We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Gina Pamplona a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Gina thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.
My drive and determination to form a career doing ONLY what I love has been a long, windy road that I am still driving on. After many failed attempts, lost relationships, and sacrificing every last ounce of energy left in me I can finally say that I am closer to my goal of becoming a full time touring musician than ever before. However, the closer I am to achieving this long-term goal, the deeper I seem to be diving into uncharted territory. This has come with more risks and responsibilities than ever before. Each decision I make can either build me up to the next level or destroy everything I’ve built so far like many times before. This is the position I find myself in as I fight tooth and nail to actualize my dream for my band, No One Road. To me, this is not some small, silly thing I do with my friends on the weekends as a “hobby”. This is also NOT just about seeking attention center stage. To me, my band is much deeper than that so therefore, the risk itself is much greater than even anyone who knows me can ever imagine. My band represents a way to connect with complete strangers on a shared experience. Since music has changed my life in so many positive ways, I want to be able to inspire and create the same positive change in the lives of others. I have already risked so much in this past decade in the hopes of achieving this that I can’t go back now.
With my first band I started at 16 years old, I took the risk of meeting new people and forming connections with (much older) adults in hopes of potentially having our newly formed band signed by local record labels. We had real interest following our first few gigs at any dive bar that would let us play, but right as we starting getting potential offers from talent agents I lost my voice due to vocal nodules and was on a strict six month vocal rest. The agents I was talking with let me know they decided to promote another local artist instead, a girl from my same high school no less. This was a tough lesson to learn but not a failure I was willing to accept. I began taking singing lessons to improve my vocal technique and started learning how to release music with my band. If I couldn’t sing, I could at least be researching the tools and skills needed as an independent artist. It wasn’t until about 2 or 3 years later that we finally released our first EP as a band. This process took A LOT longer than it should’ve since we had no idea what we were doing and also, as it turns out, studio time is very expensive. From here, we decided to take another risk in working with a close friend, Mike Banzon, on producing our songs instead. This was a huge turning point for me because I began to see the real potential as a true independent artist with Mike having only his in home studio equipment to help us formulate our thoughts for each song. This was where things became a lot more fun too since there was less pressure in making the music and it was more so about just enjoying time with friends.
We eventually asked Mike to join the band as a rhythm guitarist but after making our first ever music video, everyone went their separate ways due to personal reasons. Mike was the only one I really stayed in contact with at this point so he helped me form my next music project, Tone of the Year. This was another big risk because the band started as a solo project with just Mike as my producer but led to a full band of close friends with no set expectations. I had a lot more highs than lows with this band despite it only lasting for less than a year, but as fast as we climbed we fell even faster. This felt like an even bigger failure for me because this band ended about the same as the first, but this time, it felt even more like my fault. The risk in forming a band with your close friends is that if you are not extremely honest and clear on your intentions with each project in the band, it can lead to a loss of friendships that you may never get back. This was the case for a long time and it really deterred me away from music for the longest.
At this point, COVID hit and I was truly at my lowest point and couldn’t decide on if I wanted to ever pursue music again. It felt like every time I tried I hit a new brick wall or the same wall just painted a different color. It felt like this maybe just wasn’t meant for me. I tried forgetting the dream and committing to a day job, but the emptiness sang louder than I ever could, with or without vocal nodules. After about four years of silence, and some experimental projects that also went nowhere, I decided the risk of giving up on my band was far greater than any of the potential pain I would face in pursuing this passion. So, after a reconnection with my best friend of 15 years, Mark Hernandez, we both decided to dive deeper into this dream than ever before. We both knew how far we’ve come with music in the past decade and that it’s never too late to simply start again where you’re at, even if that spot is ROCK BOTTOM. Mark knew just as much as I did that there is never just ONE straight line to your dreams. There’s going to be a lot of twists and turns and risks that you have to be willing to take again and again. We chose the name, No One Road, based on a line from a Paramore song. The meaning to us represents all the past projects and failed attempts at a dream that is STILL possible.
We are all just constantly repeating cycles and it only takes one more risk to set your life fully in motion. As a last example, my first big opportunity to open for a bigger band with Tone of the Year came when we found ourselves opening for Eyes Set To Kill on their 10th anniversary tour at the Orpheum in the summer of 2019. Well, would you believe me if I told you that 5 years later, No One Road was offered the same opportunity from an entirely different promoter to open for Eyes Set To Kill on their 15th anniversary tour at the Orpheum in the summer for 2024. This to me was a huge sign that no matter what you do, just keep going. Never give up. You never know when the same opportunity from your past may come back for you. Because there is never just one way to make anything happen. There is not one risk that isn’t worth taking. There is No One Road to your dreams, and THAT is the path we’re deciding to be on right now.
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 don’t remember a time I wasn’t singing or dancing growing up. Whether it was chaotic “dancing” at the age of three in a tutu at a ballet recital or singing for the family at Noche Buena pretending to be Britney Spears from Pepsi commercial. Music has always been relevant in my life in some way or another, but the true pursuit of turning this passion into a career began in my junior year of high school when I started to question what I really wanted my life to look like. This was right before we all went off to college and everyone was saying, “If you do something you love, you’ll never work a day in your life” but music is the only thing I really love enough to work hard enough at with the intention of making it a full time job. What I believe sets us apart is full emersion into the community of the local music scene. We are going to every show with the intent of making friends with everyone in the crowd and providing an experience that inspires more confidence in the people around us.
My main take away from the bands I listened to growing up was the sense of self I found in other bands that exuded a level of confidence I only ever dreamed of having. Its true what they say about “fake it ’til you make it” because at a time when I felt most lost, I found myself in the lyrics, chord progressions, and movements on stage of my favorite bands. Growing up, those bands gave me something I felt like nothing else could and I always wanted to be able to give this same experience to someone else. In our music, we are most proud of being able to provide this same feeling onstage and off. The world is lacking in hope and love right now so we want to bring this to the stage every time we perform. We want everyone to feel accepted and understood by our music. I love lyrics that speak directly to me and what I’m going through. This always made me feel seen We love this sense of community we’ve found in the local scene with all the other musicians we’ve met and played with so far.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
The entire idea behind “No One Road” illustrates the idea of resilience. Although often times I contemplate giving up because of how much it seems the world is against me. I seem to always be reminded of how all I need to do is keep going, because there is no one answer of how to achieve your dreams. The world is so complex, ever changing, and full of surprises that there are so many ways to achieve your dream. Since this is my third time starting a band from scratch, this band, to me, symbolizes my pursuit of happiness through my music and the biggest testament to my resilience in anything I’ve ever done so far. Every band I’ve been in, I gave my heart and soul. I visualized every member being right beside me at every venue I’ve ever dreamed of playing and opening for every band that inspired me to be doing exactly what I’m doing today. However, not every band member I’ve played with in the past is here with me today. My heart broke at each and every loss of a member or the band altogether because, in my eyes, it was like watching this dream die.
At every loss, I’ve felt myself losing sight of this vision that once was so clear in my mind and body. I remember being able to go to sleep to the sounds of my favorite bands and feeling like I was the actual front woman on stage performing and interacting with thousands of people. I used to be able to visualize this dream of connecting hundreds of thousands of people through one beautiful thing, the music. I could visualize the smiles on peoples faces as they sang along to my lyrics. I could vividly feel what it would be like to perform on stage with a group of people that loved this one thing just as much as I did. The biggest heartache of this journey so far came with my breakup of my previous band just before No One Road, we were called Tone of the Year, and it truly was the Tone that only lasted one year.
With this band, Tone of the Year, I was finally feeling the confidence on a stage that I literally only every dreamed of feeling. I remember looking all my band members in the eyes and connecting on a level of love and passion for the music that made me finally feel the inner peace I had been searching for for whole life. It truly is unlike anything you can imagine to think of something for so long and then finally have it happen to you. It was miraculous. Truly everyday felt like miracles were happening all around me. With Tone of the year, I found myself opening for bands that I listened to growing up as the shy, recluse, “weirdo” kid that always said the wrong thing. And now, these bands were telling me how much they also loved my music, our sound, and my voice that I worked so hard to perfect at their same level. I felt like I finally made it and we were only going up from there. Until a lack of awareness and a global pandemic shut everything down in an instance.
At the end of 2019, Tone of the year was pretty much done. Before the end of the year, we had a few miscommunications within the band itself which led to a change in our bassist, a complete disruption of how we originally created our music, and a lack of trust between everyone in the group. On top of all of this, I was solely presented a rare opportunity to work for a sound production company in Colorado with the added bonus of performing at all the festivals that applied to my band’s pop punk sound. I didn’t really consider how the rest of the band would follow me up there, but I was in love with the idea of leveling up my music career in a new state that I’ve always been drawn to. It seemed like the universe was guiding me in a new direction towards my dreams. However, I was quickly shown otherwise when two months after officially accepting this offer for the job, not resigning on our lease, and packing up our entire lives to move for the opportunity, COVID hit hard and we found ourselves in quarantine.
At first, my main concern was that I would be homeless. I had no idea where we would go, especially with my grandparents being at risk of contracting the virus. I didn’t want to risk living with them and god forbid the worst of the worst happen because of me. Thankfully, my boyfriend’s brother allowed us to live with him for a few months and this solved one problem but left me very alone, quietly with my thoughts. I began to sink deeper and deeper into a depression I’ve never experienced before. I had my first panic attacks in quarantine where it felt like I couldn’t breathe and was about to have a heart attack at the ripe old age of 23 years old. I didn’t know what to think or how to feel. The sense of loss, dread, and panic of losing yet another band set in hard. It was worse than every other loss I’ve experience with my music because I felt like we could’ve made it with this band, and yet, I felt like I single handedly f*cked it all up for everyone. The embarrassment came shortly after my intense feelings of grief but it was short lived as the panic would set in every night reminding me I was a complete failure. I went after my dream, gave it my all, and failed. It was the worst moments of my life.
On top of many other very personal things happening within my family life, the pain seemed to never stop. It was about two years of this constant pain throughout the course of the lock down until I decided to give music another try. This time, however, I had no band since my best friend, Mark, who was with me through every phase of my musical journey, had also moved to Colorado since he was the only remaining band member of Tone of the Year (our bassist) that would follow me to the ends of the earth to make our dreams come true. With no support and no idea how to keep going, I attempted a solo project called “Iris Lotus” which was mostly just me experimenting with R&b sounds and producing music through Logic. It was not good, but it was my first baby steps back into music after two years of complete isolation. It eventually ended when I realized pink wigs and stray jackets weren’t really my thing (*see embarrassing YouTube videos). I knew this was not it, so I needed to find my way back to my band – somehow.
I didn’t even want to pick up my guitar or sing any original music until Mark was back in Florida. He told me shortly after the end of my short-lived “solo career” that he planned to move back home soon and would consider starting a new band with me. Looking back, I know I could’ve started planning or attempting to write music in the meantime until I had my missing puzzle piece back by my side (Mark), but it never felt right to officially start the new journey without Mark. His absence, for the first time in our 15 year friendship, made me realize how much I truly needed his support. He’s been cheering me on through every phase of my music career. Even dating all the way back to 8th grade when we were both awarded “Most Talented” boy and girl in our Memorial Middle School yearbook. Mark has always been there through every step and misstep of this journey. He was apart of the process of every song written in every band I’ve had and through each process he has always been my most brutally honest critic & biggest adoring fan of anything I did. I couldn’t fathom starting this next project without him. So again, I waited some more.
Fast forward to November 2022, as I just recently turned 26, a whole year past my ideal age of when I felt I SHOULD have started my new band, and finally Mark was at my side again…for round three of this “musicians only” boxing match. We literally had only his bass, my electric guitar, and some weak vocals that haven’t been used in over a year. STILL, Mark had faith in us and pushed me to keep going when I felt this was hopeless. Our sound was so empty without a drummer or lead guitarist. Not to mention our equipment was DEFINITELY not up to par yet since we sounded like toddlers playing on a fisher-price kindergarten music set. It was comical how we sounded in the beginning but the dream was still alive, even if it was just a spark of what it could be. I had some little bit of hope left in me for one last shot at this big dream of mine. Mark’s bright, wide smile and never wavering confidence in me kept me going more than he’ll ever know. I am forever grateful for his blind belief in me when I had barely any belief left in myself. This pushed me to go further on our journey in search of our drummer and lead guitarist for No One Road.
Mark and I taped up handmade flyers all over USF campus and were in search online for anyone looking to join our band. The search continued for about 3 months strong until we finally found Ryan, our now drummer, who was waiting for a fun project to work with friends and KILL IT on his kit again. Granted, his original drum kit was all the way up in Pennsylvania still with his family, so that little issue needed to be worked out first for sure. Ryan showed his devotion and dedication to our band within the first few weeks of knowing us by immediately scraping together the funds to purchase a brand new kit of his own and from there we were finally off! Still, with no lead guitarist, but we were just happy to have a solid backbone to the band now. We were already in the process of writing our first song, Self Destructive Habit, and wanted to illustrate this hurdle we managed to overcome thus far with our newfound drummer so we went to the first parking garage / public park we could find to film our first music video together. We all had so much fun together in this process and we knew we found something special, but still a piece was missing.
We finally found our lead guitarist, Brady, through social media after he recently moved to Florida from a small town in Illinois looking for a new start. So naturally, when we reached out to him so soon with this opportunity to make friends and play music, he thought it was a joke. BUT NO KIDDING!!! We were very serious and VERY thankful to have found Brady because he fit so perfectly with our sound. Bonus points since he also loved the music and could hear the direction we planned to go with future songs. We made the band official on Cinco De Mayo when we all took our first promo pics together and clinked our glasses to the band’s first official instagram post as No One Road. Finally our band felt complete.
All this, in a very long winded answer to say, the resilience I have proven myself to have over these past 10 years of pursuing music as a full time career has been intense. I have seen extreme highs and extreme lows that I never imagined could come with the path to follow your dreams. Growing up, and being so immersed in this delusion to live life on my own terms and doing what I love, I never understood how some people could simply give up on their dreams and never look back. But after all the pain and frustration I’ve seen in just my first decade of really giving it my all, I can see how the dream can die when the vision fades. My brain and every other ounce of logic in my body told me to give up when I could no longer see WHY I wanted this dream so bad, or HOW it could even be possible now. After every loss and every stage of grief tied to my music, I felt the dream slowly slipping more and more from my grip and I didn’t think I’d ever find my way back. It was truly the support and belief from others that reminded me of how strong I really am. How resilient I can be in the hardest of times. After fighting tireless hours with myself of whether to give up or not, I settled on the choice to keep going until something tells me to stop…but even then, probably not.
I’ve now played about 14 live performances in just the first year with No One Road, and that’s more than any amount I’ve played with my previous bands combined! In our first year, we had our first experience playing as finalists for the Hard Rock battle of the bands, performing on the same stage where I first saw my favorite band perform live! And if that’s not enough for you, we were offered the exact same opportunity to open for the exact same band within the same time frame as my last band, Tone of the Year. This gave me the extra boost of hope that I needed to keep going. Where I was 5 years ago does not compare to where I am now. Despite the gaps in faith and empty space of stagnancy. I decided to keep pushing forward and stayed resilient through every hardship that was thrown my way for this band. I didn’t know how I’d make it happen, but I did and somehow landed even farther in just this past year alone that I ever had in my previous 9 years. This goes to show that truly, there is no one path to your destination. Keep going and you just might end up on the same stage you were 5 years ago. There is no one way to make your dreams come true, if it’s meant to be it will be, maybe not in your exact timing but keep going and it will be yours. There is no one worded answer as to how to make it happen. There is no one person who will change the course you are on. There is no one method to your madness and no one solution for you to solve. There is No One Road <3 Keep going, stay resilient.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
SUPPORT ANY AND ALL ART!!! I don’t care what it is or where it’s at, but self expression is such a beautiful thing and it needs to be celebrated in all of its form. It’s the most honorable thing to tell a person, “I see you, I hear you, and I love your art”. Honestly, isn’t that what the inner child in all of us wants to hear? Go out and make someone’s day by saying how much you loved their music, painting, sculpture. creation, design…whatever it may be! The world is a better place when we express who we are and what we love through our art AND recognize each other for it too! The best way to support these creatives is to go to local shows in your area. There is a small garage band out there that is practicing RELENTLESSLY for hours on hours every day of the week for just 20 minutes of your attention. This band may end up being the next best thing and YOU can say that you saw them when they were playing at the nearest dive bar on your street.
What I love most about this local scene I have been able to immerse myself in as of lately is that all the bands are so supportive of one another. Everyone shares each other’s music and promo pics across social media platforms and then this pulls in real fans that are truly excited to listen and engage with these local bands as well. This leads to more people coming out to shows, supporting local bars/bartenders/venues/promoters and especially the bands. It’s a total win win for everyone! And ultimately, at the end of the day, everyone leaves feeling more connected with one another and that’s the goal. We want to bring people more together rather than the normal isolation they feel in society. The world can be a scary place but it’s not so bad when we all come together. Supporting one another is the best way to watch this creative ecosystem thrive. We can all do it by simply being there for one another.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nooneroad
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100092042037904
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@nooneroad
Image Credits
Isaac Figueroa