Today we’d like to introduce you to Shivan Bonanno.
Hi Shivan, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I’m a musician and a molecular biologist, and I’m still trying to figure out how they work together as much as anyone else might, but here’s my story:
I grew up in Davis, CA and always loved music. I remember as a kid I always had little musical jingles and vines playing in my head – often accompanying excitement or anxiety, and I took piano lessons starting at six. So I was lucky to have a background in music, but it wasn’t until middle school that I really learned to love it the way I do today. Listening to pop songs riding in the car was foundational for me, and those riffs, motifs, lyrics, and toplines – elements of well-constructed pop songs that somehow encapsulated emotions became a home woven right into my heart. When I was in middle school, I discovered classic rock, alternative and electronic music, and most especially pop music through the decades. I landed on a couple of favorite bands (The Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Jack’s Mannequin in particular), had a band with some of my best friends, and started writing music on the piano, guitar, and singing. Since then, I’ve been on a winding journey with writing, producing, and performing music – but actually most of that time I spent in the lab doing basic research in neurobiology.
As much as I wanted to be a rockstar, I was equally interested in (and drawn to the stability of a career in) molecular biology and especially neuroscience. First at UC Berkeley and then UCLA, I studied molecular mechanisms of signaling in neurons – and I am currently researching serotonergic circuits and how they respond to different stimuli.
It’s been 18 years since I sat in my bedroom at my mom’s house and promised my teenage self that I would make albums with the same devotion that my heroes had done. Working in science has been a lot more consuming than I could have imagined, but I’ve made a lot of music since then, too. I taught myself to write songs on guitar and piano, studying the construction of pop songs I organically fell in love with – and how to record, produce, and mix in my home studio. I’ve now self-released several albums and singles with much more to come (soon!), and I hope that someday my songs will find more people’s ears and maybe become a part of their stories like my favorite artists have mine.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It’s definitely not been a smooth road. But to be honest, it’s mostly been a struggle against expectations and things have actually overall been great for me. When I started writing music and playing in bands, the music industry looked a lot different (pre-streaming/affordable recording equipment). So it’s been a constant adaptation to the changing times – first, I was focusing on learning to write and play guitar decently enough, then learning how to record and produce music, then mixing, and now releasing and – most of all – finding ways to promote music and get it to cross peoples’ paths. All those learning phases took a whole lot of work and some sacrifice. I stayed up late and took my “second job” seriously – mostly just prioritized the art and what it all meant to me over things that seemed like less fulfilling pursuits. I’d say the biggest struggle is and always has been remembering to re-focus on what brought me to the music in the first place – the creative act, the endless labor of love – and letting go of the constant tug of streams and followers.
In science, it’s actually been somewhat similar! Science is grueling, and it’s not soft on your ego – you’re mostly wrong in how you think experiments are going to turn out, and achieving milestones can be difficult. Adapting to the changing world of science has been equally challenging to that of the music industry, and managing expectations on your work (especially publishing papers) is also equally important.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Well, I always wanted people to listen to my music and think “Wow what a cool way to do that”, but I think unfortunately the competition is pretty steep there. I’d say what sets me apart from others is just that I’m unique, just like everyone else – and I guess working on how brain circuits work in fruit flies and producing electronic/acoustic pop albums is not the most common meeting of roads. I think my music draws from a lot of sources that are tried and true and that lots of people know and love, and incorporates metaphors and ruminations as well. But the reason I make my songs really comes back to how organically the brain processes pop music motifs and how that can really enhance the emotional experience of the lyrics. Maybe that convoluted explanation is enough to get people to give one of my songs a listen!
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
Well, I’d say there’s a lot of success left to be had, and I’m hoping to have some! But I really think any past success and any I might have in the future boils down to hard work and sticking with it. It can be an incredible amount of work to accomplish a final product that’s really good. Whether that’s in Science or music, I think work ethic and finding a balanced lifestyle are the most important things.
Pricing:
- $150/hr, 2 hr minimum for gigs <50mi from West LA
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.
shivanluca.com - Instagram: https://www.
instagram.com/shivanluca - Facebook: https://www.
facebook.com/shivanluca - Linkedin: https://www.
linkedin.com/in/shivan- bonanno/ - Twitter: https://www.twitter.
com/shivanluca - Youtube: https://www.youtube.
com/channel/UCbX_K8vTszKh- c23cQ0KR-A - Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/
biz/shivan-luca-los-angeles - SoundCloud: https://
soundcloud.com/shivanluca
