Meet William Ramirez | College Recruiter & Independent Artist

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

Hi William, have you ever found yourself in a spot where you had to decide whether to give up or keep going? How did you make the choice?
Whether to give up or keep going is a highly subjective question; however, when you have something you truly believe is worth fighting for then there’s no reason to give up. In my personal life, I’ve given up a lot and failed probably even more. It’s important to learn that it’s okay to fail, and have the feelings of wanting to give up. I’m sure there’s not a single person who doesn’t go through feelings of wanting to give up. Giving up sometimes follows with instant relief of not carrying the burden of the world on your shoulders, and in other situations maybe you find yourself with intense feelings of guilt.

I’ll keep it simple to answer the question rather than tossing back and forth on it.

Keep going always because you never know what tomorrow brings. If your heart isn’t in it, then you already gave up a long time ago.

Today is the day you can remind yourself not to give up, and start making small changes where you can. No task is too big when you take care of it in parts.

You’re not alone in feeling overwhelmed, it’s a feeling all of us are familiar with nowadays. Don’t quit on what you’re passionate about or in love with — try to find solutions rather than focusing on how bad the problem may be.

You owe it to yourself to keep fighting and to keep going. Giving up is only an option when you realize you can put your time into activities that benefit you.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
What sets the story of Hometown Losers apart from most is that we do not have any connections in the music industry, we are not a band signed to a record label, and we are not rich yet we are met with such emotional and heartwarming responses to our music. Our goal as a band has always been to make music people can relate to, and after we released a song known as ‘Tulips’ we saw how people’s perception of you can change in an instant. We went from being scene outcasts to being welcomed in the scene and known for our songs.

It was not easy at first, as I’ve mentioned previously booking a gig as a no-name band is virtually impossible down here; however, we found a way to breakthrough and continue performing despite not having the best first couple of performances to friends and family.

What’s important to know about us is that we’re genuine people who are performing for the love of it, and to connect with everyone. We’re not the product of a record label, in fact, many times we’ve been told we’re quite the opposite of what labels are looking for nowadays. Either way, we’ll still walk to the beat of our own drum.

It takes courage to do things independently, and I’m happy knowing that our intentions are pure and not self-absorbed as I try to squeeze as much money out from my listeners. What makes us proud is playing a gig to people who have never heard of us, and still finding a way to have them rocking out with us.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I think I’d take this hypothetical BFF to pretty much all the good local food trucks, any fun live local shows, and take them to South Beach.

In my opinion, you can never go wrong being close to the water and I know that’s where I’d try to spend most of my time with someone who has never been here.

I’d also take them for drives just so they can see how packed everything gets when it’s time to party and the nightlife takes hold.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
In the Hometown Losers story, there needs to be a lot of credit given to every member we have had to be part of the band. Originally, the band started when four best friends decided to go to the Vans Warped Tour over the summer of 2016. Later, the band brought me in when they decided they needed a singer as everyone opted into their instruments and didn’t feel like they were good enough singers. After some terrible first few shows and getting banned from playing in our guitarist’s backyard (we received one too many noise complaints), we dedicated ourselves to our craft and practiced relentlessly sometimes as often as two to three times a week.

At first, no one really wanted to book us except for other local and independent artists who we became friends with from attending some of the local Miami shows throughout the end of 2016 and 2017. A big shout-out goes to friends from Moonlight Sunrise, Ikigai (formerly known as Minor Setbacks), Top Tier, Dyneside, Mid-Day Moon, Ela, Mahogany Purple, The Polar Boys, Palomino Blond, Cannibal Kids, and Happy Hour. It was so difficult for us to get gigs back when we first started, it felt as if we were trying to break on the inside of something maybe no one wanted us to be part of.

We’ve had the pleasure of playing alongside bands such as Rain City Drive, Have Mercy, Belmont, Meet Me @ The Altar, Andrés. and Fame on Fire. Another special shoutout goes to Alex Bauman for continuing to book us awesome gigs at Respectables St. in West Palm Beach — we’re thankful you’ve always believed in us buddy.

Without Alejandro Abad, Juan-Pablo Hernandez, Yardley Dominguez, Sebastian Crow, or Jose Posada there wouldn’t be a Hometown Losers today. Thank you guys for taking a chance on me when I couldn’t sing and no one cared about us, you’re all still my brothers no matter anything.

Also, a special shoutout to Paul Spirou as he’s our producer and continues to guide us through it all, or else we’d be in a record contract where we wouldn’t own any of our music. That story we’ll save for another interview haha.

HTL has been working with Eddie and Emmanuel from Dyneside as we’re in the process of creating and recording more new music.

The members of HTL are as follows:

Mosies Granados – Bass Guitar
Jose Posada – Guitar & Vocals
Christian Carillo – Guitar
William Ramirez – Vocalist

Instagram: Instagram.com/HometownLosers

Twitter: Twitter.com/HometownLosers

Facebook: Facebook.com/HometownLosers

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/HometownLosers

Image Credits
Photos taken by Luis Coello