Fil-Am Artist Travis Atreo Goes Country

Written by Jennifer Redondo

Travis Atreo is a Filipino-American singer, songwriter, producer, engineer, and entrepreneur. The former lead singer of the Seattle based band, New Heights, now calls Los Angeles home. Atreo is also the founder of Fanded, a marketplace for fans to invest in their favorite artists. But that’s not where you know him from- Atreo has been a YouTuber with over 318,000 subscribers. Most recently, he released his much anticipated, first full length country album, My Country. We had the opportunity to sit down with him to learn more about him and his latest project.

Tell us a little about yourself and your background, Travis.

My mom is Filipino. My dad is half Scottish and half Filipino. My dad’s father is Scottish. He is from Iowa and was in the United States Marines. When he was stationed in the Philippines, he met my grandma, and he ended up bringing her back to Iowa which is where my dad was born. My dad was raised by a Filipino mom and grew up in the midwest, which is why he is a country boy at heart.

When my dad turned 18, he joined the Marines. He was supposed to be stationed in Europe, but he lost his papers and got reassigned to Manila. He met my mom in the Philippines. I was born in Subic Bay, Philippines, but I am a natural - born citizen of the United States. My family came to Iowa when I was just two years old. A few years later, we moved to Federal Way, a suburb 30 minutes from Seattle in Washington state.

I am the middle child of three boys. At age seven, my family joined a Filipino Christian church which is where I started to play more music. This was in addition to playing the clarinet for my elementary school’s band. At 13, I started to lead praise in the church band. At 15, I was writing my own songs, and during that time, my grandma gave me my first guitar which she brought back from the Philippines.

After graduating from high school, I was in a Christian band called New Heights. It was an Asian-American band consisting of mostly Korean-American friends, and I was the only Filipino. During our first concert in 2006, a white man screamed at us and told us to “go home”. That was my first concert outside of church, so that experience set the precedent. The first time I decided to take a chance on myself, the world was telling me no. My mother is a first generation Filipino-American, and she doesn’t ever back down from a fight. She encouraged me to push back at the adversity, and to go forward anyways.

I spent a majority of my twenties pursuing music full time with the band. Being from Seattle, we didn’t know any other Asian American artists trying to make music their full time jobs. I didn’t think an Asian American kid like me could make it because I never saw it. But we kept working on our craft, and we had already been writing songs for a music label which was scouting us. Unfortunately, they passed on us. After getting rejected from the record label, we went independent and did a Kickstarter campaign so we could record an album. We were told that we should go on tour if we wanted to get noticed, so we went on tour across the country. Even after eight years, we still weren’t getting discovered. Though, we had a lot of great opportunities like performing at South by Southwest. But at the end of each show, we were selling merchandise to get us to our next stop. We went into debt and borrowed money from people. It was hard, and we were determined to succeed. It was a make or break moment, so we stopped pursuing the Christian band. I was burnt out from doing the band thing.

As I mentioned before, I was really involved in the church and thought I was going to become a pastor. I was already a leader in the church so I decided to pursue it. I attended one semester of Christian college. I learned a lot, but had an inflection point and decided that wasn’t the path for me.

In 2011, The Jubilee Project (now called Jubilee Media) reached out to our band about a song called “Peaches” that we wrote in 2006. They wanted to feature it on one of their YouTube skits, which ended up going viral. From there, the Asian American and Los Angeles communities started to hear about us. That’s how we ended up going on tour with some YouTubers. We opened up the ISA Festival in 2012, which is how we met the Far East Movement, AJ Rafael, David Choi, and other Asian American YouTubers.

In 2013, I moved to Los Angeles to manage a recording studio. My job was to engineer for artists and help them with their covers and music. When I moved to Los Angeles, I thought I was going to hang up my performing hat and just focus on producing music. Except I found myself producing covers and singing consistently. In 2014, Taylor Swift discovered a cover of her song “Style”, which she tweeted about. That YouTube video has over 3.1 million views, so I thought maybe I need to try this one more time! For my whole life, I had always been a leader, and I had a lot of pressure on me to succeed. When the band ended, I had a hard time. I thought I wasn’t good enough and didn't have it in me, but Taylor Swift gave me the motivation to push on.

What is your latest project and what inspired you to pursue it?

I am releasing my first full length country album, My Country. As I mentioned earlier, my dad is a farm boy. When I was a kid, I remember driving in the car with my mom who listened to Christian soft hits, while my dad was always listening to country music. I grew up during the era of rap and R&B. I loved artists such as Mariah Carey, AZ Yet, Blackstreet, All-4-One, and Boyz II Men. I secretly loved country music, but I was trying to be cool. I didn’t want to admit that I liked country music. Growing up, I was surrounded by crime and attended schools that had a lot of gang activity. As a survival tactic, I didn’t want to share that I was into country music. During that time, what you listened to was cultural. You looked and dressed the part according to the music you listened to. There was a lot of segregation and cliques like the goths, ravers, heavy metal kids, and such.

I remember grasping onto one of All-4-One’s songs, which was a rendition of a country song. That’s when I realized there is a similarity between R&B and country music melodies. Even until this day, when I am writing songs, it always starts out as a country song. I love melodies over everything!

On my new album, I wrote a song all the way back in 2009 called “Lola”, which is about my grandparents who loved ballroom dancing. I imagined this to be their waltz song. It wasn’t until this year that I finished the lyrics for this song. I hit up my talented friend, Jonathan, and it’s even better than I imagined it to be.

This album means so much to me because it’s who I’ve always been. It’s my story. For the longest time, I thought I couldn’t sing country music. With all the divisiveness, racism, and anti-Asian hate, I wasn’t sure if I was even allowed to do country. During the pandemic, I realized we don’t know how long we will be on this earth. So I want do everything I can to help people and help them feel seen even though they have niche hobbies and interests. I want to put out music that I want to do. I don’t want to live a lie or in regret.

What are some of the obstacles that you experienced in the music industry?

Aside from my race, location, and religion, there are many other obstacles I had to overcome. I’ve always had a chip on my shoulder because I saw a lot of friends in the industry surpass me throughout the years. Being Filipino, I have a tendency of pleasing people. I always give people more credit - they can do it better than me. I have to believe in myself through all of the no’s and rejection.

In 2009, I was on The Voice, after auditioning multiple times before. I was there for three months, and my family came out to Los Angeles to support me. When it was my turn to do my final audition, the producers called 16 of us back in the room and let us know that all the teams had filled up. In front of our families and friends, the producers let us down and told us that we would not be advancing forward. The music industry has become a lottery, and it’s really tough! You have to want to be able to push forward if you want to make it. Now, I know that I have to do things on my own and have resilience. Resilience makes us stronger.

What are some of the myths that you want to debunk?

Fame and reach is different from a marketing budget. I thought if I could make it on a billboard or commercial, I would make it. Being in the music industry is hard because it’s about your belief in yourself and your art. Music is made the same way art is made, which is to be given away. My music is never mine. I am the arbiter and concerto of it. Melodies and music are gifts given to us. Music is created for others to use as the soundtrack of their lives. People have come to me to let me know that my music has helped them put their baby to sleep or helped them deal with flight anxiety. Your art should be an expression of your soul, which will hopefully resonate with another vulnerable soul.

Another myth I want to debunk is: Just because you have a viral video or song, it doesn’t mean that you are paid like crazy. Streaming doesn’t pay well. Living the life of a musician is not easy. Living an art filled life is about doing what is necessary to continue living that art-filled life. Pattern matching doesn’t work for artists. Every single creative I know has multiple streams of income. It’s about building multiple revenue streams, not just one thing. This is something that artists need to understand and grasp earlier on.

That’s why I started Fanded in 2021 – creatives need to learn to diversify their income streams. They need to treat themselves like entrepreneurs. Artists are beholden to a system created by major labels. Fanded is a fan-funding platform that allows fans to fund artists and their projects. It’s very similar to Kickstarter where one donates and receives perks in return, but in membership form. If an artist has a number of fans, they may get financial support for their careers from the fans who want to be a part of their VIP membership clubs. I wanted to create autonomy for artists and empower them to operate their own businesses. It allows them to operate and make decisions for themselves.

What motivates and inspires you?

I am an Aquarius. I’m not super into astrology but I like to know people's signs, and I want to create a great relationship with others. I want to see and know people for who they are and vice versa. I don’t like injustice or when people get shamed for being themselves.

We grew up in a Christian, military home and when my older brother was 17, he came out to the family. It was a very contentious moment, but it made us stronger and better as a family. My parents grew a lot, and so did we. I want to create systems and art that helps people to continue to grow in their perspectives.

I make music to help people feel better about themselves and their situations. I hope that their path gives them new thinking and helps them evolve in their journey. That’s why Fanded is important because it helps artists understand their own autonomy and how important having systems are. I always hope to create change for the better.

Knowing what you know now, what would you do differently?

If I could go back in time, I would tell myself that these things that you are going through are preparing you for what's to come. I used to ask myself why things can’t be easier? Heed the advice you are getting. I was getting a lot of bad advice that I followed down the rabbit hole. I needed to learn those lessons, which helped shape who I am today. I wouldn’t necessarily change anything. But I would have tried to encourage myself to know that it's going to get better. That shit that you’re eating right now and those nights of tears, are temporary. I promise it will get better!

Being an artist is interesting – one moment you feel that your work is impacting the world, and another moment you could feel alone or misunderstood. I started mentoring and coaching younger artists, to help remind them how significant they are and that life gets better.

What advice would you give to someone interested in the music industry?

Fail fast! It’s cliche, but when you fail it gives you all the information that you would never receive if you were always winning. It lets you know what you should prioritize. Focus on doing everything that you can to have the insight on what you can and cannot do. You have to find out what you love, don’t love, what you want or don’t want. Your unique perspective is what makes you different. Art is supposed to be divisive – either extremely loved or hated. Art is an expression of your soul.

What is the biggest lesson you’ve learned so far?

Being an artist and a founder, I learned that no one knows what they’re doing. My music career has allowed me to meet people from all walks of life. I have had the opportunity to meet some influential people. There’s so much pressure to keep up with others. The older I get and more projects I am involved in, I learned that it’s about coming together with all the lessons we have learned and figuring it out together. We have to fail fast to get the best data. Not even the best minds have it together. But that’s what makes them weirdly successful.

What does it mean to be Filipino to you?

Growing up I was so proud to be Filipino. I had the AZN and Filipino flag stickers on my binder and even my Bible. I loved that I was different, even though I wasn’t full Filipino. Being mixed, sometimes I felt like I wasn’t enough of either side – white or Filipino. Regardless, my parents and grandparents are very Filipino and they raised me in the culture. Coming from a third world country, I love what we have, even if it’s not a lot. We work really hard, for our community and for our family. Food is everything – it’s the natural equalizer between people. I love the Filipino’s ability to make everyone feel welcome and disarmed.

Growing up in church, it indicated to me why community is so important. It was a safe harbor for newcomers who didn’t have resources. They let us know we were one of them, they took care of us, and helped kids get into school. It is about caring for your community. Being Filipino has taught me true, unconditional love even though there are some toxic things within our culture. Overall, it doesn’t matter who, what, or where you are, you deserve some baon. We can sit together and we can enjoy our meal together, regardless!

What last words do you want to share?

I just released my first full length country album, My Country, which is available on all streaming platforms. The album includes a country version of the Filipino song, Harana. Please listen to it, and I hope you love it! My dream and vision for this album is to be the bridge between two cultures, from the south to the Philippines. Country music is about service workers and people who work hard. Food means so much to the south and working class – that’s similar to Filipinos. It’s who we are and what we were raised on.

One of the catalysts for this album was Lisa Ling’s This is Life docuseries, where I learned that Filipinos were here before the Pilgrims. I also learned that there were Filipinos in New Orleans and were integral to building the shrimp trade. Country music to me was always American music, and it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s “white music”. It doesn’t have to be singular. Music is something that we can all love, not just genre specific.

My hope is to show that we should have pride in being Filipino and American. Our parents brought us to this land for better opportunities. We deserve to be accepted and honored as Americans, and I hope that people take that from this album.

Where can people find you?

You can find me on all streaming platforms and on Instagram. I am also going on tour! I will be performing in Los Angeles on September 1st and in Tacoma on October 20th. You can purchase tickets here.

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Written by Jennifer Redondo

Co-Founder and Co-Author of In Her Purpose

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