You may know this story, but it bears repeating. This young
singer/songwriter/guitarist was born in Riverside, CA. The self-described "air-force brat" moved around the country and abroad several times before settling back down in sunny California at the
age of five. Isaac's musical journey began in the fourth grade when band
was introduced. "I had wanted to play guitar for the longest time but
they weren't teaching that". He quickly chose the alto sax to get
something into his eager musical hands. Isaac was a quick study, but his
interest in the sax waned as his future true love (the guitar) was
temporarily out of reach. "We didn't have a lot of money so I was kind
of stuck with the sax for a while."
By the end of his first year of high
school he'd lost all interest in playing an instrument he didn't love
and decided to take a break from music. In the summer after graduating
high school he decided to try the "college thing" and go for a degree in
music and, more specifically, use the guitar as his main instrument. There
was just one tiny little problem...he had still never played guitar! So
he managed to borrow the ugliest, oldest thing you'd probably ever see
from a good friend and began taking classes. "To say that guitar was out
of shape would have been a very generous statement". Just like the sax,
Isaac was a fast study. After one year of lessons (and many odd jobs) he
was able to purchase his first guitar.
At that time he also decided to transfer schools and attend Azusa
Pacific University to further his music studies. After four years at APU
and taking lessons in classical and jazz guitar, he emerged with a
bachelor's degree in guitar performance. "It was a tough process
finishing my degree and at times it felt like a lot of people were
rooting for me to fail, but I believed in myself and knew that I didn't
want to have to live with myself if I gave up. I played for every group
at school that I possibly could. In the last two years of school I
pretty much just locked myself in a room, playing and practicing for at
least 6 hours a day. When I graduated, and had proven that a lot of people
were wrong about me, it felt like I had really proven to myself
that music was what I was meant to do."
Songwriting (and singing) came after school for Isaac. In November of
2003 he sat down with his self-described "mediocre" voice and penned his
first original, "Time", which is now known as "Second Date". This caught
the attention of an acquaintance who introduced Isaac to the indie label
Vital Recordings. "I met with them, played the song, they said they
loved it and asked me to play another". A small obstacle had now
presented itself since this was the only song he had written at the
time. "They asked me if I would write more and come play for them again,
so I said sure." A few months later he had ten originals and met with
Vital again. They began recording demos of these and other songs in
March of 2004.
By October of that year he began performing the songs around Los Angeles,
making stops at The Derby, The Key Club, and The Hotel Café. During
that time Vital began talking to Isaac about making their relationship
professional and asked him if he was interested in signing with their
label to record an EP. After weighing all of his options and continuing
to perform live in LA, he decided to sign with Vital Recordings in 2005
and begin recording his debut EP.
Isaac has since performed at several major venues in the Los Angeles
area including The House of Blues (LA), The Viper Room, The Hard Rock
Café (Beverly Hills), B.B. Kings Blues Club, and The Gig (Hollywood).
After spending about half of 2005 and 2006 in the studio, Vital
Recordings announced that his debut EP, which he titled "A Place in the
Sun", will be released in August 2006! This six song EP features the
warmth of his acoustic guitar as well as the passion from his electric
guitar. "I'm really proud of what we were able to accomplish with this
and can't wait for people to hear it!" This recording promises to present
Isaac to the world as an artist and take him to the next step in his
career.