Today we’d like to introduce you to Freddie Munoz.
Hi Freddie, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
My name is Freddie Muneaux (Pronounced Muñoz). I grew up on the west side of San Antonio. I came from a musical family; my grandpa was a musician and played in bands his whole life. My uncles played instruments, and at every family get-together or barbecue, they would play and sing together. One of my earliest gifts was a dual cassette deck that my mom bought me for Christmas, along with a Fresh Prince tape and a Bobby Brown tape. I fell in love with music at that point. I met one of my oldest friends and collaborator in middle school, Jon David. We started our first rap group called “Organized Rhyme.” We started by just writing lyrics to instrumentals we could find on the b-sides of single tapes. One day we built up the courage to record a song. Fiesta Texas used to have a little recording studio in the park where people could do karaoke-style recordings of their favorite songs, but we talked to the tech there, and he was cool with us recording our lyrics. It was terrible, but no one will ever hear that tape. I’m sure I have it in a box somewhere. After that, I saved up money to buy my first keyboard, and I started teaching myself how to play it and create beats by studying the music I loved. We also saved up 35-50 bucks to book a couple of hours at actual studios, and we would have to have our stuff memorized well to get it all done within that time. We ended up performing all over the place from parties, talent shows, and Fiesta, and when we got a little older, we played clubs and bars. I had the idea of starting a live band to play our backing music instead of just rapping over CDs. That snowballed into a full-fledged band named The Lost, where we incorporated rock, hip-hop, and soul into one sound. We started performing all over Texas. We did shows with Fat Joe, Frankie J, and Baby Bash. We even shared a stage with an early Maren Morris. During this time, I finished college studying film and production. I have directed all of our music videos as well as videos. I have made a few short films and music videos that have won a few awards at film festivals all over the country and even in Toronto. I started my own production company Alpha Red Entertainment, where I produce music, films, commercials, scripts, scoring, and video editing. I am currently producing an amazing artist named Matheus, whom I collaborated with on my most recent solo album, “The Tesla Complex.”
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It definitely could have been a smoother road. The entertainment business is one of the most difficult businesses to break into and maintain your spot. I don’t like to say “struggles’, I look at them more as challenges, and I believe each one sets you up to overcome the next challenge. This is how I’ve grown as an artist and as a person. In the beginning, my challenges were people telling me what I “Should” do differently. I used to take critiques to heart. They would say things like “you need a better input system” or “you need not use such ‘proper English.’ As a Hispanic artist, people expect a certain style of music from you, and when you don’t sound a certain way, they write you off. I’ve learned to ignore that and do what feels right to me. “I love the line from “Get On Up” where James Brown says, “if it sounds good and feels good, then it’s musical. God made your ears; you didn’t make them. You going to argue with God’s ears?”
Other than that, the biggest challenge I’ve faced, whether with the band or my solo project, is getting enough eyes and ears on the finished product. So many people are doing things, making it challenging to stand out. That’s why I spelled my name “Muneaux” because there’s already a Freddie Muñoz on iTunes, which will help avoid confusion. As of now, I’m the only “Freddie Muneaux” that exists. Social media makes it easier to get your stuff out there, but I feel like you have to be an artist and know how to make interesting content for 3-5 different platforms. What may work for one doesn’t necessarily work for the other. So as an artist, you have to make time to create enough content to keep your channels consistent.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a filmmaker and musician. I write all my music and lyrics and produce songs for other artists. I also write, direct, edit and score my films and music videos. I have several songs with my former band called The Lost on all platforms. The song and music video for “Victory” has been recognized as the best music video in a few film festivals and are featured in a film called “The Price of Legacy” as the title song. I finished my first solo album, “The Tesla Complex,” this past year, and it is also on all platforms. I directed the first video from the album called “Eold On” featuring Matheus. Both the music videos for “Victory” and “Hold On” are being featured on Apple Music Videos.
I am currently finishing up an acoustic hip-hop EP. This one is a sentimental project for me. I wrote most of these songs during the pandemic when things were uncertain, and they made me think of a time when things were a lot simpler. I am working on my follow-up album to be released in Oct/Nov of 2023
As for the film, I have a few short films; my most recent short film is called “The Cowboy’s Eyes,” written by Jon Capraro and directed by me. It has won quite a few awards and is featured on Amazon Prime. I have several scripts in the works right now that we are looking forward to producing soon.
I am most proud of my current solo album, “The Tesla Complex” I feel like this is the most personal yet relevant album I’ve made so far. It sets me apart from everyone else because I am not perpetuating a negative stereotype for Hispanics or hip hop. I speak from a place of complete honesty and even a certain vulnerability which isn’t always “cool,” but it’s real to me, so I will speak from my heart. I have two songs with Matheus on this album called “Hold On” and “Back Home,” where we talk about appreciating what you have while you have it. I wrote a song for my daughters called “18 Summers,” which features incredible vocals from Yvette Gonzalez-Nacer. The back story to this song is that she was on my daughters’ favorite Nickelodeon show, “The Fresh Beat Band.” So when I was writing this song, I thought to be cool to get her to sing on this song that I dedicated to them? I reached out to her, she heard the song, and she graced us with her talent. I am forever grateful that she did! I can’t listen to that one without getting misty. I want that song to be the daddy-daughter anthem. Look out for the acoustic version coming soon. One of my favorite songs on the album, “Good Days,” featuring Big Q, where we reminisce on the good old carefree days. I named it the Tesla Complex because, like Nikola Tesla, his brilliance was overlooked and pushed aside, so I feel like I have a Tesla Complex.
We love surprises, fun facts, and incredible stories. Can you share something that might surprise us?
I don’t know if it’s surprising, but I’m a former athlete. I love basketball and baseball and sometimes professional wrestling. I want one of my songs to be on ESPN or as an entrance theme for a boxer or wrestler 🙂 The movie featured our song. The victory was a wrestling movie, so I’m on the right track. I also wrote a comic book called “Sanguis,” which should hopefully be coming out next year. It’s a 5 part graphic novel where the main character, an orphan Anthony Saint tries to understand why he has these special abilities, where they came from, and what his purpose is.
Pricing:
- We produce music and music videos for clients so feel free to let us bring your vision to life. Send us your song and we’ll send you a quote and a pitch.
Contact Info:
- Website: alpharedent.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/freddiemuneaux
- Facebook: facebook.com/directorfreddiemuneaux/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/freddiemuneaux
Image Credits
Kaz Canning Chris Mega
