From on screen to on stage Nolan Sotillo is an entertainer at heart. Moving from West Palm Beach, FL to Los Angeles, CA to pursue his career in acting at a young age Sotillo had built a loyal fan base that spanned across acting to singing. Sotillo has starred in many big screen titles such as Disney’s PROM and FOX’s Red Band Society which is produced by Steven Spielberg.
Sotillo now focuses on music full time most recently letting out his song, “Stop”. We sat down with Nolan to talk about his music, his background with music growing up and what fans can be expecting in the near future.
Courtesy of Nolan Sotillo
BC: What is your background with music?
NS: “From a young age I've been crazy about music, I always had melody stuck in my head. I'd always sing words too, no matter if I knew them exactly right or not.” Sotillo laughs, “My mom was telling me about a story where I was seeing all the wrong words, but all the right melodies on a car ride. From then on it's just led to years and years of love and passion for it and and learning to create it on my own as I explore with it.”
BC: Why the genre of country music?
NS: The genre of country music spoke to me as a kid, just 'cause I listened to it a lot and the storytelling aspect resonated with me. I tend to wear my heart on my sleeve, I’m a readily emotional guy. Songs that speak to your heart and move you are special to me. I try to make stuff that you know can do the same thing for others.
BC: I love that! Who were musical inspirations of yours growing up?
NS: “My biggest inspirations growing up were Elvis, George Strait, The Beatles…..I guess I I can probably wrap it up with them.”
BC: Most definitley - what was it like for you hitting the stage for the first time and performing in front of an audience?
NS: “Oh man, I'm trying to remember when my first performance ever was. It must have been like in middle school, although it was a play. From what I can remember, I was really, really nervous. A lot more nervous tonight than I get now.” Nolan tells us. “Now I just get very excited, but I was really nervous but I also felt excited and confident that this was something I wanted to do.”
BC: “You started out with acting before you came into music when did music take a front seat for you?”
NS: “That’s a great question! I've spent seven years or so in LA and and through all that time you know I initially went out there like mainly to focus on acting, at least that was my perspective of it. After a certain amount of time, I felt like I really wanted to turn the focus up. More on the music and kind of, you know, switch the two so it was probably three years ago, when I made the decision to move back home and regroup a little bit down in South Florida and then I met a few people and they they brought me into Nashville.”
BC: I want to talk about your most recent single, ‘Stop,’ what can you tell us about that song?
NS: “Yes, I wrote stop with Keith Setgall and he brought the idea and Keith is an absolute legend, so I initially just wanted to sit back during the write and just learn from him as best as I could but at the same time I want to, you know, show that I can sit down and write a song too. Us collaborating and me kind of finding my footing in that initial right led to us writing ‘Stop’ . The song is about the one person in the relationship kind of calling it and and going to leave and making the move to leave and the other person begging them not to.”
BC: Did Keith Stegall give you any advice?
NS: “I think almost everything he said I took the heart. I tried to really lean in into all the moments I got to spend with him. The one thing, and I think I mentioned this before and I don't know if I like tweeted it or something but I said you know Keith kind of taught me a little bit how like less is more. Sometimes I tend to go overboard.” Nolan confesses, “I think with vocals and different ideas and he helped me with that. There's room for space, and I think he achieved that in a great great manner with the songs I worked with him on.
BC: You also have another song out, ‘Prove Me Wrong' what can you tell us about that?
NS: “Prove me wrong was that initial guitar lick which was something I'd never played before in my life, and for whatever reason, when we were there that day, it just kind of fell into my fingers and I looked at Trafton and he looked at me like that's cool, like do that again.” Nolan says, “I kept on playing it. Prove Me Wrong is a love song at the end of the day. It's just a love song delivered in a really high energy rock sound.”
BC: It’s such an amazing song! What inspires you as a songwriter?
NS: “I definitely tend to pull most of my inspiration from things that are going on in my life whether it be a heartbreaking story or, It may not be exactly what's going on. you know a lot of times, I just draw that initial spark from it. Sometimes I'll be giving a friend advice and say something like oh wow, maybe I’m a little more wise than I even thought I was and write down just little notes, little lines that can then spur on an entire song.”
BC: How does a song start for you? A melody, a lyric, lines of poetry?
NS: “Wow, I don't know. I think right now I feel like a lot of it starts with music just because being in Nashville. You co-write a lot in this town and I hadn't done much of that really before coming to Nashville. Just about everybody would say you sit down in rooms and you have a guitar, a piano and you kind of just start messing around with stuff or you’re bringing in some kind of idea. In my in my early days and and in the days that I'm not in writes and I'm able to just like express my own you know, personal stuff, It's almost like a journal. It has like some sort of poetry rhythm like da da da, da da da da da da da da da. There's all this stuff that rhymes, and it's usually not any good, but it can just be one line that turns into a song, so that's nice.”
BC: I know the process is different for every artists so I love learning about the different processes. What would you say is the ultimate dream for you as an artist?
NS: “My biggest dream for myself aside from like selling out the biggest arenas in the world, and having tons of amazing fans is be remembered as like a good loving person on Earth that's shared love with everybody. Musically, I want to be remembered for making stuff that made a difference and, you know, push the needle.”
BC: I think you’re already doing such a great job with that! Was there a silver lining for you during COVID"?
NS: “Thank you! I think I experienced more than one silver lining to be fully honest, I struggled for so long to really hone in on what the sound was going to be and with tons of other, not distractions, but with a ton of other factors going on that you have to, you know, pay your time to or invest your time in.” Nolan tells us, “You don't necessarily focus on like that one clear thing because you’re spread so thin. COVID allowed for me to writing on Zoom, me recording the songs and it became more clear like where the lines in the sand were for me and what I wanted to do as an artist. The second silver lining was I was playing a lot of shows on Facebook and Instagram and doing LIVES from beaches even though like beaches were shut down, I would still like sneak out to a beach and and play. I got introduced to a lot of people or I guess a lot of people got introduced to my music and are now like incredible fans. it's really nice to have you know that type of support, especially coming out of a of a scenario like we just went through.”
BC: That is so awesome! Does the music element of your life impact your acting career and vice versa?
NS: “I think more so the acting affects the music as opposed to the music affecting the acting, but I'm thinking more of like on an emotional level, I think delivering a song Is natural for me because I've taken scripts and invested my emotion in them. With songs it's almost a little bit easier 'cause I'm writing, you know, 95% of the stuff that I'm singing anyways, so it's just me delivering a part of myself. But ah, I think it's more like acting to music than music to acting.”
BC: What’s the biggest thing you want your fans to take away from your music?
NS: “I think the biggest thing I want for fans to take away Is for them to have an understanding of of my heart. Like I said, I wear my heart on my sleeve. I think whether I want to or not, I will so I hope that my heart is evident in the music and also when I perform. When I go on stage I give it every ounce of energy I have, when I come off I'm ready to collapse. To me, that's what it's about. It’s giving the audience that 'cause. I think that's another silver lining actually to go back to the other question is like when you don't perform live you don't have that live thing. Now every chance I take advantage of it because it could be the last one, you don’t know.”
BC: For a dream headlining tour of yours what three supporting acts would you bring out?
NS: “Oh my gosh. That's crazy, I've never thought of that! Okay, I have to say George Strait, Bruno Mars and let’s say Adele right now. There's like so many different genres, but I feel like on the road would be so much fun with them.”
BC: Definitely a must see tour! Where’s one place or venue in the whole word you would like to perform?
NS: “I might be totally off on this, but is there like a huge venue somewhere in Sweden? Like in Oslo or something. I feel like there is, if I find it, I'll have to send it to you and give you the actual name. I have this picture in my head of this massive crowd and stadium, and I don't know if, like I don't know who it could have been because I've studied so many people in their live shows.”
BC: That’s amazing! If you won the lottery what is the first thing you would buy?
NS: “I would buy a ton of land. I'm living in in Nashville now so I I would love to just to have some property. and some small house. Keep the family close, but other than that then maybe somewhere like on the water down South.”
BC: What is one artist you would love to collaborate with?
NS: “The first one that comes to mind is Thomas Rhett. But. there's there's so many, there's so many talented people out there that are that are influences of mine.”
BC: And lastly, before we go what would you like to say to your fans?
NS: “First and foremost, thank you. I have like new fans that are just discovering the new music. I have fans that have been around since the days of Prom - my acting days. Thank you for all the support! I love you guys and I hope to see you at a show soon.”
You can follow Nolan at his socials down below to know when he’s performing near you, lets out new music and other fun things you won’t want to miss out on! Make sure to stream, “Stop,” on Spotify, Apple Music or wherever you listen to music!