Conversations with Ken Raymundo

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ken Raymundo.

Hi Ken, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I started playing music when I was about 12 years old. My parents had enrolled me in Rondalla classes to learn traditional Filipino music. So most of my musical knowledge originated from learning to play various mandolins, guitar and different kinds of percussion. I was not very good at reading notes but my ear training was fairly good which allowed me to learn the music very quickly. By 13 I played my first show at Sunny Hills High School and remember getting my first 50 dollars for playing the show! To tap into a little more of what a Rondalla is, it is basically a string ensemble of mandolins, guitars and bass. The instrument I played is called a Bandurria, which is 14 strings and fairly high pitched for most of the main melodies within the music. Rondolla music has lots of elements of Spanish influence and folk. Some of the more Spanish-influenced songs had lots of Jazz chords which is where I sort of inherited some of my styles from. On top of that, I was a teenager and I was also very into rock n roll. My mentor/Bandmate from Rondalla, Patrick Tanega introduced me to a lot of Jimmy Hendrix, Iron Maiden, AC/DC, Metallica, Pantera, etc. and he is probably the one most responsible for my passion for playing music. This led me to getting my first electric guitar and I remember dressing up as a “rock star” for Halloween literally a week later after just getting the guitar and when my dad dropped me off at a park to meet up with my friends I remember getting out of the car and dropping my guitar and chipping it. I was devastated for a while after that incident.

Anyways, beyond that, as I got older I started exploring with a neighbor of mine on writing our own music and recording it. Had many good and not so good moments that we never did anything with. But those recordings probably still exist somewhere on a little cassette tape and minidiscs somewhere. That friend of mine also started to introduce me into a lot of heavier music like As I lay dying, As Cities Burn, The Chariot, Norma Jean, Underoath, Saosin, Every time I Die, Deftones, Bleeding Through, Senses Fail, etc. those are the ones I can name from the top of my head. There is so much more. But it sparked my interest in trying to find a band that had the heaviest breakdown that exists to mankind. Here’s the thing, to this day, I have not found that band. I’ve heard some nasty breakdowns but for whatever reason, it’s never enough. And people have gotten creative! Anyways, this lead to me learning about live shows. So my very first show that I went to was with this same friend introducing me to all this music, which ended up being a Battle of the Bands in Irvine, CA. No hardcore bands at this show but one of the bands was actually “The Jakes” which they have now become “Young the Giant”. It blew my mind that these kids were just about the same age as me putting on a show where all these other kids were singing and dancing along to their songs. Keep in mind, I was only like 14 years old. I was mind blown and inspired to want to one day be a part of a band and make people feel the way I felt that day.

Throughout high school, as I was still in search for the heaviest breakdown my brother, Francis Raymundo, had introduced to me a lot of new music when he would give me rides to school that opened a realm of new inspiration. He showed me such a vast range of music from Taking Back Sunday, Brand New, The Used, My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy, OK Go, Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party, The Whitest Boy Alive to weirder stuff like Horse The Band, mewithoutyou, The Dillinger Escape Plan (which I like very much!). He plays such a huge part in my love for music because I was always discovering something new and different and always made it a point to make me understand why it was good. Some of his music I wasn’t necessarily always into at first, but sometimes after a few listens it would just click and all make sense. Taking Back Sunday was weirdly one of those bands that is now one of my favorites. Fast forwarding to later in high school. I started trying to form a band. I got together with my brother’s friend that introduced me to garage band and helped me lay down a few ideas that I had. We came up with about 2 songs that weren’t really finished and somehow I thought that was good enough for us to play a show. So I put together a band. We did a few rehearsals and played one show to about 10 people. One person moshed at the breakdown. That never happened again. This lead to me finally getting my own computer that had garage band (shout out macintosh) to start recording my own music. A few other failed bands later I remember getting rehired at Baskin Robbins to meet the drummer of my next band Andy Chabolla. We went through several bands together that lead to me meeting my bassist Chris Wellington, did a few things but lead to our band called “Monroe” that I would consider the early days of Moondough developing.

Just out of high school, I was going to community college for Business and pretty much left after a year and a half to really attempt pursuing music. This band “Monroe” I was determined to take it the distance and it went as far as recording an EP and playing a ton of local shows for about 3 years. Couldn’t find a way to break through the ceiling to tour or gain more opportunities which lead to me getting a comfortable 9-5 job that I pretty much got so comfortable in that I was okay with quitting music at one point. I had no more time for music and it always bummed me out. I was trying to find my way back into music and I was given an opportunity to sell merch for my friends in Hail The Sun for a tour back in 2015 for a month and I absolutely hated it. I had a poor attitude towards things because I was a little jealous sitting behind the table selling merch when my friends got to perform every night. Touring was a huge reality check because it had shown me how far my actual goals were for music. It was at that point where I was kind of okay with just accepting my fate and believing I wasn’t cut out for music. I started picking up photography as a scapegoat to fill my creative void. Became decently good at it to the point where I started getting hired for gigs. But that started to die when it started feeling like a job. So in my 9-5 job, I kept moving up to the point where I didn’t feel like there was anywhere else to go.

Ironically my job was a career counselor for high school students. The position I moved up into was a 10-month position which allowed me to have 2 months off in the summer in 2018 which resparked my love for music again. 2 weeks before going back to work I had this gut feeling of not wanting to go back and give music a try again. I was offered a chance to go out on tour again to sell merch, this time with Royal Coda supporting Hail the Sun. So I quit my job and went on that tour. I had a way different attitude and did my best to meet everyone I came into contact with. I took photos for free and gave them to everyone just so they could have the memories. That tour changed my life. I learned the ins and outs of the business and where all the money actually goes. Merch is actually where most money is pulled in for bands. So if you ever want to support your favorite artist. BUY MERCH! I met a ton of talented musicians. And I let everyone know what I was up to. That tour was where Moondough was born. I put up a sh*tty demo online and told everyone on tour about it. That song no longer exists other than on band camp if you want to listen to it. when I came back I took all the money I had saved from the tour and work to embark on my journey. I wrote and wrote and wrote and took months for me to release my first actual song. I had about 2 weeks before my 30th birthday where I decided to put a deadline on releasing music. Wrote a song within that timeframe and put my “first song” “Run it Back” on Dec. 12th, 2019. I was determined to make noise so I did the same thing about a month later and wrote my second song “Time’s Up” within 2 weeks put it out about a month and a half later.

And then put “Dear Future Mrs. Valentine,” 2 weeks later on valentines day. With lengthy descriptions describing my struggle of a journey. This made a little traction and my good friend Sergio Medina from every band known to mankind, expressed that he liked what I was doing and wanted to help me in any way he could. He was kind enough to make some stickers for me and social media visuals for my songs to promote. Then the pandemic hits. Everyone knows about that and struggled in their own ways. I just stayed home and kept writing and drank a lot with my friends on zoom calls. I ended up writing “Social Disco Dancing” which is my pandemic song. Literally filmed the whole video in my room by myself and created a tornado of a mess in my room that took about a month to do. I wanted to make sure by the time things opened up I was going to be hitting the road touring. I ended up rerecording a 10-year-old song (Odd Reasons) with Donovan Melero in July 2020 that gained a decent amount of traction and drove a little more traffic to my social media. At this moment Sergio had heard Social Disco Dancing and saw the video and wanted to help again. This time got it professionally mixed and mastered by the Legend Mike Watts and put out on Blue Swan Records. This gained decent amount of traction very quickly and I even got some hate. I didn’t mind it so much. But this lead to Moondough in my eyes becoming a “thing” to where it felt like I had somewhat of an audience curious enough to know what I was going to do next.

I spent 2021 Touring with Hail the Sun and Donovan Melero, selling more merch and occasionally finding ways to take the stage to play 1 or 2 songs. I tried making friends with everyone I came into contact with and gave everyone a sticker just trying to let everyone about Moondough. By the end of 2021, Donovan offered me the position of playing guitar for his band on tour instead of selling merch. I was so excited because I had been waiting my whole life to playing music on tour and not be selling merch. Immediately when that tour was done I was offered my first tour for Moonodough and went on to tour 4 different times for Moondough throughout the course of 2022 2 of which were US tours. For this year I am currently working with producer Joe Occhiuti, on some music that I plan to begin releasing later this year. And This is where I am now with a few shows in CA coming up. (Sorry this is so long I kind of just rambled, I know you said briefly, but take what you want from it and shorten it however you’d like to interpret it, I hope the story was interesting enough)

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It hasn’t particularly been a smooth road, as I had mentioned I started my journey back just out of high school and have several failed projects even to a moment where I was okay with never doing music again. But somehow music has always found mysterious ways to spark my passion again.

Some of the main struggles were, changing my views and perspective on everything I thought I knew about doing music. No one owes you anything and you just have to do your best to be authentic and not be afraid to speak your mind and let that be known. Music I find does best when you can connect and relate with people. Whether it’s the lyrics, the actually way the music makes you feel, or even the live performance you bring. When I quit my job, my only focus was finding better ways to connect with everyone. That speaks for in my personal life as well and how I conduct myself.

Touring, as much as I love doing that is such a struggle for a musician going out for your first time. There is a lot of money to be invested before you can even make it to your first show. And you have to go out with other musicians that believe in you. I am lucky to have worked with some great Musicians that have elevated Moondough. Shout out (Alex Blanchard, Ben Ross, Steen Kevett-Lopez, & Stephen Taylor) But you go out taking a big risk in hopes you break even by the time you complete the tour.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Moondough is just me (Ken Raymundo) it is a pun of my last name Raymundo. I landed on this name because if i was going to be taking music seriously this time around, I wanted to put my name into it and hold myself accountable for everything I do. The “Moon” side of it can also stand for “shooting for the moon”. And I guess you can look at “Dough” as money or actually bread. lol

I specialize in writing/producing/creating my own music. I play a lot of different instruments and got my own little crappy studio in my bedroom to make it all happen. The best way to describe my music would have to be Soul/Funk/Jazz/RnB/Soul/Rock n Roll. I also write a lot of music about heartbreak and love which I think a lot of people seem to relate with. My band and I also put on a pretty fun show that people seem to also respond well to.

Touring is probably the one thing I am most proud of. There is no other feeling like traveling with you friends and all the crazy things that are just bound to happen on the road. Those memories we’ve made are one of a kind and I will never forget. Some of the best times of my life that include all the struggles we got through as a team. Builds character.

What sets me apart from others seems to be my sound and quirky personality. People have found out I really like raccoons and I receive raccoon videos and memes almost daily from fans. And I love it. I saw that as an opportunity to make funny merch designs and it’s cool to see when someone buys a shirt and they say they’ve never even heard of “Moondough” (proud of that too)

How do you think about happiness?
Performing makes me happy. I had mentioned it earlier of how my first show made me feel, to see other kids my age performing and other kids connecting. I also feel like I get to be myself. So the more the crowd hypes me up, the crazier things I do. If they’re having fun I am having fun and it just becomes this one big fun fest!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/moondoughmusic
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/moondoughmusic/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/moondoughmusic
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/moondoughmusic
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQJT3ns86e3Mf3Htlz6_6Cw
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0kRKKlFroEhNFwLkonqTBv?si=ywgTr0gVRtuMMFS3kN1RxQ

Image Credits
Eli Chavez (Elias Photography CO.)