We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Anthony Esparza a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Anthony, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

The first time I felt the need to pursue a creative path happened when I was very young. It’s kind of a cheesy story actually. I was 5 or 6 years old and my stepmom took my little brother and myself to see A Goofy Movie (1995) in at our local theater. For all the cheese and kid humor in it, it was actually the idea of expressing myself onstage to someone I cared about that really resonated with me. Emotionally speaking, I developed at a very young age. Self-expression was the way I found some semblance of escape from what was going on around me at the time, and through creativity, I found myself. Max expressing his feelings to Roxanne was me, in my eyes, expressing my feelings to a girl I had a crush on, and this attraction to live performance stuck with me, even until now. What’s cool now is that when I perform in my hometown (San Diego, Ca), I get to perform each night to the girl I love.

Of course, as i got older and into my teen years, the idea of dancing onstage to pop bangers lost it’s appeal and I found passions in visual arts and other ways of performing. For most of my life, it’s been a dream to become a film director and when I was young, I obsessed over behind the scenes documentaries of my favorite movies. Now, I direct the music videos, vlogs, and other video content for my band. When I was 11, pro wrestling was another big interest for me. I always felt like I had this big body size but I was agile and moved like i weighed less than I was, but I also loved the acting that went along with pro wrestling. However, it was Wrestlemania 17’s music promo for that event’s main event, The Rock vs Stone Cold Steve Austin, that left a lifelong impression on me. It was in that promo that I discovered Limp Bizkit’s “My Way”, and from then on, my life was changed. From that point on, it was a blend of creating worlds with my songs and learning my craft like a film maker, performing onstage as a character bigger than myself like pro wrestling, and releasing the negative energy into something positive that encapsulates what I do now and why I love being a musician.

Oh, and I get to perform to the girl I love every night.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is Anthony Esparza and I play guitar for Defy The Tyrants. I am endorsed by Solar Guitars, GHS Strings, and Tsunami Cables. I also have my own podcast called Metalology that is available on all streaming platforms. I use GHS & string boomer sets, I have several custom guitar cables that were handmade by Tsunami Cables, and I play an A2.7LN seven string guitar from Solar Guitars. I have also made several Youtube videos for Joey Sturgis Tones and STL Tones.

I began playing guitar at 12 years old and have been playing for 25 years. For the first few months, I took lessons but mainly learned classical playing. After a few months, I really wanted to learn how to play some of my favorite songs by Blink-182 and Metallica so I left music classes and became self taught. The first riff I ever learned was “Crazy Train” (Ozzy Osbourne) and the first song I learned was “Enter Sandman”.

In High School, I was known as the guitar player in the worst band in the school. My first three performances happened during these years and were train wrecks. Absolutely the worst shows imaginable. But I used that energy to motivate myself and eventually, in my opinion, things got better. Now the most comfortable place in the world for me is the stage.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Honestly, I learned from a lot of mistakes with my previous band. The biggest advice I can give is this…nobody cares about your social media. Not your friends, family, co-workers, etc. You have to find a way to make people care and ask yourself “Why would someone care about what I post?” This was a game changing mindset for me and I began to approach my own social meida as well as my band’s social media as stories. Narratives to draw people in. No lies or made up stories, just things to highlight. I gave us a lore for people to follow, and our longtime followers have been invested for over almost ten years. You have to give your audience entertainment. Memes, live videos, music videos, whatever you want to call it.

That’s the best advice I can give. Make people care about what you post and entertain them.

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

The way I describe being an artist to others is this. How do you know that you are an artist? When everything in your life is going great and you have no problems but you still do not feel fulfilled unless you are doing art. Your marriage could be great, your kids could be healthy, the house can be awesome, and everything is going great at work but if you are not being an artist, you feel like nothing is happening. Being an artist is this blessing and burden that is just added to your life’s necessities. The way you view yourself, even if its on a subconscious s level, is tied in with being an artist. I have friends who struggle to fulfill their lives because even though everything is going great for them, whether its their work or wife or kids, something is keeping them from expressing a part of themselves that is dying to come out. It’s almost like coming to the surface but never being able to get your head out of the water Artists must create.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anthony_7string