Daily Inspiration: Meet Fonz Tramontano

Today we’d like to introduce you to Fonz Tramontano.

Hi Fonz, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My story is probably like most musicians. I started playing guitar at the age of 14 and played my first live show at the age of 16. I went through many bands and released tracks recorded on a four-track recorder before settling into the cover band circuit. At the age of 23, I hung up my guitar and concentrated on my career as a nurse and forgot about playing music. Zoom forward to 14 years ago, my eldest son decided he wanted to start a rock band called “Metropolis” and asked if I would help out. I did and through various lineup changes and after releasing 2 albums and 2 EPs of original music plus a live album we land in the present. The band gigs regularly and perform a mixture of covers and originals.

Alongside this I have been producing and releasing original retrowave synth music since 2019. My main love musically has always been 80’s style synth music especially synthwave and retrowave style music.

I have my own recording studio “Mileven Studio” in Sheffield and I have released 5 albums, 1 EP and 40 singles. I have collaborated with lots of amazing artists from across the globe from Spain, USA, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and the UK. My current release is called “Together” and is a collaboration with a very talent artist from Oklahoma City called Star Madman. This is my first release via the Californian record label “Headphone Music”.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Like everything in life playing and recording music is trial and error. Whether that be how to hone a killer set list that gets the crowd going and gets a rebooking or learning how to produce music and promote it organically without the use of bogus promotion companies.

I have been fortunate that I have never relied on my music to be my main source of income as this is very hard, however achieving success as a retrowave artist has been very rewarding but initially, I did not have a clue that building connections within the global music community is essential. This takes a lot of time and effort but I have found it to be very rewarding. Without the connections I have made through Twitter and Instagram I would not have met and worked with such great artists.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
My main focus creatively is my solo retrowave production work. As I am 57 I was a young man in the 80’s and therefore I believe I am at an advantage when it comes to creating music that pays homage to that era. Having said that I use modern recording techniques and technology to create music that is retro in style but modern in production values.

Today there are modern replicas of original analogue synths that make workflow and sound design easier and give a clear output without the hassle. I do not subscribe to the view that you can tell whether a synth within a track was recorded using analogue or a VST as I truly believe you cannot.

My specialty is my focus on collaborations, usually with female artists worldwide. I have built a way of working virtually that I believe gets the best from the artists that I work with without having to be in the same studio.

Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
To be honest, the rise and maintenance of poll position of streaming services such as Spotify I believe will not change anytime soon. This maybe controversial but I do not miss the CD, vinyl, and cassette era. I no longer sell physical media as personally, I don’t miss it. It is far easier to click on a link and either stream or download a track. As I say this may not be a popular opinion and I have no problem with artists that do produce and sell physical media, it is just something that I don’t use or miss.

In regard to trends, I think that in music that is a thing of the past. The rise of streaming platforms means that music is easy to access and the range of genres and subgenres is so vast that there is room for everyone which is a good thing. The pop charts in reality no longer exist as a true reflection of the listening public consumption of music.

Although I grew up in what I would consider the golden time for popular music I do not harp back to how music was presented back then. It is time to move on.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.fonztramontano.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fonztram/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fonz.tramontano
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/FonzTramontano
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/FonzTramontano
• SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/fonz-tramontano
• Other: https://fonztramontano.bandcamp.com