Formula Indie Sessions – Interview with 10 A.M.

What is your earliest memory connected to music?

Jose: In my house we’ve always listened to a lot of music, and a wide variety of it, but when my brother put on All Right Now by Free, and it started playing, something inside me ignited. I would have been about 12 or 13 years old

How did your passion for creating music begin?

Jose: When I started singing, I began by imitating all the singers I admired, especially Carlos Tarque from M-Clan. Later, I started writing my first lyrics and singing them, but at that time I didn’t play any instruments. Then I got together with musicians and encountered all sorts of situations: musicians who didn’t want to play my songs for one reason or another, others who wanted me to pay them, others who helped me record some tracks at home, and in some cases we even played them live, but for one reason or another these projects didn’t last. I even played one of my songs at an audition for a band, but in the end I didn’t want to join because the rehearsal space was far away, and they stole the song, changed parts of the lyrics, and played it themselves. Finally, I decided to learn to play guitar so I could record my own songs. Later, I was lucky enough to find Ric and Pedro, and together we created 10 A.M., which finally allowed us to create songs in a way I never imagined possible. We’ve been working together since 2022 and it’s fantastic. I hope we continue creating songs.

What’s the story behind your current music project?

Jose: As I said before, I was looking for musicians to make songs with, and I was lucky enough to find Ric and Pedro.

How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard your music before?

Jose: Our sound has many mixed influences, but we never try to do one thing or another; we create the song and that’s what comes out, and it’s also the sound that the three of us create together. You can hear the influences of Fito & Fitipaldis, Ray Charles, M-Clan, Otis Redding, BB King, The Black Keys, Chuck Barry, etc.

What is one thing you’ve learned that completely changed the way you make music?

Jose: Music is a continuous learning process that never ends, and that’s one of the things I love most about it. It’s impossible to get bored; there’s always a new song to compose, or a new or old song by an artist you like, whether they’re new or not, that you want to perform. Ultimately, there are always new challenges, and with each challenge comes a lesson. And when you manage to make things work, that’s the reward for the effort. As Beethoven said, genius is 20% talent and 80% persistence. I don’t know if I have the 20% talent, but I’m so passionate about music that I persist endlessly.

What tools, instruments, or software are essential in your creative process?

Jose: My guitars, my voice, my mobile phone’s notepad for writing lyrics, chords, ideas, etc., my computer, an external Focusrite sound card, Ableton Live and Guitar Pro.

Which indie artist or song are you loving right now?

Jose: The truth is that I like old music more than current music, but a band that is currently active, and that started from the bottom, is The Black Keys, although to be honest I didn’t like their last album at all, the previous ones are fantastic, a source of inspiration.

How have your personal experiences influenced your music and artistic vision?

Jose: Absolutely, the songs come from many places: life experiences, books, comics, graphic novels, movies, TV series, dreams, and other people’s music.

What emotions or messages do you hope listeners take from your work?

Jose: That depends on the song, but I hope that in every song we make, people feel what we want to convey. I think we put a lot of effort into making sure that everything conveys the feeling of the song.

What’s the most important lesson music has taught you so far?

Jose: I have more resilience than I ever believed I had.

What is a dream venue or festival you would love to perform at?

Jose: The truth is that I love to sing and play live, so I’d be happy at any festival, but if I had to choose, Viñarock or Lollapalooza would be amazing.

If you could collaborate with any artist, past or present, who would it be and why?

Jose: I would love to collaborate with Fito Cabrales, Carlos Tarque, La Perra Blanco, The Black Keys, Los Zigarros, and many more. Because they’re artists whose sound would mesh perfectly with ours. I’m a fan of all of them, and it would be a pleasure.

Where can our listeners follow and support your music? (Website,Spotify, IG, links)

Jose: Our songs are available on all digital platforms (Spotify, iTunes, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, etc.). We are also planning to release an EP in physical format, most likely on CD.

Looking toward the future, what’s your dream for the next chapter of your musical journey?

Jose: We want to make more songs, do lots of concerts, and have more and more people listen to us, because in the end we make songs for people, what we want is to connect with them, and the dream is that one day we’ll give a concert and people will sing our songs with us, even if at first there are only a few people.

What do you hope listeners will discover about you along the way?

I hope that what I put into the songs reaches them and that they feel identified with it.