We recently connected with John Pronto and have shared our conversation below.
Hi John, thanks for joining us today. Do you wish you had waited to pursue your creative career or do you wish you had started sooner?
I started playing guitar when I was in college and become more serious about it after I couldn’t play football anymore. Football was my first love and the thing I was most passionate about it. When it was over I kind of used the energy I was accustomed to putting into sports into learning how to play and make music. I think the two are not as far off as people would like to think. Both take a lot of discipline and regiment to be successful. I think everything kind of happens for a reason and if I started playing earlier in my life I feel like the songs I would have created wouldnt have been as good and maybe that would have discouraged me later in my life. Also my musical tastes have changed so much from when I was a kid to now and I think those tastes would have influenced me in a lot of ways that would have made whatever songs I would have wrote back then not age well.
John, 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?
I am a singer/songwriter based out of the NJ shore. I would say my music is a blend of folk, blues, indie rock, and americana music. I would say I am most proud of how far I’ve come in the music community in the last 4 years. Putting out solo music has been both exciting and a challenge. This year I put out two rounds of demo recordings with just myself a guitar, Outpost Demos and 5 Pack Live From Cart Studios. One of the challenges to being a solo act after playing in a band the last few years would be trying to create a lot of sound with very little. Having a more stripped sound helps me focus on the smaller details within the songs and the song writing process and take one step at a time instead of having my mind race with a million different ideas for a song for a full band. The decision making process has definitely been more of challenge. Relying on having band members and a democracy to decide on what’s best for the song has always been something comforting to have. Without that it makes the process more efficient but involves having to put yourself out on a limb more than I have in the past.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
I think the most rewarding part of being an artist is the ability to get fully immersed into something and unplug for a few hours a day. I think its really important for everyone to have something like that in their life. When im playing or writing nothing else thats happened that day really matters anymore. Being able to have something everyday where you can get better is such a great feeling. When I get an idea that I am excited about there’s really nothing better than that.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
I think the best thing we can do is give more opportunities for artists and creatives to showcase theirs arts and skills. I feel like were in some type of resurgence of the importance of the arts, especially live music. Maybe it has something to do with the pandemic and people not being able to see live music but I feel like there so many opportunities for local musicians to go out and showcase their music. I’ve seen a lot of non music venue businesses prompting shows like records stores and barbershops. I think being able to create a community for anything but especially music is important for our overall society. Having a place where people can escape and have a good time centered around the arts is a very freeing feeling.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://open.spotify.com/album/48855tmEOacta2Ubv5GAHp?si=IU3Kq4qpQDqgrTC-pq651g
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/john_pronto/profilecard/?igsh=MXJ0azVzNnBzcnRvYg%3D%3D
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTrYKs8U71o
Image Credits
no credits needed all original pictures