ISSUE NO. 1: CHRIS TORRES / INTERVIEW
There’s no shortage of pivotal figures in Lakeland’s music scene, but there are key individuals who have been pillars through each stage of its evolution. We sought to interview local musician, Chris Torres, on that very basis. A performer for over 20 years, Chris has been playing everything from Molly McHugh’s open mic to the main stage of Crowbar for as long as we’ve known him. However, the thing that most attracted us to Chris was not just his musical ability; it was his passionate support for the entirety of Central Florida’s music and art community. We’ve encountered more than a few musicians that have him to thank for booking their first show, designing promotional content for their concerts, or for selflessly sharing gear. Our decision to interview Torres was a no brainer, and we adamantly feel that his time in our spotlight was long overdue.
When we first sat down with Chris, it became immediately apparent that his musical influences were the catalyst for his songwriting and instrumental style. Citing Incubus and Sublime as two of his biggest motivations, his music began taking shape at just 14 years old. “The middle school I went to in Puerto Rico had kind of a School Of Rock vibe” he said, laughing. “I really wanted to learn how to play guitar so I could play Sublime songs.” While school afforded him that opportunity, Torres eventually moved to Lakeland to pursue music and business in college. He quickly became involved in different bands, playing shows at various fraternity parties. “I really wanted to be in an original band” he said, “I recorded a few demos here and there but nothing would ever stick.”
His first involvement in a recorded project was with a band called “Mansions on Memorial” where he went on to release 2 EP’s with various band members. The project enabled him to play shows with the material and helped get his foot in the door at different venues around town. After a few years with the band, he moved on to play with a folk project called “The Resilient.” For the first time, Chris was involved with the release of a full album; contributing rhythm guitar and banjo. However, in terms of playing something that “sounded like him”, Chris hadn’t yet found his style. “I’ve always been into meshing different genres and playing a more syncopated style of rock,” he said. Shortly after his departure from “The Resilient,” Chris met friends Jerry Escobedo (drums) and Stephen Connell (bass), who then helped establish his current Rock/Alternative band, “Revel In The View.”
The first time the trio practiced together, they had fleshed out songs for an entire EP. It was apparent then that he was ready to leave his folk project and begin pursuing a new direction. “I had the confidence to be in a rock band again” he explained, “but I had just applied to go to law school, so we wrote and pushed out two EP’s [Sooner Than Inclined in April 2012; No End All Be All in October 2012] and just played everywhere we could.” The trio circulated Lakeland for the course of a year, until Torres moved to Orlando for school. The distance between cities made “Revel In The View” hard to manage, and the band took a hiatus for a few years. Subsequently, Chris found himself leaving school early to head back to Lakeland. “It was difficult to maintain a life in Orlando” Torres explained, “I made the decision to simplify my life a little bit and focus on happiness.”
Chris’ chapter with “Revel In The View” rapidly expanded as Andy Wajek came into the picture and joined on bass. The band was able to establish real footing in Lakeland, and moved forward to recording their 3rd EP The Afterglow. “I always had this dream that we’d be able to do it, but I wasn’t sure if we were going to make it back for a second run” Torres told us.
“Revel” played shows in Central Florida for about a year before opening themselves up to adding more members. Chris expressed how much he admired bands like “The Get Up Kids” that had two guitars and a synth player. “Revel” then set out to look for a female vocalist and additional instrumentalists — something the band collectively agreed they were missing.
In friendship with celebrated Lakeland artist Patty Kenoly, they struck gold. “We got really lucky with Patty” Chris told us, “we had a huge show booked around that time opening up for Strawberry Girls, and she was able to learn and write keyboard/secondary vocal parts for 5 different songs in just a week.”
. Charlie Reese, another veteran Lakeland artist, had previously expressed interest in playing guitar for “Revel” after the release of The Afterglow. Chris laughed, “I was like ‘Hell yeah.’ Someone with his legacy, and his playing ability- I knew he could really color our songs.”
Alongside Patty and Charlie, Revel went on to write, record, release The Cost of Breaking Even in 2019. The EP, produced by Brendan McGowan, could be considered the band’s most ambitious material to date.
Under McGowan’s guidance, Chris aimed to achieve a more sophisticated sound for “Revel.” “I wanted to take a quicker approach to the songs so that it sounds like our last two releases kind of clash with one another.” he explained. Torres emphasized the difference between their most produced record “The Afterglow” and ”The Cost of Breaking Even” which he describes as their most rough sounding record. That “live” sound that Chris hoped to execute, rings true when listening back to their recorded music. There is a clear emphasis on progression, with the band definitively making gains in songwriting, instrumentation, and overall approach with each new release.
With any small town, the music scene lives and dies in waves. “From what I’ve learned over the past 10 years,” Chris told us, “You’ll have a really great venue that lasts maybe 3 or 4 years, or you’ll have bands that go for a couple of years but then give it up. So I knew that with the 5 of us, if we could get an EP out and play shows, the whole experience would be worthwhile.”
Shortly thereafter, members of Revel started to move in different directions. Torres expressed that he had hoped they could collaborate further on more material, but admitted they weren’t able to get that far. Charlie and Patty both left Lakeland to explore new horizons, and Chris has begun work on a new set of songs with McGowan, set to be released sometime in early 2021. “Lyrically, I feel like these new songs don’t feel like I’m writing too abstractly. I could relate these songs to very personal stories more than I could with a lot of previous songs.” With “Revel In The View,” Chris noted that he would take creative liberties in his songwriting process in order to make some songs work, but expressed that his newer material is more direct — or at least, that’s how he’s feeling about it now.
With the evolution of music streaming, it has become more difficult for artists to gain traction with their music when it’s released as an entire project. We spoke to Chris about the possibility of him releasing his new music as “singles” and he confirmed that may be the route he chooses for his upcoming work. “The last two ‘Revel’ records, we premiered them by putting up one track on Facebook, with all the songs, and anyone who wanted to listen to the whole record could just ‘press play’.” he said. This time, he’s taking the new approach of releasing them separately on streaming platforms. “I always look at small releases, or EP’s, as chapters. Especially when you don’t have the big production backing you, or you’re recording yourself. It’s very hard to keep someone in tune for a full 10–12 songs. Especially with so many artists putting out so much music, you have to be lucky that someone’s into your stuff enough to give it a full listen.”
Chris Torres, apart from being an established musician, is also known in Lakeland’s music community as an avid supporter of fellow artists. He curates one of the most diverse Lakeland-based/affiliated artist playlists entitled “This Is Lakeland” which he frequently updates. He also plays a huge part in organizing Lakeland’s indie movement by booking shows at local venues. The first time we met him, Chris was quick to express support for Lakeland as a city, and helped us see just how valuable the music/art scene really is. We’d like to pioneer our support for local artists by extending the opportunity for direct donations. Instead of being a middleman between you and the artists we feature, we hope to funnel a “virtual tip jar” directly to the person we’re spotlighting. Creatives have been significantly impacted by Covid-19, and we believe direct monetary support is the premier way to support musicians while they are not playing shows.
Chris Torres personal Venmo is: @ctorresc04
His music can be found on Spotify, Apple Music, Bandcamp, and all other streaming platforms (search “Revel In The View”)
