West Coast Songwriters

Please welcome Enrique Gonzales Muller to the Board of WCS!  We've asked him a few questions so you have the opportunity to know him before meeting him in person!

How Did You Get Your Start?

At the age of 13 I started playing guitar to be cool like my cousin. A few years later when prompted with the question "What do you want to do when you grow up... you know, for work?" The only answer I could come up was "I'll be a grown up for a while soooo I better choose wisely... I think the only thing that I'll enjoy doing for that long is music!". When the time to go to college came, I had the chance to go to a music school (Berklee College of Music) and there I literally tried out every single major offered... music production and engineering just organically felt like the right fit for me. After graduating I moved to San Francisco, started interning at The Plant recording studios where the band Metallica was starting to record an album. I did such a great job at getting lunches and cleaning up after people (ie. demonstrating that I could take responsibility and be part of a team) that the band offered me a job... fortunately the studio got jealous that they were taking me and offered to make me staff assistant engineer so I wouldn't go away!

Who Are Your Major Influences?

Committed, driven artists, bands, people who have something to say and share their passions in unpretentious ways.

What Sparks your Passion To Write?

I'm not much of a writer but my work as a producer and arranger is fueled by most things that are not actually related to music. Having a big passion for film I tend to think of music in visual ways... for example, I think of songs as houses. Each section (verse, chorus, bridge, etc...) is equivalent to a different room in a house and my job when producing a song or writing arrangements is to make each room distinct and maximize the potential of its functionality within the house. At the same time I try and keep the style of this house as a whole, cohesive and easily recognizable home.     Hopefully.... that imagery made some sense!  ;)

Who Would you Like to Collaborate with?

Committed, driven artists, bands, people who have something to say and share their passions in unpretentious ways.

Where Do You Find the Best Place to Write your Songs, at home, restaurants, coffee shops etc??

Hands down.... at good coffee houses !

Where Do You See Yourself in the Next Five Years?

Pursuing whatever makes me tick... and who knows what that will be! The hardest thing (and at the same time the most basic) is to look inward and truly identify what we like, what inspires us to get up in the morning and for lack of a better / cheesier word... makes us happy. Then find a realistic and intelligent way, especially through good choice making, to achieve that very thing!

What Made You Join WCS?

I love the sense of community and the way it brings people together. It's committed, driven, definitely has something to say and shares its passions in unpretentious ways!!!   ;)