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Meet Michael Nathan Ynchausti

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael Nathan Ynchausti.

Michael Nathan, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Originally, I’m from the Philippines. My family and I came to the US when I was three and settled in the Bay Area. Growing up in a Filipino household in the Bay Area, good music was always around us. I wouldn’t say that I grew up in a family of musicians at all but we definitely loved good music.

I remember my mom would always have Earth, Wind & Fire, Journey, or Brian McKnight playing in the car when she would pick my siblings and I up from school. Alternatively, my siblings would show me a lot of Alternative bands like Green Day and Jimmy Eat World when we started getting our own CD players. Around then when I was in 5th grade, I started playing a lot of guitars which was my first instrument. I remember trying to learn all the solos I heard in those records and eventually trying to write songs (none of them being very good). When I got to middle school, I started playing guitar and singing in the youth group of my church. That was a great experience for me because it was the first time I really played music in front of people and they seemed to like what was going on. It was the first time I really felt like a musician. I got to know some friends in that church who also played music, and eventually joined a metal/hardcore band as the vocalist. What was crazy about that was it was really the complete opposite of the music I heard growing up and not even the instrument I played, but I loved being able to play music with friends. We played a lot of shows around the Bay Area and, towards the end, even got a manager who was trying to get us on a label. We were really young though and the band started to die off around the time I entered high school.

When I got to high school, I joined the school choir with my friends, kind of as a joke, just to get out of having to do some other elective. The crazy thing was that I started to really like singing. I started getting back into more of the music I heard growing up with these insane vocalists that I still look up to. I really dove into R&B/Soul cause it just made me feel a certain way that other styles of music never had done before; that was when I began listening to Musiq, Anthony Hamilton, Allen Stone, etc. As my musical taste expanded, I started songwriting seriously for the first time. My junior year, I went to New York with my high school choir for a competition. On that trip, I showed people my songs for the first time and they really liked them; I got the reaction that I would be dumb not to take music seriously. That whole experience with traveling, performing, and people liking my music really changed my direction in life because it made me really consider pursuing music more than just a hobby. From then on, I took music seriously and even began putting out some singles toward the end of high school. Right out of high school, I began attending San Jose State University with a major in Vocal Performance. The decision to pursue music in college was actually pretty difficult because I struggled with its practicality.

After my first semester of college, I was seriously considering giving up on it because it made me anxious. That feeling really didn’t last that long looking back. I went to a couple of shows around that time and saw D’Angelo, Allen Stone, Leon Bridges, and Kendrick Lamar which made me fall back in love with the idea of pursuing music. It was actually at a Jeremy Passion show in 2015 that I made the decision to fully commit to this whole music thing. I remember being in the crowd and experiencing a really intense feeling of guilt that I would even consider giving up on it. After that, I’ve never looked back. A couple of months later, I released my first EP “3AM” that I fully wrote and co-produced with Zac Monte from Mountenz. I had a couple of friends help play instruments on that record like Ian Santillano and Pablo Lopez from The Housewarmers. I also had Leslie Legacion and Ryan Abusaidi play Keys and Bass respectively. After releasing this project, I moved down to LA for school at Azusa Pacific University where I finished my degree in Commercial Music Vocal Performance. I feel very grateful for having had the privilege of studying music and being friends with a lot of gifted people trying to pursue music too.

While at APU, I released a couple of singles and my second EP “16//17” that was a lot more R&B/Hip-Hop oriented than the previous project. This one was a lot different cause it was around the time I began dipping my toes into making beats with Ableton. I graduated December of 2019 right into COVID. Finding jobs in music was already a tough thing but with the pandemic going on, it made it a lot more difficult. During quarantine, I pretty much spent every day making beats and writing songs. I released my first full-length album “The Web” in October 2020 with songs and beat all written and produced during lockdown. I was fortunate enough to work on this record with one of my oldest friends Dimitri Morris (who was in that metal/hardcore band with me). Looking forward, I would love to play shows with this record when it’s safe again but as of now, I’ve just been writing more music to release in 2021.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It definitely has not been a smooth road but I wanna emphasize that I’m grateful that it hasn’t been as rough as it could be. At first, it was difficult to get my family to support me in pursuing music. I come from a pretty conservative Filipino family, so even if music is a big part of the culture, it was never seen as a career path. It took a lot of convincing, but after showing them my work ethic and my work itself, they’re really supportive of what I do now which I’m extremely thankful for. Another struggle that has been a major one for me is self-doubt. While the decision to go after music is something that I remain convicted in, I’ve always struggled with valuing my own capabilities. When I first moved to LA, I found myself surrounded by all these amazing and gifted people which I think kicked off issues I’ve had with comparison. It’s gotten a lot better as I’ve become more secure in my talents, but it’s definitely still something I work through day after day. I think what changed my perspective a lot on this was not looking at music as a competition. Which if I could give any advice on this subject, it would be to freely support those around you. Life’s too short to be stingy with this kind of thing especially in the music industry where there’s a whole lot of crab mentality going on. Making and releasing music in college was also tough, even as a music major, because I never felt like I could fully devote time to my own music as much as I would have liked since I had to balance it with my studies. However despite this, I really do value the education I received and it made me a lot better at what I want to do. All this to say, it’s really just about working toward where I wanna be every day despite these struggles.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m a singer, songwriter, beatmaker, and music producer. I mainly make R&B/Hip-Hop music but I think I’m starting to move toward getting into Neo-Soul a little more. I really love the process of fleshing out the music I hear in my head. Whether it’s writing, producing, or performing, the process is really where I feel the most passion in it all. To put it simply, I’m known for my music; that’s all that matters at the end of the day. I’m most proud of my album “The Web”. I put tons of work in it, I wrote over 25 songs and made numerous beats just to get to the twelve that made it onto the album. It’s the most honest I’ve ever been with my music; I don’t really enjoy the feeling of vulnerability in conversations so I mainly express it in my music and I think it really shows. What sets me apart from others is the uniqueness of my voice and my own style of songwriting and production. I believe I’ve developed something really special over the years of working at this music thing and it’s only getting better.

If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
I’m the youngest sibling of three so I think that gives a lot of context on how I was personality-wise. I was a loud, obnoxious, and rowdy kid growing up. Straight up, I still have these qualities today but a lot less extreme. Teachers and other parents didn’t like me very much honestly, not cause I was a bad kid or anything but I didn’t really have a filter. Part of it might be attributed to immigrating to the US and having to a learn a whole new culture alongside my parents. I like to think I was a funny kid though. I’ve always been pretty extroverted so whether it was playing music, video games, sports, etc. I was all about the social aspect of it. I kinda did the bare minimum when it came to school cause I wanted to focus on things that I really loved to do like music. I also played Hockey growing up with my siblings and on my high school team. Midway through high school, I started boxing and getting into fitness which taught me a lot about discipline and being confident in myself. I began to do really well in school and became more focused with my priorities which helped me finish college and release all the music I’ve worked on today. The weird thing is that I don’t really remember a lot about myself growing up. It’s all kinda foggy up until halfway through my Senior year of high school where I feel like I started to become the person I am today.

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Image Credits
Allison Sowle, Justin Sprague, Andrew Washington, Elijah Kaak, Scarlett Gomez, Justine Mariscal, Kitt Mae

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