BAND: Lizzy Castillo and her band, Detour 91, open for a music legend at the House of Blues.
By Ashley Gore, Staff Writer
Many children dream of fame and stardom. They know the words to their favorite songs and long to be the next Taylor Swift or Justin Timberlake. But most of these starstruck kids run for the hills when they realize that making it in the music industry means more than just signing autographs and hearing applause.
Lizzy Castillo (10), however, did not back down from the challenges most musicians face. Her love of music pushed her to pick up a bass guitar and start from scratch. The more she played music, the more she realized that she had a passion for it.
Castillo’s dreams of rock-stardom came true this past February on the House of Blues stage alongside her bandmates as she opened for blues legend B.B. King. All the grueling hours of rehearsal manifested in an epic performance that put her band on the map.
Her band started at a music camp hosted by blues guitarist Fernando Jones. Lizzy always knew she wanted to make music a larger part of her life, but she finally found her niche along with bandmates Sloan Cinkle, Darryn Azevedo, Kassandra Castaneda, Anthony Castagna, Clay Vigo and Skylar Allingham. After the camp, all the kids thought: “‘Hey, this is kind of fun. Let’s keep this going,’ so we started a band,” Castillo said.
First known by the name Breakthrough, the band started recording basic videos and posting them onto YouTube. Even as their popularity grew, it became increasingly difficult to attract a broader audience. The word “breakthrough” brings up a large variety of results on YouTube searches, so the band changed its name to Detour 91 earlier this year.
Over the course of the past year, the band has played a multitude of gigs, including the La Habra Spring Citrus Fair, High Desert Musical Festival and Relay for Life. However, Detour 91’s two most prominent performances took place at the prestigious House of Blues. The band’s August performance involved opening for a Beatles versus Rolling Stones cover musical, while its February gig included opening for B.B. King, “one of the greatest guitar players in the world.”
Castillo’s eyes sparkled as she remembered the experience, for which she could not be more grateful. “I’m opening up for B.B. King. It’s happening to me. I get this opportunity. I was about to cry on stage,” Castillo gushed.
Soon Castillo and the rest of Detour 91 will open for Leon Russell at the Coach House; the future looks bright for the rest of the accomplished group. Detour 91 also plans to record original songs in a studio soon. “I just really want to see how far we can go while we’re still young. I want to see how long we can stay together,” Castillo said.
In a world that never fails to dash people’s dreams, Castillo is managing to fulfill hers. She hopes others will overcome their inhibitions and do the same: “Don’t be afraid to go out there and try to achieve
something. If you have something, put your mind to it and go for it. Whatever the outcome is, you’ll be glad you took the risk.”