Singer-songwriter T.A. Parker is really good at writing and singing about time, interweaving between time lost and having too much time. Parker is originally from El Salvador and is a bilingual rocker, whose love of music has been ingrained from his late teens and early twenties. When he became a doctor, he focused mostly on his profession, while his music was put on the backburner for a bit. He determined that now is the time to pick back up his pen and guitar, and his latest single, “Endless” is another reflective prose of time present and time past, and the memories that come with them.
The music video for “Endless,” features T.A.’s son as a young boy beginning a countdown of time by turning the hourglass, and that’s when the story of the music video begins, featuring T.A. and his band jamming together, with the next scene showing a young boy playing basketball, while his older self stands with a cane, with a nonchalant expression. These two main characters interact with versions of the younger and older. As Hip Video Promo states, “they represent the singer’s discomposure – one is the younger version of himself, and the other is the older version of himself – the walls of time are caving in, forcing them to confront each other face to face.”
Although music has been a staple in your life, you laid it down to become a doctor for a little while, and you’re now back to writing and playing music. What drew you to come back, and do you miss your time as a doctor?
T.A. Parker: Thank you! I’m actually doing both! I have been able to spend some time creating and recording while accommodating to my responsibilities as a physician. With music, as I stopped playing and creating for a long time, I felt that I was not able to share all of myself with the world, and something was missing. Immediately after restarting to write songs, that feeling went away.
The theme surrounding your latest single, “Endless,” is time; some that we don’t have enough of, and at times drags on. What does time mean to you?
T.A.: Endless represents the eternal struggle to live in the present. The past and the future exist only in memory and dream, respectively. But the shadow of both sometimes does not allow us to embrace the perfect and eternal present. When I am able to distract myself from these concepts, I can feel whole and fulfilled.
Was there a certain event in your life that inspired you to write “Endless”?
T.A.: Several. The initial idea for endless came as I had moved to the US, and I had to spend the first six months of my son’s life apart from him. I wanted to focus on the present and to enjoy every moment that I could not have with him. The lyrics materialized more during the pandemic. With the fear of what was to come and what we left behind in early 2020, I needed to express that conflict, and it allowed me to simply be present, one day at a time.
The music video for “Endless,” is captivating and telling; the two protagonists, one older and one younger, confronting each other. Was that your idea for the video, or a combination of collaboration?
T.A.: It was a collaboration with a couple of people. When we discussed what the song meant to us and how to visually represent it, Rafa Garcia (director), Daglio (producer) and me started to play with the idea of a man, in a tight, rustic space, having to reflect on his past and his future. In the video, all of them are aware of each other but unable to change their trajectory.
What’s next for you and your music for the rest of 2021?
T.A.: “Endless” is part of a 6 song EP that is being finalized and will be released in the summer. As the pandemic restrictions improve, we look forward to having more participation in live events and be able to present these songs live. We have worked hard on this music, and we hope that people will love it as much as we do!
Fun Questions
Who was your first concert? Have a favorite thus far?
T.A.: Def Leppard in El Salvador in 1997! Growing up, there were very little American/English rock bands that came to El Salvador. So this was an event that I would not miss!
What was your first album on cassette, CD and/or vinyl?
T.A.: My first cassette was Guns and Roses, Appetite For Destruction.
Which five albums and/or artists would you not want to live without?
T.A.: The Wall (Pink Floyd), The White Album (the Beatles), Crash (Dave Matthews Band), Pink Moon (Nick Drake), The Black Album (Metallica), and Continuum (John Mayer)
Do you have a guilty music and/or entertainment pleasure?
T.A.: I love superhero movies and Westerns.
What have you been listening to, reading, and/or watching lately?
T.A.: I’ve been listening to a lot of Dawes, Lake Street Dive, and The War on Drugs lately.
Find T.A. on Facebook, and listen to his music on Spotify.
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