We were lucky to catch up with Gerardo Castro recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Gerardo thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

I just recently put out my debut album “Sonder.” and to this date it has definitely been the most meaningful project I have created so far. A while ago I came up with an idea for an album that’s centered around the theme of different perspectives in life, so I started looking for different and new words that have to do with “perspective” . I came across this book called the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows. In that book there were a ton of new and interesting words that describe certain feelings you get in life but they’ve never quite actually had a word to describe it. I saw the word Sonder.

In the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows the definition of sonder is “n. the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own—populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries and inherited craziness—an epic story that continues invisibly around you like an anthill sprawling deep underground, with elaborate passageways to thousands of other lives that you’ll never know existed, in which you might appear only once, as an extra sipping coffee in the background, as a blur of traffic passing on the highway, as a lighted window at dusk.”

This was something that really hit home for me, It reminded me of my younger brother Jack who had passed away when I was 17. When Jack was born he weighed one pound and could fit in the palm of your hand. My mother was only twenty-three weeks pregnant at the time of his birth. Jack was never predicted to make it out of the hospital, or make it a single year, and never ever was he expected to live to be fifteen years old. He was Quadriplegic and Blind, but despite all odds Jack survived and thrived for 15 years, 10 months and 29 days. Jack did not have most of the everyday abilities most people are so fortunate to have. He could not walk, talk, see, or even control is own muscles but he would smile and laugh everyday. He was grateful

When I saw the definition of this word Sonder. it reminded me of a memory I had of Jack. My dad used to wake me up every Sunday at 6am to go to the first mass of the day with him and Jack. One day my dad kept noticing this man staring at him from a distance most of the service. At the end of mass the man approached my dad and told him how he sees him holding Jack in church every Sunday and that Jack is an inspiration to him to love life and be grateful for what you have. I think this is an amazing example of the word Sonder. This man has never met Jack before, just sees him from a distance in church every sunday, yet, seeing Jack’s smiling face has helped him be more grateful for the little things in life that we often take for granted. I wanted this album to embody that.

The creation process for this album was very fun! I got to collaborate with so many talented singers and songwriters such as Cozmoe, codycoltrane, Tyler Burdic, and Lui Joseph. Shoutout to them for helping make this body of work come to life! working with friends to create a body of music that truly makes you feel something is amazing and I cant wait to do it again and even better!

Gerardo, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Gerardo Castroand I create and release music under the alias “Jack Flora”. I fell in love with creating music after my younger brother Jack passed away. I was always passionate about music but never thought I could make it work until one day when I dropped out of college and had no idea what to do with my life, so I decided to take a chance on myself. I started teaching myself, via youtube, how to use Ableton, and I fell in love with it. I’ve never been a star student and always had trouble concentrating in class but for some reason music felt easy. After about 3 months of self teaching, I learned about a school in Los Angeles, called Icon Collective, where they could teach me how to make all this music I’m hearing in my head. I immediately applied and got in! I completed their Music Production and Advanced Music Production Program then started my artist project “Jack Flora” ( named after my brother) which I have been creating and collaborating as ever since. I just released my debut album “Sonder.” and can’t wait to share all the music I have in store for you come 2025!

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?

If you find something you love go for it! I think this applies for both creatives and non-creatives. A lot of people will see someone successful and try to replicate their success, or be told you have to do a, b, and c, to be successful, sometimes it works but most of the time it doesn’t. If you can create your own success doing something true to your heart I believe it will be 10x more powerful than anything you’d create just trying to copy someone else. there are no rules to making music, some of the best music purposefully breaks “rules” because it really doesn’t matter. don’t think so much, break rules, have fun! now obviously don’t commit crimes and be a bad person, thats not at all what im saying, what im saying is there is no blueprint to being happy and successful, don’t be afraid to bet on yourself and do it your own way, But take what I say with a grain of salt! just be nice and do what makes you happy with 100% effort is my advice

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

Go to your local artists shows! If you can, buy their merch! Its so easy to go out to a show and have fun for a day/night! I know it means the world to me when people come out to see me play. If you can’t do any of that no worries, show support another way, drop a follow on instagram, keep up with releases from your favorite small artists. Just show some love! The song that takes 2 minutes to listen to might have taken that artist months to finish.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jackflora.net/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jackflora2001/
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/jackflora
• Other: spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6FKAkCYKg7WaDciT4upWQ9?si=nNiXN2h6Rd6-kIlSxVZIRQ

Image Credits

@tommymel7
@underthebluestskies