Brian Slattery Photo
Ceschi.
Ceschi knows what it’s like to live through a wave of unexpected deaths — and come out the other side with a reality-based determination to keep living and creating.
Like other musicians, rapper/singer-songwriter and recording artist Ceschi has seen his livelihood dry up amid the Covid-19 lockdown, perhaps including a planned April 24 gig at New Haven’s State House.
And he has seen his moving plans delayed. He had planned to relocate to New Haven again from California before the virus and the governor had other plans. For now he’s sheltered in place in L.A.
He spoke from there — and played some tunes — Tuesday during an episode of WNHH FM’s “Dateline New Haven” program.
He spoke of how times like these “put things in perspective.” How we see how “trite and petty” our concerns can seem when the dark cloud of death descends on our communities.
And he spoke of how he’s been there: Around 2018, he experienced losing one close friend after another to unexpected deaths while in their 30s. One friend succumbed to complications related to alcohol abuse. Another from a heat stroke during a motocross race. (“He was actually winning. He went so off course, no one could find him.”) A third close friend hanged himself.
Those were just three examples. There were more.
Ceschi — born Julio Ramos — went through a dark period. A quiet period.
“It made me realize how insignificant my other concerns were,” he recalled. “And how lucky I am” to be able to be alive and make a living writing, recording, performing, and producing (through a label he started, called Fake Four) his own music.
A gushing of new material followed.
“I just got that burst of energy,” Ceschi said. He put out two strong albums in one year, 2019, chock full of powerful, introspective songs that dare to dive into the dark depths of the soul, then emerge with tempered, realistic hope. One album was called Sad Fat Luck, the next, Sans Soleil. (Click here and here to read Brian Slattery’s stories about them.)
They were part of a trilogy. Ceschi said he expects to release the third this year.
In the “Dateline” interview, Ceschi spoke about the “code switching” he did as a teenager in New Haven and Guilford, between his Puerto Rican and his Italian-American roots. He talked about the role the now-gone Tune Inn played in his development as a DIY musician, weaving punk, hip-hop, metal, folk, and psychedelic rock into his distinctive, original brew.
And he spoke of how his duet with Ithaca, N.Y.-based rapper Sammus came together to produce the song and video “Middle Earth” (above, which topped the Independent’s 2019 local recordings list), including the backstory of the cameo of the shark that washed up on shore during the recording. As well as how the song all started on the ukulele.
Click on the video below to watch the full interview with Ceschi on “Dateline New Haven.”