Today we’d like to introduce you to Sohlin Partida.
Hi Sohlin, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Music has been a constant in my life for as long as I can remember. I started learning guitar in high school and played on and off up to my joining the band, Shysters. But even before then, especially metal music was a crutch for me when tween angst consumed me, as it does all of us at that age. After joining the band I focused on trying to get my vocals acceptable, before bass was even introduced in Shysters. We started off as a 3 piece with no bass (our guitarist Evan going through a bass cab and guitar cab to create some of the missing low end), drummer, vocals, guitar. My bass journey started after we decided we were limiting ourselves by not having a bassist. No one was interested in adding a member, so I stepped up to the plate. Since then we have just focused on building a brand, an audience, and damn good music. House shows turned into little bars, and little bars turned into venues. Now we are working on an album and have more opportunities by the day. We have a long way to go, but we are pretty proud of us keeping it together through all of the obstacles we have endured together.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Over the last month alone we have faced a lot of new challenges. When you are dedicated to something, sometimes your personal life and professional life leak into each-other unwillingly. Passionate people create passionate problems, and the music scene is full of passionate problems. In my last interview, I talked about how your relationships within the scene can make or break your band. You keep friends close, and choose carefully who you associate with. I don’t think a lot of people know how much pressure that can put on your personal life, especially a partner. And money; isn’t it always about money? We’ve had equipment stolen, left unpaid for shows, and lost our day jobs. Money is one of the biggest hurtles for any creative. That’s why every little band in the world is gonna stand in front of their crowd and beg you to buy a T-Shirt. There is loads of competition, especially in Austin, your shirt can’t just be good it has to be quality, so does your live performance, so does your recorded music, and it’s gonna cost ya. Fuel: $30 parking: $20 cab blows up: $300 literally 2 hours in a recording studio: $2000 and it keeps coming.
Sleep is a thing of the past. Wake up at 8am, get to work, work till 5pm (if you’re lucky) go home and change before the show, try and eat something that wont make you hurl on stage, load-in is 4 hours before you go on (if you’re lucky), finally play, load out, wait to get paid, get home, it’s 2am, rinse, repeat.
And is it worth it? Well it depends. If you could happy doing anything else, do that. But every time I close my eyes I see the fruits of my labor unfold, and I see the light at the end of this long tunnel.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
There are a lot of bands out there. There are a hell of a lot of bands in Austin. But consistency and effort are key in this city. Whether you decide to just get on as many bills as you can, or you are putting out mountains of recorded music, or making tons of online content. However you decide to do it, you have to stand out somehow through action, not just writing. Good music is important, don’t get me wrong. But the relationships you build in the scene and your efforts to stay relevant can make or break a band.
Shysters has stood out for a couple of reasons, one is our lineup. Female fronted bands in a sausage fest of a music industry will already turn eyes, but especially in genres like metal and punk. Unfortunately, there is still a lot of hate out there about women in bands but especially in these genres as people often don’t find a women can provide the power that a man can vocally. That being said, when a women steps up to the plate and faces a crowd without fear, it is noticed, and I feel, appreciated in the scene.
Our music is aggressive and catchy, which is a weird combination. I think that there are a lot of young people that are infuriated and disappointed by the way their world has been built around them. Disappointed by politics, paychecks, relationships. We like to build off of that frustration, and create something meaningful, especially for our generation. Our music is about overcoming problems that people can relate to, and that is the goal of punk , in my opinion.
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
The hardest job I ever had was as a Service Advisor at a car dealership. Which, if unfamiliar, is usually a job involving managing a team of mechanics and working jobs through the shop by communicating between the techs, customers, insurance, extended warranty companies, etc. My mentor at the time and Service Drive Manager, god bless him, was probably more stressed out than I was on any given day. But there is something particularly impossible about the design of a job like this. And there were times that overwhelmed was an understatement, which after years of having my job, was a feeling he was more than familiar with. On a particularly mind-melting day of chaos, I came to him panicked. I went through a long stream of problems that intertwined into an even bigger problem that I had no idea how to fix. As I continued to ramble incoherently he stopped me. He had seen this familiar meltdown many times before. He uttered a very simple phrase; “Hey” he said “One thing at a time.”
Right.
It calmed me… one thing at a time. The first most pressing matter, then move to the next. It’s not all going to be fixed now, but we can pick our battles and take care it all one step at a time. There’s been a few times I’ve had to come back to this simple rule. I’m a go getter, someone who wants to do it all and have it done yesterday. When I’m in too deep on something, there is much to do, the world is caving in, there’s not enough time. I take a deep breath and remember that.
The world is overwhelming as it is, and there are so many things working against you , especially if you’re a dreamer. But you have to start with what’s in front of you, and move on to the next, one thing at a time. Thanks Mark, he probably doesn’t even remember that.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/shystersband
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shystersband/
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5lJYHISVZYdK7ExME1rv43
Image Credits
our photographers: Luna Lockhardt @lockhardtphoto Benji Frey @benjifrey Tom Egan @thomaseganphotography Troy Gonzales @dellaluna67
