Today we’d like to introduce you to Gxldxn.
Hi Gxldxn, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
In 2012, I had started my senior year of high school at Independence High School in Glendale(Go patriots) & I was just over it to be honest, three weeks in I decided to drop out. At the time, I got a lot of pushback from it, I still do, because I was close to graduating but I was just tired if I’m being honest. I also knew that what I wanted to do in life wasn’t in school & I just felt out of place in school. I had a hard time focusing & was just overall uninterested, so I left.
I took a year off just enjoying my newfound freedom from schedules & routine just trying to figure it what next & I eventually got my GED thanks to the YMCA.& through that program was able to revive my first laptop as a gift for finishing the program & that’s really where it started but I have to give the backstory because I wouldn’t have gotten to that point if I didn’t take that leap of leaving schooling behind. I started playing with music programs like FL Studio and what not just learning about music & absorbing music because I’ve always had that love of music as far as I can remember.
My life has been in musical phases if as I really sit here and think back on it. Anyway, I eventually convinced my mom to buy me a Maschine, god rest her soul, & I was off Making instrumentals. Maschine is a groove production studio as Native Instruments refers to it. Basically, it’s a beat pad hardware/software combination of a music program that I absolutely love. After a year or so of making beats and getting better at it, I started showing them to friends and sharing on SoundCloud & I got good feedback from them and naturally started finding myself around more & more writers & performers & just started building relationships I still hold dear.
Eventually, I got the idea to start engineering since I had all these friends & I had instrumentals so why not record on them & I got decent at that and had a decent bedroom studio & word just spread & I started doing paid recording sessions pretty often for all types of locals & it was a good time. I was also DJIng still wherever I could so I’d go to events & DJ & just bring my friends with & meet other likeminded friends & a scene started to form. This was around 2015 probably so at the time there weren’t as many locals doing they’re thing as there is now so it was new for all of us to have a collective of people actually supporting each over rather than competing. From 2015 to about 2018 that’s what I kept doing.
Kept recording, kept DJIng, going to events & throwing events & just overall getting out there in the local scene. In about 2017 I threw the first Mixer, which was a title I came up with for my events. The idea was to throw an event to get any & all local artists under one building to network & inspire collaboration & support. Just a kind of you’re not alone thing. This year in January I did Mixer 5 which was the last one as I felt it was time to move on to something different. From the Mixers, I threw I learned a lot about networking & how business works & how to organize events on a bigger scale with lots of moving parts. It was because of those events that I decided to invest in my own sound equipment to throw events on my own with full creative control because at the time we were relying on others to provide sound & it was just not worth the trouble.
Now, in 2021 I’m still organizing events & investing into what I plan on becoming a production company on the scale of Insomniac of EDC fame. I’m still working with locals to help put on great events & great relationships that continue to bless me today. I’ve had the honor of working with some pretty big names lately not even on a local level anymore & it’s crazy to really take it in & realize like, yo, I really have some influential people calling me or mentioning me on social media. It’s been a long, uncertain ride, but it has played out better than I have imagined & I believe that’s in part because I genuinely do love my community & if I’m in a position to help others, which I am, then I have a responsibility to do that. That mindset has really brought me so much abundance in life & beyond all my achievements that’s the real point to it. To help others to help yourself.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
It definitely has not been a smooth road but that’s the risk of being an entrepreneur. The unknown. The leaps of faith. There are always moments that can make you feel defeated or question why you’re even putting so much into something that isn’t giving back right away, but you have to look at your wins more than your losses because it’s the wins that make the difference. They’re not always big wins so you can’t see it in a selfish way. It really helps me to get other’s feedback because what you take for granted sometimes is a totally new experience for someone else & that’s what counts. There’s always going to be bad investments & good investments & you won’t always know right away. It takes many failures to get to one success, but hey, I’m not try ping this on an iPhone because Steve Jobs gave up.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I dabble in all types of things to be honest. Anything art I’d love to try, but basically, I started with DJing & music, but even before then as a kid, I would always draw. I haven’t in so long though but it’s not something you lose I suppose. I eventually got into photography also, I’ve shot a lot of people at this point. That also took off unexpectedly. I enjoy it. I think images can tell stories. I’ve edited a few short videos. Directed a few also. I’d love to write a success film someday. Let’s see.
These days, I’m really focused on sound. I’m in the process of starting an event production/sound company under the name Saguaro Blossom Productions & basically I rent out my sound set up for local shows or events. I’ve had the pleasure of working with lots of locals I admire like Kor Capital of Valley Club Records, Hunter & the boys at Nowadays Creative Lab, Bayymack of course, JD at City Of Fire. It’s been nuts, but fun. It’s still in the early stages & it’s my baby right now so I’m nurturing & seeing where it’ll go. It’s been a busy second half of the year & I’m enjoying it & love working with my community FOR our community.
What’s next?
As of right now, I just plan on riding this new opportunity to it’s extent. I hope to open a club one day if we ever move past COVID, but as of now, the landscape is rocky so making plans seems moot. Just enjoying what I have I suppose. Haha.
Pricing:
- For smaller private parties or events 150$
- Bigger events up to 300 people 300$
Contact Info:
- Email: Gxldxn@gmail.com
- Instagram: Instagram.com/gxldxn95
- Twitter: twitter.com/gxldxn95
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/DyR3vcgV4ikZfomT7
- Other: https://linktr.ee/Gxldxn95
