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<\/p>\nEven before he first picked up an instrument, The Philharmonik (born Christian Gates) was a serious music lover. \u201cI was listening to a lot of \u201870s music, he says. \u201cBut I wasn\u2019t allowed to listen to hip hop; it was the thing I listened to in secret, to rebel.\u201d And he went deeper than merely listening. \u201cI\u2019d read all the credits, see who was producing,\u201d he recalls. That was especially true when he immersed himself into hip hop. \u201cI\u2019d find out where the samples were coming from,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd then I\u2019d listen to those songs. So hip hop played a huge role in my returning back to the classics.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those classic include an eclectic assortment of the very best: Stevie Wonder, Jimi Hendrix and even Elton John. Listening to The Philharmonik\u2019s music, keen listeners may hear the influence of Donny Hathaway. \u201cWhen I was a child, one of the first CDs I got was a compilation,\u201d he recalls. \u201cSo I grew up on a lot of Bobby Caldwell, Christopher Cross, Prince\u2026 all of those are right down my alley.\u201d<\/p>\n
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During his Cleveland, Ohio youth, The Philharmonik was also immersed in other musical forms; he learned piano and studied classical music, and he sang in a choir. \u201cThose things gave me a foundation,\u201d he says. \u201cThey gave me a head start when I wanted to create. When I started making my own music, I already knew how to play piano and sing, so all I had to do was write.\u201d He believes that his musical self-sufficiency developed in large part thanks to those formative years of study.<\/p>\n
The Philharmonik believes that in today\u2019s music world, there are only two paths to success. \u201cYou either have to have a plethora of talents that you can use, a very wide skill set,\u201d he suggests, or you have to have a lot of money so you can bring in people who have that skill sets. \u201cAnd let me tell you,\u201d he says with a smile, \u201cI do not<\/i> have the money.\u201d<\/p>\n
In high school, The Philharmonik enrolled in a MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) class. MIDI is a technical standard that allows multiple digital instruments to communicate, synchronize and work together. For a self-sufficient, multi-instrumentalist in the tradition of Stevie Wonder, Todd Rundgren, Prince and Paul McCartney, MIDI opens up a world that allows a solo musician to create and render fully-arranged music.<\/p>\n
Combining his keyboard and MIDI skills, The Philharmonik began working as a producer while still in high school. He was still involved in the sorts of musical activities his fellow students enjoyed \u2013 \u201chaving rap battles, beating on desks,\u201d he says \u2013 but he took everything several steps beyond. By graduation in 2011, he was \u201cmessing around\u201d with a demo copy of Fruity Loops, a computer-based digital audio workstation.<\/p>\n
The Philharmonik released his self-titled debut album in 2018 on Sacramento-based Sol Collective. The following year, he toured as the opening act on Hobo Johnson\u2019s first national tour. Sidelined (like everyone else) during the worst of the Covid era, The Philharmonik dove into the creation and development of his second long player. Released in 2022, Kironic<\/i> expands his artistry in many directions. Across its ten tracks, the album moves seamlessly between styles \u2013 funk, r&b, pop, rock, psychedelia and hip hop \u2013 in a way that effectively erases the divisions between those styles.<\/p>\n
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The album\u2019s opening track \u201cAm I Dreaming?\u201d asks the musical question: What is the meaning of life? In addition to a rich and soulful musical foundation, The Philharmonik\u2019s music features thoughtful lyrics that probe such big questions. \u201cI like to observe a lot,\u201d he explains. \u201cAnd I like to reflect that in my music.\u201d He says that he endeavors to put a philosophy class into his music. But there\u2019s still room for ruminations on love. \u201cI study a lot of musicians,\u201d he says. \u201cBut I also study a lot of poets.\u201d And that emphasis makes itself known in a real, organic form on Kironik<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Considering such a directed, together artist as The Philharmonik, it might come as a surprise to learn that as recently as a few years ago, he considered giving up his musical pursuits. \u201cWhen the second album got released, we were still coming off the pandemic,\u201d he explains. \u201cWhen it was released, I feel like it flopped.\u201d Dealing with the aftermath of an auto accident, The Philharmonik hit what he describes as a dip, a dark moment. He recalls thinking, \u201cI\u2019m creating my best work, but I don\u2019t know why I\u2019m doing this any more. And I don\u2019t know how much more I have in me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Back in 2019 \u2013 \u201cjust as a feeler,\u201d he says \u2013 The Philharmonic submitted an audition to NPR\u2019s Tiny Desk<\/i> program. He wasn\u2019t chosen, but he tried again a few years later. \u201cThe second time, I knew exactly what to do,\u201d he says. \u201cI trusted myself.\u201d He told himself, \u201cThis is the last thing I\u2019m throwing at the wall. If this doesn\u2019t make it, I\u2019m done.\u201d He won the 2024 competition, and performed on the popular program in May.<\/p>\n
But it wasn\u2019t the accolades that came with the Tiny Desk<\/i> win that got The Philharmonik back on track. \u201cIt was the win itself,\u201d he says. \u201cI needed proof [to] myself: \u2018This is worth it to me.\u2019\u201d He says that if he encounters another difficult point in his career, he can look back to Tiny Desk<\/i> and remind himself: \u201cRemember what you did when you saw nothing ahead? You kept going.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Even before he first picked up an instrument, The Philharmonik (born Christian Gates) was a serious music lover. \u201cI was listening to a lot of \u201870s music, he says. \u201cBut […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27914,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,51,60,69],"tags":[5475],"class_list":["post-27913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interview","category-pop","category-rb","category-soul","tag-the-philharmonik","cat-41-id","cat-51-id","cat-60-id","cat-69-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27913"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27913\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27916,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27913\/revisions\/27916"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}