"Trapped in the maze that is in my brain.  Painting a picture to escape this place. Inhaling the charming flame to alleviate the daily drain. I was told to dream big.  So, I did.  Now, I just live in my head." - Carter Luera 

I don't physically travel much.   I hear the frequencies of sounds in guitar, bass, vocals, etc., and I feel I travel to places one cannot visit.  I built a music studio, and while it has become a safe and innovative place for musicians, it has also been a prison in some sorts, as I never wish to leave.  My love for music feels like a blessing and a curse, but how did it get to that place?

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My parents were rockers. Like, my dad drove muscle cars and had long hair and I would be jamming Metallica at full volume in the back seat as a toddler.  They loved music like no other family. As a young child in the late 80s, while other children had posters on their bedroom walls that you would expect from a child, I had an Angus Young poster. Blown away by the image of this guy in a funny outfit with the raddest looking guitar you could imagine. I idolized this image of absolute freedom and explosive energy.  As a young child, I was exposed to everything from Hank Williams Sr. to late 60's and 70's classic rock to 80's metal to 80's new wave to 90's pop to 90's grunge and alternative rock. I fell in love with it all!!!

In high school, I attempted some songwriting through vocals and guitar, but I didn't have a clue what I was doing. It was a very short period of trying vocals, and I mainly concentrated on guitar. At that time, I was into anything from Soundgarden to Deftones to At The Drive-in to the Smiths to Sunny Day Real Estate.  Around that period, there was a scene that was rising (partly because of ATDI's influence, I believe) which is mostly referred to as post-hardcore.  I was really into Thursday, Thrice, Brand New, Glassjaw, and many more similar bands that featured an aggressive approach with technicality but not so technical that it sounded like a computer.  At the same time, I was really digging stuff like Interpol, The Strokes, Radiohead, and so on.  I've always been torn on whether I should focus more on creating music that is aggressive or sad or dreamy or whatever.  You probably think, well just do it all.  It's not that simple!  There is a threshold of aggressiveness in the music that will cause a section of listeners to not even entertain your music for 5 seconds.  So, you are sort of at a crossroads unless you are in multiple bands.

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Let's wrap-up the high school years, because I sucked ass on the guitar.  Plus, I have no memory of those years. I did a lot of partying and drinking and everything else.  I also lost my best friend to suicide.  Dark and chaotic time for me, so let's keep on moving forward.

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At some point though, I did get more into guitar and songwriting on guitar.   I chose to go the more aggressive route and formed a band called The March of the Bull.  This band did not last long and ended in 2014 due to life, basically.  I only played guitar in this band, and I never thought to do vocals still.   After this band broke up, I had sort of given up and decided to focus on my career as a software developer.  I needed a break from the music scene as the ending of the band left me with negative feelings about the whole music thing from many angles.

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During this break from music, I lived in Tyler, Texas.  Eventually, for salary reasons, I took a job in Dallas, Texas.  Initially, the intention was to move to the Dallas area; however, Covid hit.  At this time, I went full-remote.  Because I could work anywhere, I decided to move back to my hometown in Sulphur Springs, Texas.  The reason for this location was that the land was cheap, because it is 90 miles east of Dallas.  I bought some land and there I would build a house and studio.  

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About the time when it was decided to move back home, I was itching to get back into music.  Hence, why I wanted the studio.  I decided I would spend some time learning audio recording, mixing, and mastering. 

After the studio was built, on a quick trip to buy some strings at the local music store, I bumped into Sal Castro.  I knew him, because my old band The March of the Bull had played a show with his old band Hold On To Your Ego.  We got caught up a bit and he mentioned his band El Camino Bravo.  I requested to let me mix and master what they had already started recording and finish up the recordings at my studio.  Sal was happy with the sound of El Camino Bravo but I would not restrain from pushing the idea to let me do it.  He sent some files and I sent back one song re-mixed and Sal was sold!!!

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This period was in the 2022. My only intention at this time was to record/mix/master El Camino Bravo.  I wished for them to be my first band on a record label (that I had also decided I wanted to do.)  Not sure when and why I decided one day that I wanted to try the label thing?!  Regardless, during this mixing phase, I really fell in love with the music.  I began making some tweaks such as some song restructuring and writing and tracking new bass on certain tracks. I would send the ideas and Sal would generally like the new ideas.  

However, minus two tracks on the album, there were no vocals.  I thought this music sounds too pleasant to my ears to have it possess a ceiling on its' success as a result of vocals not being present.  Don't get me wrong, I love instrumental music. (Shout out to Pelican. Maybe my fav instrumental band).  But, we know it limits the audience size. I hadn't tried vocals in many, many years, but I gave it a shot in the summer of 2023.  One track led to two and then next thing you know, I had recorded vocals on 9 tracks.  It felt right for me; I had mentioned before that I took the more aggressive route in creating music previously, so this was a new endeavor to explore the other musical parts of my creativity.  

It was only natural at that point for me to now join up with the guys full-time.   Sal had mentioned that the music had changed a lot and therefore it was no longer El Camino Bravo.  He had suggested the name The Midland Affair.  Partly, because there was another older band from the same town with a similar name, it made me laugh and I just rolled with it.  I'm sure locals will think either I am giving a tip of the hat or taking a dig or not being original or whatever they may come up with, but it is none of that.  It was just simply suggested, and I agreed, because it is a pretty freaking cool sounding band name and that is it.

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Writing vocals and lyrics for this album was intense for me.  It was not like writing guitar or bass.  The mindset I had to get into for delivering a satisfying performance during the recording process and the state of mind needed to develop song concepts and various vocal tones to express the lyrics and mesh with the music.... was never therapeutic. In fact, it stirred up a lot of emotions and caused me to go to unknown parts of my mind that caused a lot of extreme moods. 

That being said, it was absolutely gratifying to get through those intense moments of songwriting to now get to listen to a very cool album.  I know I gave everything I had vocally at that moment to give the music the justice it deserved.  Again, I really felt connected to the music, while I was mixing the album.  I am happy now that I decided to give it a try, and wonder how different my life would be right now, if some things didn't fall into place to allow Sal and I to meet at the local music store that random day.