Meet Job Saunders | Musician, Engineer, Digital Media

We had the good fortune of connecting with Job Saunders and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Job, where are your from? We’d love to hear about how your background has played a role in who you are today?
I natively lived in Aurora, Colorado for a good chunk of my life, which is also where I started my music journey. I first became self-taught on the violin. When my parents noticed this, they took me to an orchestra class in elementary school to hone in my skills on the violin. As I grew older, I got more involved with music from playing in several orchestras, to singing in choir, to playing in worship bands. Then my worship band challenged me to play more stringed instruments. I started picking up one after the next. I started to learn how to play bass, guitar, piano, drums. Now I can play almost anything from string to percussive.

Then I went to a private college in Iowa to get a degree in Music Production and Technology. I used these skills to begin recording and producing my own tracks since I was able to play all these instruments on my own. I collaborated with other bands from here and there, but my stubbornness didn’t let me get far for a while as my metal mixes weren’t the best. Looking back, I realize how many people wanted me to succeed but the only things that were holding me back was myself.

Luckily, some people back in Colorado saw my success and wanted to use my talents, so after graduating in 2020, I went back home where I was comfortable. I got to regroup with a lot of old friends and I love the environment in Colorado, but I was running into some walls. I began to realize that this state isn’t the home I really grew up with, nor was it the place where I was able to expand and grow as an artist.

I moved to Texas in 2022, and that was by far one of the best decisions in my life. I’ve been able to expand my music to a lot of amazing venues, collaborate with artists and meet people I’d never thought I would come across. It has truly been a blessing.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I am a firm believer in making yourself stand out from other bands and artists. Everyone connects and listens to a band for a reason, and when you constantly observe and look for other bands, you see the differences in how they set themselves apart from other artists. Here’s what sets me apart from a lot of musicians and why you should follow my journey:

I am a heavy metal violinist. It’s not a very sought-out style or genre that people look for. I am constantly experimenting with my sound in music that brings a lot of variety to the table that people really like. My most recent album release “Corruption” is the most diverse album you will hear so far from metal to epic, rock, folk, and classical. And I will continue to experiment with my music until I form a craft that makes me stand out from other musicians.

My performances are abnormal. If you watch me play live, I don’t play like other bands. I also don’t look like other bands. I wear a masquerade mask and have bow holsters hanging from my back just in case I lose all the hair on my current violin bow. I go nuts on stage and I give it my all. Stage presence is key.

My community is built around love and purpose. This ties into my story of being mentally unstable. I was bullied the first 15 years of my life. I was conditioned to hate myself and I didn’t know what was socially acceptable. I’d wish people were understanding of that for someone who has a background of being disabled. And when God opened my eyes, I understood my purpose. I believe my music and my story can inspire others who have faced similar trials in their life, or facing those trials now.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
That’s hard to say. I don’t go out often enough to pick a designated place I always like going to, and even if I did I would still have a hard time because I always like to explore around the world and see what’s out there, what activities I haven’t done, and so much more. I will say I definitely like going through landscapes, and something I do really enjoy that I wish I got to do more of with people is going out to an area with no light pollution and go stargazing. Also brining a nice camera with a long shutter speed for astrophotography is always entertaining. It puts you in awe in just how little we know about the universe we live in.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
There’s so many people I can shout out in my life. I know some might read this as cheesy, but God has really left an impact in my life journey. He taught me not to let my labels stick to me. For example, I have asthma, but I still ran 10 kilometers in high altitude. I have hearing and processing disorders, yet I developed perfect-pitch hearing and use my ears for music and audio mixing. I am diagnosed with autism and ADHD, but I have come a long way of I maturing now then how I was at a much younger age.

I want to give a shoutout to my parents who have been so loving and so supportive. My parents decided to break the cycle in their previous families that was full of neglect and abuse. Eventually with the complications of raising a disabled child, they put their trust in God and made things work. And of course, I can’t forget to give a shoutout to my fiancé who will soon become a part of my family. She has been through the thick and thin of my journey and I wouldn’t ask for anyone else to be with me.

Of course, there’s been a lot of inspiration that has influenced my music journey. My biggest one is my favorite Christian Rock band, Skillet. The first song that made me develop perfect pitch hearing was their song “Awake and Alive”. And following really close is Demon Hunter for making such heavy riffs while having such amazing writing in the lyrics. After that, my inspiration has branched out to so many other bands I listen to. I think soundtrack music and rock/metal music have always walked into my life somehow. My dad got me into a lot of rock/metal music when I was younger. I was a Bionicle fan so I grew a lot of appreciation through their rock/metal music like Daughtry or Cryoshell. John Williams, Hans Zimmer, Mick Gordon and Marty O’ Donnell are just some of the many composers that were an inspiration of taking some of my epic routes in my music writing or composing.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/violinshredderofficial/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theviolinshredder

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@violinshredder3438

Image Credits
Jules Saunders Jen Stegall Studio 801 Jimmy O’ Hare