While being both a CT student and a musician, Damian “Kenny” Rodriguez (12) is putting forth effort into a craft that many other students aren’t involved in. Kenny is an independent musician, operating under the moniker of “Renderhead”, who, “…started late 2016, constantly working on my music every day to get better and better,” Rodriguez said during our interview.

Coming from a humble musical background, Kenny managed to build up a refined understanding of musical composition and created a sound that he found to be his own, “Freshman year, I saw someone doing music as a hobby, and I said to myself, this is good, but I want to create my own stuff,” said Kenny. “When I started, I knew nothing about music, no class, no knowledge. But slowly, I started to get better and my music started to become more authentic.” Passionate about his art, Kenny is constantly in his personal studio experimenting with sound and rhythm, as evidence by his Renderhead Snapchat account.

Despite his low output of published music, Kenny treats music as more than a product, but rather, “…as a therapy and as a way to connect to other people. Music is a language that anyone can understand.” Kenny said, “I also really respect people that create art for themselves and work towards becoming better at their craft.” He believes that artists should have their own reasons for “honing their craft” early in their careers — for the sole purpose of bettering themselves.“A lot of people want to make music to become famous, which is a good place to be in 20 years, but for now, I just want to have fun with it, ”said Kenny on the subject. This desire to work for one’s own reason is one that Kenny is very passionate about.

“I do all of my own album covers, graphic design and photography,” stated Kenny, “I use Ableton Live 9, while many people that use various effect plugins, while I try to only use the Ableton effects so that I can learn it.” Ever-working, Kenny’s ability as an artist is continually growing, and his newest public EP is being released by the end of March.