Who's Who: Chris Caton

Name: Chris Caton

Age: 29

Occupation: Accessory department manager at in El Cerrito

How long have you been working in El Cerrito? I have been working in El Cerrito since May of this year. I previously worked with the company of Guitar Center since July of 2005 to October 2008, and then I took a little hiatus.

How do you like El Cerrito so far? El Cerrito is awesome — safe area, fun to hang out in, lots of things to do.

Have you met a lot of musicians that are local? There's too many musicians. I mean just in the Bay Area in general there are so many. It's a habitat for musicians; it's a breeding ground.

Do you play? I'm a keyboard player. I do a lot of mixing and recording. I'm a producer. I do stuff with a local hip-hop group. My buddy's name is The Red Fox. I produce a lot of tracks for him, and then I do some production for some people outside of the state — out of Maryland.

What is your passion in music? I enjoy producing. Just making a track, hearing the finished result regardless of if there are just vocals on it or if it's an instrumental, that feeling I get when I finish making a track and I know it's done. There's nothing else that gives that kind of reward.

You said you live in Albany now and you grew up in the Bay Area?  I grew up in San Pablo probably from when I was five until when I moved out recently. I grew up originally from ages zero to five in Southern California, in a little town outside of Lancaster (located) in the middle of the Mojave Desert.

Do you ever go back there to visit? I went there once and it was kind of depressing.

What do you think of the music scene in LA compared to the music scene in the Bay Area?  It's a completely different element. I would say I love the music scene up here more. It's a lot easier to just get random people to come out and check you out (here) whereas down there you either have to be in with somebody, or clicky or something, and even then people just might be too good to come out to a show. We went on a tour there last year in August – up here we can bring about one hundred-plus people to a show – and did a lot of promoting, we were even playing with big bands down there, and it was maybe sixty or seventy people at a show. A little let down. It wasn't quite the same as up here. That's why I like it up here; that's why I'm here.

Do you have any advice for musicians coming into the store looking for something? Whatever  you're looking for, whatever kind of question you have, just make sure you explain that to a sales associate and we'll do our best to help you.