Searching For by Anthony Valadez feat. Miles Bonny
“Why do I do this?
Is it ’cause I’m searching for,
Something I haven’t found before?
Or is it just me?
Why do I go through this?
Is it ’cause I’m searching for,
Something I haven’t found before?
Or is it just me?
Gotta go through this,
By myself.
I’ve gotta go through this,
With no one else…”
My friend and fellow turntablist, Anthony Valadez, reached out to me earlier this year to talk about directing a music video for the 1st single off his recent LP, “In Search Of”. The song is called “Searching For” and features the extremely gifted vocals & horns of Miles Bonny. Miles has been on my radar for quite some time. If you ever listened to the freestyle mix I made for my 40th, that’s his insanely dope version of “Ain’t No Sunshine” in the mix. I heard about him way back in the late 90s/early 200os, since he went to KU in Lawrence, Kansas and my best friend from childhood lives out there. Naturally, I was ecstatic to get the call from AntVala and jumped right in to story mode, trying to figure out the perfect narrative for the song. The words above are from the opening verse, so my first instinct was to tell 3 stories about people and their struggles as it relates to the track. A drug addict. A single mother who works multiple jobs to keep the lights on. An abusive relationship. There were plenty of visuals that fit the narrative told by the lyrics, so it was just a matter of picking a few and moving forward with the concept. Then Anthony told me Miles’ story. Born in NYC, raised in NJ. His father was a broadway musician. His grandmother was a music therapist. It’s no surprise why this man is so gifted, its in his blood. Dude can write music like its nobody’s business. His voice carries an incredible amount of emotion. He plays the trumpet. He produces. He DJs. He’s got something like 17+ solo releases?! From 2005 on, he had been living in Kansas City, churning out an impressive collection of quality music. Then, in 2013, he & his family decided to move to Taos, New Mexico. He built his own solar-powered home out of materials such as wood, straw bales & adobe. No, he didn’t hire a contractor, he built it himself with his own bare hands. He recorded that incredible version of “Ain’t No Sunshine” in the tool shed you see in the images below. He’s building out his own studio now. He’s connected to nature. To Mother Earth. You can hear that connection in his music. When I heard about his story, I told Anthony, we have to drive to New Mexico and shoot Miles in his element because that’s what this song is about. As artists, its often hard to explain why we do what we do. You’re not in it for the money. It’s always about the love of the art form. There’s something inside us we can’t fight that continues to push us in the direction of our art, our passion, despite the difficulties we may experience going through it. That’s what “Searching For” is to me. The internal dialogue we all have with ourselves as we pursue whatever it is that we are passionate about in this life. Listen to the words, its worth reflecting within and asking yourself the same questions…you might just find out something about yourself you never knew. Thank you Anthony & Miles for the opportunity and for this beautiful piece of music. It was an honor to create with you both. I look forward to what lies ahead…
