The Origin Story of Tyler Beck

The origin story of Tyler Beck:

Hello, my name is Tyler Beck and I was born in Bethpage, Long Island, New York. When I was young my family relocated to Mesa, AZ where I grew up with my 2 brothers and sister.

At an early age I displayed an eye for the arts. I created make believe characters, wrote their backstories, and drew them. I would take pictures with old disposable cameras and have the images developed or beg my dad to use his digital camera so I could take pictures. I would draw on my toy cars, swords, class assignments, and anything else that needed some design. I played Viola from 3rd grade until 6th grade and by 5th grade knew that I wanted to be a rock musician even though I had no musical skills or training outside of Orchestra. I sang in my room to all kinds of rock and pop songs dreaming I would one day be on stage. I had some influential friends who could play guitar and one of my friend’s dad had a drum set that we got to play. I also had friends talking about starting a band which drove me to truly pursue creating my own.

In Jr. High I took an art class and a drawing class. I learned more about drawing, painting, crafts, pottery, and the various avenues of art. I also got really into photography and took a photography class where I learned the fundamental skills and  how to develop images in a dark room. I started recognizing photography as one of my dearest passions. In 8th grade I met and became very good friends with Lester Lopez who would eventually become the drummer of my high school band Elena Avenue.

By 9th grade I knew I wanted to pursue graphic design because it combined 2 of my favorite things: photography and drawing. I didn’t fully know what graphic design entailed at the time but that was my focus. If I had to pick anything to do as a career, I wanted it to be that. I also began taking guitar lessons outside of school and further set my sights on being a rock musician.

In 10th grade I met my best friend and the future guitarist of Elena Avenue, Jesse Martinez. I brought my guitar to school frequently which allowed Jesse and I to create songs on a regular basis and also led to meeting a variety of other people also interested in music. We hung out all the time outside of school, listened to music, played guitar, made ridiculous video skits with a video camera or on his phone, and skated together almost daily. In school I took a Computer Aided Design and Drafting (CAD) architecture class and a drawing class and continued the pursuit of my passions.

11th grade was the most turbulent year of high school for me filled with intense passion and heavy depression. I fell in love, got my heart broken, started experimenting with the ever so stigmatized drugs my classmates were doing, and dealt with a lot of changes at home. I joined a band called Trailmix as the vocalist with Lester Lopez on drums, Jesse Martinez on rhythm guitar, Juan Manriquez on lead guitar, and Keegan Graves on bass. It was a short lived project that disbanded quickly after we learned a few covers and wrote 1 original song, called Candy Cigarettes, that Jesse and I played constantly to anybody who would listen at school. I also took classes in digital photography and learned the fundamentals of editing photos in Adobe Photoshop. Thanks to my step mother letting me use her camera, I learned how to use a Canon DSLR.  I also took a yearbook class and got to help take photos, write spreads, and create that years yearbook. I realized I had an interest in journalism that coincided well with my other passions.

Later on that year Elena Avenue was born. The original lineup consisted of Lester Lopez on drums, Jesse Martinez on guitar, and I was on vocals. We got a guitarist named Mason Bock, learned some covers, and wrote a full set of original songs. We then  played our first show in September of 2012. I was convinced we had made it, whatever that meant. After our first show we picked up our bassist, Nick Kahlor, and we also played a few small parties. Mason was let go from the band shortly after. I took up the vacant guitar position and Elena Avenue continued on, with the solidified 4-piece lineup, to play Skyline High School’s talent show and various other local shows in Mesa, Phoenix, Tempe, and anywhere else we were offered. We played at venues like The Underground, Club Red, Pub Rock, The Fire House, and many, many others. We were terrible but that did not stop us. We began tracking demos with a Rock Band microphone and a free audio program called Audacity.

In 12th grade I started doing a program at the East Valley Institute of Technology in which I would attend primary classes at my home school and then go to a seperate location to take a joint class on Media Marketing and Radio Production. I learned about graphic design programs like the Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Flash, Adobe Dreamweaver, Sculptris, and how to program a video game. I also got to record radio commercials in Pro Tools and met a bunch of really cool and ambitious people who I spent a lot of time in the studio making music with. Elena Avenue continued playing shows on a regular basis, at least 1 to 2 every couple of months. That year I doubled up and began taking guitar and vocal lessons.

I graduated from Skyline High School in May of 2013, earned a Presidential Scholarship, and later that year began attending Mesa Community College. I knocked out a full year of my general courses and took a few honors courses before losing my scholarship from a lower than required GPA; so close. I then transferred to the Art Institute of Phoenix to begin an Associates Degree program in Graphic Design.

In 2015 Elena Avenue recorded our first self titled EP with the help of local musician and producer Kash Filburn. We played 2-3 shows a month in various cities across Arizona until late in the year when we made the decision to take a hiatus from shows and also recruit Tyler Meyer onboard to play keys, viola, and guitar. We then began organizing and writing our first full length album.

In December of 2016 I created my brand Aggregate Perspective, which encompasses all of my different artistic endeavors, and graduated from the Art Institute of Phoenix with an Associates in Graphic Design. The ceremony was officially celebrated on March 23, 2017; the day before my 22nd birthday. I got a job at Verapax Marketing doing graphic design and digital print in February of 2017. Elena Avenue continued working on the album throughout the year but in early March through April we had a falling out with Tyler Meyer and he left the band.

In April of 2018 I did a professional photoshoot for my sister’s senior photos in which I shot and edited all of the images.  That month Jesse and I decided to start Your Thoughts Podcast. It began after a long conversation over many topics that lead to the idea of creating our very own conversational style show where we talk to people about their lives and ideas. We began filming and recording audio soon after. Over the summer of 2018 Lester Lopez made the decision to leave Elena Avenue. The separation was amicable and we wished him luck on whatever he wanted to pursue. We quickly found a replacement drummer named, Dylan Skaggs, to learn the songs and eventually record the album with us.

Elena Avenue continued trying to track their full length album but things became complicated with their our new drummer. He kind of disappeared for almost 2 years, thankfully not dead; which is what we thought, and resurfaced to ask for his gear that was left behind. Your Thoughts Podcast continued throughout the year and grew as Jesse and I learned how to converse better and record/release episodes more effectively. My girlfriend Brandie Lane also taught me how to edit video, which became a fundamental element of the show. Elena Avenue tracked a few demos but in 2019, after a series of unfortunate events with my alma mater that Brandie was attending, I decided to take a leap and leave the state. I felt like things weren’t going anywhere and a change of scenery might be nice. I left for Idaho in March of 2019. I continued to develop my photography and video editing skills and also shot 3 episodes, what I’m calling Season 2 of Your Thoughts Podcast, as well as learned how to refurbish furniture while in Idaho. I met a bad ass guitarist named Shane Siple, a rad drummer named Mitchell, and a bassist Cameron James and we started a band called Chermobyl Homes. We played a Halloween Party with 3 or 4 original tracks. Mitchell and Cameron left the group shortly after and we picked up a new drummer, Nick Joyce, and then played a New Years Day show to celebrate/mourn our journey as a band.

I started off my 2020 year moving back to Arizona after my girlfriend and I broke up. As awful as it was to come back home defeated; it did lead to immense creativity and intent to grow and develop myself as an individual, artist, and entrepreneur. As the beginning of the year progressed Shane and I sent files back and forth as we both developed our skills in audio engineering. We started a short project called Dread Broke but it got put on the back burner as I started expanding connections here. I started a project called Mars & Nebula with a former Art Institute connection, Leonard Cherry III, and throughout the year we tracked 6 songs for an album titled Retrograde. Your Thoughts Podcast continued in Arizona with Season 3. I refurbished my parent’s kitchen table. I also joined with Nick Kahlor, Jesse Martinez, and Sam Green in a band called Louis on Tour named after Jesse’s son.