Today we’d like to introduce you to Landon Cabarubio.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Landon. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I started writing music when I was 15 and was in my first band by 17. Since then I’ve played in bands of almost every type of music, but my biggest projects have been Cleanup (indie/math rock), Lando Sea (solo instrumental hip-hop) and the newest project is with Njia Martin (back-up vocals on Leon Bridges album Coming Home) called Cotinga (electro/r&b). We started writing in the fall of 2019 and were ready to start playing shows when COVID-19 hit. We are in the middle of recording with Ty Macklin from Alpha Omega Studios and plan to have our first show as soon as venues start to open back up. In addition to bands, I’ve also been asked to write two short compositions for contemporary dance videos. It’s incredibly motivating to have a strict deadline and fun to explore different styles of music than I play in my normal work.
When I’m not working on music, I’m screen printing tees at Trust Print Shop or slinging pizzas at Pizza Verde. My wife and I went vegan just over two years ago and noticed the lack of plant-based options in the Metroplex. We especially missed pizza and started playing around with making it for friends and family. We started having pop-ups in January and have since found a permanent location to sell every Monday out of the kitchen at Black Cat Pizza. The owners Jaime and Emily also started as a pop-up and wanted to help another small businesses and offered to let us use their space during their off hours. We just had our 7th pop-up and have had a ton of support from the community. We offer 12-inch wood-fired pizzas that are 100% plant-based. We make our own mozzarella and our current menu has four pizzas; the Margherita, Potato Leek, Verde, and Kimchi.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It seems normal in the musical world, but holding on to band members can be a struggle. Cleanup was working on a new album when our drummer moved, and not long after our bass player, Kyle Harding got into a motorcycle accident. Thankfully he is doing well now, but he was unable to use his arms for quite a while and that put a major halt on our writing. We still plan to release another record in the future. Cotinga has definitely been affected by COVID, but we are back to our normal schedule and extremely excited to move forward with writing and recording.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
For Pizza Verde, I think one of the things we are most proud of is to have a product that is appealing to all people, not just vegans. We spent a lot of time testing our pizzas with those that typically wouldn’t eat plant-based foods to make sure they felt the flavors were great. It is the best feeling when we get someone to give us a try and they say, “you’d never know this is vegan” or “this cheese is amazing”.
What were you like growing up?
Pretty nerdy. Haha. In high school, I jammed a lot of metal and underground hip-hop while playing Magic the Gathering and sipping on Bud Ice with friends.
Pricing:
- Pizzas range from $12 – $15.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.pizzaverdetx.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/pizzaverdetx
- Facebook: facebook.com/pizzaverdetx
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