Meet Cera Carino, Elton Salanic, Melissa Arana, Oscar Arana | Band

We had the good fortune of connecting with Cera Carino, Elton Salanic, Melissa Arana, Oscar Arana and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Cera, Elton, Melissa, Oscar, why did you pursue a creative career?
I decided to pursue a creative career because I was inspired by my favourite musicians. I love the music that my favourite artists create (such as Sir Chloe, Bayside, and Logic), and I wanted to create something that would be as cool, inspiring, and great as they have. – Elton

Ever since I was a child, I wanted to play music after watching my brothers take lessons. I tried different instruments, until I found my favourite: the piano.
I started posting covers of my favourite songs on instagram with both bass and piano, to which a local band invited me to join them. Eventually I moved to lead vocals, which is when I would consider my musical career to really begin, especially since I started american woman with my lead guitarist last July. While I’ve only been singing for a year, I love performing, connecting with our audience, and conveying emotions through my voice.- Cera

I pursued music because I believe it is an important part of our lives and there are many positive impacts from learning to play instruments even if it’s just for fun. It is very fulfilling to be able to perform music that people will enjoy at live shows. I strongly believe in keeping third spaces alive, which are social spaces between home and work for people to gather, because many of them are being closed. So I believe playing live shows is a good way to keep local music venues alive and let people socialize and listen to good music together. -Oscar

I pursued an artistic career because of my passion for creativity and self-expression. The process of making and playing music is very therapeutic for me, bringing a profound sense of fulfillment. One thing I really appreciate is the opportunity to meet other artistic people through music and constantly learning new things. I’m grateful to have the privilege of pursuing my passion and connecting with such a diverse and inspiring community.- Melissa

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
We are an indie band from LA that formed in July 2023. We’ve come a long way since we first started, facing the challenge of starting a project completely from scratch. Our band, american woman, was formed by Elton and Cera after a previous project they were part of fell apart.

From finding a bassist and drummer to getting our first show, we had no idea where to start. We made posts on Instagram, TikTok, and several other musician-finding websites in hopes that a drummer and bassist would see them and want to join. Thankfully, we were able to find a drummer through a mutual connection and a bassist through Instagram. After completing the band (vocalist, guitarist, drummer, and bassist), our first show came through our bassist. A member from one of their previous projects invited us to perform at a birthday celebration. This allowed us to get a feel for performing live with our new members and form connections with people within the local scene.

After realizing how expensive our first single, “Bats in the Belfry,” was to record in a studio, we decided to record the rest of our EP from home. Elton took on the challenge of learning to record and mix with almost no experience. After weeks of learning through free resources and practicing by mixing demos available online, he went on to produce the rest of the self-titled EP.

An exciting opportunity that found us while we were still new was writing an original song for an indie horror film called “Trolled SOS.” The producers asked for a song with a jazz feel to it, and while none of us had written jazz before, we thought it would be a good challenge. This project was also the first time we wrote together as a band. Until then, the songs we had were mainly written by Elton and Cera, but now we had to work collaboratively with the rest of the band. After getting together a couple of times and throwing out a lot of ideas, we came up with “Lake Casitas.” We showed it to the producers, and they (thankfully) loved it.

The most exciting point in our journey so far has been gaining traction on social media in December 2023. We posted content every day leading up to the release of our EP, and eventually, one of our posts amassed 1 million views. That post promised that every new follower would receive a thank-you message, and we did just that. For about a month, Elton and Cera sent thank-you messages to the roughly 10,000 followers we gained from it. Our Instagram inbox and feed became very glitchy due to the number of followers we were gaining every day, and we weren’t able to message everyone. We are very grateful for every single person that found us through that post and continues to support us!

After gaining thousands of followers, we had to make an unfortunate announcement to our newfound supporters: Cera had to go in for ear surgery. She had been dealing with partial deafness and debilitating vertigo for a while. We had been playing about two shows every week up until that point and were sad that we had to take a hiatus. Regardless of our almost two-month break, we still kept posting regularly and interacting with all of our supporters. Once we got back to playing in February, our fans were very supportive, for which we are incredibly grateful.

american woman has had a variety of bassists and drummers due to conflicting schedules; we meet up once a week for rehearsal and perform twice a week. Our newest members, Melissa and Oscar, are siblings. They live in Corona, a two-hour drive from where Elton and Cera are from (LA). The long drive for rehearsal is remedied by Elton and Cera carpooling to Corona one week, and Melissa and Oscar the other.

We love being part of the local band scene. Everyone is so supportive, and we love to show other bands the support that we had while we were still finding our footing in the community. We have met a lot of memorable people, from a couple of radio station owners who had us on their show to a variety of in-studio performances. We are grateful to get a chance to play at many iconic venues near us, such as the House of Blues, as well as playing all around California. Our musical journey is being documented through our vlogs that we post on YouTube, as well as a short documentary we created with the help of a couple of friends.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
LA is a large city with plenty to keep you occupied.

For starters, there are a variety of iconic music venues in the area. Some of the most notable are The Whiskey a Go Go, The Troubadour, the House of Blues, and the Wiltern.

If you’re a fan of museums you can check out The Natural History Museum, California Science Center, and LA Brea Tar Pits! There are plenty of dinosaur fossils, artifacts, and picnic areas scattered at these locations.

For something a little less directly in LA, you can checkout the San Fernando Valley. The SFV night market is a great place to walk around during the evening, and you can shop the variety of local businesses such as Midnight Records (for vinyls).

For the picnic lovers, you can check out some of the iconic parks such as Echo Park (with a huge beautiful lake), Hollywood Lake Park (with a great view of the Hollywood sign), and Griffith Park Observatory.

Food is something that LA does NOT miss with. If you haven’t tried it yet, In n Out burger is delicious. Jesse’s Grind and Joe’s Cafe are two coffee shops with excellent coffee. The Hungry Fox is a breakfast spot with the best chicken and waffles you’ll ever try! Los Tres Hermanos is a Mexican food spot with delicious tacos and burritos.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Shoutout to my family for being supportive of my passion for music, as well as Bayside for constantly being a source of inspiration. Most importantly, I want to give a shoutout to our fans, their support means the most to me because this wouldn’t be possible without any of them. -Elton

I want to thank my brother Gabe and my best friend Ani for encouraging me to continue posting covers, as that gave me the confidence to be able to perform! -Cera

I want to thank my family and people closest to me for always giving me the support and encouragement I need to keep moving forward, improve, and to keep pursuing music. -Oscar

I want to dedicate my shoutout to my parents and family for always supporting me, and my friends for their constant encouragement to strive for greater things. I also want to recognize myself for the hard work and dedication I’ve put into becoming a musician. -Melissa

Website: https://www.americanwomanband.com/music

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/americanwoman_band/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfmuIlggebHLZZYKRnO5bbw

Other: Our music is available to stream through all streaming platforms through the link provided in the “website” input.

Image Credits
Joe Akira @asianjo
Faith Chapman @faithchapmanphotgraphy