A couple of months ago I was lucky enough to meet the star of Bold Native, Joaquin Pastor. Even cooler than that I had the opportunity to interview him. He likes Radiohead ( and other really great bands), did the music for Bold Native, AND, did an amazing job playing 'Charlie'. I didn't mention that he's very sweet, quite hilarious, and is working on his newest project, Masks. Sounds like a rad actor/musician, huh? Yeah.
Where’d you grow up in, what was it like?
I grew up in Highland Park until I moved to Santa Cruz. I was in LA til I was 9 and a half or 10.I actually moved out of LA one night, or shortly after. There was this evening; I was sleeping between my parents as I would sometimes do. I was crying in the middle of the night and my mom wakes up and she’s like,” Honey, why are you crying?” And I was dealing with the fear of: If the bullet comes through the window and I’m sitting on the outside I’ll get shot first. But if you’re on the outside you’ll get shot first. And that was kind of the end of my mom wanting to live in Highland Park where there was gang activity on our block frequently. Then we moved up north and it was pitch perfect. Kind of like sim city world in Santa Cruz, California. And then I came back here (Los Angeles) for school.
What school did you go to?
UCLA. For theatre, for directing and acting.
Do you still play in a band, if so what’s it called?
I just started a project called Masks, nothing is out yet. It’ll be a few months before I play a proper show. I’m very excited about the personnel. It’s difficult to get band members in place and people that your happy with and I trust everyone in the group so it’s a good thing.
So you basically became vegan because of Bold Native, but what made you become vegetarian?
I became vegetarian the night that I saw The Inconvenient Truth primarily because when the credits rolled they suggested all these things you can do for the environment but eating less meat was not one of them. And it totally upset me that it was not part of the national dialog even though it’s by far the most impactful thing you can do to create a greener earth. So that pissed me off enough to go vegetarian and it took some time after that to become vegan.
What are your favorite bands?
In no order of importance, Of Montreal, Radiohead, Portishead, Talking Heads, all the head bands . Jeff Buckley, James Brown, Ratatat, I think the new Crystal Castles album is really great. It’s endless, there’s so much good music out there and thank god it’s that easy to make and easy to listen to.
What’s your favorite food?
Burritos. Burritos were my favorite non-vegan food too. And it’s transferred to being a vegan now. I eat a burrito just about everyday.
What inspired you to play music?
I've been, and am continually, inspired by my friends. Most of my
friends are artists of some kind and watching them create beautiful
things out of thin air still seems like magic to me.
Do you play any instruments, if so, how did you learn to play them?
My main instruments are guitar and voice. I'm starting to claim I play
piano too, albeit like a toddler on a unicycle. Learning to sing was
easily the most annoying process my family could have imagined. I
didn't take lessons or anything and for years. I was more interested in
the extreme sounds my voice could make as opposed to beautiful tones.
I would 'caah' like a rooster for hours on end until my dad would yell
at me - rightfully so. One time, on a road trip to Downieville with my
sister and mom, I spoke in a robot voice the entire 6 hour car ride.
(In full robot voice,) I'd feign having no idea what they were talking
about when they would beg me to stop. The day after we got there I
came down with pink eye and strep throat at the same time. It was
instant Karma.
What was your fist acting gig?
I was a salmon in Coho the Salmon. This the kind of play you do when
you grow up in Santa Cruz. I suppose my first proper film/TV gig was
an episode of "Californication". I played Dave the guitar teacher and
taught music lessons to David Duchovny's daughter on the show. It was
a surprisingly relaxed set.
What genre is Masks?
The pretentious but true answer would be: yet to be determined. We
actually don't yet have a full set of material on its feet. I imagine
it will take a lot of cues from art rock but we'll also be stealing
from hip-hop, soul, electronica, funk, and jazz. I hope this project
will be more rhythmic than anything I've ever done.
Thanks for taking the time to answer all of my questions, Joaquin!
Bold Native has another Los Angeles premiere TONIGHT (8/12), at Sunset 5! So come, come, come if you haven't seen this powerful movie yet!
Where’d you grow up in, what was it like?
I grew up in Highland Park until I moved to Santa Cruz. I was in LA til I was 9 and a half or 10.I actually moved out of LA one night, or shortly after. There was this evening; I was sleeping between my parents as I would sometimes do. I was crying in the middle of the night and my mom wakes up and she’s like,” Honey, why are you crying?” And I was dealing with the fear of: If the bullet comes through the window and I’m sitting on the outside I’ll get shot first. But if you’re on the outside you’ll get shot first. And that was kind of the end of my mom wanting to live in Highland Park where there was gang activity on our block frequently. Then we moved up north and it was pitch perfect. Kind of like sim city world in Santa Cruz, California. And then I came back here (Los Angeles) for school.
What school did you go to?
UCLA. For theatre, for directing and acting.
Do you still play in a band, if so what’s it called?
I just started a project called Masks, nothing is out yet. It’ll be a few months before I play a proper show. I’m very excited about the personnel. It’s difficult to get band members in place and people that your happy with and I trust everyone in the group so it’s a good thing.
So you basically became vegan because of Bold Native, but what made you become vegetarian?
I became vegetarian the night that I saw The Inconvenient Truth primarily because when the credits rolled they suggested all these things you can do for the environment but eating less meat was not one of them. And it totally upset me that it was not part of the national dialog even though it’s by far the most impactful thing you can do to create a greener earth. So that pissed me off enough to go vegetarian and it took some time after that to become vegan.
What are your favorite bands?
In no order of importance, Of Montreal, Radiohead, Portishead, Talking Heads, all the head bands . Jeff Buckley, James Brown, Ratatat, I think the new Crystal Castles album is really great. It’s endless, there’s so much good music out there and thank god it’s that easy to make and easy to listen to.
What’s your favorite food?
Burritos. Burritos were my favorite non-vegan food too. And it’s transferred to being a vegan now. I eat a burrito just about everyday.
What inspired you to play music?
I've been, and am continually, inspired by my friends. Most of my
friends are artists of some kind and watching them create beautiful
things out of thin air still seems like magic to me.
Do you play any instruments, if so, how did you learn to play them?
My main instruments are guitar and voice. I'm starting to claim I play
piano too, albeit like a toddler on a unicycle. Learning to sing was
easily the most annoying process my family could have imagined. I
didn't take lessons or anything and for years. I was more interested in
the extreme sounds my voice could make as opposed to beautiful tones.
I would 'caah' like a rooster for hours on end until my dad would yell
at me - rightfully so. One time, on a road trip to Downieville with my
sister and mom, I spoke in a robot voice the entire 6 hour car ride.
(In full robot voice,) I'd feign having no idea what they were talking
about when they would beg me to stop. The day after we got there I
came down with pink eye and strep throat at the same time. It was
instant Karma.
What was your fist acting gig?
I was a salmon in Coho the Salmon. This the kind of play you do when
you grow up in Santa Cruz. I suppose my first proper film/TV gig was
an episode of "Californication". I played Dave the guitar teacher and
taught music lessons to David Duchovny's daughter on the show. It was
a surprisingly relaxed set.
What genre is Masks?
The pretentious but true answer would be: yet to be determined. We
actually don't yet have a full set of material on its feet. I imagine
it will take a lot of cues from art rock but we'll also be stealing
from hip-hop, soul, electronica, funk, and jazz. I hope this project
will be more rhythmic than anything I've ever done.
Thanks for taking the time to answer all of my questions, Joaquin!
Bold Native has another Los Angeles premiere TONIGHT (8/12), at Sunset 5! So come, come, come if you haven't seen this powerful movie yet!
5 comments:
Very interesting interview, Clara! Your questions did a nice job guiding Joaquin's intriguing answers. I knew I had seen him somewhere before Bold Native; as the guitar teacher on Californication! He was great!
great interview, he sounds like a cool dude. and for the record, anyone who calls burritos their favorite food is a-ok with me.
Great interview, Clara! Avi and I totally remember him from Californication now! He seems like a cool guy. He's definitely an awesome actor! :)
great interview! and let me tell you for a fact that joaquin makes the BEST vegan burritos. one night he made me one and as he handed it to me another bold native star, hootie (the beagle in the "kill the animal" scene) jumped up and stole it from me. i wrestled it from her (mostly becasue it had onions in it and they are bad for dogs) and the half that was left was the best half of a burrito i have ever had!
Clara...another great interview!Maybe we can adopt him? :-)
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