GILBERT CASTILLO
It’s a convoluted journey from playing the cello in grade school to singing in a dance cover band. I actually “came out of the shower” in 2001 thanks to Sharon Ankiewicz, the wife of our former keyboard player, John. Sharon & I were part of a group of store managers in Tucson for OfficeMax that traveled to Phoenix for quarterly meetings. The bar near our hotel hosted karaoke and she talked me into singing a duet with her – I was petrified. I survived, worked up the nerve to start singing solo and after a few more outings Sharon asked if I would be interested in singing in her husband’s band.
John extended an invitation and I met the gang in Khang’s (Nguyen, our bass player) garage. After a tentative start, I worked my way from background harmonies to lead vocals. Ironically, Khang was playing bass in my church’s band, mentioned that the band needed a male singer. I attended a rehearsal and was asked if I could handle a solo. The following Sunday I sang “professionally” for the first time in public – 950 eyeballs watching me – I thought the karaoke was tough.
In May of 2001 my wife told me her pre-school’s carnival could use a band and asked if we would be interested. John & Khang have been in numerous bands but we had never performed in public. “Sure, why not.” As the date approached she began fielding questions. Fellow Teachers: “What kind of music do they play?” Joanne: “I’m not sure.” Fellow Teachers: “Are they any good?” Joanne: “I don’t know, I’ve never heard them.” Now Joanne was working on how she could distance herself if we bit the big one. I guess they figured we would show up with a boom box and a Mr. Microphone but we lugged in enough equipment to impress them. At that point we only felt confident in about 8 of our songs so we just repeated the set. Luckily, the constantly moving mass of pre-school kids proved enough of a distraction and enough people came and went to prevent our limited repertoire from being an issue.
From there it was a matter of confidence – it was intimidating singing with musicians with years of experience but they let me hang around since I was starting to book more gigs and we started getting paid. I never said it, but at that point, I was happy to play & sing for free just for the experience. Steve Swinehart joined us and provided a strong lead guitar and after Bob Diedrich joined up we were able to incorporate three part harmonies behind a lead voice. Singing in my church band and with these guys accelerated the development of my musical ear – leads are a blast, but so is weaving a tight vocal harmony. I grew up in Texas so I heard a lot of country, and my dad loved the blues, Sinatra & Tex-Mex/Norteno music. I also discovered Bill Haley & Louis Jordon while I was high school so I listened to that along with Creedence and even some Black Sabbath. I want songs that make people sit up and, better yet, get them up on dance floor. It’s also a kick when the audience sings along. None of my family knew this was a lifelong dream, and I still find it hard to believe I’m getting the opportunity. It’s a total blast. I haven’t quit my day job, though! I have my own agency with State Farm.