Senior Nico Camacho-Logan’s artistic skill makes him one of a kind.
Photo by Mia Nogueira
Fitting in with the crowd has never been one of Nico Camacho’s goals. Frequently dressed in all black, and never without his characteristic vest covered in patches of various metal bands, it’s hard not to notice when Nico passes by. “I’m a little bit of a misfit,” said Nico, with a chuckle. “[I’m] as avant-garde as most people come.”
Beneath Nico’s unorthodox exterior lies a talented musician, who plays a grand total of four different instruments: the guitar, electric bass, string bass, and cello. “I started playing the guitar when I was about nine or ten. Then I gave up,” said Nico. “I gave up because I just didn’t get it. I tried having a teacher, and that never worked, but I ended up just picking it back up and teaching myself, and I learned to play by ear.”
Learning to play one instrument completely by ear is a feat very few musicians can accomplish, and four instruments is almost unheard of. But Nico isn’t most musicians, and when his musical prowess comes up in conversation, he merely shrugs. “I just have a really good ear,” he says. “I come from a family of musicians. My dad plays wind instruments of all sorts, and my brother used to play guitar. My dad’s side of the family has a lot of musicians. Everyone around my uncle plays some sort of instrument, and my ten-year old cousin is one of the best pianists I’ve ever heard.”
With a family like Nico’s, it’s no surprise that he branched out to so many different instruments. “I started playing the bass out of necessity when I was about 13 or 14. I had a band named Dementia and we recorded an album, but the bass player we had left the band, so on the recording I just played the bass. It was really easy to pick up; I never really had any problem with it,” said Nico.
When he arrived at TJ, Nico soon turned to the acoustic upright bass so that he could play with the orchestra. Some musicians would have a bit of a hard time moving from the mid-sized electric bass guitar to the gargantuan string bass. Yet, once again, Nico was unfazed. “It was fun. I figured it out kind of fast. The only challenge was reading the music, and I figured that out within a month,” said Nico. “The only complicated transition I had was from playing the bass, to the cello. And that one took a little while, but I eventually picked it up.”
The transition from performing music memorized by ear to reading notes on sheet music is about as easy as using your non-dominant hand to write an essay in cursive. Through dedication and practice Nico was able to decipher sheet music, which is fundamental to playing classical pieces, but not nearly as important for one in a metal band. “Honestly, it was more obnoxious to play; having to almost detach myself from the music and how I normally play into just copying what’s on the page,” said Nico. “It isn’t necessarily my style, but I did it anyway.”
Regardless of how many instruments Nico plays, there is one that means more to him than all the others. “The guitar is my favorite. The wide range of sounds and styles and things I’ve been able to create and come up with on the guitar that I don’t hear on other instruments; being able to mess with distortions or alter certain sounds, or make a guitar sound nothing like a guitar, that’s what I love.”
Nico’s prowess with the guitar has led to forming a band with some of his friends. “My band is called Megrim’s Blight, and we play depressing black metal,” said Nico. Not only is Nico the lead guitarist, but he also writes the music, lyrics, and is the leader of the band. “I write everything by myself, and then I present it to my band mates. I tell them what to do; I orchestrate the whole thing,” explained Nico. “They pretty much enjoy what I give them and they play it well.”
Last month, the band played a huge gig at the Oriental theater. “[It was] a big show with another local band that we’re pretty good friends with, the Sons of Sorath. We played in support of the Zeitgeist movement in Colorado,” said Nico. The next show for Megrim’s Blight is on May 7th at 2 Doors Down.
When he isn’t playing an instrument, Nico enjoys listening to music, and drawing. He says he likes drawing much darker things and, as dark and grotesque as his pictures may be, that he never has anything in mind when he begins, just starts drawing and letting the picture become what it becomes. “I enjoy drawing people, and I like to exaggerate people; to expose the grotesque human form,” said Nico.
Though he may not want to fit in with the crowd, Nico’s artistic skill with both instrument and pen are fantastic to behold, which is why it’s such a good thing he stands out.
