Today we’d like to introduce you to Mark Del Castillo.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I grew up in the small border town of Brownsville, Texas surrounded by the Mexican-American culture. The blend of both American life and Mexican life make the people from the Rio Grande Valley a unique breed I believe. Everyone that I meet, that has moved away from the valley, seems to be making a name for themselves out in the world. There’s a strong work ethic in everything I do that I totally contribute to where I grew up. My father always told me, “If you’re not going to do something right, don’t do it at all”. That philosophy applied to whether I was mowing the lawn as a teenager, completing school assignments, or trying to reach any goal I set out to achieve, especially on the guitar. When I began playing guitar as a teen, there was always a very healthy and friendly sense of competition among musicians that always pushed us individually to be better and learn all we could. I was always inspired by my peers and attribute that to driving my musical career. Also, my older brother Rick had a huge part in inspiring me to pick up the guitar, He had already made a name for himself in the valley so when I started playing, and I had some shoes to fill. When I left the valley to pursue a degree in Biomedical Science at Texas A&M University, I had already been in a great cover band called Kickstart that expanded my musical horizons tremendously. All while in college, I secretly played in a cover band without telling my parents because I knew they wouldn’t approve. But I wanted to prove to them that I could do both and I did. I graduated with a Pre-Veterinary Medicine Biomedical Science degree in 1996. As fate would have it, my application to veterinary school was lost by a distribution center in Iowa and not found until after the deadline had passed. So I was forced to take a year off from school to work at a veterinary clinic which I soon found out was not for me after all. My passion for music was leading the way for me and I settled in Austin and played in another great cover band called Vivid for many years, I ended up getting a license to practice Dental Hygiene to allow me the flexibility to play music. My brother eventually moved to Austin from Seattle and after many years of living in the same city and even rooming together, we decided to make a CD together strictly for our parents as a Christmas present. We called our musician friends to come be a part of the recording and a group consisting of myself and Rick, Alex Ruiz, Mike Zeoli, Albert Besteiro, and our former percussionist Rick Holeman became a “family of musicians”. Alex suggested we call the band Del Castillo, since it was a present for our parents, and so the band name was born. The music was very Spanish traditional but also blended with our love for rock, blues, and other styles. When we did our first live show in Austin we had a tremendous response and the word started to spread quickly about what we were doing. In 2001, Film Director Robert Rodriguez caught wind of us and came to a show. We immediately formed a brotherly bond and have been collaborating with him on every movie he has done since then. We were signed by a management company and have shared many stages with many amazing artists from Willie Nelson, Styx, Los Lobos, Los Lonely Boys, Don Henley, and many, many more. We’ve played for three Presidents and have recorded songs with artists such as Willie Nelson and Santana. When we started to tour Europe in 2010, we were greeted with amazing crowds and festivals. The Del Castillo musical machine was in full force around 2011-12 and we spent many months out of the year in Europe and touring the US. The non-stop pace and time away from my family started to wear on me as my sons, Dorian and Julian were growing up without me back home. My beautiful wife, Candy, was always supportive and never once told me to quit and come home from the road. But there was a definite sense of “burnout” starting to creep into the mix as each of us in Del Castillo were starting to be very short with each other and I was beginning to resent every tour announcement that was made. We just needed a break. We had been going non-stop for 14 years. In 2014, I had reached my limit and met with my brother to let him know I was going to need to take a break and the band could continue without me if need be. He explained that he was also needing a break so we decided to stop the machine. We honestly didn’t know if we were going to get back together so we planned a farewell tour. I didn’t want to promise to anyone that we’d be back because I was truly burned out. I didn’t even play my guitar for eight months after our last show. Seeing that I truly believed the band was breaking up, I decided to film the last few shows and make a concert DVD to document them. I had just intended to make a concert film but I wanted it to have a prologue at the beginning from someone who we’ve worked with and who I’m close to. Los Lonely Boys are like my brothers as we’ve been playing together since before they made it big with their single, “Heaven”. Henry and I always go fishing so I decided to have him say a few words at the beginning of the film to talk about Del Castillo. Standing behind the camera and listening to him talk about how Del Castillo affected his life and how our music makes him feel made me realize that each of us in Del Castillo had forgotten the whole reason why we started in the first place. We had lost sight of the forest from the trees. I immediately decided to interview as many people that we’ve worked with as I could. I remember quietly saying to myself as I filmed each person, “The band needs to see THIS”. I then changed the title of the DVD to “Two Nights In Texas: Remembering the Music” because that’s what Del Castillo had to do. Remember the MUSIC. When I filmed Willie Nelson he immediately asked when we are going to play again. I didn’t have the heart to tell him we were no longer performing. He then said, “I want you to play my 4th of July picnic again” and THAT was the driving factor that got us to start getting together again. So now, we are doing things very slowly and completely on our terms as far as touring and playing shows. I’ve started doing graphic design and photography and love it. The experience I have working with Robert Rodriguez has given me a good sense of keeping all imagery and visual content high quality and I enjoy helping younger bands benefit from an awesome band shot or cd art. Everyone in the band is doing other projects to keep us individually busy but the brotherhood we had is stronger than ever before. Now we know how special our chemistry is and we will never take that for granted again. We have big plans for Del Castillo and hope to be finishing a new album by early next year. I just constantly feel blessed that we all still have the ability and love to make music together and share it with the world.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
The hardest struggles were:
1. Finding out that the people you placed in control of your career were not making the best decisions on your behalf, Feeling like you’ve lost control of your own destiny.
2. Time away from loved ones.
Please tell us about Del Castillo.
Del Castillo is musical group out of Austin, Texas. We have always tried to be “Lights in this world” with our music and bring a positive energy to the world. We specialize in joy and smiles through music. I believe we are known for being extremely passionate about our music and performances. I am extremely proud of how much we always keep our integrity as top priority. I am also proud of the fact that we treat each show as a blessing and that we still love each other as brothers in music. I think the love we have for each other truly sets us apart. It is very evident on stage when we perform and has been commented on by many fans.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
Don’t let any one person or company be in complete control of your career. Only YOU know what’s best for yourself. It’s easy as a musician to let someone else handle the business so you can focus on the music, but at the end of the day, you need to know about EVERY single meeting and opportunity. Too many missed opportunities that were later found out about. We didn’t even get a say in the decision. If you need to partner with a manager, publicist, publisher, etc., make sure they understand that you will be a part of every decision. If they give any pushback, they’re not the right one for you.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.delcastillomusic.com ; www.markofthecastle.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/delcastillomusic/ ; https://www.facebook.com/markofthecastle/
Image Credit:
Photo of Chairs on street: Mark Del Castillo
Photo of crowd: Claudia Becker
Photo of band outside in Zurich: Mischa Scherrer
Band Photo: Mark Del Castillo
Band Artwork: Mark Del Castillo
Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
