News

Air Force career transcends into musical performance

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Minnette Mason
  • 446th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
MCCHORD FIELD, Wash. --  Many people who choose the military as a career assume they must let go of their unrelated dreams and aspirations, but one Reserve member disagrees. On the contrary, he is a living example of what can happen after setting goals and making a plan. 

Master Sgt. Eli Yamzon is a training manager with the 446th Civil Engineer Squadron. He is also a musician who performs regularly in prominent venues throughout the Pacific Northwest. The origin of his story, however, comes from his heritage as a Filipino-American who wasn't taken seriously - at first.

"People would say, 'You're in a foreign country; we don't think you can make it [in the entertainment business].' We proved them wrong," Yamzon said, referring to his band mates.

Yamzon was in his second year of high school in the Philippines when his father took him to a music store and bought him a bass guitar. He really enjoyed playing his guitar, and he "didn't want to do anything else," he said.

Yamzon, who now plays the keyboard as well as the bass guitar, joined four Filipino musicians and singers from his church who wanted to help mentor younger musicians. The group worked closely with the local community organization Dream Music Project, which is generally a group of younger musicians who collaborate in an effort to become professional performers. Little did the mentors realize that they would eventually form their own band, and call themselves Hearts in Motion.

The band members then set goals and created a plan for success. They wanted to perform songs normally sung by American artists. They also wanted to perform at decent-sized venues, such as Muckleshoot Casino or The Point Casino. The road to success involved challenges, however.

At one time, Yamzon remembers sending out several promotional packages, and waiting for at least one response. Finally, the band received a call from one of the venues. The phone call, however, was not an invite to perform, Yamzon explained.
"[The agent's] response was: 'You're not quite ready yet...' and he gave us some pointers. So I said, 'What do you want us to do, to be better?'" Yamzon said.

The agent began to list a number of critiques. Yamzon described the conversation as a moment of "humility," and he and his band used the constructive criticism to make adjustments.

"We all have [Filipino] accents, and our accent is our weakness," Yamzon added.

"Our weakness became our strength because we don't talk between songs. People love it."

The band has since played at both above-mentioned casinos, as well as other local venues.

"We didn't use our accent as an excuse," Yamzon explained, "because in America, you can do anything. If you have your goals and work on them, it doesn't matter if you're a minority; just work on your goals."

In addition, Yamzon attributes his ambitious attitude to the culture of the Air Force. In fact, some of his musical talent was showcased while he was in Basic Military Training. He was attached to the Drum and Bugle flight and played the bugle as part of his graduation requirements.  

"Instead of pulling [kitchen patrol] duty, we rehearsed," he said.

Regrettably, Yamzon did not exercise his musical capabilities in any more official Air Force entities. He said, "I wish I would have tried out for the Tops in Blue, but I didn't have the confidence back then."

Nevertheless, the military has helped him in other ways.

"The military is colorblind," he explained. "It doesn't matter what race you are. So, that gave me confidence when we were forming this band."

And forming the Hearts In Motion was not the end of Yamzon's success story. His performances also exposed his musical talents to another local band: The Rhythm Nation.

"When I'm not playing with [one band], I'm playing with the other," Yamzon said. "It's a lot work [to learn] new songs."

A few years ago, The Rhythm Nation lost its keyboard player. Yamzon played the keyboard as a fill-in, and has since been performing with the band at various events, including large corporate-sponsored parties. When asked what his most memorable performance was, Yamzon recalled performing at a wedding where saxophonist Kenny G was part of the audience. He also a performed at a fundraising event for the Detlef Schrempf Foundation, and the former Seattle SuperSonic made an appearance.

"We played for the Seahawks' [pregame show] at Century Field twice last year, and once this year," Yamzon added.

Needless to say, Yamzon keeps a busy schedule. He serves as a traditional Reservist with the 446th CES, and he also works as a civilian formal training technician with the 62nd Airlift Wing during the week. Although he's dedicated himself to his work for the Air Force, he continues to pursue his goals on stage and in front of a live audience.

"When you're in the band, you're in your own world," Yamzon said. "But knew we had a chance because we had a plan."