Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Michael Cueto. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Michael , appreciate you joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

This is an odd question to me, because I feel that all artistic and creative endeavors are equally meaningful. If they weren’t, I wouldn’t pursue them. I’ve never been able to do anything I wasn’t 100% invested in, at least not without a great deal of struggle, in any area of my life.

I have an electronic project that I’ve been working on for years that as of yet has no name. Hopefully that changes soon. It combines composition skills, mixing, recording, my ability to see and create structure where there shouldn’t be due to my scattered brain. I get to blend electronic elements with orchestral elements, and I get obsessed with tinkering with effects. It’s my passion right now, and my struggle I guess, but I believe passion doesn’t always equal euphoria. It should be difficult at times. Anyways, ’d say it’s the most meaningful to me right now.

Otherwise I would say my former band Ourselves Alone, where I played guitar and similarly spent a lot of time experimenting with effects. Nick Restivo, the drummer for Ourselves Alone and a close friend of mine, have a very unique musical connection. I’m admittedly not great at collaborating with people, but him and I just clicked, same with our bassist and close friend Joe Rousseau. I really miss that band mostly due to the catharsis and camaraderie, us against the world type shit.

Michael , 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 Dad always loved music and shared it with me growing up. I wanted to play trumpet and convinced me to play guitar, thankfully. I’ve been playing guitar for 20 years, and I played in various bands in high school. I started a band named “Arms to the Trees” in college. We were a mathy experimental post hardcore type band, a lot like The Fall of Troy I guess. I wrote lyrics at that time and we played these 7 minute long songs. I love writing too, and I’ve always been pulled between my obsession with writing lyrics and stories and making music, so I pivoted hard to the music side. I would like to think I’ve developed a unique ability to make things work where they shouldn’t. I bucked typical song structures early on and always had an interest in balancing the experimental, self indulgent side of music with accessibility. I feel like I’m at a place where I can do that really well right now.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

Don’t take advice from people that don’t do what you do. Show your music to people that would listen to your music, not your parents’ friends, not your coworker. Their advice is most likely going to be meaningless. Immerse yourself in a world that is going to sustain what you do.

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

I don’t know about society, but go to a show, buy a t shirt, buy a cd, go to that book reading, go to a gallery show. Get out there. I say that as someone who is terrible at that side of things. I am much more interested in creating than I am at networking and performing even, much to my detriment at times.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @zechssounds