Aspiring musician ‘The Volcha’ takes flight

By Shel Bandelow

Shawn Graber, a freshman at Hood College, has been making waves as an up-and-coming musician. You may have heard of him already by his stage name—The Volcha.

Although his stage name may be unorthodox, the meaning behind it comes from family. “My cousin Trevor was called ‘The Turkey Volcha,’ and I didn’t really know the meaning,” Graber said. “When I got it, I thought it was like a cool thing. and I remember my uncle was telling it to him when we were younger, and I thought, ‘Huh, maybe it’s something that can run in the family.”

The name brings back a lot of good memories for Graber.

Most of his music falls under the genres of rap, country, sad pop and even a New York drill song. “I’m just trying to explore areas and see what the people like best,” Graber said. “More importantly, what I like best. I’ve always had a personal connection to it [music].”

He made his first song, “Intro Freestyle,” on his iPhone 12 with headphones.” After that, Graber continued to create music and grow his understanding of music composition with software like Logic and BandLab to record, arrange, mix and polish final mixes.

“The hate kind of made me what I am now,” Graber said. “I was getting a lot of hate in the beginning of the year. There was a point to the beginning of the year when people were laughing at me and not with me.”

 Lately, his newest music has made improvements, and the voices of his haters have died down. “It’s kind of scary,” Graber said. “I’m not guaranteed to be like this forever, you know?”

Artists in the music industry have their fair share of controversy and hate that comes along with fame.

Graber stressed the importance of the people in his life who have been there for him since the beginning. Graber shared these lyrics from his upcoming album inspired by sad pop records: “If you weren’t with me in the Honda / You can’t be with me on the road.”

The album is set to be released in June.

For aspiring musicians like himself, Graber shares this piece of advice: “It’s a mindset. You’re going to hit bottom, just don’t give up. I’m not going to lie, there are points when I still feel like giving up. The next day, I’m like, ‘Alright. I’m going to pick up the mic again.”