Damian Sol

I have been playing music since I was 3 1/2 years old. Between 3 and 3 1/2, I was sitting with my violin, looking at the other kids in the room, not wanting to play until I knew how already. Shows you the kind of mind tricks my brain dreams up from time to time.

Despite that, I went on to win a bunch of classical violin competitions (at ages 9, 11, 13 and 16, I landed solo slots with the Sacramento Symphony and CSUS Orchestra), until I eventually got fed up with playing Paganini's first violin concerto for three years with no break. Time to rock!

Metallica, Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull and Led Zeppelin informed my early rock history. "..And Justice for All" blew my mind sideways at age 16, and catapulted me into the realm of the electric guitar. After much practice, I realized that I could play these kinds of riffs far easier on a violin, and I went back to my first love and started writing my own music. I never stopped playing my other instruments, but my main focus is violin.

After being in a single band for 9 years, Las Pesadillas (we won five local Sacramento music awards), I decided to take a break and meditate on the next ten years of music and what it would bring.

After setting up a $20,000 home studio, I am back and ready to rock. In addition to polishing a large handful of prog/rock pieces with my new band, Radio Orangevale, I am also composing/producing/engineering my own music, in electronic and rock formats, and beginning to build a music library to offer for film and television placement.