ABOUT
16-year-old Mitch Santiago is a self-taught multi-instrumentalist from Perth, Australia.
Described by triple j as a "Perth prodigy making extremely good indie rock" and as one of Bigsound 2022's "9 standout acts ready to explode", Mitch celebrated the release of his latest singles, Out For You and How I See You, with his first national headline tour back in July.
Out For You, is described by triple j as a "massive new track that sees Mitch Santiago sharpen his vast psych sound with a bitta indie rock flair. If you're into Spacey Jane, that's the vibe". The release of Out For You followed Mitch's first single, Falling, which has accumulated almost 1.7 million global streams.
Mitch has busked and gigged through hundreds of performances to emerge as a seasoned live performer. This passion for live music has enabled him to shape his massive one-person live show and signature sound and also plays a crucial role in refining his original music "to a place where I am super happy with it".
Attendees of one of Mitch's high-energy shows can expect to be blown away by the catchy songwriting, powerful vocals and a soaring soundscape of multiple live-looped tracks and effects fused into a sonic wall that will leave them breathless.
Mitch spent the last few months in the studio with producer Andy Lawson to release his latest track, 'Seeing Straight' - which premiered on November 2nd on triple J and is now available on all streaming platforms.
He also recently wrapped up two showcases at Brisbane's annual music event BigSound in September, creating a massive buzz. To celebrate the release of his latest single Seeing Straight, Mitch is playing this one-off Perth (Freo) show on November 18th with special guests, Sophian and Angie Colman.
At nine years old, Mitch found a guitar on the side of the road, put some strings on it, and started playing it every day. His passion for music was ignited and he taught himself to play using the free thirty minutes a day on the trial version of App Yousician. That was until his tenth birthday when Mitch got the present he was hoping for, his parents bought him guitar lessons, something he has been doing ever since, for the last five years.
From learning the guitar, Mitch started busking and performing around Perth, with his parents becoming his Managers, Roadies, Booking Agents and Taxi. Mitch then added drums, bass, piano, pan flute, mandolin, and harmonica to his ever-growing self-taught repertoire. “I've sort of got like an ear for things, maybe from when I learnt the Viola for a few years when I was 7.”
Finding inspiration across a variety of artists and genres Mitch loves to experiment with instrumentation and production when creating his music, he shares, “You take bits and pieces from here and there, the melody might be more psych/rock, can chuck in a jazz lick or a blues lick, drums can be rap inspired. It's not just a particular Artist or genre that inspires me, it's actually a lot deeper than just that.”
Continually working on his music and artistry while completing his schooling has been challenging at times but as Mitch explains, “My parents are really supportive, I probably missed the equivalent to a Term of school last year. They still want me to graduate year 12 next year, but they know music is first, and homework is after.”
