Nostalgia

Rhythm guitarist & Composer/Producer

Nostalgia Chromatic Dreamers Rhythm Guitarist

Believer

About Nostalgia

AGE: 30
HOMETOWN: Toronto, Canada
ETHNICITY: Grenadian
RELIGION: Christian

FAVOURITE ANIMES: Digimon, Attack on Titan, Given, Haikyuu!, K-ON!!, Angel Beats, My Hero Academia, Sound Euphonium, Assassination Classroom, A Place Further Than The Universe, Bocchi The Rock!

MUSICAL INFLUENCES/FAVOURITE ARTISTS:

CHRISTIAN/GOSPEL ARTISTS (Listening/Exploring birth to 2012, and 2024-): Donnie McClurkin, James Fortune, Fred Hammond, Kirk Franklin, Carlene Davis, The Winans, CeCe Winans, Matt Redman, Travis Greene, Israel & New Breed

JAPANESE ARTISTS (Listening/Exploring between 2006-2023): One OK Rock, Official Hige Dandism, Spyair, Kouji Wada, The Oral Cigarettes, Nico Touches The Wall, Burnout Syndromes, Polkadot Stingray, Centimillimental, Asian Kung-Fu Generation, Yui, Ace Collection, Frederic, Stereopony, Scandal, FliP

WESTERN ARTISTS (Listening/Exploring between 2006-2014): Hilary Duff, Hannah Montana, Demi Lovato, High School Musical, Camp Rock, Barenaked Ladies, Cheetah Girls, Lemonade Mouth, Bridgit Mendler, Zac Brown Band, Various songs from Guitar Hero/Band Hero

KPOP GROUPS (Listening/Exploring/Dancing between 2011-2021): Griend, F(x), Twice, Crayon Pop, Orange Caramel, Wonder Girls, SHINee, Sistar, BTS, 4Minute, Mamamoo, Got7, Red Velvet, Stellar, AOA

 

My Performance History

While I may be new to guitar, I have been partaking in performance arts since childhood, such as keyboard, clarinet, and viola. I got to perform independently on the piano at church and viola at school. 

My choir performed at Roy Thompson Hall, and my drum line performed at Massey Hall, Juno Hoops, and other events in my city, Toronto. I also took part in our school’s Little Shop of Horrors musical production. I’ve also danced and performed at as cheerleader. 

With the anime cover band I created (Chromatic Dreamers Band Project), I got to perform at the Japanese Culture Centre during the Pretty Heroes Convention twice, at See-Scape hosted by Dolly Momoiro’s Idol Revolution hosted at See-Scape, and at Mississauga Celebration Square for Japan Fest 2023. More recently, I’ve been recruited to be the guitarist for a church plant. 

All in all, I’m someone who values being part of a team, whether as the leader or as a member. I am someone who practices diligently to ensure I can play a piece perfectly and consistently. I know how much pressure the stage adds, so I prefer to be prepared and be someone my group can rely on. 

I also have some backend experience as I’ve assisted with my old church’s A/V booth for a couple years, and learned production (Fruity Loops) back in school. I was just gifted FL Studio recently and I started releasing some original instrumental music. 

Toronto Drumline High School Performing
Nostalgia Cheerleader at High School

Packed & Ready To Go

Since my main goal as a guitarist was to perform, I have invested quite a bit to insure I had the tools required. I know how to clean and change strings for my guitars. As of April 2023, I own these items: 

GUITARS: Ibanez S Standard, Epiphone Les Paul Special, Jasmine Acoustic-Electric. 

GUITAR ADD-ONS: Roland Mini Cube Amp, Snark Super Tight Chromatic Tuner, Capos.

PEDALS: BOSS Distortion, Amazon Overdrive, Sonicake Noise Wiper, FLAMMA Preamp, DONNER Reverb, Delay, and Mod Square. 

PERFORMING TOOLS: Variety of Earplugs (2 Loop Quiet, Bernafon Molded EarPlugs, Disposable Foam Plugs), Soundbrenner Core Steel Metronome/Tuning Watch, Getaria Wireless Guitar System

RECORDING TOOLS: Focusrite Scarlett Interface, Audio-Technica Condenser Microphone, FL Studio

As for learning songs, I can get through and remember most songs in a day (less than an hour for just rhythm/chords), but I do prefer at least 3 days to really familiarize myself with the song itself and work out the kinks. If the song is faster or contains new chords and complex progressions (which is common in Japanese music), I would like at least a week or more. 

Beginner Pedal Board

Anything truly is possible if you believe in yourself, trust in God, and take action! Let me prove that to you.

- Nostalgia

My Musical Autobiography

Music Exposure & School Life

Growing up, I was exposed to various kinds of music. My music classes would usually play classical or traditional pieces. My father had a box full of records and he’d play Michael Jackson, The Four Tops, Saturday Night Fever, Bob Marley, and even some Italian artists. My mother would play female greats like Mariah Carey and Celine Dion on her CDs. I’d be exposed to Gospel music at home and at church every Saturday/Sabbath (SDA). My older brother would blast his hip hop and rap music, and my lil sis came to love R&B and soul. Of course Pop was always on the radio, and I’d hear Calypso and Reggae at extended family parties and on trips to the Caribbean. 

In elementary school, I had yet to hear anything I truly loved and connected with outside of Gospel music. While I may hear songs here and there that I’d want to save for myself, nothing really spoke to me. Regardless, I loved music class, playing instruments, and even singing in school. My parents both played the keyboard casually, and they put me in keyboard lessons for a few months when I was about 5 or 6. I later had my own Yamaha keyboard which I could learn songs off of, and I’d play it casually for many years. Sometimes I’ll find an anime piece I really wanted to learn, and I’d spend weeks working through it, memorizing as I go along, but I never practiced to perfection, I was happy just mostly having it down. 

I learned to play the recorder in elementary school, and upgraded to clarinet between Grade 6-9. I was in my high school’s drum line for 2 years, and also took after school viola lessons with a teacher for on year. Music was never a popular subject among my peers, so there was no band class to join after grade 10, so I took music/computers in Grade 11 which taught me some production on FruityLoops, and keyboard in Grade 12. It was always my favourite class and I was involved in other extracurriculars that surrounded music like choir, music council, drama club (for a musical one year), and cheerleading. 

Nostalgia's High School Drum Line Performing At Juno Hoops

How I Got Into Japanese Music

As mentioned earlier, I was exposed to various genres and artists in my elementary years, but nothing really appealed to me. In Grade 6 (Middle School), thanks to a music group project, I was introduced to Hilary Duff and she is the first non-Christian artist that I would consider myself a fan of. She had more encouraging and positive music, and I found out I really loved rock/pop-rock. I came to love other Disney channel stars and groups like Cheetah Girls, Demi Lovato, Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana, Camp Rock, and High School Musical. 

The same school year I discovered Hilary Duff, I decided to give Digimon a second chance. My brother watched it, but it was probably the only show that my 5yo self found quite terrifying. I watched Dragonball Z, Yugioh, and Sailormoon…but Digimon had ugly monsters with missiles, and the kids would actually be scared and get hurt, and they were crying to go back home to their mommies. Thankfully, Digimon was on a channel I didn’t watch, as I was a YTV, Teletoon, and later, Family channel kid, while Digimon aired on Fox Kids. 

So when my family had the internet for a bit, and Youtube was live, I watched the series on there and I fell in love. The kids were very relatable, and it taught me a lot of positive morals and lessons. After a while, the ‘Digimon Japanese Opening’ kept popping up in the recommendation section. I decided to check it out and I was blown away. Compared to the simple rap version that was used for English, the Japanese was musically intriguing, and the lyrics were very beautiful. Outside of Hilary Duff and a few rock hits like “We Will Rock You”, I really had no idea of what rock could be like, but my mind was blown away! The future openings were just as amazing! I had to do research and that’s when I found out the show, along with all my other favourite childhood ‘cartoons’ were actually anime from Japan. 

This was a huge pivotal moment in my life. I got very curious about Japan and why they were able to create such beautiful music and touching shows that had a lasting impact on me. I’ve been obsessed with the little island since. While I did continue to watch anime now and then (it was hard due to lack of internet over the years, I even committed to downloading episodes at the library to watch later for a few years), I was definitely more interested in the music. Digimon confirmed that rock or pop rock music was truly my favourite genre, BUT it needed to be combined with very interesting chord progressions, along with meaningful and/or encouraging messages. 

It was very hard finding Japanese music and artists then, so my main source was through animes. If I heard an opening or closing I liked, I would try to find other songs by that artists and download them on an MP3. Some of my first favourite artists were Kouji Wada, Asian Kung-Fu Generation, Yui, and Puffy Amiyumi. It was also quite hard to explore as I didn’t always have internet at home over the years, but the songs I did have in my humble collection, I treasured and rarely ever got tired of them. I also discovered more songs and artists through arcade games like Dance Dance Revolution, and through Jpop/Vocaloid dance covers. 

In Grade 10, after really getting into the Angel Beats soundtrack, I was a little annoyed. I really wanted to understand the lyrics without always having to look up translations all the time, and that was my trigger to actually start learning the language. My last 2 years of high school, I printed out all I could find to study at home and I made great progress. Then, in my year at York University (1 year scholarship), I took a Japanese class which I aced somewhat easily as I had a decent foundation beforehand, though I was certainly challenged more near the end. It was a great opportunity to finally practice speaking and to ask questions. 

Why I Picked Up Guitar

I retired from music in my final year of high school because I figured I didn’t have any natural talent, wasn’t proficient at any instrument, and didn’t have a future in it anyways. I knew it was a risky and competitive field, and since my family struggled, I wasn’t willing to compete when I became aware that I sucked. Other kids could play by ear, improvise, create, but it took a lot of time and energy just to cover a song. However, when looking for a hobby, music was always attractive. I thought it would be cool to master an instrument….but which one? 

As an adult, I purchased a violin, ocarina, and harmonica, but since they were quite loud, I couldn’t practice at all since I shared a room and lived in a small apartment. I didn’t want to annoy my family or be clowned on for making mistakes. Later on, remembering my band dream, I tried bass, but I had yet to appreciate the instrument, and re-sold it. I then considered drums more seriously, buying sticks and a pad, putting my drum line skills to use, but without space for a kit, it would be hard to practice coordination.  

2016 was a weird year for me. I had no internet at home, so I would usually play on my Nintendo DS or Wii or just waste my evenings lying around. After playing Guitar Hero in the arcade at the movie theatre a couple of times , I decided to buy a used version to play at home on my Wii. Later that year, I also ended a relationship and no longer had anything to do on the weekend. I did really like Guitar Hero, so I considered learning the real thing….but I was always very against the instrument. It felt like everyone could play it, and I didn’t want to work hard just to be average…but I still had my band dream and thought it could help me bring that dream to life. I loved that it could work with others or be played alone (unlike bass). So after enough consideration, I bought a used guitar in early 2017. 

When an electric guitar is unplugged, It is quiet enough that you can hear it without disturbing others, which made it easy to play everyday after my evening shift, even with my sister sleeping in the same room, so I consistently played and practiced it for months. I printed out chords and tabs at work, and thanks to the layout of the fretboard, I was able to see patterns for the first time and actually apply music theory I learned in school, being able to improvise confidently for the first time. I was ecstatic and felt a spark that I never felt with a previous instrument. So I was really excited about the potential of guitar, having an instrument that could play solos and chords, and that was easy to transpose. 

Nostalgia dreaming of being on stage posing empty venue

My Guitar Learning Journey

The journey has certainly had it’s ups and downs. 6 months in, I wasn’t sure where to go next so I invested in private lessons. He saw a lot of improv potential the first and second class, and he sent me home to learn a song by ear for homework. I came back learning it in the lower frets which is the only place I really played so far. I also couldn’t really hear the use of bends or slides just yet, nor did I ever really play with distortion to practice muting since I always played unplugged. 

When I played my cover for him, He said it was ‘all wrong’, showed me where and how to play it, and expected me to play it on the spot at full speed. I did my best, but would always be flat on a bend or an open string would ring out. He said how I’ll have to start from the beginning with my guitar playing and I got discouraged. I said I’ll come back when I learned what he taught, but I just didn’t really care to play anymore, so I packed my guitar up. 

The next couple years was enlightening for me. I did my first solo trip ever to Japan in 2018 and got to see my guitar friend on stage again. In 2019, I got to dance on stage with Dolly Momoiro and the THS dance team, and went to my first concert to see my favourite band, ONE OK ROCK a few days later. I was feeling inspired, courageous, and I realized, the band dream didn’t wasn’t as far as I thought. So for my 2020 New Year Resolution, I picked up the instrument again. We had internet at this point, so I was exploring Youtube, but it was overwhelming. I started getting Guitar Trick ads and gave it a shot, and it’s been one of the best decisions. Short and concise videos with a clear learning path, and it helped me fill the holes in my foundation. A bit after, I started my Instagram, Key2Nostalgia, where I’d upload clips of what I was working on and my currently playing ability. 

Covid started a bit after, and I decided this was a great opportunity to get the band thing going. I knew it wouldn’t be just a few months, so what better time for people to practice than when they are forced to stay home and paid to do nothing? I found a couple alliances who were down to join me, but couldn’t find another as they wanted to meet before committing. I did play quite a bit in this time, but also took months off to build my career, work on this blog, and try other business ideas, but it’s certainly been a lot of growth as I put the band dream together.