We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Robot Dream a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Robot, thanks for joining us today. What were some of the most unexpected problems you’ve faced in your career and how did you resolve those issues?

I was diagnosed with cancer in October of last year after I had experienced extreme fatigue and bronchitis for about 6 months.

My Doctor told me that most people take off work during the Chemo and bone marrow Transplant process, and after the transplant need a live-in caregiver for a month to take care of their basic needs.

I never stopped working throughout my treatment except for the two weeks I was actually hospitalized . . .

This was for sure an unexpected problem but turned out to be a blessing in disguise in many ways. First and foremost I was able to get closer to my loved ones and re-evaluate my goals and dreams. I began DJing Latin and Brazilian parties at local nightclubs, which has long been a dream of mine, and I have renewed my focus on releasing original music.

Here’s a video compilation of the Tik-Tok videos I made during the diagnosis, chemo, transplant, and recovery process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uF–5iFC7D8&t=377s

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?

For as long as I can remember I always related most to musicians, in film, TV, and real-life my heroes were musicians. When I saw Micahel J Fox in “Back to the Future” play the guitar solo I

I love mixing electronic and acoustic elements, for example, live drums and saxophone over electronic beats. I love creating unlikely mashups and remixes in a live setting. When I started DJing, I listened to DJs performing live wondering how I could do that myself. So began amassing a library of acapella (just the vocals) tracks and instrumental beats and started mashing them up, and playing sax over the top of all of it. I didn’t realize at the time that these DJs were just playing remixes and mashups that were created earlier, I thought it was all done on the spot . . . so I developed a style of mixing and mashing things up live. I figured out a way to do what I thought they were doing, not realizing they were using pre-made mashups and remixes.

As I DJ events ranging from backyard weddings to large Clubs, the most requested thing I’m asked to play is “more saxophone” . . . I love playing the sax over music, it’s so much fun!

My origin story can be found on my website RobotDream.com/mystory . . .

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I didn’t stop working throughout my cancer treatment except for the two weeks I was actually hospitalized for a bone marrow transplant. During these two weeks, I had a mega-dose of chemotherapy, which killed my stem cells and bone marrow, followed by a stem-cell transplant of my own previously-harvested stem cells so that my body could put itself back together. I am great at blocking out bad memories, but at the time I thought it was the worst thing I’d ever gone through.

The week I was released from the hospital, I had 3 contracted events because my treatment timeline had been shifted almost a month later due to COVID. I was supposed to be resting with a live-in caregiver for an entire month, however, I still went and performed on sax while DJing for all three events, and had a great time, each event was a success!! I felt nauseous and weak but while I am performing everything goes away but the music.

I feel like the mark of a professional is that you can provide a consistent product at all times, no matter how you may feel.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

As consumers, we are constantly supporting something by what we buy, eat, watch, and listen to. There’s a big movement to “buy local” and I feel the same could be said for listening to independent artists.

One way to support independent and local artists is to consume their art! Listen to their music and follow them on social media . . . I just released a new single “FLOW” available on all streaming platforms, you can listen and wt the video here: https://www.robotdream.com/flow

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.robotdream.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robotdream/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RobotDreamMusic/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robot-dream-472162178/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/robotdream
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHVMv91kP7L12nN39z79mrw