Caxiel is a musician/singer/producer who graduated from Berklee College of Music, as well as a dancer who trained at 1 Million Dance Studio in South Korea. He is from Peru and performs pop music in English in order to reach a larger audience. Trying to avoid the stereotype of a Latin artist, and avoiding being boxed in because of where he lives and what culture he should belong to. Caxiel aspires to be a performer in every sense of the word, singing, composing, dancing, producing, mixing, and mastering.
By Kamil Bobin
Discovered via Musosoup
Kamil) Hey Caxiel, super nice to have the chance to chat with you. What first got you into music?
Hi Kamil, thank you for having me here and for listening to my work. And well, when it comes to my journey in music it was nothing really life changing, i just got with a band in high-school as the singer, these were actually my “metal” days, iron maiden, black sabbath, Kamelot, the works. I had no real training so i didn’t really take it that seriously in the moment. But the more i got into it the more a realized it was something i really wanted to explore, that was really my first step into an actual stage and into music and subsequently into Berklee college of music.
What is your creative process like?
It really depends on how i approach every song i make. It’s still kind of a messy process and I’m still working out a sort of balance on where to start first. But usually, i start with some combination of chords, and then i start arranging around those chords, actually the vocals usually come almost at the end, so i let the instrumental drive the feel of the song instead of the other way around. I think David Bowie put it in better words than me, but what I’m trying to say is that the music, the sound by itself, speaks louder and more clear than what lyrics and words can achieve.
You can listen to music in different languages and not understand a single word, but you can feel the emotion of the sounds even if you are from different cultures and backgrounds. So i try to rely on the sound first and try to create an atmospheric menagerie to convey my emotions.
With that said i always try to create a sort of space or “cradle” if you will, for the vocals, so everything can work in unison.
Im still learning, and my process is still changing, the more songs i go through the clearer image i will have of my creative process.
Your latest song is 'Out Of Time'. Can you tell us more about the making of it and if there were any unusual things happening during the process?
Yes of course, actually “Out of Time” started with a little melody that i had recorded quite a few years ago, i only had the intro with some vocals on it. I though it had some potential but i never got around to work on it until now.
It was the first time i actually started using more layering for my music, you know recording more than a single line of vocals to enrich the sound and the weight of my voice. So it was little bit daunting at first, trying to mesh all of the elements together.
I really wanted to play around with the 80s vibe, i always loved 80s music and it influences my music in a lot of ways. So it was a new experience trying to deal with those synths and trying to fuse everything with my own character.
Nothing really unusual happened, but in a sense when i started composing i wasn’t expecting my lyrics to take me in such a dark turn, its a mix of darkness with some hope at the end of the tunnel. So it became a very personal song, highlighting, more than the struggles in my life, my feelings about them. How i felt in the moment when things seemed to be crashing down on me.
What was the most difficult challenge you faced?
The brunt of the work really went into the mixing and mastering part of it all, i saw myself spending 9 hours in my studio sometimes, with my back killing me (i need a better chair!) and my ears fatigued, because the elements of the song just weren’t working along with each other. It was a big learning phase for me, between youtube videos and articles about mixing and mastering sometimes i just had to leave my studio and go and take a breath of fresh air for the next day. It got so frustrating i couldn’t continue the work unless i stopped and relaxed a little. All of this because i had a very clear idea of what i wanted, and i wanted to get as close to it as possible, keeping in my that i couldn’t stay in the phase forever.
What is the biggest mistake you have made within your career to this point?
Honestly my biggest mistake was a lack of discipline when it came to all the work i do, i got distracted very easily, sometimes just lost in the books that i read and in my own head, a lot of times life just got in the way. Not realizing the potential i had, not acting on it more quickly, surrendering to the crippling doubts in my head instead of pushing through.
How do you know when a work is finished?
It is my believe that a piece of music is never really finished. It’s only at a point that you have to tell yourself “this is enough” that you can even consider the piece as finished work. You have to decide when it’s finished.
Because you can always record something else, add and subtract something else, till infinity if you will. So I’m never really totally satisfied with my end product, i just have to think that i have to move on to the next project, cause if not i would be stuck with one song forever.
Do you have any hobbies or interests outside of music?
Yes! glad you asked that question, actually after music comes dancing. Hip hop, k-pop, modern dance, etc. I actually studied dance over at 1million dance studio in south Korea, it’s a passion that i lost a time ago and just realized it was still there hidden. When it comes to movement i love almost every sport.
I also loved theater and acting back in high-school, and I’m trying to get back into it as well.
Reading books and articles is a passion as well, not much about fantasy but about the sciences, psychology, history, technology, etc. Curiosity drives me.
Environmentalism and animal rights are big parts of me, and I’m always trying to spread the word about it either through social media or just among friends or people i know.
I have so many passions and interests it would honestly take me all day to write them down.
Do you have a mentor or coach?
I wish at some point i would have had one, learn the ropes of the business, but at-least until now i have not crossed paths with someone that could offer me somewhat of a sage advice, I’ve been basically doing a trial and error kind of plan, if you can call it that. Learning by myself everything i can. Trying things out and basically see what sticks and what doesn’t.
The closest idea of a mentor i had was a professor of mine at Berklee, sadly he was not in good health and passed away quickly so we never really had the time to form a stronger bond. I do thank him nonetheless for the understanding and the help he gave me.
What memorable responses have you had to your work?
Well, usually, and i don’t know why, i get the “wow is that your voice? doesn’t sound like you!” comment, but apart from that I’ve had really cool comments on my work, ranging from “your work deserves respect” to “this is definitely a hit” which just so you know it kinda never was!, I’m talking of another of my songs by the way. The most memorable one would be someone who said to me “when i grow up i want to be like you”, it kinda struck a chord. But mostly I’m happy to say it’s all been positive when it comes to that. I just try my best and well, negative or positive i take it as it comes.
Also while I’m at it, i just got voted for my distributors (distrokid) weekly Spotify playlist, which i guess says more of the song than any comment would, its a small win at that and it made my day.
What are your plans for the future?
I have a lot of plans for the future!, i think a good part of the day I’m daydreaming about it, but I’ve learn to stick either to the present or the immediate future and take it step by step, i would probably go crazy if i overthink too much about future plans.
Right now I’m working on getting my work to the right ears, building my presence online, either through instagram, twitter, youtube, etc. Im currently training quite a bit in the dance area so i can combine it with my music, Michael Jackson was a big influence on me, so you can see where that comes from.
Im also working on the next song, trying to find its theme, and what i want to convey. I already have the core instrumental running!
There might be some plans for my first music video actually, thats a whole enterprise just by itself! so stay tuned to see what happens.
And when it comes to the arts you really never know whats around the corner. So you just have to be prepared.