We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Anthony Castillo. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Anthony below.

Anthony, appreciate you joining us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

I started my musician journey back when i was growing up in my old trailer with my whole family. Music has always been something i loved and something that seemed so free and creative. My dad would listen to a lot of 80s music and my mom would listen to mostly all the hits in latin america radio. My music taste growing up was everywhere and as years went on i grabbed everything that i was hearing and incorporated it to my playlists. It wasnt until i was in middle school where i picked up the guitar and started playing all the songs that i loved. But what stuck out to me the most in music was the behind the scenes in everything. There was a documentary i had watched about ed sheeran writing his divide album that really struck a chord with me. At the age of 13 i started writing music. It was really hard at first because i didnt know where to start. I just started messing around on the guitar and started finding cool sounding chords and i just added random words on top of it. During the transition to middle to high school i was going through some personal problems and what helped me was writing music. I had a notebook that my mom gave me for school that i just started writing all of my ideas in. I spent a lot of my time writing down these ideas for songs during the school day and when i got home i would write them. Something that really helped me out during the first couple waves of songs i would get was a quote by ed sheeran. He had said that writing songs is like a dirty tap in an old house. At first the only thing that comes out is straight garbage. Then as time goes by the water becomes cleaner and cleaner. Hearing this as i was starting off my songwriting journey put something in my head where i just started practicing writing songs until they became better. And so i did. As the days would go by i started writing a song a day and to my surprise they started shaping into something that was therapy to me. Songwriting helps me get into myself and release these cool ideas that on paper sound very pretty. I would practice songwriting so much that thats all i would think about. Then coronavirus hit and that was really a blessing in disguised. I had made it there my routine to write music everyday. It was to the point where i wrote 3 songs a day. I didnt stop. The process for me writing is that i play guitar and find chords i like then hum random notes into my phone that fit the chords. Then i start saying words in those melodies until i get a clear idea. This can go so many different ways and writing is the funnest part to me. Once you strike that amazing line or lyric thats what really sends happy signals to my heart and brain. I have so much freedom with a guitar and a notebook. During covid is where i wrote “To help you make it through tonight” and “Standing next to you”. I love writing music. During this time is where i started to dabble in writing music in spanish. My mom and my aunt love music and i would hear classic artists like “sergio vega” and “mana” and “luis miguel”. I knew that i wanted to write music but i started writing in english and spanish. This had opened a lot of doors for me because now my family back in hermosillo sonora could listen to me sing. I started writing the classic love songs and beach songs. I started to listen to absolutely everything. I loved hearing music and languages didnt bother me. They just opened up a new curtain to let more light in. Spanish songs started making me feel so much because of the way they sound and the language itself conveys super deep meanings. Sometimes the things you say in spanish cant be translated correctly in english. Vice versa. Writing in spanish inspired me to write more music in different styles. From folk to pop to sirreno, my songs in spanish are what i feel at this time in my life show the hard work that i have put into my craft of songwriting. I also want to reach different audiences with my music. Recently ive started to move towards more latin music and trying the different styles they have to offer. I love learning the different chords and the way latin music makes you convey such a strong nice feeling. As far as what i couldve done to speed up the process, I think i wouldnt have done anything, the process i went through and the late nights writing music and just writing everyday really makes me feel like i have done so much to get to where i am right now as a songwriter. I think i would just tell myself to write more if anything. I hate wasting time in my life, ive learnt that if it wont affect me in 6 months and more i shouldnt worry about it or waste my time on it. All songwriting is is refining every song you have and having different ways to interpret a song. Thats what i love the most about writing. The obstacles that really was a problem for me during my songwriting is finishing the songs. I have over 700 songs and 300 of those arent finished. The only advice i hear from songwriters is to finish those songs. But once i get in teh zone i either finish them or just write a couple lyrics and leave them forever. But on occasion the lyrics i used on those songs i take and put them into other songs. The projects i have out as of right now are the songs that i loved for a long time and had held onto them to see if they felt right. I let them marinate in me and some of the songs i originally intended to be on projects didnt make it. On my new EP im going to release in the next couple months im soaring off to different genres of latin music and also going back to my pop/folk roots with love songs. My music is coming from my heart and guitar to your ears. If i were to tell a songwriter who is starting out something i would just tell them this plain and simple. Practice, not all your songs are going to be good and you have to accept that. This path in songwriting is very long but worth it at every end.

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 WROTE A LOT ABOUT THIS IN THE ONE BEFORE). My name is Anthony Castillo and im a college student that is a songwriter and musician at heart. I was born in flagstaff arizona and grew up in Tucson Arizona. My family is from Hermosillo Sonora mexico and im proud to be from there and the culture that i have gathered from my family and the places that created me. I grew up in a house full with my grandparents, parents, sibling, aunt and cousin. Im the oldest and the first generation son. I love music and specific artists are (Michael jackson, mana, carin leon, luis miguel, mana, john mayer, ed sheeran, stevie wonder, stevie ray vaughan and many more) I went to flowing wells high school and played in the marching band and jazz band also had a lead role in teh senior musical. I applied to the prestigious school “Berklee college of music” and got accepted for one of my original songs. I am a mamas and nanas boy and want to make them proud of me with everything i do. My mom dad grandma grandpa and little brother support my music. Im proud of all my music. They are all apart of my growth as a musician and as a person. I love music and as a musician it makes me happy writing music. And its a plus that people can hear it. I took those steps that a lot of people dont want to take because of the work and heart they have to put in. I love acoustic guitars and electric guitars and also having something timeless in your art. I do everything as a songwriter and musician and i write and produce and play everything you hear and see as well visually in my music. I want people to know that my music is what makes me and what you hear i wrote. Im proud of everything i have acconplished in music.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

As i transition from a teenager to more of an adult, my mind was all over the place with what i wanted to do with my life. There was that little thing in my ear telling me to do this and then my heart and then my head. In my heart i want to be a musician and someone that people get inspired to be like. I want to write music people will sing back to me. My goal as a musician is to play at venues i grew up watching others play in. I want to headline madison square garden. I want to play at wembley stadium. I want to be happy with my life and career. I want the world to hear my music. I want represent my family and show people that with enough work you can get what you want in life. Que hagas todo lo posible para que alcances todo lo que quieras. I want everything to be okay. I want you to listen to my music.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

The process is different for everybody. I know it sounds very stupid and very like “no duh”. But writing music is like art. Your canvas is your paper and then your paintbrush is the words and then the final product is the song. For the longest time i had thought that songwriting was the same for everyone and people would write only good songs. For a long time i thought everysingle ed sheeran song was good. It wasnt until i heard him talk about his process and how much its changed and how it really is just a trial and error kind of deal. People dont understand how hard it is to write everything that you feel and make it your own. People are always going to tell you crap about it but thats what comes with everything. You may not see it like it but music is like a sport in its own way. You practice a lot and you get better with technique until you then have to show what youve learned in your or music or even in live performances. Us as songwriters we are just writing beautifully woven words to a melody. Thats what it is. Make your own and run with it.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anthonybcastillo/?hl=en
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@AnthonyCastilllos
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1L7IgYR2cvcG29SjSvx3dY?si=KJDqHAzbRVyktj3ebV5QSAhttps://linktr.ee/anthonycastillos

Image Credits

(anthonys camera)