We were lucky to catch up with Roland St John Perez recently and have shared our conversation below.
Roland St John, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.
As far back as I can remember, taking calculated risk was just a huge thing in my life. Growing up poor, with nothing much of anything normal in our household, I knew I had to focus on being creative and had to plan outside the box. I knew I never wanted to be without love, without prosperity and without integrity when I grew up, so at a very young age I had to absorb as much data I could from other people, other families, watching movies, the news, reading books, and more to see how other people lived, prospered, created and thrived. Taking calculated risk along with everything I absorbed allowed me to expand and create new horizons in my life. By the time I was out of high school, I had sets sights very high and would take steps.. take risks not knowing what would happen, but knowing I could completely trust my instinct. This was a daily practice for me… setting goals and putting things in motion to reach those goals. The risks might have been small ones or huge ones, but even the small risks would add up to something substantial. It was very much like those old “Choose Your Own Adventure” children’s books I used to read as a kid.. I loved those books because they forced you to take risks… to choose a path in the fork in the road. And so, my life is fruitful, filled with prosperity love, soul and spirit. All those countless risks I took led me here, even the risks that included failure taught me more than had I not taken ANY risk.
Roland St John, 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?
I started fooling around with synthesizers and recorders at age 12. I had no idea what all those knobs were, not what the did but I could spend hours turning them and creating an ever evolving string of electric sound. I would archive those sonic textures on a cheap radio shack cassette recorder my mother bought me by pawning a piece of jewelry. By late teens I had an album available and have composed electronic soundtracks for local theater shows. A few years later, on a whim.. taking a risk, I complied the addresses of four of my favorite record labels. I sent off a four song demo and a brief, poorly written letter asking who ever received the demo to have a listen. It was a real Hail Mary pass because that’s just not the way its done in the music business. A month later, one of those labels send a letter back, asking for more music and proposed if I had enough content, they would release it. I was floored as you might expect. That started my A.K.A. Liquid Zen, to which I’ve released four albums. But as that was not enough, I needed to expand my sonic landscape and felt the need to incorporate other types of instruments and blurring the standard definitions of the standard “styles” of music. My other A.K.A.’s that encompassed various styles of music and mashing them together are Seventy Three, Mosaico, and my latest Contracoma release in which two other amazing musicians contributed. Ive never been one to repeat a sound or style, all my albums are very much independent and an exploration into pushing sounds, ideas, and techniques. All albums can be streamed at seventythreerecords.com
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
In one word.. its Imagination. Imagination is essential for any artist… it is the source of all life. Without it, there would be no Mozart, Beatles, Rene Margritte, No Dali, or Pollock, No Hemingway or William Burrows etc etc etc. The most rewarding aspect of being a creative is that your imagination is ALWAYS on.. its parallel to breathing. This way of living keeps you youthful, just as you were as a child paying games or coloring with crayons. I am truly blessed for it.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
It is right now, and started in 2020 of course. This has been a tremendous decade so far.. so much has happened and is continuing to happen. Something so foreign to what we all were, what we all knew. I have had to pivot, not financially or career wise. The pivot comes from seeing the aftermath of the illness, of politics, of catastrophes abound and learning a new way to be a part of something positive, which I feel is a rare thing right now. Everything is polarized and nailed down deep into the ground. There is not much “flex” or compassion or understanding. I try to make it a point to make situations better.. any situation better then how I find it.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.seventythreerecords.com
- Facebook: facebook.com/roland.s.perez
- Other: www.rolandstjohn.com www.solarismastering.com