Today we’d like to introduce you to Josh Villarreal.
Hi Josh, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for sharing your story with us – to start, maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers.
I’m a California-born, Texas-based musician working mostly in Austin and San Antonio. A native of Los Angeles, I grew up in the artistic and eclectic beach community of Venice in Los Angeles. From an early age, I expressed interest in the arts with a love for film and music. At the age of ten, I began playing guitar, followed by piano, and soon after, I began learning as many instruments as possible and can now play fifteen instruments. I started professionally playing music in 2008 and have since worked in several bands as well as a singer-songwriter, producer, film composer, and artist manager. I am a prolific songwriter with a catalog in many different styles and genres; I have written hundreds of songs for my musical projects, other bands, solo artists, and other musical projects. In 2011, I teamed up with producer Gordon Raphael, known for his work with New York City-based band The Strokes and solo artist Regina Spektor. Together, we opened a recording studio in San Antonio and attempted to start a record label, but the label never came to fruition. Frustrated with lacking personal artistic growth, I began writing songs for what would become Datant. 2014, I founded the band Datant, acting as the group’s only permanent member, chief principal songwriter, producer, and manager. At this time, I began to experience some success, touring extensively, playing sold-out shows and showcases, and working in several recording studios with Anthony Braun Perry and Scott Montoya, formerly of Costa Mesa-based indie rock band The Growlers. For Datant, I worked extensively in the studio, playing all the instrumental parts except the drums. I then began releasing songs.
During the 2020 global pandemic, however, things came to a grinding halt. With this, I took the time to recoup from the extensive touring as I had become exhausted, had overworked myself, and had fallen back into an old trap: heroin. Over the last few years, I have focused heavily on recovery and mostly solely on songwriting and producing. I have recently ventured back into film scoring, with several film projects lined up. In 2023, I began attending Nashville-based recording studio and school Dark Horse Institute, choosing to take the music business online course with famed studio 880 owner John Lucasey as my instructor. At this time, I was asked by Texas country singer and solo artist Marcy Grace to manage her career, and after being encouraged by Lucasey, I took on the role. After finishing school, I interned with Lucasey’s management company, Lucasey Getter Creative Management, where I assisted Lucasey’s clients/artists with their needs. For the last few months, I have also been helping the band NOLO with various things. I first watched NOLO at a local show at the recovery center Recovery Unplugged, as they do concerts now and again, and was so impressed with them that I asked them if he could assist them in pursuing a record deal. With all these projects and various things to do, I am constantly busy but always up for new, exciting, and creative things.
Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Heroin addiction plagued me for many years and almost ruined my whole life. In 2018, I was negotiating a recording contract with a label based out of Los Angeles, but I was so severely addicted that I ruined that. After that, I went on a rampage and gave music up for quite some time. In 2021, it all came to a grinding halt when my brother passed away from an overdose, which was my breaking point. I got sober and started working on my recovery. After I felt well enough, I began pursuing music again. Since then, I’ve been doing everything from writing songs to scoring films to producing music for other artists.
Thanks for sharing that. So, you could tell us a bit more about your work.
I’m a Producer/Singer-songwriter/Film composer/Artist Manager/Music Video Director. Many people in the music industry are multi-talented in many different areas. Still, what sets me apart, I would say, is I not only learn things pretty quickly, but I also won’t start a project until I know I’ve reached my maximum potential. For example, I taught myself how to edit music videos by becoming familiar with Final Cut Pro in about a week. I immediately started editing videos for various artists and projects. Before this year, I had also never written a song outside of my genre but an opportunity to write songs for other artists, and now I’ve written everything from country music to alt-rock to R&B and so on.
Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the COVID-19 crisis?
Anything at any time can happen out of nowhere. Tell your forever people you love them constantly, and never take anything for granted. Covid was a terrifying and strange time for me because my drug addiction was at its worst, and instead of spending time with my family, mainly my brother, I was off being selfish and isolated on my own when I could have been with him.
Pricing:
- Available upon request
Contact Info:
- Website: https://joshdatant.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshdatant/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-villarreal-20922a229
Image Credits
Photo credits are Kimberly Farnell, Haleigh Villarreal and Myself
