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

Alright, Anthony thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Do you wish you had started sooner?

As a musician and a podcaster, I’ve had a couple of different paths that I’ve pursued. Neither is my full-time occupation and neither are lucrative enough to earn a living. There’s a possibility that if I had pursued either at an earlier age that I could be doing one or both professionally, but I’m happy with where I am in life.

As a musician, I started playing music in high school when I got my first bass guitar in 11th grade. I enjoyed fiddling around on my bass in high school and played music with my friends, but never got into the fundamentals or music theory. I didn’t start learning how to play bass until I was in college as I was trying out for my band, The Guilty Parties. Even, when I joined the band, I focused mainly on learning songs and coming up with bass parts, but didn’t start trying to understand music until I was in my thirties. I wish I had more of an understanding because it would have helped me pursue more opportunities in music and it would have made me a much better musician and compliment to my band. I feel as if I’m a better player than ever, but there is so much room to grow.

In terms of podcasting, I’m green. I’m working on my on-mic skills as well as my editing skills. I feel like there’s a lot to learn, but I truly love what I’m doing now. I’ve been listening to podcasts for over fifteen years and had always wanted to be a part of one, but it wasn’t until this year that I had taken the opportunity to join a podcast. I’m currently co-hosting two podcasts: On The Upbeat, which is a long-form interview podcast, and Every Song Sucks: A Reel Big Fish Podcast, which is an deep-dive into every Reel Big Fish song ever released. In the brief time that I have been podcasting, I’ve been drawing upon my experiences as a listener and trying to bring them into my shows. I spend a lot of time listening to my contributions while I’m editing, but also listening to the shows are they are published. My goal is to get better with every podcast.

Anthony, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

In terms of music, I joined The Guilty Parties when I was 18 years old. They took a chance on an unproven musician when their original bass player was moving away for college and I’ve stuck around ever since. From 2003-2010 we played hundreds of shows and despite only releasing one album, we found success in the Southern California ska scene. After a 10 year Hiatus we returned in 2020 and have released seven singles in the meantime.

It’s interesting, because when we were our most active and playing shows all the time, recording was an expensive proposition. We never went into debt to record, which limited our options to people willing to cut a huge deal for us. Flash forward to today and recording has never been more accessible. We have a couple of guys in our band that have home studios, which makes the process easier, though now that we’re all adults and have families, finding the time is the most difficult part of the equation.

With all of that said, I’m most proud of our recent work. Our most recent singles ,December 24, 1993 (Riverside), and The Last Stand, have been our most critically well-received and the songs have been among our most popular in the last year. I feel that we have grown as musicians and taken what we’ve learned over the years and incorporated it into our music.

With podcasting, being in a remote-only position presents its own challenges, but the benefit is that we can speak to musicians from all around the country with relative ease. This allows us to involve bands both big and small with an opportunity to share their music and message. We also feature new ska releases weekly, which gives our listeners insight into the ska scene that they would not otherwise possess. I’ve been a fan of ska music since I was a teenager and I love that, as a show, we have been able to expose so many people to so many bands on On the Upbeat.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

Making art is a time-intensive labor. No amount of love, however, can put food on the table and a roof over one’s head. We’re living in a time where wage dis[parity is a huge problem. Creatives has often been referred to as “starving artists” and even in an age where content creation is something everyone can understand, only a select few are able to make a living off of their art. As a result, there’s an abundance of derivative art as creatives chase trends and art itself becomes formulaic.

As a society, we can work to support the arts by spending money on artists–we can buy their merchandise, stream their music, watch their films, subscribe to Patreon or other artist subscription services. Of course, sometimes this results in those who are need within society supporting others that are in need. I feel that there is a responsibility for society to support the arts, and I would love to see taxes levied on multimedia conglomerates to create a fund similar to the Canadian performing arts presentation fund. I’m not saying every creative would be able to make a living off of their creativity, but some form of financial support would go a long way toward fostering creatives and creating a thriving ecosystem.

Another thing that would create a thriving creative ecosystem is access. Access to art is often limited to exposure on social media, but the in-person art experience is hard to replicate. All members should be exposed to art, and in terms of live performances, all-ages venues and exhibitions are key to fostering that creation in the next generation of artists.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

I referred to the “starving artist” in a previous question, and this is something I feel non-creatives struggle with. The caricature of the starving artist is typically represented by someone who is avant garde and/or pretentious, but the fact is that most creatives are just like anyone else. Creativity is a form of expression and it can be demonstrated in many ways. We live in a world where anyone can be a content creator and many people who may not even see themselves as creatives are contributing to art in some way.
I want non-creatives to realize that the only difference between non-creatives and creatives is action and that anyone can be a creative.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://theguiltyparties.my.canva.site/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the.guilty.parties
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/theguiltyparties/
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCb5B2PSzqDkI8QiYvh0QuDg
• Other: https://theguiltyparties.bandcamp.com/

Image Credits
All photos by Rae Mystic.