When Guitar.Com reaches Omar Apollo in early September, the growing neo soul artist has just gotten out of a short period of innovative doldrums. “Dude, I’ve been making a lot tune,” the affable 22-12 months-vintage says excitedly over the smartphone. “I simply made one in all my favorite songs I’ve ever made the day gone by. I become like damn, this is crazy.”
With enthusiasm like that and a piece ethic to in shape, Apollo’s ascension looks all however set to keep. The Indiana native born Omar Velasco first emerged from obscurity in 2017 when he uploaded the soulful track Ugotme to Spotify, which then directly playlisted the tune on “Fresh Finds”. That placement rocketed the music’s attain to 50,000 streams overnight, and as of press time, Ugotme is sitting pretty above the 20 million mark.
Omar Apollo
Since then, Apollo has left his activity at Guitar Center, dropped two EPs – the brand new one, Friends, arrived in April – and garnered himself a reputation as a livewire performer. He’s approximately to deliver his dreamy, bilingual mixture of guitar-pushed R&B, soul and funk to North America and Europe on a tour that consists of a coveted stop at Tyler, the Creator’s Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival this November.
The Chicano singer-songwriter tells Guitar.Com why the bass guitar is the cornerstone of his innovative manner, how his rig is geared for convenience and why a Rickenbacker awl is almost truely in his future.