Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jorge Luis Sebastian. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Jorge Luis, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?
Like a lot of my fellow musicians and artists my journey started at church. It was a small church that my family started so it was a very DIY (do it yourself) type of mentality. Because of that our musicians, while very passionate, didn’t study music or were professional musicians, but they loved what they did regardless of their ability and I’d like to say I’ve carried that mentality of gratitude throughout my career. I was self taught and was very quick to pick up on the grooves and rhythms the band was playing. My dad would also give me cues when to do fills in the songs while the services were happening so thats where I learned the timing of where a fill should be! But the first couple of years I was learning on my own, watching other drummers at church and try to play what they played and practiced at home on my lap. I never took proper lessons until I got to college but I just listened to any song and tried to figure out the pattern and played it at church.
I also started to write songs during this time. I started because one of my older brothers knew I wanted to write songs so he told me during church to write a song for him by the end of service. I did and it was a total pop punk banger written by a 13 year old kid about dropping his water and how school was getting much harder. The same way I learned with drums I would also listen and study all the lyrics to my favorite CDs. I would learn how the artist or band would use words to rhyme and what the lyrics meant and how it connected to the title of the song and how the songs fit overall into the album as a whole. I would even connect the theme of each song to the album art. A lot of might have been wrong or at least not what the artist intended but I decoded it in a way that spoke to me creatively and gave the art a personal meaning to me.
Eventually I went to other churches and went to college for music to sharpen my skills as a musician. I feel my church background gave me the ability to be prepared for anything thrown my way. If I had to do anything differently I would say to bet on myself more and know my worth as a musician. A lot of times we stay complacent in our journey that we are afraid of what could be in store for us. Practice is key and always be open to opportunities because its all a part of the journey. I would have also released more of my music earlier and not be afraid of it not being ready. Let the world hear it and it will speak to who it needs to. Last but not least be humble, because there’s always something new to learn especially with people that have more experience than you. At the end of the day you never know who you’ll meet and what connections you’ll make.
Jorge Luis, 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 Jorge Sebastian I’m a professional drummer and I also write music under the name Heart of a Lion. Music has been a part of my being since I was a kid whether its the vibrations of the drums echoing from the sticks or the emotions felt through a melody that conveys the quietest thoughts in your head. I drum because there is always a song on my mind and I write because there is always a feeling in my heart. I started doing music when I was 9 or 10 years old at church and eventually getting my bachelors in Commercial Music at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton Florida. After graduating I did musical theatre gigs playing drums and percussion in the orchestra pit performing for The Kings Academy. Some of their shows I was a part of include Amalie, The Little Mermaid, The Music Man, and Big Fish just to name a few. I’ve had the privilege of performing Songs for a New World at Palm Beach Drama Works located in Downtown West Palm Beach. I’ve been in a number of bands across different genres. I’ve performed with The Lubben Brothers, who are an amazing indie folk band based in South Florida. We’ve headlined The Florida Folk Festival in Gainesville Florida, Winter Folk Festival in Brooksville Florida, and done collaborations with The Key Choral in Sarasota, and performed countless shows as well. I’ve also recorded a few songs for them including Clouds and Joyful Noise. Another artist I’ve worked with is another Florida native named Droo and his style is very southern rock vibe with a bit of a twist. I’ve done work for him in tracks like Home and countless writing sessions in the recording studio.
My current band No Cover is an Alt Rock band with a lot of 90s grunge influence with a modern twist and as a lover or punk this is a very fun project to be a part of. We recently worked on our EP Who Are We? and is releasing this summer and we’ll playing shows all over South Florida.
Even with all these projects I am always open to taking on new gigs and projects for hire when needed. I feel like what sets me apart from other musicians and drummers is my perspective on playing. I look at it from a songwriting point of view and go with the emotion that the song calls for and the story that is being told. Another lesson I’ve learned over the years is to serve the song and the artist and not myself. I’ve had to learn that lesson the hard way but its something that has stuck with me and is something that I feel like most drummers wanting to do this for a living should really have in their mind.
I mentioned that I also write my own music under the name Heart of a Lion. I have a lot of melodic and heavy rock influences when it comes to my music like Linkin Park, Falling Up, Paramore, and Dayseeker. But recently I’ve had a lot of Indie and singer songwriter that have been in rotation like Hanna Vu, Cafune, and Pool Kids to name a few. I try to reflect the dynamics of life like a quiet piano melody to a heavy punk rock guitars to show how crazy things can be. I have two singles out, The Blue and Horizons. If you like 2000s pop punk and acoustic ballads check them out. Currently working on new material hoping for a few more singles by the end of the summer. Its a lot of very personal songs and especially growing up and getting older there are a lot of things that cross my mind that I think anyone at any age can relate to especially dealing with change.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
One of the mains reasons why I was so in love with music and songwriting was how it made me feel during the moments when I felt the most vulnerable and alone. I spent a lot of moments growing up as a teenager feeling lonely and almost out of place because I went to church and was very into it as a kid. I would feel the pressure to be whats considered a good Christian but also be a normal kid in school and often times would leave me in a place where I didn’t always belong on either side. The songs I would listen to would bring me hope that no matter how much life sucked and how lonely I felt I had a connection to God that would always comfort me. I decided that I wanted to write to people that were feeling like I was. I wanted people to know that they’re not alone and its ok to not feel ok and always remember there is hope. Even if there isn’t a clear cut path life is still worth living and that we matter in the end. Though I do believe in God my music isn’t explicitly religious, especially now that I’m older I’ve realized I would much rather focus on the human experience and what connects us which is life’s ups, downs, love, loss, and everything in between. I want to create music that provides not necessarily an escape but rather a place of peace and a place to feel like things will be ok.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
There are always lessons to be learned and unlearned, i feel like that is just the human experience. For myself when it comes to songwriting I’ve had to unlearn the mentality I was taught in college to focus on what makes a particular song a commercial or radio hit. I feel like it has added unwanted pressure that there shouldn’t be when writing a song and getting your emotions on a page for the world to see. Its definitely important to the process once the song is complete. One needs to be self aware that a song will most likely undergo changes to make it more refined, but the initial stages that make it more personal I’ve felt like has been made more commercial and less authentic to myself and that is something I’ve had to work-through these past few years.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heartofalion_music/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzNErP_BDDSe6XViD5inLnQ
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/heartofalionmusic
- Other: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/heartofalion/the-blue
https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/heartofalion/horizons-acoustic
https://www.tiktok.com/@heartofalion_music
Image Credits
Mari Gonzalez
Judson Welsh
Hezishotit