BY KAI HUGESSEN
When it comes to artistic minds, El Camino is certainly no barren wasteland.
With dedicated talent in the fields of visual, performing and literary arts, El Camino thrives in putting the innovation and imagination of its top students into the world.
Some of the best and brightest talent, however, comes from those gifted in music. One such student is the focus of today’s Camino Student Profile: Juan Pablo “Jomps” Real.
Juan Pablo is an 11th-grade student with a passion for making music and an energy for making it great. I sat down with him one sunny afternoon to have a chat and find out a little more about what makes this up and coming artist tick.
Juan Pablo started his career last year, near the very start of 2019. He had been working previously on perfecting his craft, using tools such as Garage Band to mix together beats and sounds.
“It’s very lo-fi,” he said to me, scratching his head as we sat in the meagre shade of a slender tree.
“[For vocals], I only use my microphone from my headphones.”
Juan Pablo’s music, both carefree and experimental, only uses these two tools. He’s a consistent contributor to the lo-fi genre, which emphasizes simple tools and sounds to make music that’s “low fidelity”.
Juan Pablo is among many lo-fi artists who use what’s available to them in order to create music, rather than investing in instruments and microphones. It’s innovative and endearing.
However, Juan Pablo is also skilled in some of the more conventional instruments of the craft.
“I started with music about 5 years ago, when I got my ukelele. So I know how to play the ukelele, the piano and some guitar.”
These skills have proven useful when he teams up with other musicians, such as when playing in the school band.
“I’m a people person,” he said, “Music is really all about making connections with people.”
However, he’s sure to keep his Jomps music as a solo artist pronouncedly different from his band work.
This plays into the way he approaches his solo music.
“For now, it’s a hobby.”
Juan Pablo made sure to clarify that he didn’t have many expectations from his work, he does it because he enjoys it. But, he’s also said that if his music goes viral or he can find a career that integrates his music.
“That would be my dream.”
When I asked him about what advice he would give to anyone who had that same dream, he had only this to say:
“Don’t think about it too much. Because that happened to me. If I would have started [back when I first had the idea], I would have had my music two years ago. But I didn’t. I thought about it too much and I didn’t think it was good enough. And you’re not going to be good on your first song, believe me, you’re not. It’s a random process, it’s a thing you get better at the more you do it.
If you’re interested in Juan Pablo’s music, you can find him as “Jomps” on Soundcloud, Spotify and Apple Music.