Daryl Castillo

Daryl Aidan Castillo (born 24th August 1982, in Surrey Quays, London) is a singer and guitarist of Filipino descent, based in Deptford.

He is the lead vocalist and guitarist of funk-rock group Strange Chocolate, but is more well known in the local music community as the creator and author of Cozzie Music: One of the first known websites dedicated to New Cross music, which ran from 2000 to 2006 and received considerable praise and recognition. He now operates the Cozzie Music Wiki.

Early life and musical beginnings
Born to Catholic Filipino immigrants, Daryl grew up mostly listening to old rock and roll artists like The Everly Brothers and Bill Haley, to The Beatles and Bee Gees, and contemporary artists at the time of his childhood like Stevie Wonder and Diana Ross: All of which his parents listened to. He was never a musician as a youngster, although he liked drumming along to Bee Gees concerts on video, and pretending to play the old air chord organ at home. It wasn't until around the time that he left primary school that his parents bought a piano and sent he and younger sister Harriet Castillo to take piano lessons. After two years, both Daryl and Harriet grew bored and uninterested with learning this way, and were then sent to the Lewisham Academy of Music in Deptford, and from there, it changed their musical outlook.

The Lewisham Academy of Music offered an exciting alternative to not only learning graded piano music, but Catholic secondary school as well. Daryl would eventually pick up guitar there for the first time, and stick with it to this day, while sister Harriet moved to drums shortly afterward. In addition to learning guitar, piano and drums, they would participate in band workshops supervised by the likes of Craig Murdoch and John Savage, employ current Strange Chocolate member Shane Lewis in their ranks, and work with many other Academy alumni, among those being Harry Cheeseman from Death By Mau Mau. These band workshops led to many performances in places like the Deptford Crypt, Lewisham People's Day, The Albany Theatre, and the recently built Lewisham Academy hall. It also provided valuable experience in performing, professionalism and musical "tightness" for the siblings. On top of this, Daryl was also part of a seperate rock band in 6th form college, called Restless Leg Syndrome, as a rhythm guitarist. The Lewisham Academy would abruptly close its doors by early 2000, leaving Daryl uncertain with what to do musically in the future.

The Cozzie Music era (2000-2005)
Before the Lewisham Academy of Music closed down, Daryl got an internet-ready PC for the first time, and wanted to make a personal website containing his own opinions and interests as well as information on bands he knew personally. Originally called Cozzie's Union (named after Daryl's nickname from secondary school), the focus on writing random adolescent opinions was shifted to reporting local music news, writing gig reviews on bands he knew, as well as writing detailed biographies on them. By mid-2002, the site would be moved to a different server, with revamped content and a new name: Cozzie Music. Daryl would then put posters up in numerous well-known music pubs in the New Cross to stir awareness and attention to the site. Cozzie Music was well received by local musicians due to its up-to-date news, detailed information on featured artists, and numerous photos taken of the musicians in action. On top of that, it provided one of the first networking hubs for musicians online, who would send Daryl their links via e-mail, and he would put them up on the links section of the site. Cozzie Music would stop getting updated by mid-2006, due to Daryl's commitments to work and Strange Chocolate, as well as other factors. The site itself was then wiped off the servers by the end of 2008.

Daryl himself was active musically around this time as well. He started performing in the open mic scene from late 2000, and with these regular performances, he would improve his performing ability and, most noticably, his singing; which was an octave too low, and a bit weak and flat before in the Lewisham Academy days. He also wrote a few songs at the time as well, but was never satisfied with them, and felt more comfortable doing covers. While playing many gigs with different bands and setups, Daryl himself had no real band for his own, and performing with Harriet and Shane was becoming few and far between. Even an offer of playing bass with Harry Cheeseman's band at the time was cut short. Daryl however, was watching the New Cross scene evolve with some interest, as many bands and artists he knew were playing some excellent gigs, and saw the arrival of the infamous Angular Recording Corporation label. All this fueled a need to get a band going again, and with an offer from old school mate Jason Fernandes to join a band in 2005, Daryl was preparing to get on the stage again.

Strange Chocolate and beyond (2005-present)
When Jason joined the band and solved the full-time bassist problem that has plagued the Castillo's bands for many years, he also offered to have them rehearse at their local church's social hall. Together, they wrote a few songs and did a few covers to help them get off the ground and prepare for the gigs they would do for the summer in 2005. Although they played as a trio most of the time due to long-time member Shane Lewis being missing a lot, they would get help from the likes of old bandmate Harry Cheeseman and mentor Craig Murdoch to help out in gigs. Daryl himself made investments despite being short on money. With a tax rebate, he bought a new louder guitar amp and part-paid for a PA system he got from eBay (which was picked up from a barn in Milton Keynes) by the end of 2005. At the start of 2006, Strange Chocolate recorded material for the first time for place on the upcoming local album Replugged In New Cross. Succeeding in that endeavour, it would be the first time that Daryl would feature in a local recorded album for sale. It assisted in Strange Chocolate's progress that year, playing in numerous venues in London, and even Shane returned to play alongside them. Then in 2008, keyboardist Danni Burns would join the fray, broadening their sound overall. However, due to members still being at full-time study or work, Strange Chocolate have been intermittent and unable to rehearse or perform on a regular basis. However, plans have been made in 2010 for them to be performing a lot more.

Daryl himself, in 2010, would then open the Cozzie Music Wiki as a successor to the original Cozzie Music website. He is also the musical artist liaison and sound engineer for D4 Promotions.

Guitars

 * Epiphone red LP-100. A 15th birthday gift in 1997 and first guitar he owned.  Named Old Faithful, he still uses it, mainly for rehearsals.
 * Peerless green Gigmaster Standard. His main gigging guitar.
 * Takamine G-Series EG340SC. For acoustic gigs.

Amplifier

 * Roland CUBE-60

Effects

 * BOSS OS-2 OverDrive/Distortion (originally belonged to Jason Fernandes)
 * Dunlop Crybaby Wah Wah
 * Marshall RG-1 Regenerator Modulation (using Chorus, Phaser and Flanger)
 * BOSS DD-6 Digital Delay

Trivia

 * As well as being a musician and able to make websites, Daryl is a fairly accomplished cartoonist, drawing in a Japanese anime/manga style. He has drawn promotional artwork for the old Cozzie Music site, as well as Strange Chocolate and Restless Leg Syndrome promotional images.
 * Also plays mandolin and melodica on occasional acoustic gigs.