Meet Brad Belmondo

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Brad Belmondo a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Brad, we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?

A long time ago, way back at the end of middle school, I had to deal with a lot of bullying and not fitting in, due to the fact that I found something that I genuinely found interest in and wanted to devote my time to. Back then, writing music and playing an instrument was something the other kids in my class viewed as dumb and irrelevant to any sort of job. Around this same time, I was faced with losing all of the close friends that I had, due to leaving my other passion, baseball. Baseball was always something that gave me energy and made me smile when I played; but it became clear that, yes, even in middle school baseball, smiling and not crying after striking out was sinful. I’ll never forget the feeling of being surrounded, not only by my peers, but my entire town and community and being bullied by other fathers and parents and their kids. The truth is, I have always been a very optimistic person and I was lucky enough to have a fantastic and happy childhood. Being this way, my classmates and many families around the town treated us differently and made an effort not to include us in anything. On the one specific day that fully changed my goals, I quit the sports that I loved and removed myself from the community. The next couple of years put me through times of being publicly humiliated by those who I had been close to in front of my entire school and community. I had had enough and I decided to devote myself not only to music, but creating music that could create a sense of community and love. In my spare time prior to quitting sports all together, I worked a lot on music and was actively writing songs, but it took a young heartbreak, being exiled, and realizing that my true love was being a music maker, to completely shape what I wanted to focus on from then on.
When I finally let go and began to grow my musical skills and goals, I realized that regardless of what anyone else thought, I loved what I was doing and can’t live without it. I was always fortunate enough to have a lot of confidence in myself, but there were times where the constant battering of everything I love really wore me down. For the next few years until the end of high school (or rather, the beginning of COVID), I was faced with a similar willing blockade that kept me out of view. I went months watching the community celebrate with firetrucks and hallways lined with cheering for my classmates that achieved honest, but small sporting goals. My final year in school, I pushed myself as hard as I can and was accepted as an All-Nationals musician, selected from students all over the country for my singing and trumpet playing. There were no firetrucks. There was no sendoff. No one even knew. In fact, it was never talked about outside of the music wing when I made All-States, All-Eastern, or All-Nationals. Regardless, one thing stayed the same for me. I appreciated the work I did for myself. I appreciated the fact that every day for 4 years straight I would wake up at 6 and practice my synths or trumpet to make myself better. Since then, I am happy to know that my community has seemed to accept me once again, but I realized that I could be the better person, cheering for those who never cheered for me. And as the world continues to change every single day, I realize that everyone, no matter how corrupt or taken advantage of, deserves to be appreciated in some way for being on this planet. The hard truth is, we are all humans and we are all here together. I couldn’t be more thankful for having a family that has given me all of the love and support that one could ask for. But it really makes me realize that that is what we really need right now. To be confident in the way that we can all love each other, regardless of who we are, much like the way that I continued to love myself when others around me told me not to. I developed my confidence and my self-esteem from seeing that I deserve it as much as anyone else does, and I will always stand by that.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

My journey with music really started when I was little, maybe around 5 years old when I would pound on my dad’s old Dx7 and Roland D70 attempting desperately to play my favorite song, Livin’ on a Prayer by Bon Jovi. It would take a few years before I really realized that my entire life, I have always had such an extremely close relationship to music, as I would sing and dance around everywhere, count my steps in rhythm, and never go a second without having some kind of ear worm that would play nonstop. As I grew up, one of the foundations of my interest in music stemmed from video game music. At the time, so many hours were put into playing my Wii and my DS, all of which led me to teaching myself my favorite video game songs on the synths. After a couple years of teaching myself to play, my skills on the keyboard as well as creating sounds progressed fairly quickly, especially when I realized that I am lucky enough to have perfect pitch, as well as synesthesia/chromesthesia. While most of my musical time was spent playing keys, in 5th grade I also began playing the trumpet. Since then, I am fortunate to have played with amazing groups of people ranging from the various orchestras, national honor bands, jazz ensembles, rock bands, reggae bands, concert bands, and more. Around 11 years old, I began producing and composing music, all of which, as rough as they were, have taught me valuable skills in both fields. As my abilities grew, my collection of gear and synths also grew. Many times, I have been asked the reasoning behind using/needing so many different synthesizers. My response is always the same – it’s fine to have the 12 colors of Crayola crayons; but when you have the 128 box, the options are limitless, especially with how it affects my chromesthesia. Teaching myself sound design since my collection started has opened up so many different avenues of how I can create music, and between that, performing, producing, and composing, it has been my absolute goal since I started to widen my abilities in every single musical field.

When I was 14, the perfect concoction of a heartbreak, bullying, and an ominous 2016 led me to write my first original album. Once I started, I just couldn’t stop. My love for writing music grew exponentially and because I could produce, write, and perform everything alone, it became something that energized me to the extreme when I wasn’t playing my trumpet. For all of high school, I worked and worked and worked on my music, inspired by classic rock music and progressive rock like Bruce Springsteen, Supertramp, Genesis, and YES. While most times, I would write rock music, others I would focus on creating instrumental works as well, whether it be piano music or with my synths. It was during the years leading up to the pandemic that I wrote 5 albums of original songs and instrumental music. From 2016 to the beginning 2020, I was on a roll with my endeavors; All-State ensembles, tours in Europe and in the US, All-Eastern and All-Nationals for voice, handbells, and trumpet; musical theater, composition contests – you name it. I was accepted into my dream school, Berklee College of Music, with a sonata for trumpet that I had written for my audition. And then the world came crashing down.

5 days after my All-Eastern performance, everything shut down and I was trapped at home. I would sit in my studio and think and write and play and focus so much on music that I think my parents sometimes wondered if I was even still existing (of course, they could hear the music from my room blasting at around 30dB hahaha). Everything happened that year. Protests, COVID, fires, etc. One day, I opened up my notation software and just started to write. Within 2 weeks, I am not sure how or where it came from, but I had written my first symphony of five movements for full orchestra. By the end of the summer, I had created a whole new album of rock music – the first of which I released publicly on streaming platforms. I just kept going and nothing was going to stop me. At this point, not only did I learn that I love writing and playing rock, but I loved composing for orchestra, as well. Eventually, there was a day that I took a walk and listened to my first Coldplay album all the way through. From then on, everything about my rock music changed. I fell in love with what I heard and the feeling I get when I hear it. To me, it had all changed and my music shifted into what I refer to as progressive pop/rock.

When I started Berklee, I sat in front of my computer online in my bedroom. Did it suck? Yes. Did I get through it and make the best of it? Yes. It was my honor to be chosen to be one of twelve students showcased in Berklee’s 75th Anniversary show. There was so much I had to say and so much that needed to come out from my head. Throughout it all, I was pushed to be someone other than myself. Not to do my music, not to be the artist I was, and to be like everyone else. In the end, it never stopped me. When the show aired, my original song was showcased in the concert, joined by Quincy Jones and many other Berklee alumni. Following that semester, I made my way to Boston to start my new life as a college student. Today, as I sit here writing this, I recount the many concerts and events I took part in, the many bands that I am so happy to have been a part of, and the experience of growing up as a college student. It was here that I also found my love for composing for film and video games, both of which I do on a daily basis for my career.

I am very appreciative of the skills I’ve been given and the career that I have now. Currently, I balance working as a multi-media composer, a producer, a performer (trumpet/synthesizer and keys/voice/etc.) and studio musician, a songwriter, and on rare occasions, I take a small break. Anything that is needed, regardless of genre, is something I can do and enjoy doing. In the next coming months, please look forward to my 5 upcoming albums, ranging from video game and film music, a live album, and acoustic album, and another regular progressive pop/rock album! Everything I do on a daily basis can be seen on my social medias – especially on my Instagram @brad_belmondo_music.

All in all, throughout my entire journey, one thing has always remained true and always will: I believe that music is a source of power, love, and humanity. It has extreme potential to change lives and I really feel that it needs to be used correctly. I have become so aware of the happenings around me in the United States and around the world, that a lot of what I think about everyday and what appears in my music is routed from empathy hope that I have for change that suits everyone for the better. There is so much to work on together in order to create a world that we can be happy and comfortable living in, as well as a society in which we can accept each other and be unified. Although now, it seems as there are many forces that attempt to keep us apart, there is not one day that goes by that I don’t believe that there is hope to become better versions of ourselves. In the years to come, I look forward to becoming a leader, not only in music, but in love, hope, and humanity. Where there is adversity, there is an avenue for music to impact even just one person. To me, changing lives is the best part of being a musician.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

For me, the most important things have always been keeping hope even in the darkest of times, staying confident in yourself with whatever your decisions about yourself are, and understanding that if there is something that seems impossible and just out of reach, it is 100% possible to stretch and get achieve it. Unfortunately, there are so many people who have tried and tried to reach their dreams and may have been met with a force that never let them continue. But I really do feel that being confident, appreciative, and determined is the answer to being happy with one’s career and the life one chooses.

What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?

As I deal with the problems and obstacles of each of the musical fields I am in on a daily basis, as well as finding time to just eat and take a walk outside, at the time of the day when my head sounds like a rock concert on full volume, there are 2 things I usually resort to. Walking outside, especially where it is green, can be very soothing for my chromesthesia and for when the projects build up. I would be lying if I said that time management is the full key to preemptively overcoming the feeling of being overwhelmed. There are many days where I have to get out of bed, take a deep breath, shower, and then sit at my desk until the sun goes down before I can even leave my apartment. And if that isn’t bad enough, because I work my best at night, I tend to stay up way into the morning and wake up when lunch is served. Of course, hopefully this is only a temporary thing at the moment, but those times where I can get outside and breathe help tremendously. On the occasions that my schedule won’t allow it, I go onto YouTube, turn on binaural nature sounds and videos, and close my eyes while I play the piano to just free up my mind and meditate. Finding the most comfortable place is my key to resolving the cloud in my head.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @brad_belmondo_music
• Facebook: Brad Belmondo Music
• Linkedin: Brad Belmondo – https://www.linkedin.com/in/brad-belmondo/
• Youtube: Brad Belmondo – https://www.youtube.com/@bradbelmondo8463
• Other: Email for business inquiries – [email protected]

Image Credits

Doug Belmondo – Paul Douglas Studio
Berklee Valencia
Jake Colson
Lisa Chiodo
Eliott Allemand