Saul Castillo from Memories In Broken Glass unearths The Individual

Saul Castillo from Memories In Broken Glass unearths The Individual

In addition to his work within Memories In Broken Glass, vocalist Saul Castillo has released a few recordings under his own name.  The Individual is Castillo’s latest solo endeavor, an kaleidoscopic adventure in sound sure to enrapture the senses of all who give a listen.  On his Youtube channel, Saul Castillo has covered bands as varied as TerreracT and One Direction – and was actually discovered there by his main band Memories In Broken Glass.  At the recent Memories In Broken Glass show taking place at Out Of The Park Pizza in Anaheim Hills, we caught up with Saul Castillo to find out more about The Individual, songwriting influences, One Direction and a whole lot more.  This interview features a guest appearance by George Garcia, the drummer of Memories In Broken Glass.  Read on…

How would your solo work compare to what you do in Memories of Broken Glass?
Saul: I feel it’s very different, especially since I have a different influence from the guys. They have a more harsher, a bit more melodic KSE kind of – metal core type. So I incorporate that – stuff that I know Memories wouldn’t be able to play live because of the difference in spectrum, then I’ll say I want to release this to the public on my own for them to hear it.

What’s the story or concept behind ‘The Individual’?
Saul: I chose that name because of the meaning behind the songs that I write, it’s just very personal. I think those songs can really bring a person as an individual, as a human being, and basically learn from that. I like the lyrics content to really focus that, and really make you feel something and make you want to change for the better for whatever you’re doing in the world.

Let’s talk about a few songs on the solo album. What inspired the lyrics – pick two.
Saul: I like “Lifted” the second part of “Human. That’s one of my favorite ones. So, I also like the song “Sun,” which I actually wrote during pre-production with Memories In Broken Glass. Those two songs are also very different in spectrum and they kind of tell different kinds of emotionality towards each song. But they both hit hard in their own aspect. Whether it’s “Sun” giving you a hopeful feeling “Lifted” gives you a hopeful feeling too. It’s not really an angry song, but it’s more of an upbeat song. It gets you going.

How easy or difficult was it for to do everything on your own?
Saul: I actually tracked the guitars, programmed the drums myself and I sent it to Greg in The Ansible – he’s the one who mixed all of my stuff. He also mixes his own stuff. His studio is Chop Harder Studios. Little shout out to him. He did all the mixing, we just got together – he asked me, what do you want to hear? What is it you want to bring out more in the songs? We sat down and worked on it and that was the product we got out of it.

Do you ever do solo shows?
Saul: No. Only because I’m always busy with Memories In Broken Glass. To actually sit down and teach some musicians how to play the music – maybe in the future. Right now I have other things to take care of.

Have any of the artists you’ve covered on your YouTube page ever heard or commented?
Saul: I don’t know. I’ve always wondered if Daniel Tompkins actually heard my TesseracT covers.
George: That’s actually how we found you.
Saul: yeah that’s how memories found me.
George: Yeah, his vocal covers on YouTube.  We are looking for another vocalist and we came across his cover of a couple of good songs. Right there and then, we were like, oh yea. We need to find this guy. It was pretty cool. It was a little hard to get a hold him first, once we did it fit well together.

What did you think of his One Direction cover?
George: It’s the first time in an interview I’m actually going to say no comment. (Laughs)

What made you decide to cover One Direction and has anyone in One Direction fan come across it?
Saul: I was encouraged by one of my friends, she really likes One Direction. She sent me the song and I really dug the melody, those mainstream pop artists are really good at writing their hooks. That’s what gets me. If there’s a hook that gives me chills. Yeah, I’ll dig it. I look like a boy band type of dude, why not? It’s on YouTube.

Did any of their fans comment?
Saul: I think so. I think I got a couple of comments in there.

What’s up next for you solo wise?
Saul: There really isn’t a straight thing that I have planned. It’s always like – if I have downtime, I’ll start writing music. I’ll accumulate, so eventually it all gets scraped into little strong songs and then I’ll release them. Maybe if Memories added some of the songs that I’ve written before – it’s either way. If they feel like it’s not a good song for Memories, then I’ll release them by myself. Then if the guys actually have fun playing it, then I’ll give it to them. It goes both ways, it depends..,

Check out an interview with Saul Castillo and George Garcia from Memories In Broken Glass here!

(Interview by Ken Morton – Photos by Jack Lue)

Saul Castillo on Facebook
Saul Castillo on Youtube