Episode 040: Chris Hierro
It’s a good day to hear that, IMO
On Wednesday, March 20 of 2020 music is not content, it’s connection. Welcome to the show. This is Play It Like It’s Music, I’m Trevor. Thanks for listening.
Break Out The Crazy has been releasing original music since 2016 but is really just getting started. I had the honor of speaking with them at their home studio in Brooklyn. Last week you heard Katya, this week is Chris Hierro. Keyboardist, producer and singer. It’s a treat, he’s a pro through-and-through.
But first let me tell you:
I’ve been in this pandemic, going through the solitude and the fear and the anxiety. I have heard from folks dealing directly with the disease and I’ve heard from folks dealing with economic disease. I want to say this again: at the lowest, most vulnerable and scary points of my life I turned to music and it saved me from making my own situation worse.
It’s not a palliative (though you can use it like that too). When I lived through excruciatingly difficult times like getting run over by a truck, having no home after 2008, carrying a broken heart around et cetera, I always felt a little saner, a little better at breathing and focusing after working on some music. I do music with the same rationale and commitment as a surfer, ball player or rock climber. It’s worth staying connected to in and of itself, there’s no contest and you don’t have to try to be a star.
You show up for it and it’ll show up for you.
That’s my story, but Chris’s story today is more about the method and heart. You can hear the commitment, but you can also hear what he’s built in a career where he’s cultivated a reputation for consistency and steady growth. I come to Break Out The Crazy’s music as a fan, a friend and as a listener and I marvel at the conduct of these two stellar partners in music.
Chris will tell you his own story, but he grew up in Washington Heights the son of a bandleader and producer during an important era of the music business and in touch with the ways it binds people together in art and in commerce. One of the ways I admire Chris is that the art and the commerce are one and the same. We talk about all of this, and much more. Check it out:
Press PLAY above to hear my conversation with Chris Hierro.
Thanks for listening to Play It Like It’s Music. Thanks to Chris for spending some very generous time with us. You can find him and Katya’s music at Break Out The Crazy dot com and on all the socials.
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We're all contending with a mutating professional landscape, jacked revenue streams, a catastrophic global pandemic and plenty of other noise out in the culture.
But you gotta keep playing.
We don't draw any lines here between scenes or styles.
As always, thank you for listening and remember to play it like its music.
You can check out my music on bandcamp and other places. It’s all at my website, trevorexter.com. Sign the mailing list on substack to get this show sent right to you the very moment it comes out. Consider hiring me to score your piece, do some cello, teach you lessons, produce your show or back you up onstage.
Music is a beautiful thing and it makes the world go round.
Big love to your ears.
Trevor
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