Today we’d like to introduce you to John Pritchard.
Hi John, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
My name is John Pritchard but I go by “ayeprimo”, and I am a music producer/DJ from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. I first fell in love with music production when I was 15 on a family road trip messing around with garage band on my phone, and ever since then that passion to create music has never left. I come from a musical family so I’ve been around it pretty much my whole life which makes music almost like a sixth sense to me. I continued making beats on my phone and sending them to local rappers/artists all throughout high school. I even downloaded FL Studio ( a popular music production program) on the school computers and I would make beats in class and send them to my classmates. After high school, I picked up Djing as well and started offering to DJ house parties all throughout South Florida for free. After about a month of doing that I eventually started getting a lot of messages from people wanting me to DJ their events and started making a name for myself in the local scene. Not even a year into DJing I got my first club gig in Miami and it was only up from there. I made a lot of good friends/ connections from DJing but I knew that my true passion was music production. I wanted to start taking it more seriously so I got back into making beats about a year ago and spent that time doing it on my own before being public with it so I could perfect my sound. Recently I joined a music collective out of Broward County called, “GrindHouse” and have been working with them on different projects as well as going to different events to build a network and get my name out there.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
COVID really put a damper on DJing as for obvious reasons, people were not hosting events or parties, which I guess is a blessing in disguise as it pushed me to focus more on beat making and improve at my craft. DJing did pick up as time passed but my passion shifted to music production and that was my main thing up until this past summer. My grandma’s health was quickly declining and my family already kinda knew what was coming. She lived in Lake Placid, FL so my brothers and my dad were driving back and forth to see her almost every other weekend so it was very hard for me to lock down dates for DJing or studio sessions and most of the time when we weren’t on the road, I would be home watching my little brother Jake because my Dad would drive to see my grandma multiple times during the week so I didn’t have a lot of free time to make beats. Once my grandma passed it took a massive emotional toll on me and I lost the drive to pursue music but I knew that she would want me to keep going and accomplish my dreams which is still a big motivation for me to this day.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I make beats for the Rap/R&B genre but I specialize in mostly darker-toned music, I’m known for using unconventional sounds and synths which really separates my content from others. People could usually tell if they are hearing a Primo beat. I’m most proud of the progress I made for someone whos only been making music seriously for about a year and I am excited to see where it takes me.
What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is to know your worth and don’t settle for less, as well as learning to say no because unfortunately, I am somewhat of a people pleaser which is a good and a bad thing, but when it comes to the music industry it could very easily be a bad thing and you could get taken advantage of.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: instagram.com/ayeprimo
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ca9HidgD9nE
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/user779999464/tracks
Image Credits
@solmarmusic
