Solo Band

 Sometime long ago, Jim Castaneda embarked on a journey to develop his musical voice. 

     ‘Original Jim’ has been focusing on his sound by writing and arranging in a performance style he calls a ‘Solo Band’; live multi-layering a combination of traditional instrumentation such as guitar, keyboard, bass tones and layered vocals all together with a fresh approach to percussion into full form arrangements; often sounding like a small band rather than a solo act thanks to a few carefully chosen foot pedals and a talent for multi-tasking while live on stage. 

      A native of Washington State, Jim Castaneda was born first day of fall on the edge of an old-growth forest just a few decades ago.  Throughout the years, Jim has spent time carving out a place in the regional A Cappella world as co-founder and member of the award-winning vocal band, Kickshaw, a group who has seen all of its original members go on to make more music through teaching, writing, performing and in one case watching and supporting as their youngest singer made it all the way to the finals of American Idol. During their time together, Kickshaw (feat. D. Figgins, A. Marshall, J. Moulton, D. Shoemaker, B. Lewis, and rounding out the final lineup with K. Schramm & N. Bolgopolski) traveled all over the western U.S., opening for numerous acts while spending most of their time in the Pacific Northwest playing hundreds of shows all around the Seattle area. Kickshaw became one of the area’s premier A Cappella vocal bands and producers of some of the highest quality original A Cappella recordings of their time. 

     As Jim transitioned from band work to his solo band project, the musical universe got a new set of original songs in the form of Jim’s debut collection on 'Beatbox Soul', a self-produced rhythm & vocal-driven album that highlights the artist's easy-going style and skilled beatbox production, providing 95% of the drum sounds. A concept album at its core, this project was DIY all the way. Jim recorded each track, one by one, to produce a full-length professional-like quality release that has listeners setting their CD players to 'repeat all'.

     Currently, Jim is enjoying life in the Pacific Northwest, exploring his creative, performing a mix of his solo band-styled tunes while spreading a positive vibe and keeping a steady groove.