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Meet Brandon Theis

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Brandon Theis, or as some in Denver know him as, The Orcastrator.

Brandon, before we jump into specific questions about your work, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Everyone is always asking me “where are you from?” because they never can quite put their finger on it, so I’ll set the record straight. I was born in Brazil (so I have dual citizenship), raised in Baltimore, Maryland (since about five years old), and migrated to Denver the year after I graduated HighSchool in October 2014.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way.

I’m the first musician in my family. When I was 16 I was obsessed with the band NeverShoutNever and would love to sing his songs and go to his concerts. Then during Christmas that year, my mom bought me an acoustic guitar. Nothing fancy, but enough to get the job done. She always thought I’d quit before I even started because I was always hopping from thing to thing – thought to thought. This time was different though. I was hooked. I was captivated by videos on YouTube and would spend days and nights learning songs by Jason Mraz and John Mayer to impress everyone at school. My grades slipped, my focus shifted, and I felt I had found a path.

Flashback to High School and I’m in a little blues cover band – doing shows around Baltimore and Washington D.C. Singing and playing guitar feeling as if we had made it already. Acting a fool, skateboarding, playing shows looking to impress girls, and just messing around. After high school, the band we had faded apart as they do, and I completed a semester in college for Jazz Composition before I decided I needed a fresh start. I had my job, Michael’s Craft Store (I was a Framer), transfer my position to Colorado and took a job at the Michael’s off Colorado Boulevard.

So in 2014, I decided to move out to Park Hill in good ol’ Denver, Colorado – solo I might add, only visiting once. I had one friend from High School live out in the Indian Hills of Morrison near Red Rocks, so sometimes he’d come down 285 to the city to visit. Though for the most part, it’s been a solo journey of meeting new friends and connecting with new people. I attended a concert in 2015 at the 1up in Denver when they still had music there, and I saw an artist that played every instrument. I hadn’t made any big strides in Denver yet and it was this show that hit me. I started to save every penny for some equipment. I borrowed a friend’s saxophone in July of 2016 and I’d say, I’ve come pretty far.

Fast forward three years to the day and I’ve made significant strides. I have a multi-instrumental solo project called The Orcastrator (play on words because I love Orca Whales and we’ve raised money for them). I’ve been playing saxophone, guitar, piano – all self-taught off YouTube. I’ve sold out Cervantes’ Other Side in Five Points. I’ve headlined The Historic Bluebird Theater Twice now, along with a few other notable shows in Colorado. I’ve played numerous festivals across the country – including two here in Colorado called Spread The Word and Sonic Bloom. Plus, I’ve made so many friends and fans I can’t even keep up. It’s overwhelming but I’m blessed to be at this point after only three years of playing here in Colorado. My whole life is intertwined with this state in such a short period of time.

Has it been a smooth road?
It’s never easy. For starters, starting three years ago I didn’t know how to play saxophone or piano, so over time, I’ve struggled with learning how to play these instruments and then accepting my skill as being decent or noteworthy.

Not to mention, I’ve been met with rejection on numerous occasions. I do my best to stay motivated and it’s a lot harder being a solo artist because I have to motivate myself all of the time. It’s hard not being apart of a team also, but I feel as if that’s what sets me apart from a lot of my fellow musicians. Apart from the challenges that I face every day with friends and acquaintances, I’m able to steer clear of any drama because I keep to myself.

My drama and work keep that I am in charge of include my social media, my bookings, my client relationships, my releases, keeping track of Spotify and monetization from singles, producing, mixing, mastering all my tracks, not to mention practicing all of my instruments, keeping up with my actual intimate relationship, staying on top of my work, making rent and paying my bills, and following through with selling tickets to every one of my shows. It’s a constant struggle but I feel as if it pays off because at the end of the day I feel accomplished and satisfied knowing that this all rides on me.

I’ve noticed that a lot of people will say that the Denver music scene is so connected, but I see teams and agents are actively working against each other because they want their artist or friend on this show or this festival. It’s discouraging to a point because I feel as if with SO much music in Denver, there should be more diversity. Yet I feel as if a lot of the local lineups particularly within my EDM/Hip-Hop scene, are relatively dry and carry the same names. A lot of local promoters keep their friends on lineups whether their music is good or not. Along with the fact that a lot of the venues even are owned by big-name corporate entities, so it makes it hard for the locals to secure a Friday night lineup at some of these venues when back six years ago – they’d have no problem and it was even encouraged.

Can you give our readers some background on your music?
“The Orcastrator is a self-taught, self-described, #Raxophonist (Rapper + Saxophonist), that is making his name known from coast to coast. Brandon Theis as some know him, made his move to Denver, Colorado to pursue ventures in the evolving music scene. Growing up in Baltimore and the East Coast, he found his niche early in Jazz and Hip Hop music. The Orcastrator has been a project-based around standing out in hip hop culture and finding the balance between rap + jazz as a multi-instrumentalist incorporating live instruments into the rap performance.”

What I’m trying to do is incorporate live instrumentation into a rap performance. I believe hip hop is derived from all forms of blues and jazz, so the next obvious step in Hip Hop evolution is to bring that aspect to the live performance. To bring that into context with “The Orcastrator” – I’m a multi-instrumentalist rapper, that orchestrates the whole performance because I’m literally playing every instrument live while mixing in my beats while rapping. It really is an interesting dynamic that will leave you speechless. I’ve thrown and presented all of my own headliners and have really navigated my musical journey solo, so I feel like that sets me apart from a lot of the locals around Colorado or musicians in general. I produce, mix, master, play every instrument on all of my tracks and that sets me apart because I know a lot of the artists you ask around the world would say they’re not able to do that.

To bring it all together, I had a vision that I should help Orca whales in particular while incorporating music into my project and from that point, we’ve raised a few hundreds of dollars that we’ve donated to the Orca Conservancy out of Washington State. We’ve raised awareness on the negative impacts of captivity on Orcas and have brought awareness on the negative impacts of dams and the effect they have on Salmon which is a critical source of food for Southern Resident Orcas (which are native to our Northwestern Pacific waters near Washington).

Raising awareness is key and as a musician, I felt it was my duty not only to make music that impacts you emotionally but when you think of my music, you can always think of the Orcas and how beautiful of a creature they are. The killer whale is in my logo and is prevalent in a lot of my artwork. I love the Orca and I believe I’ll be able to do more for them as time progresses and the word spreads more. For now, I do what I can to at least combine two things I love into a positive project.

Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I love how many opportunities there are to play music and how big of an art hub this city is really becoming. It seems more and more places are starting to host events and encourage locals to throw their own curated events at these spaces, which at some points are more enticing than the typical big-name venue. I’ve seen an influx of women that have been leading the workforce here in Denver whether it be in big business or arts and I LOVE that. I love the potential I see in this city where more industries are working toward clean and sustainable energy. I love all the parks and recreational areas that are available in the city. It’s such a tight-knit area with so much to offer.

There are so many things I love, but with that comes some criticisms and one thing I really don’t love is the traffic. I know there is a wide variety of public transportation options available now, but with some much money from certain projects and policies that taxpayers have voted into law – you’d think we’d have the money available for more public transportation projects that better fit the average consumer. That’s something I’ve very critical of.

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Image Credit:
Images provided by Silkyshots, Essential Exposure, Nomad Media, and HomeswithAlissa.

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