Born and raised and still living in Mississauga (or the “bootleg Toronto” as she calls it), 21-year-old Kelly Estomo (Kelso Jeans) grew up in an artistic household. With a father, whose classical guitar was an extension of his arm and a mother who was always singing and dancing around the house, Estomo knew she wanted to be a musician.
“I would pretend to perform concerts on top of the bed,” she laughs. “I auditioned for an acting agency when I was a kid but my dad was against it. I never had lessons in music and art. It was always D.I.Y growing up.”
After moving to Canada from the Philippines for financial stability in the late 80s, Estomo’s parents haven’t always been so supportive of her choices. While being artistic was encouraged at home, it was never seen as a viable career option.
“I was always playing quietly in my room and I started writing my own songs but they were only recorded on my phone,” she says. “I think growing up that way automatically put me at a disadvantage.”
“If the music career was a race, I’d feel behind. I don’t feel as confident in my musical ability as much as I would have if my parents had said ‘Go for it.”
It wasn’t until she got her first guitar in Grade 5 that Estomo began taking music seriously. Taking guitar lessons from her French teacher during recess and starting her first band in high school, she was well on her way to becoming the solo artist she is today.
Women in all industries have always been held to a higher standard than men and the D.I.Y scene in Toronto is no different for upcoming artists. Estomo recalls when she first performed with a band in high school, during which an audience member complained to the male members of the band that she was “too loud, screaming into the mic.”
“I sat there and thought am I too loud? Is the mic too close? Or should I not be screaming?” she said. “I automatically went into an insecure, apologetic mode and I didn’t like that feeling. He didn’t comment on anyone else.”
Several times following this incident, Estomo has been criticized by male artists for her guitar technique and told that being a female solo artist with a guitar is “too simple and overdone.” It’s these instances that prevent her going to guitar shops, so she isn’t bombarded with questions that she doesn’t know how to answer.
“I want to learn all this from women,” she says. “I know that’s generalizing but it’s more comforting to learn from a woman because she already knows that in the music scene there’s a sense of entitlement that [men] have.”
“As a queer, Filipino girl, I didn’t even think I could break into this scene.”
Estomo is part of the Facebook group Toronto Womxn in Music, in which women in the music scene can share upcoming gigs and work with one another.
“I get notifications from it every day and when I was growing up, I had that mind-set that I had to be the girl over others but now I want to be with other women musicians,” she said. “I know Toronto is popping with all that stuff.”
As the fourth artist in our series, Estomo isn’t the first to call out the big sea of artists that make up Toronto.
“Toronto is just full of musicians being born every single day,” she laughs. “Ever since I was a kid, Toronto has been the buzz word for anything and everyone in the GTA knows Toronto is the big city.”
The arts in Toronto are thriving and noted by Estomo, there’s a focus here on “bringing up women.”
In terms of her music, Estomo has recently taken influence from super group Boy Genius, formed of Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus. All three women are grouped as singer/songwriters but “when they’re together you realize they’re not all the same sound even though they’re all women and play guitars.”
Estomo is currently preparing to play a guitarist in a thesis film titled “Girls to the Front” directed by fourth-year Sheridan film student Erin Richardson. The film focuses on a three-piece riot girl band and Estomo will be starring alongside drummer Robyn Bond. The two will be writing an original song for the film.
Hoping to raise the minimalist flag higher, Estomo plans to release new music by February.
“I write poems and I’ll turn them into lyrics, shorten them and make them rhyme,” she says. “I’ll figure out what tone I’m going for and I’ll match my sound.”
“But I think minimalist music is underrated as f*ck,” she laughs. “A lot of things can sound busy and I think there’s beauty in the space you put in-between notes.”
You can check out Kelso Jeans here.