FEATURE
Giuseppe Cristiano Interview with Muzique Magazine
How did you come by your stage name?
I have been recording music since I was a teen. I have had several bands but I have been using “J Crist” as an artist both when I play as well as when I do art. Crist is short of my family name “Cristiano”.
I was playing around when I was 13 years old so I picked up J as my first name since it was simpler than my first name and it looked good in the layout of my first demo tapes.
I have been using it for the past 30 years or so.
When did you discover your love for your craft and what made you realize you wanted to pursue a career in it?
Since I was a teen, I used to play all the instruments I had in the house (piano, organ, guitar, harmonica, etc.) whatever I found around me and since I didn’t have a multi-track recorder at the time, and this was before computers, I used two tape recorders to create songs. As far as I remember I was writing songs, and even creating concepts for my demo tapes.
But I pursued a whole different career as an artist. Now I draw storyboards for music videos, feature films, animation, and advertising and write books (fiction and non-fiction). However, I knew one thing I always wanted to be independent.
To what or whom do you accredit your sense of style?
My favorite music is progressive rock but I listen to all kinds. I grew up in the 80ies with a lot of great bands and exciting sounds. So there are all sorts of influences in what I do from Bowie to Peter Gabriel, Genesis, Yes, XTC, Beatles and the list goes on and on.
On your current project, how did you come up with the concept?
One of my latest albums “Scratch That” is in fact an homage to Peter Gabriel and Bowie. It’s a bit experimental in the choice of instruments and sounds. Other albums I have made are some sort of journeys. I might have been exploring an idea and writing the songs as if I was telling a story. Sometimes the songs would be connected to each other.
Giuseppe Cristiano Interview with Muzique Magazine
What are some of your greatest challenges, and what is your greatest attribute when it comes to your work ethic?
I am a workaholic in general, once I start a project I won’t stop until it’s done. Preparation for me is important, so before I start laying down tracks I have most of my demo ready. The biggest challenge is to pick up a project after a long pause. With covid, I have been unable to add vocals to one of my more recent projects and in a way, it is getting cold to me. I might record everything from scratch in order to get in the mood again.
Are you the best at what you do in your opinion?
Storytelling, it’s also a very important element in my actual work. I do storyboards for directors and therefore I need to be coherent and creative to keep the story going.
What are your plans for the near future?
I have an interesting project that I am working on which puts together all of my passions. It’s a double concept album which will also be a two-volume graphic novel. The story is complete and most of the music is. I just have to start drawing it.
How can fans find you?
My youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCojOABQ8rLuXNi4sct_UeKw
My site: https://jcrist-music.com/
Otherwise, I am pretty easy to find on the socials
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/peppecristiano
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/giuseppe_cristiano/
