Garcia destined to inspire with 'Songs of Heaven and Hell'

by Jennifer Conlee, co-associate editor

His music flows from the stage, filled with emotion and passion, as he begins to play one of his original, unique songs.

Anthony Garcia, 32, a music instructor at South Plains College who teaches voice, piano, and guitar, celebrated the release of his second CD on Feb. 16 with a concert at Bash Riprock’s in Lubbock.

“I wouldn't say I'm passionate about music,” said the Lubbock native, when asked about his passions in life. “But it's the love of my life at the moment...man's best friend. I sort of look at it as a super power. I don't think Superman was passionate about flying, but he was thankful for it when he needed to get somewhere fast, or save someone or himself!”

Garcia started playing piano when he was 8, but quit and took up guitar at 12.  He said he got his start in music when he noticed his neighbors taking piano lessons.

“It led to me wanting to be better than them,” said Garcia.  “My folks stuck me in piano lessons, but that got boring.  Then I saw Michael Jackson on the Grammy’s in ’83, and that was it.  I wanted to perform and play music.”

He was 19 when he started piano again, and he hasn’t stopped.

“I wish I could say it was someone cool, like the Stones or the Beatles, or Mozart, that made me first want to play music and perform,” said Garcia, “but God put me on the planet in the ‘80s.  Sadly enough, Michael Jackson was the Beatles to my generation.”

Now that he is grown, however, he has found more inspiration.

“My brain and soul get motivated by religious writings of both kinds (that is country and eastern),” said Garcia, “as well as mystical Christian writings of the saints, the Revelation of the Apostle John, the writing of C.G. Jung, Howard Zinn's books, mainly non-musical sources to write songs, because the least important thing to me about songwriting is the music.”

He had no difficulty choosing music as his career. Garcia attended Texas Tech University, where he received a bachelor’s degree in music education and classical piano and conducting.  His minor was in German, and he spent a year as an exchange student in Giessen, Germany.

 “I’ve just always loved music,” said Garcia.  “It’s really just that simple and boring.”

In addition to living in Germany, Garcia lived in New York City for a while.

“The most rewarding experience I've ever had creating music,” said Garcia, “was working with Alzheimer's patients in New York as a 'music therapist'.  I was awarded the privilege to play music for people in their old age who were very ill, degenerating rapidly, and essentially dying before my eyes. And to see the way the music transformed them and the joy it brought them was something indescribable.

“What an honor it was for me to have done that. They gave so much more to me than I could have ever given to them. That is an experience that still inspires me to make music while I'm here on this planet with air in my lungs, and I imagine it will for the rest of my life.”

At Garcia’s CD release the bar filled quickly with people coming to hear him.  Opening for Garcia were Icarus Fixed, a Lubbock band that is one of Garcia’s favorites, and Chase Dean Tutor, of Chasing Phoenix, who is one of Garcia’s former students.

Both groups performed well, but it was clear from the applause that the audience was there to hear Garcia.

His band included Brian McRae on drums, Jerry Serrano, the lead singer of Icarus Fixed, on guitar and trumpet, Billy McClaren on fiddle, and Texas Tech students Micah Meixner and Janet Alcayaga contributed backup vocals.  Also performing with Garcia were SPC commercial music student Micah Vasquez, who played bass, and SPC guitar instructor Steve Williams, who played guitar, dobro, and pedal steel guitar.

Garcia’s CD, “Songs of Heaven and Hell,” is full of rich, wonderfully-performed music.  He writes his own music and lyrics, and his talent is unmatched by other musicians on the South Plains.

When asked what his creative process for songwriting is, Garcia replied, “it’s sort of like passing by the TV and seeing your favorite movie playing while you’re on your way to your room to do your homework or something else you have to do, and telling yourself that you're only going to watch five minutes of it. The next thing you know, two hours have gone by and you've been dying laughing, or crying, or in suspense watching this amazing movie. It's sort of unplanned and unexpected. And good or bad, the songs just show up, and you pick the ones you're least embarrassed of and go into the studio to record them and put them on an album.”

The music on his album is moving, leaving the listener in a state of awe.  “Open Heart,” a song that begins with a beautiful piano solo, particularly moved me.  Garcia’s favorite, however, is “Woman at the Well.”

“I like the lyrics of the song, the flow of the poetry, and I also like the musical arrangement,” said Garcia.  “I had Micah (Meixner) and Janet (Alcayaga) singing and overdubbed several of their tracks to make it sound like a choir.  I did all the bass and tenor parts as well. Yvette Lara played cello, and was also overdubbed a lot to make it sound like a chamber orchestra. I wrote out all the parts for them. I wouldn't say it is definitive of the album, but I like it the most right now.”

Garcia is hard at work carving out a niche for himself in the Hub City, but he has plans that will take him away from Lubbock for the summer.

“Right now, music and a career in music have not necessarily been a priority,” said Garcia. “Some recent changes in my personal life have led me to spend a little time reevaluating the void we call the future. I moved back from NYC for family reasons two years ago after having lived up there in Brooklyn for four years pursuing a career in music.

“So, I'm just enjoying teaching and playing around West Texas for the time being. We'll see where the wind will take me next...maybe somewhere, maybe nowhere. That being said, I am obviously going to try and play my music in front of as many people as possible. I am planning a tour out to California this summer, and so far have solo dates in San Francisco, LA, San Diego, and Santa Rosa. I'm working on New Mexico and Arizona. This will hopefully be the first of many such trips.”

Meanwhile, he will just keep doing what he loves to do.

“I'm thankful to God every day that I wake up,” said Garcia, “My hands work, and I can sit down and say what I am feeling through an instrument for my own enjoyment. Life is too short not to make music in some capacity every moment you can.”