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| Ilya Shatov will sing at Friday's Winter Wonder Fest |
Grossmont College student Ilya (pronounced
“ill-ya”) Shatov can’t decide what he wants to pursue more – a career in
medicine or a future in music.
So for now, he’s chasing both.
The Russian-born
singer/songwriter--one of six acts taking the stage Friday at Cuyamaca
College’s Winter Wonder Jam--is a former guitarist and vocalist for the pop
punk band, A Dull Science, which toured the western and Midwestern United
States and put on about 400 shows during its seven-year existence. Winning
numerous Battle of the Bands awards and songwriting competitions, A Dull
Science captured “Best Punk Artist”
honors at the Hollywood Music Awards in 2008, and played with the likes of
P.O.D., A Flock of Seagulls, Lou Gramm of Foreigner, and the Ataris.
The Santee-based group formed in
late 2006 was young, but talented enough to have a full-time manager not long
after its genesis and began performing at Los Angeles venues including the
Roxy, the Viper Room, and the Knitting Factory.
George Varga, pop music critic for the San
Diego Union-Tribune, described the band’s 2008 debut album, “What Were We
Thinking?,” as an “unusually polished work for a debut,” adding that “if A Dull
Science’s members are even half as accomplished on stage as on this album,
their future should be bright.”
But music is a fickle business
and the band didn’t last, so Shatov went off to nursing school, where he
discovered his knack for the sciences and started on the road of pursuing
medicine as a profession. At Grossmont College, where he is a first-semester
student, Shatov is majoring in biology.
“But I can’t stay away from music
for too long,” he said.
Russian roots
Born in Moscow, Shatov immigrated
with his family to New York City at age 8, where his father, a former
professional boxer who was the No. 2-ranked middleweight in all of the Soviet
Union, started working as a diamond merchant.
As a third-grader in elementary
school, Shatov was introduced to music through the humble kazoo.
“I really wanted to play the alto
sax – Clinton was president back then – but the school started all the kids
with the kazoo because they didn’t want to invest in a bunch of expensive
instruments unless students were really serious about wanting to play,” Shatov
said.
By the time he reached the ninth
grade, his parents had split up and his mother took him to relocate to San
Diego. It was at Serra High School that he began hanging out with other
music-minded teens and after graduating in the spring of 2006, he and a trio of
friends launched A Dull Science.
These days, the Russian
expatriate is carrying 15 units of classes and working fulltime as a general contractor
with a close family friend. Within the past couple of years, he began feeling
the pull of music again and has been performing as a solo vocalist in the
pop/alternative rock genre in local venues like House of Blues and Tin Roof in
the Gaslamp district.
“I don’t sleep much,” he responds
when asked how he finds time for music.
The 27-year-old former Junior
Olympic swimmer who’s even dabbled in modeling for the Wilshire-based Daniel
Hoff talent agency has led a life interesting enough to be featured in the best-selling
“Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul” book series.
At Cuyamaca College’s Winter
Wonder Jam, Shatov will be joining five other bands and artists performing
original music, along with their version of a Christmas song.
The homegrown music fest is set
for 7-10 p.m. Friday, Dec. 4, in the performing arts theater.
Open to the public, the sixth
annual music fest is put on by students in the Music Industry Studies program
as a term project to learn the intricacies of concert promotion and production.
Admission is $5 or a donation of three canned goods to the San Diego Food Bank.
Ample free parking will be available at the college at 900 Rancho San Diego
Parkway in Rancho San Diego.
