Our Spotlight on the Arts is shining brightly on local musician Mike Trujillo!
We selected Trujillo after repeatedly hearing about the hugely popular Open Mic events which he has been organizing.
Mike has been part of the vibrant music scene in Southern Maryland for about seven years now. Starting with Open Mic Nights and their soaring success, our featured artist has grown and evolved in many different ways -both as a musician and as an event coordinator.
Trujillo started his first musical gigs right before the pandemic hit; despite the initial excitement of playing live on stage and the subsequent devastating closure of venues soon after, Trujillo continued to hone his skills during the shutdowns and emerged as an even stronger and more sharply focused musician.
As a guitar player, Mike has had several inspirational motivators, one being the video game “Guitar Hero 3”. Having fun while gaming and falling in love with a lot of the associated music sparked a previously unkindled flame within to light.
During his teen years, Mike discovered the song “Eruption” by Eddie Van Halen and was “completely blown away that a guitar could even sound like that!”. He also became captivated with the instrumental play of the guitar while learning “Ocean” by the John Butler Trio. Inspired to learn some of his favorite songs, our artist spent many hours practicing and experimenting with different techniques and instruments.
Typically playing guitar and singing, Mike is currently a vocalist and bass player with local hard rock band shallowDeep, featuring era classics plus original songs as well. Their latest and much anticipated single “A Cautious Retreat” was recently released last month in May of 2022 with more songs being in the works.
One of Trujillo’s true passions has been being part of the Open Mic scene in Southern Maryland. Recognizing the importance of a platform in which other artists have an opportunity to share their talents, meet like-minded people, and in the process grow their own skills and experience, Mike approached several different businesses in search of the right locations to host events.
Trujillo is a strong believer that one of the best ways to begin introducing oneself to the music scene is through Open Mic events. By meeting others with more experience, valuable relationships and mentorships have been born between the different artists. Ties are also formed with the local venues which have resulted in friendships and support for the small business owners as well as future gigs and bookings for the musicians.
The very first Open Mic event that Trujillo took part in was hosted by Steve Nelson back in 2015; fast forward to today and Steve is not only a bandmate of shallowDeep and artistic cohort but also one of Trujillo’s very best friends as well.
Aside from his musical passions, our featured artist works full-time as a software engineer supporting the Patuxent River Naval Air Station and has a five-year-old son named Eddie. In the small window of spare time that he has, Trujillo enjoys traveling, photography, and video gaming. He has also recently added karaoke nights to his list of hosted events!
Thank you Mike Trujillo for being a valued part of our artistic community, your gift for bringing artists and many others together is invaluable and very much appreciated as the music scene recovers from the many pandemic-related setbacks. See you soon at Open Mic Night!
Learn more about our featured artist at the links below:
Mike Trujillo Music (https://www.facebook.com/miketrujillomusic)
*Open Mic Night is currently hosted by Mike Trujillo every Wednesday at Toots Bar from 7-11 PM, details on his Facebook page are listed above.
shallowDeep (https://www.facebook.com/shallowdeepmusic)
Contact Mike by mail at: miketrujillomusic@gmail.com