Music, Mental Health & Manifesting with Dylan Garcia

Jennifer Norman:
Hello beautiful humans. Welcome to The Human Beauty Movement Podcast, your source for hope, healing, happiness and humanity. My name is Jennifer Norman. I'm the founder of The Human Beauty Movement and your host. This podcast is here to guide you on your journey of self, love, empowerment, soul alignment and joy. With each episode, I invite beautiful humans from all corners of the globe to join me for open conversations about their life lessons and the important work that they are doing to help heal humankind. Take a moment now to subscribe to this podcast so you don't miss an episode. I'm so glad you're here joining me for today's show.

Jennifer Norman:
Welcome to The Human Beauty Movement Podcast, the show where we celebrate the beauty of the human spirit, explore the heart of creativity and elevate voices, making the world a more conscious, compassionate place. Today's guest is the kind of artist who doesn't just perform, he transforms. He transforms pain into poetry, trauma into triumph, and sound into sanctuary. Meet Dylan Garcia. Dylan is a dynamic recording artist whose musical evolution mirrors the depth of his soul. He began as an acoustic reggae singer songwriter back in 2009, but like any true artist, he refused to stay in one lane. Over the years, Dylan has emerged as a funk and neo soul powerhouse, blending smooth buttery vocals with lyrical storytelling so rich it feels like it's been marinated in lived experience. And what a journey it's been.

Jennifer Norman:
Guided by legendary figures like Diamond, certified Grammy nominated producer Ronnie King, Chicano rap pioneer DJ Tony G, and five time Latin Grammy winner Kenny O' Brien, Dylan has refined his craft with the wisdom of music's elite. He's performed on some of the world's most iconic stages, from Whiskey a Go Go in Hollywood to Latin Grammy Music Week to the Hard Rock Cafe Las Vegas, and even alongside funk royalty from the band Slave. But what sets Dylan apart isn't just his sound, it's his soul. Dylan lives his truth out loud. He's a mental health advocate who knows the fight intimately, living with bipolar disorder and navigating the heartbreak of losing loved ones to suicide. Through his music and his mission, he's creating safe spaces for people to feel, to be vulnerable and to heal. His latest single, Vulnerable, is more than just a track. It's a mirror, a message, a movement.

Jennifer Norman:
Today, Dylan and I are diving into the intersection of music, mental health and authenticity. You'll hear what it means to be a self sufficient artist in today's industry, how creativity can become a lifeline, and why expressing your truth, even when it's messy, is the most beautiful thing that you can do. So grab your heart, your headphones, and a little courage. This episode will remind you that your story matters. Your voice matters. And just like Dylan, you are not alone. So let's begin. Welcome to the show, Dylan.

Dylan Garcia:
Hello, Jennifer. That was... I thought I was going to get choked up just listening to what you were reading right now. You know, when you hear somebody else, you know, saying stuff like that about you, it just kind of like you're talking this... in certain events, and things are flashing by in my mind. Yeah, I'm really grateful to be here, and nice to meet you.

Jennifer Norman:
Nice to meet you, too. And I love being a mirror because I see such magic in my guests, and you are no exception. I really found that your story, the music that you make, it really is magical, and it is so very human to me. And so I would love for the audience to get to know you, talking about your creative journey, your artistic evolution. You began as an acoustic reggae singer and songwriter in about 2009. So tell us about that. Tell us about your sound and what inspired you, all of those things.

Dylan Garcia:
Well, I started. I went to UC Irvine, got hurt playing baseball, decided, you know what? I don't want to play baseball anymore. Prior to that, in high school, I started getting into boogie boarding. Like, always trying to get in the water when I wasn't doing baseball. So I chose UC Irvine because I could still surf and get in the water. Maybe about two months, three months into college, I got dumped by my girlfriend. I had just dropped..

Dylan Garcia:
I de-pledged from the fraternity that I was pledging for because I realized this is not me. Like, I don't know. I've always been such a loner, a majority of my life, never really having too many friends. That. It just seems so overwhelming and, you know, just always busy doing things. But I had to. I had to work when I went to school.

Dylan Garcia:
So when I got my heart broken, I had no fraternity. I'm just there, you know. It was Christmas break, it was right around New Year's, and I went home, and they had just opened up a Guitar Center. And I took my buddy with me that was in a band, and he helped me find a guitar. And I just started beating on that guitar until I finally learned how to play something. And one of my friends showed me one chord and said, if you learn that, you'll figure out the guitar. And that was the only guidance I got. And I just fooled around with guitar.

Dylan Garcia:
And I always wrote poetry, too, you know, growing up. And since junior high school, it was like, sixth grade. I was always writing these romantic poems and I was always listening to R and B music and soul music. And I just wanted a way to like pour my heart out, you know, and not, not necessarily need to share it with anybody, but just find a way to pour my heart out. And as I started getting better playing guitar, I was just putting together songs. I didn't know anything about song structure or anything. I was just writing music and playing guitar because I loved it so much.

Dylan Garcia:
And it just took me away from whatever negativity I had going on at that day or, or, you know, maybe school was hard that day. It just, or, you know, anything. It just made me. It put me at ease just knowing I could just play guitar. And it wasn't about like trying to be in a band, like my friends were in bands. But for me it was just. I just loved doing it. I never saw myself going anything beyond that.

Dylan Garcia:
And then, you know, I moved around a bunch. After college, I lived many places. I've been in Oahu, I've stayed in Kauai, I've lived in San Diego, you know, live in Orange County. I've always kind of just. Always liked moving around, like just trying out new area because, you know, I would get bored quick and probably why, you know, part of my bipolar, undiagnosed yet, you know, I'd get really bored with my situation and just pick up and leave just out of nowhere, like just making these crazy decisions to see if I could survive and make it. And you know, I always had my guitar with me. And around 2009, I. I was doing rap music at the time.

Dylan Garcia:
And then I was putting these, these big hip hop shows on in my hometown of Oxnard. And as it progressed, you know, it's rap music, so everyone's competing against each other, everyone's hating on each other, everyone's trying to be the top guy. I mean, that's just how rap music is. And some people didn't like it that I was one putting on these shows and, and some stuff happened. I just felt like, you know, what the hell with you guys. Take these rap shows and do whatever hell you guys want. You guys don't know that I can play guitar too and still make music regardless if you don't like me or not. And so I just went back to guitar.

Dylan Garcia:
I was in the mortgage industry at that time too. The last loan that I closed gave me enough money to buy recording studio equipment. My dad said, before you get that money and go party and have a good time, why don't you buy yourself some equipment for your music. And as usual, dad always has the greatest advice at the right time. So I just started recording all these songs acoustic on guitar and really, really just getting into that singer, songwriter. And I learned song structure from doing rap music. So I was translating that into music on guitar. So I literally in my bedroom at my parents house.

Dylan Garcia:
Before I moved to Orange County, I had my studio, got booted out of my parents house and got hired for a job. I always had my studio equipment with me. The guy that I worked for got me basically from living on the couch. He got me a place in Newport beach. Like basically started my life over. I told my cousin that I was living with, I told him, I said, you know, shout out to my cousin because he always gave me a roof over my head when I needed one. I told him, I'm going to move to Orange County and I'm going to form a reggae band and we're going to get a record deal. And I left as that and I went and moved to Newport Beach.

Dylan Garcia:
I was working, I had my own place, I had my dog with me and I was just writing songs, writing songs. And at that time MySpace was still very popular. Facebook was still in the early, early stages of being anything. You know that the thing about MySpace is you could post your songs that you record. And it was such a cool platform at that time. And I'm living in Newport Beach. I get a message on MySpace from a guy that says, hey man, I like your music. You want to get, you want to perform?

Dylan Garcia:
I'm thinking like, whoa, like, like who are you like? And he's like, I... And I had only one song recorded that was reggae so far. And he's like, yeah, I can get you some shows. So then the guys that I recorded, one guy was in San Diego, the other guy was in West Covina. We booked a show, we got together that night. We jammed out. We didn't practice, we didn't have like rehearsal. We just rehearsed before the show.

Dylan Garcia:
And those guys are such good musicians. Like they could play as they go, you know, there's. So we ended up doing this show and that moment when I was on stage and people were yelling and the lights were in my eyes, it was really foggy from smoke inside this building. It was in Huntington Beach, the Blue Note Cafe. I don't think it exists anymore. I remember hearing people yelling. All my friends from San Diego came. Friends came from all over, like, and they used to call me Gig.

Dylan Garcia:
They called me Gigs sometimes and they were like, Gigs has got a show! Like this dude did it, and he finally got a show! And I knew at that moment, man, this is what I want to do. This was. This is. This is what I'm meant to do because I was on stage, I'm performing and being in like for the first time in front of a big crowd, and I'm playing guitar, you know, it was just such a surreal experience that I've always want to live that experience over and over. It was like my stamp of approval that was, this is what I'm supposed to be doing. And it was like, it was my own stamp of approval, like, yeah, I know I'm good enough to do this because you got to be really confident in the music business, like with anything. And that's kind of how everything started.

Dylan Garcia:
I was. I was doing rap music, couch surfing, got a job, my boss moved me and was doing music. And still to this day, it never compares to when you first started. Sometimes I'll take moments to reminisce on how everything started. So I never lose track of where I'm at right now, you know.

Jennifer Norman:
Wow. Thank you so much for sharing that. It's so incredible how you were able to self start because a lot of people say, oh, if you don't learn to play an instrument by the time that you're seven, forget it, or what have you. They always think that they're too late to the game. And here you were, you know, just around college age, a little bit older, and then, you know, you just decide to pick up a guitar. I mean, who does that? But you did, and you just did it because it was an outlet for you. I mean, I think from a physical standpoint, you probably like to move your body. The poetry. There was probably something a bit healing about all of that combined.

Jennifer Norman:
And especially you were mentioning that you had bipolar disorder. When were you diagnosed? Were you diagnosed before this or were you diagnosed?

Dylan Garcia:
It was. It was like I was fighting it. I was fighting it. I didn't. I just figured this. What was going on mentally with me was normal with everyone, you know, because I never told anybody about it. You know, I just have, like, have these like, moments, bad moments or bad episodes where like, the world comes like.

Dylan Garcia:
I don't know if you understand bipolar. It's like...

Jennifer Norman:
Feel free to elaborate on your own experience because I know that it must be different for anybody.

Dylan Garcia:
It's like, like, yeah, with the anxiety and everything. Bipolar and, you know, having delusions. Throughout my 20s, it didn't start really happening really frequently until I couldn't control it. And I was getting really scared. Was in my late 20s, like around this time. Around this time in 2009, like 2009, I moved to Newport Beach. I'm living by myself. I'm living with my dog.

Dylan Garcia:
But I always had this stuff going on that was never addressed. I didn't know. And this is, you know, it 10 years ago. Man. I mean, this is. We're talk 16 years ago, mental health wasn't like what it's talked about now. There's no podcasters. I mean, there's so much outlet right now that it was something that, like, I just didn't know what was going on.

Dylan Garcia:
And so I'm living in that apartment by myself. I don't know. I started getting paranoia. I started just feeling scared. And then, like, I'd go to bed and wake up the next day and it'd be gone. I was like, oh, it's just that shit that I deal. Excuse my language. It's just what I've been dealing with for so many years.

Dylan Garcia:
So when I got that show, that guy who ended up getting me that show in Orange County, he plugged me into people in Orange County and we started getting really, really popular really quick. This little band of just no practice, no rehearsals, just jamming. And people love, loved it. And we placed third in the Warped Tour Battle of the Bands. I got studio time, the band breaks up. I go to the studio by myself, I meet Ronnie King. We have this recording session. Like, this is all, like happening so fast.

Dylan Garcia:
Like, I work with Ronnie King. We make this record they want me to sell. The very next day we recorded the music. They wanted me to sell the music to a famous, pretty big Hawaiian reggae band. And it was just like so much was going on. Then next thing I know, I'm getting offered a record deal. Just like how I thought it was going to happen.

Dylan Garcia:
I wasn't with my band. It was just me. Just met my son's mom. There was so much that happened all at the same time. All the white knuckling All the fighting, all the... Everything that I've been doing on my own to try to take care of my own mental in check. Finally didn't work no more.

Dylan Garcia:
And then two weeks after I signed that record deal, I was wandering up and down Harbor Boulevard with my dog and had my dog on a leash. I was lost. I was scared. I was just scared. I thought, like, it felt like the fear of death coming to get you. Like this deathful, like this, like, like death, like, like. And it's it's unexplainable.

Dylan Garcia:
It's like feeling like the Phantom of Opera. Music's playing and just like the most intense, scary feeling that you think you're gonna die. Like, I wouldn't call it a panic attack because this is something that's mentally in your bipolar stuff. I had only known my son's mom. I was getting deteriorating, but within a two week period, I went from like, okay to really bad.

Dylan Garcia:
You know, she picked me up, she took me to the hospital, and the next thing I know, I'm getting taken in an ambulance. I didn't know where I was going. I was so far gone in my head. I had no idea where I was going. I thought I was going to a place that they were going to murder me and my family. That's what was going on in my head. As I was never medicated on anything that could work.

Dylan Garcia:
This was just me getting through, get hospitalized. They put me on meds and the next thing I know, I wake up in the hospital like, I'm normal again. Like, oh, like, how long was I gone for? You know, it's like that because all that, all that craziness is finally turned off and it was like, I'm normal again. But then it finally gave me an answer, like, wait, what I was dealing with for so long, there was really something wrong. It wasn't like, you know, there was something really wrong with me. It wasn't something I created on my own. It wasn't like, it was just something that just had to be taken care of, medication.

Dylan Garcia:
Because I felt I got out of the hospital, they were trying to keep me longer, just to keep an eye on me. But the woman who I may have became my son's mom, she got me out of the hospital like within a week. Because it was... These mental hospitals are not the place to be. Some of them are not the place to be. Like, you know, and get out. The next thing I know, I called the record label. Like, all these crazy hallucinations and delusions that I was having, like...

Dylan Garcia:
All the proof happened that day that everything was just all in my head. And it was like, okay, this was, this was happening before. I'm good, I'm good. I'm telling myself in my head, good, good. Now the label wants me to go perform at Downtown Disney at The House of Blues. Like two days later, I'm rocking the House of Blues and I'm feeling like, man. I finally got an answer to this. I finally got an answer to what I've been battling so many years, like on my own, not talking about it, nothing.

Dylan Garcia:
And like, I mean, when you bottle something up that long and something's wrong mentally, like, I mean, it's not good. Especially when you don't know who you can talk to about this stuff.

Jennifer Norman:
Gosh, that is such a huge part of it is just like the awareness of the signs and symptoms. And to your point, nobody back then knew anything about this. Just like either a stigma or is something for, you know, people that were really problematic or we labeled as mental cases, we would say, but you know, normal everyday people that are going through life and then they're having these manic episodes and they don't realize that that's not normal, that that's like you're silently suffering, going through these ebbs of loneliness and isolation to euphoria. And part and parcel of it is probably leading you towards your genius. I mean, part of it is probably giving you that conf, that ability to perform and learn these things and do that. And so there are some wonderful things about being on like a spectrum of neurodiversity or just understanding how this can all play out. And it's okay to be able to say, you know what, I want to lean in to all the things that I love and all the passions that I have, and I don't want to dull that yet. I need to take the edge off so that when things get really bad, when things get really low, that I'm able to manage it.

Jennifer Norman:
And thank goodness that you had support there as well. You had somebody there that could say, I really need you to, you know, see somebody professional because this, this does not seem right. And I care about you. So thank goodness that, that, that was there for you because a lot of people don't have that either.

Dylan Garcia:
When I knew that I could get better, yeah, then that was like a game changer. Like this is just all mental. This is some kind of imbalance that's going on in my head. But those times after I got hospital, the doctor that I saw, the follow up doctor took me off meds. I was whacked out again. I was hallucinating my mind on Halloween. And then and same girl drops me off and my doctor says, you got to tell them this shit's back. I don't know what they did.

Dylan Garcia:
You were fine, now you're bad again. You know, one thing about psychiatry, you got to be really not every medicine they think is going to work on you works. And it's such Like a hit or miss, you know, it's like playing dart and throwing a dartboard and not knowing where you're going to hit, you know? And one thing I really disliked about the mental health system was, and I had to advocate for myself many times is like, a lot of these times as doctors don't. They're just there for a paycheck check. A lot of them aren't really dedicated. Like, I've. I had to like advocate, like, get certain doctors where, yeah, like, dude, are you even paying attention to what's going on? I was on the wrong medication. Like, this doctor had the follow up, but gave me different medication in the hospital.

Dylan Garcia:
I mean, it literally took me nine years, nine years to figure this out. It wasn't like, once I got out of the hospital, it's fine. No, it was like getting sick again and then getting put on a different medication. I blew up to like 230 pounds. All I did was sit and watch... Those were like the lowest times of my life. Like, where I thought, like, man, this is what my life turned out to be. I'm just big overweight, just sitting on TV, waiting for the next sitcom to come on.

Dylan Garcia:
Like, man, I just had a record deal. I had my whole city behind me. What just happened? And I'll tell you, God didn't make it easy. And I know I, I know God didn't make it easy because he wanted me to be able to tell these dark stories that went through in my life. Somebody else could be feeling that way right now and a lot of people won't talk about it, especially men. I mean, I know every man shows weakness behind closed doors.

Jennifer Norman:
Yeah, yeah.

Dylan Garcia:
I mean, for me to be vulnerable, if I got to do it, if I'm an artist, Chicano, you know, Native American, if I have to be the one that, that makes a statement and be vulnerable and say, yes, this has happened. I'd rather do that than just try to cover it up. Because I know in that moment somebody is relating, saying, like, wow, this guy just spoke on it. I've had people come up to me after shows. Young people, junior high, high school. Like just one little word that I say about mental health. Just, thank you so much. Because, like, sometimes I don't know if my parents understand what's going on with me.

Dylan Garcia:
And it's just like the fact that you even mentioned that was huge because nobody about it.

Jennifer Norman:
You know, it's so important that people like you who can be a role model for others, especially for, you know, the younger generations and people that Share your ethnic background, share your gender identity, who feel that they can relate to you in a certain way. And I feel the same way about me as like, those that might be Asian or, you know, maybe adopted like me or have a similar story like me. I mean, there are shared experiences. And I think that the experience that we both share together, Dylan and myself, is that I had the same issue where, you know, I would go into a doctor's office and feel like I was just a number. I went through the cycle of various medications to try to find the right one for me. And sometimes you. You aren't aware that one is not working for you. You've got to, like, listen to other people who are your loved ones and be like, something's not quite right, you know, that you're barely here.

Jennifer Norman:
Or oh my gosh, you're so hyped up and anxious. This isn't you either. And so having somebody, some support or somebody to reflect back like this is. This doesn't seem like it's the best you. And we want to make sure that we're getting to the best you. And we don't want to vilify doctors, we don't want to vilify medicine because certainly medicine can be a lifesaver.

Jennifer Norman:
I know a lot of people have a lot of thoughts about pharmaceuticals, but in a lot of cases, when you are able to get to that one that just gets you back into a place of balance and to a place of happiness that allows you to be your best you, then that is really what they're there for. And so let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater and say, like, you know, oh, Western medicine or, you know, pharmaceuticals are all bad because they can be life saving. And it's important to ask for help and to seek professional help. When you are having a mental breakdown or having, you know, some mental suffering in your life or if you recognize it in one of your loved ones friends, it's very, very to get help sooner rather than later.

Dylan Garcia:
But it's like when we're in that mode, it's like sometimes can be so hard for those other people to break through because we're so convinced that we're just, you know, we're so convinced, like we're in our reality, you know, and we're just in a different vibration, you know? And like, sometimes, like, people will tell you, like, you're not doing right and you won't believe it. You're like, no, the world's this way. And it took nine years. It wasn't until I had to get my... I had a hip replaced in 2018. I had to file a grievance against my doctor. Like, I wasn't like, feeling like I was getting the treatment that I deserved. And I felt like I was just deteriorating over again.

Dylan Garcia:
I only been married for a few months to my wife, and she's like, from Argentina and we only had limited time spent together before that. And she's trying to learn what's going on with me. My family's trying to figure out what's going on with me. I finally advocated because it was the same thing when I had my hip surgery. I asked my orthopedic surgeon, the surgery was going to be in la. I said, can you do me a favor? I'm not getting the help I feel like I deserve with my mental health. That in tears because I. I want to get better.

Dylan Garcia:
He said, yeah, I'll make sure a top psychiatrist comes to see you when you get out of surgery. And so that's what happened. Psychiatrist came to see me after surgery, asked me some questions. He said, be honest, you know, I told him, he stick my blood work. Next thing I know, he comes back, here, take these, take these tonight. Let me know how you feel in the morning. There it is again. The next morning I wake up, everything's normal again.

Jennifer Norman:
Wow.

Dylan Garcia:
How long was I crazy for? My wife's gonna, like, kind of for a long time. You know, we do some oddball stuff when we're in, in that mentality, when we're going through our bipolar stuff. Manic, you know, mainly manic for me, like depression, not too much. It's mainly that I just get up too much, you know, I just got too much energy all the time. But then I made a promise. I made a promise to my wife. I said, you know what? I finally feel good. I finally feel myself.

Dylan Garcia:
I make a promise to you that I'm not going to let it get back to this way it ever was again, you know, and that was something to hold myself accountable for. Is actually all my. My mental health accountable. And I've been. Now it's what, 18? So now we're so. It's been like seven years that I've had my mental health restored. And I just made a promise to myself that I will do everything in my power to make sure I keep my sanity.

Dylan Garcia:
So scary going backwards. And I don't want to take steps backwards, especially with the triumphs I've had with my mental health. And yeah, you know, and that's when I really realized, because I had so much happen so quickly in 2009, doing the reggae thing, the record deal, all that stuff happening, not having the right people in my corner, listening, not listening to the right. And then getting put on the wrong meds. And then, like, I'm at my lowest point, change my phone number, didn't talk to the record label. I, like, vanished from the earth. I didn't want nobody to know. I just did because I was like, I turned out to be such an embarrassment.

Dylan Garcia:
I had... My whole city was all riding for me to get this record deal. And then it happens and then boom. But I tell myself now, you know, back then, I didn't have so much of a story to tell back in 2000.

Dylan Garcia:
That is God's way of saying I just want you to have that better story, so.

Jennifer Norman:
Well. and a lot of that story is turning this pain into purpose and having a message to sing about. So let's hear about... You've got this latest single called Vulnerable, and it's so emotionally charged. And I thank you so much for being so open on this podcast and in other fields where you're. You're just talking about all of this out in the open. It's something that is part of you and you're not afraid at all to share all sides of you.

Jennifer Norman:
It's quite extraordinary to see somebody who has had this kind of success be so open about everything and to also make it part of your message within your music. So tell us about Vulnerable and how that came about.

Dylan Garcia:
I don't wanna show weakness. Even though I'm vulnerable. Vulnerabilities got me trippin', trippin', and I don't wanna say something that will ignite your mood, yeah oh, let me loosen and let me loosen you up! Oh, Vulnerable. Vulnerable was the number two song, and that ended up becoming the number one song. Like, it just those lines, those words came to me and. And, you know, I've. You know, I've rapped, I played guitar, I write songs, I play acoustic reggae. Like, being an artist, you got to be able to do everything. In my opinion, if you're to the label, you know, tie to yourself as a recording artist, you got to be a... We're recording artists, you know, that's what we do. And I just felt like it was opening up a door of, opening up in my music.

Dylan Garcia:
I was at a songwriting conference for TV and film, and I sat in a panel where the lady was talking about... and I've always tried to, like, pull and get deeper and deeper and deeper as I can with my lyrics and deeper insight. But a lady kind of explained how to do it at this panel, and I always kept it in the back of my mind. She gave an example, and I said, oh, my God, I could do that. And that song, Vulnerable, just those words just started coming out, and it was like, man, this is something different. And then when my wife had finally stepped in and heard what I doing, she said, and I never heard you sing like that before. And I said, me neither. And it just started coming out, and it's just like, for me, like, when that vibration, when those energies are flowing and the creativity and lyrics are just pouring out, and it's just, man, I'm the happiest guy in the world because I'm living in.

Dylan Garcia:
What do they call that? Yeah, flow. In my flow state. Exactly. I mean, that was the exact word that I was looking for. I mean, I was. I'm in my flow state and be able to tap into that because, you know, you gotta have, like, everything in order, like, to get that tap into that flow state. When I moved out here to Coachella Valley, out in the desert where I live now, I mean, that's how I started approaching writing it. I don't want to sit down and just write the lyrics, man.

Dylan Garcia:
I want to just feel what's coming out with the music, and then what the music is inspiring me and lyrically to come out. And I can't take credit for any of this stuff because these words just don't just come to me. I'm not sitting here thinking about it. It's just whatever's channeled in that moment is channeled in that moment. And a lot of times, get all these words, and I'll put out chord the whole song, but it's not exactly how I want it. But I got all the words out. Then I'll go back in my phone, I'll voice text, line by line in the phone, give it some SW to it, and then I'll do it. But then I noticed that, like, if I'll go back to a song that I did like, a month ago, I can't match that vibe because I'm not in that mind state, that flow state.

Dylan Garcia:
I can't, like, if I try to redo the vocals on something, I'm so stuck on how it came out, I'm like, don't touch it. Like my wife says, don't touch it. You're done. You met. You touch it anymore. You're gonna mess it up. You do anything else, you're gonna mess it up. So it's good to have that, like a time moment.

Jennifer Norman:
Yeah. Interesting.

Dylan Garcia:
Yeah. Like, don't. Don't overdo it. One of the first things I heard in the recording studio with Tony G is simple is better. Simple, simple is better. Less is more, for sure. And I've been a really stickler about my music is that when I came into music in 2009, I mean, iTunes was barely a thing. People still had ipods.

Dylan Garcia:
When I got in, I was thinking, like, man, I think I came in the music business at the wrong time, because no music business isn't making money. They were suing Napster. They were. You know, everyone was so upset. I came in at a time where there was a transition where, well, people ain't going to be paying $18 for CDs, you know, and that whole experience of going to buy a CD, like, everything was getting digital at that time. The reason why I left the record label was because they had no business plan. It was like, okay, I ended up going back to the record label.

Dylan Garcia:
When I got better, I went back to the record label. They started throwing down all the money for the studio time. They believed in me so much because of the material that I had written. They were like, we just got to get you in the studio. We just got to get you in the studio. But then when it was time to release the project, it was like, there was no plan. I'm like, well, how. How was this project going to make money? Oh, you're my label.

Dylan Garcia:
Like, you're making 50%. We're splitting this 50, 50. What are you going to be doing for that 50%? And if all you can tell me is, oh, we're going to book you some shows and this and that. Well, I could book my own shows, man. I don't need your help. Book me shows. You know, what are you going to do? You got no business plan.

Dylan Garcia:
And that's why I got out of that. Out of that record deal. And it was like, I'm glad I at least experienced it. Not to say I signed a record, but to see how the business process of business side of things are done. Contracts, lowing contracts. I was always learning as I go because I didn't have, like, a tutor. And I. There wasn't, you know, all these tutorials out about how to navigate the music business.

Dylan Garcia:
I was just a fresh guppy that was really talented that everyone wanted to make music With a lot of times, I had to learn the hard way. You learn as you go and have bad representation at times. People just not doing their jobs, you know, people not doing their jobs, you learn. And one of the first things somebody told me, if you want to be in the music business, you got to have thick skin. You can't let stuff bug you can't take stuff personal.

Jennifer Norman:
That's so true. Speaking of that, how do you think that, like, your cultural background has influenced you as an artist, either through your sound or how you present? What do you think?

Dylan Garcia:
Well, growing up, my dad had a really cool record collection. He had, like, Sade. He had El Chicano. Sade is my dad's favorite, like, of all time. Sade. Yeah, he had El Chicano, which is a really. He had all El Chicano records, man. LPs.

Dylan Garcia:
And I listened to those things. I would. I would put the thermometer on the light bulb in the lamp in my room and put the thermometer back in my mouth, say, mom, I can't go to school. I got a fever. I got a fever. I can't go.

Dylan Garcia:
My mom finally caught on one time, I gave her the thermometer, said like 135. And she's like, wait a minute, what? But that's what I used to do just so I could stay home. Not that I didn't want to go to school because I'm a really intelligent kid, but because I wanted to listen to records, just stay home and just listen to music in my pajamas and read the inserts that they had inside those records thing to have a record like El Chicano, Santana, a lot of, like, upbeat funk, jazz kind of style, like music that my dad liked. And then like, growing up, I always never forget washing the cars with my dad on Fridays. Like, my mom would get McDonald's and I'd be helping my dad wash the cars. And there was a radio show that came on, it's called KCSB, and it's the radio station for UC Santa Barbara.

Dylan Garcia:
They used to have a radio program that used to come on Friday nights from like, six to nine. And it was all these, like, old school lowrider jams and stuff, stuff like that you would listen to. I always was fond of my culture, you know, I always thought lowriders were really awesome. I always thought, like, because Chicanos fought, man, like, we had to fight for equal rights too. Just like black people. Like, we. There's a lot of history that I think is not spoken about to these young generations of. They had the Brown Berets and people that were actually standing up, and I don't want to say militant, but doing things to stand up for Chicanos because nobody was standing up for us at the time, like Cesar Chavez.

Dylan Garcia:
That made such an impact. And we couldn't be living how we're living now if those people didn't go before us. It made me so proud to be a Chicano. Like my grandfather, he was in the Korean War. His brother was in, in World War II. My other uncle was in Vietman. They always made it that you got to be proud to be that you're Chicano, man. You got to be proud to be.

Dylan Garcia:
It just always stuck with me. And I've done a lot of lowrider car shows. I that's kind of like what really gave me my start when I started doing funk music was the lowrider car shows. You know, to be around the lowriders, I got to perform in front of thing maybe like 3,500 people that were at the lowrider original low rider super show that I did at the LA Convention Center just to be a part of that stuff. I didn't even dream of stuff like this to happen as a kid. When stuff like that happens, my wife always tells me, do you ever enjoy it? Do you take time to enjoy it? Because I was raised that you got to work hard for what you want. Like, nothing's going to be given to you.

Dylan Garcia:
And, you know, I chose the toughest business. I chose the toughest get rich quick scheme out there is this business, you know, because that's why I've seen so many people come and go. I mean, I've been doing this, you know, 16 years professionally. I've seen people that come and they just want to be famous. They just want that little, quick, quick little thousand likes on their Instagram. And it's like, it was never like that for me. Instagram didn't even exist when I started doing music. And this whole thing with Auto Tune, like, I'm so like, people will like, say you're like, you're sticking to the old school age.

Dylan Garcia:
And I'm like, no, man, I come from an era where you gotta be able to record the song in one take and perform it as well, you know, and people use Auto Tune in their shows now and it's just so impressive. It's so, it's just, is, it's just so fake now. Like, you don't have to be a great singer for some Producer to make you sound good. And I've always stuck to my guns, man. Like the Foo Fighters ain't using no auto tune. You know, band like real bands, no Bob Marley use no auto tune. You know, you got to be able to sing. And that's why I put in so much work on my singing.

Dylan Garcia:
Like I'm a self taught singer. I didn't take no singing lessons. I want to have my own style, my own unique style. But like I had one guy say like, man, how'd you learn how to sing, bro? Teach me. I'm like, oh, it's just from singing over and over and over, you know, it's like repetition, repetition, repetition. It wasn't like I just woke up and one day I was just this great artist. It's like spend thousands of hours playing that guitar. Like spent so much time in my studio and it's just made me the artist that I am today and, and not take away from any other artists.

Dylan Garcia:
But I'm still one of the purists in the business. I still rather keep it pure and to keep it real with, with the people that mentored me because you know, we didn't have to use auto tune when I first started recording and, and I still sounded good and you know, like I just. Some people need it, I guess just make them sound good. And to me I just want to keep it natural and keep it pure. Like how music was from the 90s, you know, like Maxwell and like, you know, Sade and other great artists that we didn't, we didn't have. We didn't have it that easy because you really had to be an artist. You really had to be talented. You had to know how to sing.

Jennifer Norman:
Yeah, well, it sounds like you did take a lot from your cultural heritage between the sound and your love of music and the movement and the work ethic. Certainly as you were saying and just like the pure awareness of, of the work that you're producing. I'm curious, since you've had this incredible journey, what has been your spiritual or other kind of creative practices that help keep you inspired or aligned?

Dylan Garcia:
Meditating. Yeah, my morning routine. My morning routine. I have like, like a shoulder injury right now, so I haven't been able to hit the weights like this last couple weeks. I'm trying to just do cardio and work my leg legs and let this heal up. So I can get back in the gym. But waking up before everybody else, while everyone else is still asleep. This morning I woke up about five. I get, I'm pretty hard on myself.

Dylan Garcia:
Like if I wake up after five, I'm already like, man, I gotta hustle now to get my routine in. But I'm usually up early. I start with the biblical devotional. Every morning I try to tell myself, God, get in my head before the world does. Read this biblical devotion. Then I'll meditate for like 10 to 15 minutes with some kind of mantra. You know, today's mantra was I radiate love, I radiate joy, I radiate peace. I guess it works.

Dylan Garcia:
And I was reading something new. I think like the moment you stop learning is the moment that you brain dies. Like you got to keep learning. Maybe because I went to college, maybe it's just because I love reading, maybe it's because I love bettering myself. But if you ain't getting better, you're going backwards. And my morning routine, it all started like around when I got my mental health back. It was just, I started trying things that were out of my normal.

Dylan Garcia:
Like, okay, maybe if I do wake up at 4:30 and I read for 30 minutes, maybe it's going to help my day better. And then also getting a workout in to a minimum 20 minutes, like getting something to get the blood flowing. Yeah, I keep doing it because I know it works. I keep doing it because pays dividends for me. And I'm really competitive. I'm really competitive, especially when it comes to music. I know I shouldn't be and we love music in my music brothers, but to me it's a competition. You know, it's a competition because if you ain't competing for nothing, why the hell are you doing it? You know? And to me it's to push myself to be better.

Dylan Garcia:
Like I, who I got on my competition list is like I'm not shooting for anyone locally. I'm shooting for like Bruno Mars. I'm trying to get to that like, to that level or like Anderson Pac up to that level. Part of the reason why I started doing, switching to more jazz and, and jazzy funk and getting more modern with the music that I'm using and recording to just like vulnerable is to show that I could be 43 years old and still hang with all these 20 year olds.

Jennifer Norman:
So true, so true, right? Oh, Dylan, this is so inspirational because I think that it's, it's wonderful to have those aspirations and inspirations. Those are important because it's like, yeah, this is where my vision is. This is where I can see myself residing. And just as you said, out to the universe, we're going to have a record deal. We're going to do this. It's like knowing that that's going to happen. Saying it and conveying it with confidence to the universe makes miracles occur. And it really helps you to get to where you want to be in your life.

Jennifer Norman:
Continuing self improvement and feeling like you're fulfilling your purpose. I love that so much.

Dylan Garcia:
Manifestation is real.

Jennifer Norman:
Manifestation is real.

Dylan Garcia:
Absolutely everything leads up to the next one. Like, I had my vision board in 2022, had it right in my old place and it had a picture of a Grammy. It had the Coachella logo or it says Coachella. How the festival has it, a Grammy, Coachella. I can't think of the other one. But I ended up going, I think because I had that. Looking at that Grammy, I manifested a way to go to the Latin Grammys. Like, I manifested like, it was like I got connected somebody through somebody from Vegas, and I got connected this other person.

Dylan Garcia:
Then next thing, I'm doing an interview, and then next thing, like, hey, you want to come out as media with us? Come to Vegas for the Latin Grammys. If you work and do the media stuff, we'll let you perform at the showcase for free. I'm like, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. I'm going to Vegas right now to go for the Latin Grammys. And I knew it was such a big deal. This happened in November 2022, and I was talking about on the radio, and it's such a big deal. Like, so many other artists and the people that show love for my music were all like, man, it was like a win for the Chicanos. Like, man, Dylan's going Latin Grammy.

Dylan Garcia:
And the cool part about it was when I went out there, see, this is something I've been teaching myself over the last couple years is be interested. Don't always try to be interesting. Yes, it's a Latin Grammy. So all these other artists that are unknown, independent artists are all in Vegas at this time because everyone is trying to be interesting. But when I went out there, I didn't go with the fanciest outfits and all that. I just went, just kept it dressed normal. But I figured I'm gonna go be interested. There's a reason why these guys were interviewing are nominated for Grammys, and that's something I'm not at yet.

Dylan Garcia:
But I'm sure I could learn to see what they're doing, what elevated them to that level. I was doing these interviews. It was like I was in a session of learning because you see how they walk, you see how they vibe, they carry themselves so different. Like these are real artists. Not saying anyone isn't, but I'm saying artists that are up there and when you see how they move, it was like, man, I gotta bring some of that to what I'm doing. So when I came back from Latin Grammys, it's like, what do I do next? And I had an email from the Whiskey A Go Go about booking a show. Who do I reach out to to the Whiskey A Go Go, because I said, I coming back from the Grammy's, I gotta keep it at the same level from where I just left. And next thing I know, I'm performing with Afroman, you know, then I'm performing with RBL Posse on 420.

Dylan Garcia:
Then I'm performing there, headlining there, and I'm putting on a mental health awareness event. At the same time. It was all these things. It's like if you really pay attention to how everything unfolds and you're not focused on the negative, you can see the opportunity out of every situation you put yourself in, you'll put yourself in these positions to win. And not only to win, to learn or to gain the knowledge that you need to get. You got not just visualize it, but speak it into existence. Place yourself, yourself in those positions.

Dylan Garcia:
And another thing, and I give this tip away for your viewers. If you're in a situation where you're with somebody that knows more than you or is connected or something, you ask them as well, is there anybody that you know that you think I should know? And you never know what door is going to open for that question because that automatically raises, I don't know what the word like raises your caliber of what opportunities you could get next. Is there anyone that you know that you think I should know? And they think, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, maybe like, yeah, yeah, I do know somebody that you should know. It got me connected with some.

Jennifer Norman:
They want to help make those connections for you if you just ask that question. Beautiful. Absolutely.

Dylan Garcia:
Yeah.

Jennifer Norman:
Dylan, tell everybody where they can find you on social and how they can hear Vulnerable and your other music.

Dylan Garcia:
You can go to DylanGarciaMusic.com that's D Y L A N. Dylan, like Bob Dylan. DylanGarciaMusic.com DylanGarciaMusic on Instagram and Facebook. The same thing on TikTok and just get it. Yeah.

Jennifer Norman:
Dylan Garcia, thank you so much for all of your sharing today, all of your knowledge, all of your advice and inspiration. You are such a beautiful human. I'm so glad to now know you. We are forever connected.

Dylan Garcia:
We're forever connected. Can I just say one thing for everyone before we tune out? I had a lot of stuff happen to me just like everyone else, man. I've had deaths happen in my family, losing my closest people. I had a lot of stuff go sideways. If you can use all that stuff, stuff as energy or fuel to throw on the fire and know that you're still fighting for the ones that went before you. But also know that I was off. Like, I didn't have my mental health right for nine years.

Dylan Garcia:
That's almost an entire decade of suffering in silence majority of the time. Advocate for yourself and just know that if I could come back from full on crazy in the hospital and perform at the House of Blues, take nine years to get my mental health right. For fighting for myself. Really worth it, not giving up. It's really worth it, not giving up. Because the moment you give up, you'll never know what happened. And I had so many times. I had every reason, every reason.

Dylan Garcia:
It was like I had every reason to give up. Oh, I lost my brother. Oh, this, this. You know, I had every reason to throw in the towel, but I can't because I just want to show that like, whatever trauma you go through, whatever stuff you experience, you can heal and you could thrive afterwards. You can't just let those experiences eat you up because those be the nightmares you have every night.

Jennifer Norman:
Dylan, thank you so much for those important words. I know that our listeners are going to take them to heart and carry them with them for the rest of their lives. So thank you.

Dylan Garcia:
Okay, Jennifer, have a great day. Happy Aloha Friday.

Jennifer Norman:
All right, take care. Bye Bye.

Jennifer Norman:
Thank you for listening to The Human Beauty Movement Podcast. Be sure to follow rate and review us wherever you stream podcasts. The Human Beauty Movement is a community based platform that cultivates the beauty of humankind. Check out our workshops, find us on social media and share our inspiration with all the beautiful humans in your life. Learn more at thehumanbeautymovement.com. Thank you so much for being a beautiful human.