Today we’d like to introduce you to Joe Garcia.
Hi Joe, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I started at a young Age playing in bands (all instruments) from punk rock all the way up into metalcore and hardcore. I would say that started my roots into music through out my younger years (middle school/High School). After around the end of highschool I Toured with bands around the U.S. but during that time i was slowly building into music production making beats of all genres. After my last tour I was introduced more into the LA Fidget house, Dance and UK Bassline style of music around 2006 and was hooked.
At That time it was the Blog house era of electronic dance music (Music Distributed VIA Blogs) which really was something special and shaped the way for Electronic artists we hear now like a-trak, Busy P, Justice, aoki and many more. I spent my 20s in the LA night life going to Electro dance shows at the Arena, Florentine Gardends and Parties thrown by my friends DSKOTEK all over EAST LA. At that time I was heavily influenced by artists like mightyfools, disco villains, don rimini, crookers, le castle vania, Jack Beats and so many more. Be aware this whole EDM thing wasnt as big as it is now at the time but had its scene! I was lucky enough to be there when it was all going down in Los Angeles. After a while of all the back and forth from Los Angeles to San Diego I ended up sticking around San Diego my home town and doing less travel back and forth. Sadly There was not a big Dance Scene down here so being diverse as I am in music I was playing venues every weekend of all genres Under my artist/DJ Name Saber
During this whole time I was producing stuff for myself and record pools as well as companies non stop. I was making lots Remixes and was starting to get noticed on a major scale by Major artists and Producers being played out at festivals and venues across the world. After a few years building, growing in the San Diego Night Life and Playing venues every weekend I decided it was time for a big change and made the move up to LA.
The Year was 2016 I had $500 dollars in my pocket and a head full of big dreams and goals. I was lucky enough to have made some great friends and relationships over the years in the music industry so my friends from LMFAO’s Crew (the party rock crew) let me crash at their place In Hollywood on the ground for $500 a month. I was figuring it all out as I went, I had my residency at omnia at the time in san diego so I would go back and forth playing with the biggest names in the industry then heading back to LA to sleep on the ground and chasing my dreams. I finally landed a job in Hollywood as a music producer with the Record pool ‘Headliner Music Club’ during this time. This company is a big staple in the DJ community and had tons of events to network and have listening parties. During my time with them we had with artists like DJ Snake, DJ Mustard, Post malone, Lil Jon, Tyga, Russ, tinashe and many more. It was a great foot into the industry and a lot of my music was noticed by lots of Djs and artists around the world. This added on to the 4 to 5 jobs I had with music at the time
After about a year of being in LA Networking going out playing shows and more I got picked up by A well known DJ/Artist to Ghost produce Records for him. 2018 into 2019 I ended up moving to north Hollywood/ Burbank area and spent almost everyday at the studio working on my Clients work and my work as well. Big shout out to Hem the Owner of Anonymous Studios! Endless nights of projects and client sessions working with major labels and artists through his management made me slowly learn the major industry and business side of things. I landed a few good releases through Atlantic and warner and knocked off the goal of being directly paid by major labels from my check list as well as other goals. Another thing I landed during this time was my foot into Sync licensing. I have a friend DJ
SPRYTE that has a show on sirius xm and also produces music but I talked with about his other music endevors because he also works with disney on their commercials as a composer and he brought up sync. Sync Licensing is music production/composing for movies/television/commercials. So after some back in forth we decided to work on a sync album for a big company in Hollywood. we did a great job and our music was placed on commercial for the movie The kingsman and the tv show lego masters and so much more, So after my introduction with the A&R for the company i ended up building a solid relationship and making a few more albums that got placements on movies tv and commercial’s all over the world. On top of this you have to realize I was still making my personal artist (SABER) music and it progressed into Heavy bass house & Bass influenced music. There was so much influence of genres music and styles coming from everywhere that I had such a open mind to all genres artists and industries in music while in LA. I had a lot of things going on from showcasing my personal work to distributing music for the record pools and writing albums for the sync company as well as having my personal clients and releasing through major labels.
Full time music is no easy life but I chose to do it 100% or die trying. I was hungry for it, I was broke and from being a first generation mexican american I had lots to prove and make my parents proud of everything they sacrificed and risked for me. It was all looking up and building to where I wanted to be in my career. Then it happened. The pandemic. It took out everyone in my industry including myself.
It was a hard time lost clients and companies I was working with because budgets and everyone was scared at the time not knowing what would happen. during that time. I moved to the desert and had a much needed mental reset. from almost 4 years of working non stop in the major music industry my brain needed a break. I still got to work on a bunch of Sync albums during that pandemic time and landed a lot of cool placements (My songs on TV/Movies/Commercials) So was lucky enough to have that going for me! but it took us all out slowly.
It took extra work to come back but Finally the world was slowly coming back and I started landing big shows with insomniac under my artist work for SABER Playing Bass music. Played my first big festival the return of EDC Las Vegas! Did a back to back set at Kayzo’s Art car with the EMO Nite Friends and I got to hand off my set to illenium so thats when i knew we were back. I have played tons of shows the last couple years playing academy in Hollywood to Exchange Downtown LA all the way to TIME in OC and down to NOVA here in San diego w/ Major Artists (All insomniacs venues) . as of today I have played 2 EDC’s and apocalypse festival have played in places from seattle to san fransisco, houston, Mexico and so many more I also have composed 9 sync albums of all Genres from dance music to indie and 80s synth wave and going for 20 albums, and have produced over a 100 remixes and tons of originals and played 1000s of shows in my career I feel I am still building and chasing for greatness for the world to see.
This is a my dream and what i was made for. In the end Love what you do, build beautiful relationships, always have fun and never give up.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has definitely been tough. Both my parents immigrated from mexico and we did not have much but we made it work. I grew up with not much in a poor Mexican neighborhood in Escondido called the tijuanitas but it shaped me and built me gave me strength to know someone like me could come from the bottom of the barrel and build my way up. life has always been hard and tough especially going the musician route. the first 10 years of my career I was always barely getting by and 10 years after that now going on 21 years its all paid of in its pieces but I personally only feel im half way where i need to be. barely scratching the surface is how it feels even after all my accomplishments, all my goals i landed. After everything I know there is more work to be done.
another thing That has been extremely tough but I never let anyone know is my blindness. I have been blind in my left eye since 2010. I woke up one day and couldn’t see anything out of my left eye. I was scared. Went to an optometrist and my left eye retina was detached. I did a surgery but it didnt take. So it got worse and worse and now I am blind. It has never stopped my from achieving my goals or playing shows but it has its ups and downs. just have to power through.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
in my Artist work under my main SABER Im known for a lot of my EDM remixes in the DJ/Club/Festival world which I have had support from artists like Diplo, Flosstradamus, Dillon Francis, Marshmello, Chainsmokers and many more. what sets me apart would be having my own heavy sound and style. I can also rock any event and keep that energy up.
In Sync licensing Composition/Production: I would say I am proud of the multi genre and diverse library i have created with my albums and seeing my music land on shows like succesion, Wipeout, shark tank and movie commercials like the kings man.
Another thing I am proud of is being a good teacher with clients and building them whether its music all the way to multi media stuff like building a media pack and promoting themselves in the right way.
i have my foot in so many things its hard to pick one
What matters most to you? Why?
Succeeding in my career with intention and leaving a stamp on the world I live in before I leave this place.
because i worked 21 years of my life to make something unique and want the world to hear
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saber.wav
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/saberwav
