Today we’d like to introduce you to Ryan Torpea
Hi Ryan, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I started pursuing music around 11 years old in middle school band. As I grew up I went on to study jazz Trumpet performance at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Though while In my late high school years, playing guitar and keyboard with a christian rock band. In my early college years, the christian rock band got our record label offer and ironically had grown up so much we ended up breaking up before signing the contract. After the christian rock band dissipated, I started playing with popular local band Al Holliday and the East Side Rhythm band. With Al Holliday, I became indoctrinated into the larger south city Saint Louis music scene even outside of Al’s band. It had a long line of blues and soul musicians, some had played with legends like Albert King, BB King, Miles Davis. Some of them were just the most talented musicians I had ever met. Playing bars and clubs around broadway, Soulard, and anywhere else in the city that music and events were happening. I played with Al Holliday for 7 years, making several full length records and even a full length Christmas album. I toured Europe and the united states with Al Holliday for several years as his trumpet player, while slowly building my name around town as a keyboard player.
I had been writing songs throughout college with my first attempt at a running my own band, but I was so dedicated as a side man for several projects at that point. I was playing keys, trumpet, guitar, singing, in many other bands at this point, as well as performing solo gig and really making a career for myself as a musician. I played weddings, bars, wrote songs for other artists, and but all along that time working for others wasn’t doing much for myself.
Shortly before the pandemic I began working on songs for myself again, now armed with the tools and skills to record, mix and master my own music, I began starting to self produce my own music in south city and take a second stab at running my own band. This time under my own name,
After health issues started to make playing the trumpet unbareably painful, I left Al Hollidays band and pivoted my career to only playing keys, guitar, and singing. Now years later, I am self producing my own music, music videos, and still playing as a side man in one band. The Hamilton band, is my main gig, where we play every friday night at 1860’s in Soulard.
There are a lot of twists and turns to my story that are hard to all include here, but this is a short story of how I cam to be an artist!
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Pursuing a career in the arts its always difficult, though I am lucky that I had a supportive family and community. Part of my path has always been proving that a career in the arts is possible, if you can be humble and not expect to be a pop star. But there was always a difficult disconnect between being a “Professional” musician and an “artist”. I was always working for someone else’s band so that I could make a living, pay rent, feed myself, but this meant I didn’t have as much time to focus on my own music, my own artistry, I was constantly serving someone else with my time. Practicing music for whatever gig or rehearsal was coming up, going to those rehearsals, my calendar was booked, which were all great problems to have. But ironically, I was never making enough money as a musician to support own creative endeavors, and I often didn’t have the time. When I had finally got close to a comfortable income from teaching music lessons, doing session recording work, and playing gigs, COVID-19 brought the world to a hault. I lost my regular gigs at venues as they closed down, I lost a lot of my students, and the work never really came back the same that I had spent years crafting and building up.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am very lucky to have a steady career in the creative industry now as I have settled into adulthood. I still work as a musician and create my own music, but I also work as a video producer for a marketing company. I enjoy filming, editing videos and podcasts, and getting to create advertisements, youtube content, and social videos. I get to work creatively everyday, and leverage all my video skills into my work as a singer/songwriter.
I have built a small recording studio in my benton park townhome, and recently used all of my equipment to film 2 music videos, performed and recorded live in my very own back yard. We threw a huge party with free food and drinks, invited 50 friends over. My band performed two songs and the Hamilton band (my other project) recorded two songs. I have recently released the second song from that day and I’m very proud of how the project turned out. It was a stretch to get 3 cameras, a recording studio, and an entire BBQ party in my backyard at once, but it was one of my proudest achievements producing something for myself.
I think in my community I’m best known for being a jack of all trades.I do video production, audio engineering and mixing, and a keyboard player and singer you can lean on for a performance. I don’t think I’m the best at anything, but I think what sets me apart is that I’m good at a lot of things. I can do whatever you need, well, and I like filling that gap for people and filling whatever role someone needs filled.
We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
I learned quite a few things. Firstly, I learned that nothing is promised, no opportunity, housing, a career, no merit you have even earned, is inherently promised to you. I came to accept that things just happen, and sometimes they mess up your whole world, its nothing you did wrong, theres nothing you could have done better. Sometimes it just all crumbles down and thats okay.
The other lesson I learned is to diversify, pivot, be flexible. I had always been the flexible auxiliary guy, but Covid really forced me to learn new skills to adapt. The pandemic is not only when I got to hone my skills as an audio engineer, recording and mixing my own songs, but also when i learned my video skills. I leaned hard into live streaming, learned how to broadcast an event and use streaming softwares, eventually landing me a job at a podcast company where i doubled down on learning live streaming and video editing more professionally.
After covid, I realized that long term I would want to pivot my career to working in production, not always being on stage but being the guy that makes the lights and sound happen. It was this career shift that lead me to where i am now, working in advertising and using my video and audio skills to produce content for myself and others.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/a_ryan_torpea/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RTShakyhands
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-torpea-93839a271/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ryantorpea6960
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1sReFr9ts4JPR0AuYE6arN?si=a6bfWjyYTXaDLLk9UxFWyQ
