what we were able to create. It allowed us to get our feet in the doors of venues who had never heard of us. The time, effort and result of our album proved to venues in Phoenix that we are worth granting their stages. The album resulted in the most streams we’ve ever had across all streaming platforms. It resulted in some press among online blogs and gave our audience the chance to watch the concert online as well.

It was an arduous process, lots of arguments, stresses and frustrations throughout. Ultimately, the work was really a coincidental line up of everything we needed to put out that record.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I became a musician, like many others, because of the music I grew up listening to. Lyricists like Bob Dylan and David Bowie were so impactful to my desires and subsequent musical style.

Candy Blossom is definitely a project I am proud of. It was an eye-opening and essential teaching experience. As I move forward in my career, I hope to bring that same energy and collaboration in creating music.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

I think the our current era of late-state Capitalism is the largest threat to any creative ecosystem. While there has always been the requirement of funds and costs to produce any creative work, the disparities experienced now as opposed to 20 or 30 years ago are far greater. Those without means are left out of spotlight to create. Our state of culture, currently, is made up of those who have a limited experience and narrow world view. We are missing out on the creative works of those from a diversity of backgrounds and that is a result of our current Capitalistic state.

Society needs to remind itself of the importance that the Arts bring. Society, otherwise, will backtrack and lose the innovation and inspiration that has fueled every other industry.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

Along with my own creative success, I hope to create an outlet for artists that are struggling to get heard. It’s a shame, the gatekeeping and obstacles placed on musicians that prevent audiences from discovering them. Majority of musicians, to the core, just want to create art. Majority do not care about the bureaucracy that revolves around studios, labels or venues. We just want to make music and make it a full-time job.

My goal is to create that avenue that’ll circumvent the ridiculousness of studio heads, A & Rs, and funding a record. Art is subjective and there’s so much great and real art that is being pushed aside by a select few.

Contact Info:

• Youtube: https://youtu.be/h0BcxPOPS0A
• Other: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1ut8xEAoO7tpYOBouQ5s3c?si=Z-uwlbdyRyyRvNgmFqpPTQ4 TikTok: @bercortm

Image Credits
Ali G.Y.A.W.