We were lucky to catch up with TenTillDeath Aka Rojelio Capone recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi TenTillDeath, thanks for joining us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.
Between October to November of 2022, I announced on my now-deleted Instagram, Rojelio Capone, that I was retiring from music and social media for good. By that time, I had become a micro-influencer known for reacting to independent artists, running a podcast for independent artists, and having become a live streamer and a music artist myself. At the time, the many people in my network that I had worked with were shocked and confused that I was leaving. Many of them could not fathom the idea and others said that I was throwing away all of my progress. Many of those people admitted to having looked up to me, and now with me quitting, things would not be the same. The truth for why I was quitting was because I was going through a breakup with my ex-fiance, and felt overwhelmed from the emotional turmoil of things. I needed that break from all of my professional work, so I could re-compose myself.
Months after the breakup, I returned, abandoning my old Rojelio Capone alias and starting anew, as TenTillDeath. TenTillDeath wasn’t just a reform of who I would be as a music artist, but also as a brand myself. I became a gothic social influencer, running two tiktoks, reworking on my Youtube channel, and experimenting with alternative styles of music. By the end of 2024, I had achieved quite more under my TenTillDeath rebrand, than I had done with my former alias, Rojelio Capone. I had achieved more Youtube views and interactions than I had ever done previously, actual fans and followers of my content, and even met many new networking opportunities. TenTillDeath wasn’t just a rebrand of myself, but a rebrand into my true self. It was a self that people who struggle through the conflicts of daily life could relate to, and it payed off with my return album, Trauma Ruined My Life, being one of my most popular albums in years.
TenTillDeath, 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?
Hello, I am TenTillDeath, formerly known as the chicano music artist, Rojelio Capone. I originally got into making music when I fell in love with 1990’s gangster rap during my last two years of highschool. Once I graduated highschool in 2017, I experimented with making music and aliases, until I finally released my first music project in the summer of 2018. Music to me was a creative outlet of expressing my pain and grieviances; as such is for many others. Years into my Rojelio Capone artist brand, I started expanding by doing a Youtube series where I would react to smaller music artists. This expansion only continued with a short-lived podcast series, livestream events, and by networking with other small artists to make music. After going through an emotionally traumatic breakup in 2022, I left my passions behind to re-coup and eventually returned stronger than ever. Once I returned, I rebranded into TenTillDeath, a gothic influencer and alternative music artist. I rebranded into TenTillDeath as it truly represented the true me, after I went through a self-discovery/mental health journey following my breakup from my fiance.
What sets me apart from others is my ability to dwell into multiple categories of things and even take risks! Not many smaller music artists would have willingly thrown away their social media and music career for an entire rebrand as I did. Not only that, not many smaller music artists would take the chance into becoming a micro social media influencer, followed by Youtubing,and networking with others to really expand their name into the indie music scene. How many independent artists are willing to take risk and experiment by making a pop-punk album, and then next making a trap-metal/emo rap album?
Many of these risks and things I do, I am really proud of. Even not being famous, but my willingness to do the things I love, despite criticism, makes me feel proud that I’m true to myself. The things I am truly proud of are as follows. First, having a more popular rebrand into TenTillDeath that completely obliterated years of my Rojelio Capone stats. Secondly, I began college in September to hopefully become a therapist one day. On top of these two accomplishments, I’ve began writing a book about how trauma can single handedly ruin your life as it did mine. I believe finishing this book will be good insights for many on how abusers are formed and how many abusers do not realize that they have become abusers (such as I once was). Lastly, my biggest accomplishment was changing music genres into pop-punk with the release of my Trauma Ruined My Life album. It was one of my most successful music projects that I had released in years and even got a song played on the radio, which is quite nice!
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
In the alternative scene, authenticity has been the most effective way in rebranding myself. Like many others, I have faced criticism and hate, but by being authentic and being able to easily relate to people who follow the scene, it’s only made others more likely to follow me and speak with me. It’s opened up new opportunities of course, but this authenticity of staying true and relatable has helped me tremendously.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?
I think one of the biggest things non-creatives will struggle to understand is the concept of still chasing your dreams while not being famous. For years, even going back to the 2000s, you would constantly hear people say “oh anyone can become famous, it’s easy.” I do agree that it may be partially true, but it all depends on what you’re doing. Yes, more ludicrous and absurd content may give people more exposure; however, this does not mean everyone who makes content will become famous. Take for example, myself. Even though my former alias Rojelio Capone served a very niche market, the market that I served was not one that could have mainstream appeal as compared to the rebrand I’m under now. So the question is, “why would you spend all that time making music, doing these things, if you’re not famous?” Most people would say to give up, which I have had people say to give up. I’m not here to become famous or make content that more so focuses towards a mainstream artist; I’m just a lover of experimenting with many things! I don’t do these things because I want to get famous, it’s because I have genuine passion to make music, to write, and to create. I don’t mainly create for others, I mainly do it for myself.
If I hear a music project in my head, I will feel passionate about creating it for myself. Of course I’ll still put those things out there for others to hear so others can maybe be inspired; that’s the beauty of being a creator. I’ve been inspired by mainstream creators, and most notably, smaller more unknown creators. Most of us do not do this for fame, but because we have a genuine passion for our art. A good example of this would be the people who have a passion for fields such as carpentry. Now of course you can make good money in those fields, but you would begin to question, “why would you put yourself through years of physical manual labor just to not want to go on to do others?” Some people just have a passion for carpentry and building houses. We may be unable to understand why people have such passions, but recognizing that not everyone is built for the same things is a step into understanding
Contact Info:
- Website: https://musictomurderwithrecords.godaddysites.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thevampireweirdo/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/salud-kennamer-40b283275
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyeHHqfn_fx77Djw9ef2BVw
- Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tentilldeath Bandcamp: https://rojeliocapone.bandcamp.com/ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6Vu89kHBlGzPDkefYrbAvE?autoplay=true
Image Credits
Salud Kennamer-Morales