Former metal guitarist becomes a folkie

By Ashley Wermick | gargoyle@flagler.edu

Music just comes naturally to Josh Santos.

Santos first started in music by playing the saxophone in his middle school band, but soon wanted to try other instruments. After his grandfather bought him a guitar the summer before Santos started high school, he knew he had found his instrument of choice.

He taught himself how to play and soon discovered that he could sing too. Santos played metal and hardcore music, which led him to playing in a handful of different bands. However Santos has switched from playing metal to folk music.

“It’s a really weird transition to go from playing in a hardcore band to solo folk music on the acoustic guitar,” Santos said.

He grew up listening to the band At the Drive-In and gets a lot of his inspiration from them. Another one of his musical muses are the Arctic Monkeys.

“In high school I saw the Arctic Monkeys performing on (Saturday Night Live) and it just kind of blew my mind,” Santos said. “I’ve been inspired by them from that day forward.”

Santos occasionally plays shows in St. Augustine, including Flagler’s Coffeehouse Concert Series sponsored by CAB. Half of the songs he plays he wrote himself, while the other half are “covers of songs you’ve never heard of.”

He is currently dabbling with self-recording, using equipment given to him, but is not planning on distributing his music.

“I’ve never seriously been into recording,” Santos said.

Santos does not see himself perusing music professionally and instead wants to have a job in his chosen field of communication. He sees writing and playing music as a hobby.

“Music is something I like to do for fun,” Santos said. “I do it so I don’t waste my time doing nothing.”