Local Musicians: Johnny Gutierrez
What’s your story?
Who am I? It's such a big question. My full name is Johnathan, I like to be called Johnny. My last name on social media is Gutierrez, so I like to be called Johnny Gutierrez. That's my middle name. I'm 23 years old, as of March 24th.
The name of my band, we are called The People. When I made that name, I really just wanted something to stick, that people say in their everyday conversations but don't notice. So now, when people hear us or they know of us, and randomly say the people they think of us. The motto came when we started performing, it kind of perfectly melted together. Someone talked to me after a show, he said “you have a variety of music and play to every age, it's amazing. That's probably why you're called The People.” And I look up and say, I'm taking that. That's why we're called The People. Because our music is not just for us. It's for everyone.
When I look at my band, I look at it as something I can really disconnect from the rest of my world every day. And my world every day is I'm self employed as a videographer, photographer, graphic designer, anything with media, so I'm always doing that on the side. When music comes in, it's like I can actually stop thinking about this and really disconnect. It's something that really sparks my emotions, something that sparks the true feelings that are inside of me, all the colours that want to come out.
I've never taken any lessons in my life. I play, I think, eight instruments. Piano and acoustic guitar were my first ones. I taught myself acoustic guitar through YouTube, learned how to tune the guitar, a couple chords, you know, the basics. At a certain point you stop, you know, because you can only teach yourself so much. Then I moved on to piano. It wasn't that I was playing chords or anything. It was just that my ear was kind of a magnet to, for lack of a better word, correctness. It's more like just those notes that really hit you that you're like, wow, this is good. Then I moved on to singing actually. Singing was something I've done for a long time. Karaoke, being a Filipino kid, karaoke is in your household no matter what, so singing was always a big thing. But actually, no one in my family can sing, my mom is tone deaf. It's kind of funny.
When I started both of these things, my business and this band, I came out of a pretty dark stage in my life where I was not necessarily trying to have a restart, but life was forcing me to restart. Finding different friends, losing good ones, and then understanding later on the years that it's not that you lost good friends or found good friends. It's that good people, whether they're good for you or good for other people, they come and go in your life, and you really just have to enjoy the moments you have. When I came out of that little dark part of my life, I started planting seeds. I started listening to a lot of people like entrepreneurs and people that had things to say, anything that really spoke to me. One of them was that you should plant seeds in your life. When you do plant seeds in your life, understand there is harvesting time. So when you're having a bad moment in life, it doesn't mean that your life is bad. It means the harvesting season is coming and you planted some bad seeds, but you didn't know. We don't know we're planting seeds all over our lives, and they grow, and that could be into friendships, relationships, anything. So I said, hey, now that I know this information, let's plant a couple seeds, right?
Garage Show: October 2021
What led you to be involved in the local music scene?
I planted a seed saying I want to start my own band. This is my seventh band. I've been playing in bands, but all of my bands were throughout high school. I had one I made for myself from a lot of other band members in my high school, another one was rock band that a lot of schools have. Then they have the church band, so I joined that. Anything that had to do with singing music, anything like that I wanted to be a part of. It's funny because I didn't know I wanted to be a part of it until I was forced into it. I was a pushover, like yeah, sure, I'll do it. In eighth grade in elementary school, I sang at O'Neill for a Christmas concert. The choral director took my name down and the next year, he hunted me down the first day and he came in and said, you got to join this, this, this, and this – it's after school. And I'm like, I just joined High School, I don't even know. I was scared. I couldn't say no, so I did all of these things. It was that mentality of you know what, whatever, I'm going to do it. You put yourself in a position, you got to commit. And I find whenever you're in those positions, it's because the universe is forcing you into it, and they know that you are going to back yourself out. So whatever they can corner you into is what you're supposed to be doing.
So I got out of high school. I knew one guy in my band from high school I really wanted and it was Jack Claude, who's in my band now. I've been playing with since he was in grade nine, when I was in grade eleven. Jack was the first guy and when I asked him to join the band, he was so excited that I asked. We found Cody who is our new other guitarist. Cody has that John Mayer, very earthy, crispy, crunchy tone, but Jack has that grunge edgy tone. When they play together, you hear the difference. But the differences, they very much complement each other, and it's wonderful. Brooke joined the band because I was looking for a singer. We couldn't sing a lot of songs because they were too high for me, or there'll be bass parts where I can't sing and play at the same time. It's difficult. She actually became my best friend out of all of this. We understand that both of us can teach each other things, so we don't ever shut each other down. She really brought me back into what I wanted to do, because when I started this band, I didn't really want it to be serious. I wanted it to be something that just my passion could bleed into. Now that she joined, she made me understand that no, we have the potential, and we're doing it, and I'm so grateful for her. With that said, Paige joined the band and as soon as she did, everything glued together. Paige really is on point with every song. There's a saying, I think Buddy Rich said, if you have an amazing band and a mediocre drummer, you will have a mediocre band. If you have a mediocre band and an amazing drummer, you have an amazing band. That drummer keeps you on that heartbeat that everyone's on that tempo, the same vibe, the feeling, even the volume of how they're playing. When they get quiet, we get quiet, right? Paige gets all of those dynamics. This band is the first band I truly trust. These guys are so passionate about their music. They go home and all they do is they look at all the songs that were written down [for practice]. They learn all of it. We come to practice and we play them and they melt. And it's because of that drummer, Paige. She holds us together. She's our glue.
[The garage show] was our first three hour show. We look back and we're all embarrassed. Playing for two hours is a lot different than just playing a song. You're not just here to say, hey, this is the music we're playing. No, we're going to take you through a journey tonight for two hours, and you're gonna have some fun. I think we're really more performers than anything. Trying to be artists, trying to get our own music out there, but no rush to it. We want this to work, right? You kind of have to get through the ugly before it gets pretty rough, sort of still start, right. Most people struggle with everything because they just don't start. Success is just not giving up, because success is whatever you it's not what you think it is. It's whatever it comes to be because it's never set in stone.
O’Hanlon’s: March 2023
Why is music and the scene here important to you?
I would say before, I didn't necessarily care about it actually. In high school, you have people looking at you but with your adolescent mindset, you're not necessarily looking at it through a place where you're like, wow, music is so inspiring. When I saw it, it was an ego boost. I used it as a sort of, that's my thing kind of thing. I just really enjoyed that that was what people saw me as. When high school finished, I wanted to step away from that and I wanted to be in a new realm. I know a lot about music now, and I know there's a lot to learn but that's not just what I want to do. I want to split myself into something else. So I just decided to put that away, and I didn't think I'd touch it again. I really thought I was done with it, but life was really saying, no, this is what you're supposed to be doing.
When I went through that dark phase and had no friends, I started going to karaoke. I’d go to O’Hanlon’s by myself, and Brooke heard I was doing that so she started joining me. We started just kind of collecting others. Other people started seeing our table, and we're like, hey, come back next Monday. Then a group chat happened, and now we all go to fires and birthdays and everything like that. Just through karaoke, right? That was another seed I planted. This one quote really pushed me to go to karaoke all the time, it was that you need to start putting yourself in positions where you shine the brightest. I shine the brightest when I'm singing, when it's music. Yeah, you don't necessarily have to be the performer all the time, but karaoke gives you a little chance where everyone gets to perform. You get that little glimpse, and you just meet a lot of people that show a lot of appreciation towards great musicians and vocalists, and you meet other musicians.
The music scene is important to me now, because of what it's given me. It's given me amazing friends that I truly connect with. And you know, you truly connect with your good friends because you realise there is nothing wrong with the universe. If you're ever in a friend group where you're like, am I doing something wrong? Am I saying something wrong? But you truly know you're not doing anything wrong, you're just in the wrong place. You're not being valued correctly, and the music scene is where I'm valued. I appreciate the music scene because it gives so much, not just to me, but to everyone else.
What do you find most important about the work you're creating?
The most important part of the work I've created isn't necessarily the work that is being created, but the connections that are being made. When you have a big project that needs to be done, whether it's a song, a video, an article, anything like that, that's when you connect with other people. You'll find that in this line of work, you'll find people that are exactly like your best friends. Those are the things that are important when it comes to creating anything, whether it's music or anything else, it's the connections you make. Like they say in business, it's about the people, it's not just about business, it's about life. You can't go around thinking you're the only person that will teach yourself lessons. So many times, someone will break your window and say, hey, you didn't learn this yet and I'm gonna teach it to you.
Has the scene or community changed since you joined or got involved with it?
I would say it's changing at this moment, because of COVID. I think before COVID happened, we had a lot of bands that were, for lack of a better word, they were the older folks. You always had that uncle that was in a band that your mom and dad always saw. You had young bands, but it wasn't to the extent that it is today where our young bands are actually creating amazing pieces of work. They are performing to an extent that we didn't think people in Regina could, right? The saying, tough times create strong people, strong people create easy times– I think we are in the stage where the tough times created tough people which created easy times. When I say easy times, I don’t mean oh, life is so easy, I mean there’s just more space now. The shift in COVID really got a lot of those older bands to put their gear down and say life is moving forward, we need to move on. That gave us space to come in now. When the bars were now looking for live music after two years of not having anyone there it was a fresh start, not going back to the people we already know. When we started, it was during COVID, about 2020. It was just kind of a perfect moment for us because as soon as we got tight and became the band we are today, Block Parties started happening, all these events. Now, we're at a point where people are almost forgetting about COVID, and that's not a bad thing to say. It's just the relief and the grief that has been left behind, it's evolution.
The scene has changed to a younger group, And it's an amazing thing, because, you know, for some cities, their outlet for people to get out of the city and be whoever they want is sports, or being famous or getting rich. Music in Regina is that outlet where people have the ambition to say I can get out of here and do bigger and come back to my community. Bryan Adams is a big example. He used to play around Saskatchewan and Regina in small bars, and now he’s big. Sports is another big thing, like we have Connor Bedard, 19 years old, who just got into the NHL, he was with the Regina Pats. But sports is very vague. If you're into music, you're not really into sports. That's not everyone, but it's funny, even when you are into both you have to choose one. But, music is everything. Music exhibits emotion. Music is language, music is communication when you don't have a language between you. Music is that thing you go to when you're feeling sad, when you're feeling happy, when you're feeling anything. Music is spirit, that's the one word I can use to summarise all of it. Music is spirit. Music is what you allow yourself to feel. Sometimes when I'm listening to music, people will be like, why is your music so sad? Like it's not sad, it’s moody. It makes me feel like I can really not hide my emotions. I'll feel whatever I want to feel whether it's happy or grateful, or whatever is.
What do you hope the future of the scene looks like? Is there anything that you think should be improved or changed?
If you would ask any other musician, maybe they would say there is improvement. I think imperfection is what makes it perfect. You can’t have all amazing bands, you can’t have amazing music everywhere, and competition isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's a way for you to understand how to progress.
There is one thing I would like to fix about the music scene. It is those bands that want to look good before they sound good. Those are the bands that make me scratch my head. Other than that, I think the one thing that's going to keep going in the future of our Regina music is the bands that are playing and creating music these days. We're all very good bands, the art pieces of originals and everything that's coming out of Regina is fantastic. It makes me proud to say I'm from Regina and listen to all of these artists. In a couple of years, I want to see the amount of success that comes from each band, each person, collectively, and say that this is Regina. Regina doesn't necessarily have that identity. The arts, festivals, everything like that, those things I find are the heart of Regina, where everyone comes together and says this is what we make. I can see this place being the next Nashville of its own.
We also have pow-wows here, very traditional pow-wows. We have all sorts of music, like The Tilted Kilts that do bagpipes, they're very traditional in their bagpipes. The Tribal Vibes Wildfire drum group, they do African drumming and they're very good. It's such a diverse community and I think we could be the next Nashville in our own kind of way.
Why do you think music and the culture around shows is important to society?
Supporting anything has that trickling effect, you know. You support and it allows people to grow, and when someone grows it allows them to share what they have. When they share what they have and people are still supporting them, they can support the next ones. It's just about supporting the next new person, because I don't necessarily need support from a certain group for the rest of the entire enormity of the band, because there's going to be a time where you can have free shows and not even worry about the profit. You do have to get paid and everything but you have communities supporting everyone – Regina is amazing for that. People are going to bands they've never heard before, because they just want to hear it. That support helps a lot. It just trickles down to letting the next person, letting them show what they want to show when they might not have the environment.
The Exchange: February 2023
Music can be used as a builder of community; have you seen this in your experience? What role do musicians and their community have in Regina’s community?
It all comes back to the connections, I think. Community is huge. I was at a point in my life, where I really secluded myself, I thought I could just do it by myself. That led me to why I love people so much, because the person I am today isn't just from myself. It's from everyone around me. I’ve collected things from different people, and you can't do that if you don't have community.
When you find amazing human beings, look who's around them. You'll find pieces of them in every person and it's amazing. Community is completely different than having a bunch of people in a room. Community would be if someone's car blew up outside, and we all went outside and helped. Community is important because it gives a helping hand when you don't necessarily know how to ask for it, or if you need it. It's just there.
My example is a very specific one: my karaoke group. Before I met them, we were performing in this band and the hardest part was seeing different people every time we performed. You didn't know who to channel your energy to when you're performing. For example, looking at a certain person to have that ground, like I can make eye contact with you and not get nervous. And then this karaoke group happened, and these guys– this is a community on top of a community, because these guys come to every show and they've never missed a show, and they get the people around them going on. You'll find the exact same set of people, about 13 of them, that are on the dance floor and they're pulling people that they don't know into the dance floor too. They're literally making a community inside the community that we're making, but they're also the community. There are layers on top. When you say why is music important to the community… All of that happened because of music.
What do you find most important that the music scene is doing for the people? What has the scene given you, and the people who aren't directly involved in it?
For me, music has given me hope. That's the biggest thing. When I stopped doing music, it’s like my life turned into black and white, it was just boring. It's like having a song with no melody, boring. Then life said, hey, now you're going back. You're doing karaoke now, you're got this band now, and I'm like, oh, I thought I wasn't gonna do music anymore. It's given me, like I said, connections. The majority of everyone I've met was through some sort of music.
Do you ever have a feeling where you don't know what to feel? But then sometimes music gives you that answer. Music is that language that speaks to you, without speaking to you. It is a source of magic we cannot explain. I'm sure everyone understands what I say, have you ever heard that song that you love, whether it's that guitar piece in it, or it's that little drum fill in it that you hear, and you're just like, whoa, you feel something, I don't know what it is. That's what I mean by music is spirit. Music is spirit, because it is unexplainable. It is just something we all understand, but cannot explain. Music allows you to feel what you're supposed to feel without you even knowing it. Music is just that magnet, you can either say you're listening or you're feeling but it's going through you. That's the important thing.
There's this one quote that really hits me. It was from a trumpet player and one of his students asked them, is music more for the listener or is it more for the player? This one hits hard because well, music is always for the listener, but the first listener is the player. When you think about that deeply, whatever comes from a musician is exactly what you hear. So when you hear amazing musicians or vocalists, whatever's coming out of them is what you're feeling. You feel emotion in their voice because they're putting emotion into it. They're thinking about something you can't even fathom. If that person is performing, and they're giving you all this emotion, but you try to talk to him about anything, like what was the emotion back there, and they don't want to speak about it. It’s amazing that the music is what brought it out, whether it was saying exactly what it is, or just to express the emotion. People have problems expressing emotion, but we do it through music without even knowing. Listening is huge and it's a big part of building community.
O’Hanlon’s: May 2023
What do you find most important that the music scene is doing for the community? Do you think music and the surrounding scene play a part in community-support in Regina?
Yes, there is, and it's actually immensely huge. When you are performing, sometimes you need to have a starting band, so you meet a lot of other bands that way. When you make these connections, you have these people now, that are willing and eager to answer any questions you have. Music is a passion for everyone here, and we can help each other. In the music scene, everyone helps each other. I will message a different band member from a different band, the same question I asked someone else, and then I'll see them all together and they’d be like, yeah, we just got together and we want to give you this answer. It's so supportive, no one's out to get each other. I've never had any other band bad-mouth another band. I've never had one be jealous of another band. Everyone is just so excited for everyone's success. It's an amazing thing. So when the outreach, is that supportive? It's huge and everyone feels that support, in the scene and in the audience.
I'm sure most people will reach out to say, how do I get gigs and everything like that. When you do perform out there, even people that aren't in the scene are so supportive, saying you guys are amazing, I'm putting you on Facebook so that people can book you for weddings. Like wow, I don't even have to market, so it's supportive in that way as well. Even with Instagram stories, I don't need to pay for a videographer, I just have to repost everything. Every time after a concert I'm up until three in the morning just reposting. Every time you see a new face at a show you're like, oh my god, more people are coming. It just means a lot when you see even just new fans go wow, people are still coming to see us. There’s a lot of support, between bands and musicians, the relationships built with the audience.
How does music foster community and connection?
They just naturally promote one another. It's the thing people connect on. Everyone is there, everyone that has the same liking. It doesn't have to be [related to] genre, but if it is the same genre, even more people are connecting on that level. It just makes sense. It's not one of those things that you have to question going to, you just always find people that are exactly in the vibe of the show you went to. It's a perfect equation to meet anyone that you want to meet in the same realm.
Either in your personal experience or in the wider community, was there a particularly inspiring moment for you, or a moment that you’re most proud of?
Very proud of being able to play Canada Day, that one gig turned into five offers and one of them was to play for the Saskatchewan Roughriders pregame shows. That moment, now that it's all over, it was the stepping block. It was like, you guys have hit a point where you're gonna do this show. It literally gave us a step up, where people that don't necessarily come to our shows have heard us. Everyone was sitting in the shade, and then as soon as we started playing, you just see this crowd come slowly over and dance. It's nice when you see people your age that are going to these things. I saw people our age and they would be recording, and then you see their excitement when we play something they wouldn't expect us to play, like Paramore. The crowd was overwhelming, it wasn’t even a huge crowd. It was that the important people were there. I didn't even know it would be a big moment in our musical paths.
Another big moment was a show at O’Hanlon’s – O’Han’s is like our homebase. At the time, I was doing my side business that day, wedding photography from 6am, and the night before I didn't go to bed until like 12 because we had practice. So I had, like, four hours of sleep, did the wedding, went straight to soundcheck, and then went to perform. At that point, I was delirious. I was dreaming. When I got on stage, I didn't think. I said, let's have fucking fun, and it was our best show ever because we had so much fun. I didn't overthink, and that was one of those moments where I felt this band is amazing.
Another moment was the last one. After our first couple of shows, we were so specific on never messing up. But now, when we mess up, we turn into something really pretty and that's something I personally pride myself of figuring out in these recent years, learning that I can do that. The band is just so good at listening and understanding, they're so confident in their instruments that I can tell them go down three notes right now, and they have the trust to listen.
Final thoughts?
I really want to, before I go, touch down on music and what it means to me. I've always had that feeling that music is a feeling, it's spirit. When you open my Spotify, you will not find one genre, you will find all the genres in one and that's because when I collect music, I collect things that attract my ear and I need to keep that. Like, I don't know what genre that is, I don't know what it is, but it's beautiful to my ear.
Music is amazing, my friends. Keep it around you. Keep it close. Not everyone needs to know what you're listening to, so don't be afraid to listen to everything. I find a lot of people refrain from music they didn't even know they liked in their soul because of being embarrassed of who hears them listening to it. You can listen on your own. If you can have that genre of music that the people around you don't really understand, that is a big character development. Being different from everyone else, having that one thing that is just you, that's important. It doesn't have to be music, it can be anything. Find that thing.