An Interview with Connor Ortiz, July 2025
Who/what inspires your music?
I think like all country music, physical environment is probably my biggest inspiration. Even now in the city I feel it.
If you could open for any musician/band, who would it be?
I really like Air, so let’s say Air.
What does making music mean to you? What got you into it/keeps you continuing?
Music is everything and all the time for me. I got into musical theatre viciously as a small kid, then emo carried me through. Weirdly, it was leaving Texas that made my country sound come out.
In the past you've primarily done more instrumental work/played as a drummer! How does it feel to perform solo, presenting your own work in front of an audience?
IT’S SCARY MEOW!! I love it though. Most of my solo work is almost uncomfortably vulnerable, so I’m always thinking “is this actually stupid?”
With my band all of our music is more jammy, sort of up beat. Our lyrics aren’t as melancholic as my stuff is.
You have a strong focus on your writing! When you write, do you focus more on the words themselves or the rhythmic quality/ability to translate into a song? Do you feel both the words and the music hold equal importance or does one tend to come before the other?
If I find a good guitar progression, the lyrics and message just kind of flow. A lot of the time I start wanting to write a specific thing, but it ends as something else.
All in all, a good guitar progression is a gem and the key to my writing. A good progression encourages good lyricism.
How do you keep yourself motivated and inspired/how do you work through creative blocks?
I’ve gotten to a point in my creative life where I know it’ll come back to me. If I’m blocked, I go into nature, go to the club, let it pass, because it will.
What was your creative process like when creating Don't Ask Don't Tell? Was it more organized & session based or more sporadic and fleeting? What main theme/message did you want to portray with it? What does it mean to you?
It was a weird one. I was strumming one day and the refrain line came to me. I think the original draft took twenty minutes. I cried at the kitchen table with the guitar on my lap.
I’m a Texan who’s transgender. As much as I like to celebrate that, I also pass, and it’s helped me a lot in dangerous places with dangerous people. I don’t think I have to say much else
What are some of your rituals/inspirations when writing music? (do you listen/pull inspo from other artists? Do you have a specific place you like to write at? etc.)
Most of the time I’m writing on the floor with the guitar in a very uncomfortable position because I’m also writing at the same time. My only ritual is needing to write on paper.
What is your current big goal/project? What does the future hold and what are you working towards right now?
I want to “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” to come out with a few other songs on Spotify. “I WANNA SEAT AT YOUR TABLE” and “Singapore” are the titles. Very excited for that. I also want to be in the next YarnBomb, duh.
My band Ouzo and Water is starting to “perform” around Chicago.
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