Meet Pxncho | Music Producer and Entrepreneur

We had the good fortune of connecting with Pxncho and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Pxncho, where are your from? We’d love to hear about how your background has played a role in who you are today?
I was born in Tecate, Mexico. Being a first generation immigrant family, I was exposed to different genres and styles of music growing up. It was a melting pot of influences stirred up in my head that drove me crazy for music. I was raised in San Diego, CA and started playing guitar at 9 years old. Studying the greats like Jimi Hendrix and Santana, which led me to the discovery of experimental sounds. It allowed me to gain interest in different mixing techniques. I decided I wanted to go to college and become a real musician, so I enrolled and was accepted into Berklee College of Music where I lived, breathed and was embraced by jazz. After my 4th year of living in Boston, I was walking through the snow one night and saw a drum machine through a local music shop window. I bought it, made a beat that week and sold it immediately. Ever since then, I’ve been obsessed with beats and have made a career out of my production.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
One thing I am proud of about my work, is that I can say with certainty that there are no limits or boundaries of what I can create. One of my influences in music and business, Jay Z, said “I believe everybody in the world is born with genius level talent.” To me that resonates to my core because so many people live their life unsure and insecure about their role in humanity. Purpose, is a major theme in my life. The lack of it in my younger years, and now my joy in finding out my purpose was happiness the whole time. My brand is based around finding greatness in an artist who I am working with. It is based on inspiring my peers and listeners to search for their own genius. The biggest challenge in any art form is not allowing outside influences to destroy your purity and child like innocence in your art. Nothing in life is easy, nothing in life is meaningless. If I was born with success handed to me, my purpose would be a hollow vase with no flowers inside. Despite having a degree in Electronic Music Production and Sound Design, or my credits in the music industry, what I am most proud of is that I will never give up on my vision. And my role in the world as an artist is simply to inspire people to not give up themselves.

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.
I reside in LA, so the first thing I would do if a friend visited would be to go get coffee. After a morning cup of coffee, I would take them to a local record store and dig for a few vinyl records. We would go to the store, get a bottle of wine, some Parmigiano Reggiano for snacks and head over to my apartment. We would search for a few samples and make some beats that we could shop to some artists. After a shot of tequila, I would take them to my favorite cigar shop in Montrose, Cigar Empire. Where we would buy a cigar and smoke it in their lounge as we play chess and reminisce on meaningless anecdotes and simpler times. After we get some work done, it would be fun to visit some of my favorite spots in LA. Venice beach, East LA at a bar called Xelas, watch a random DJ set in downtown, have another drink at The Naughty Pig on the sunset strip and drive through LA at night listening to Shlohmo.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
There is a book that saved my life called The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh. It explains how every single detail of life, no matter how small or mundane, should be appreciated and savored. In my early twenties I was moving around a lot, I didn’t fit in anywhere and I did not know my purpose. It was with this book, that I realized that the simple act of existing gave me the right to be proud of my life, no matter how uncertain my future was. I was able to fall in love with the present moment, which for too long I was afraid of.

Website: www.pxncho.com

Instagram: @pxnchobeats