Victor Villarreal is an American musician and songwriter, best known for his role as guitarist in

Cap'n Jazz Cap'n Jazz (sometimes stylised as caP'n Jazz) was an American emo band formed in Chicago in 1989 by brothers Tim and Mike Kinsella, who were joined by Sam Zurick and Victor Villarreal. After a number of name changes and the addition of guitaris ...

Owls Owls are birds from the Order (biology), order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly Solitary animal, solitary and Nocturnal animal, nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vi ...

and

Joan of Arc Joan of Arc (french: link=yes, Jeanne d'Arc, translit= �an daʁk} ; 1412 – 30 May 1431) is a patron saint of France, honored as a defender of the French nation for her role in the siege of Orléans and her insistence on the coronati ...

. His music incorporates elements of classical,

indie Indie is a short form of "independence" or "independent"; it may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Gaming *Independent video game development, video games created without financial backing from large companies *Indie game, any game (board ...

and

emo Emo is a rock music genre characterized by emotional, often confessional lyrics. It emerged as a style of and hardcore punk from the Washington D.C. hardcore punk scene, where it was known as emotional hardcore or emocore and pioneered b ...

, and contains surreal guitar solos and instrumentals.

Biography

Villarreal took up the guitar at the age of 12, and played in several bands with

Tim Kinsella Tim Kinsella is an American musician, author, and film director from Chicago, Illinois. Known for his eccentric singing voice, he first rose to prominence as lead singer and lyricist of the emo band Cap'n Jazz which he co-founded with his brothe ...

, his childhood friend. They performed as

and

. Villarreal also had Joan of Arc bassist Erik Bocek perform in Villarreal's own group,

Ghosts and Vodka Ghosts and Vodka was an American instrumental math rock band from Chicago. The band was made up of two guitarists, Victor Villareal, and Sam Zurick, bassist Erik Bocek, and drummer Scott Shellhamer. The band formed after Bocek and Zurick met V ...

. Having worked at a dog hospital, Villarreal later started a dog-training program called "Everything Canine." Villarreal returned to making music after his brother died, releasing the albums, "Sleep Talk" and "Invisible Cinema" through Joyful Noise Recordings in Indianapolis. Villarreal often features

cantaloupe The cantaloupe, rockmelon (Australia and New Zealand, although cantaloupe is used in some states of Australia), sweet melon, or spanspek (Southern Africa) is a melon that is a variety of the muskmelon species (''Cucumis melo'') from the fami ...

s in his music and album artwork. He has also said that he's influenced by Iron Maiden and Rush.

Bands and projects

*1989–1995

*1996–1997

Flashlight A flashlight ( US, Canada) or torch ( UK, Australia) is a portable hand-held electric lamp. Formerly, the light source typically was a miniature incandescent light bulb, but these have been displaced by light-emitting diodes (LEDs) since the ...

*1998–2001

*2001–2002, 2012 Owls *2003 Noyes *2011

Joan of Arc (band) Joan of Arc was an American indie rock band from Chicago, Illinois named after the French saint Joan of Arc. They formed in 1995, following the breakup of Cap'n Jazz. Singer Tim Kinsella has been the only permanent member of the group; he has ...

*2012–present Victor Villarreal (solo projects)

Discography

*2015: "Sleep Talk" – Victor Villarreal, released on

Joyful Noise Recordings Joyful Noise Recordings is an independent record label from Indianapolis, Indiana. The label was founded in 2003 in Bloomington, Indiana by Karl Hofstetter, who also played drums on many of the label's first releases. Joyful Noise maintains an a ...

*2014: "Two" - Owls *2012: ''Joan of Arc '' − Joan of Arc *2012: ''Presents: Pine Cone '' − Joan of Arc *2012: ''The Formal Listening Series'' Compilation − Victor Villarreal *2012: ''Split 7" with mOck'' − Victor Villarreal, released on

*2012: ''Presents: Joan of Arc'' − Joan Of Arc *2012: ''Invisible Cinema'' − Victor Villarreal, released on

*2011: ''Life Like'' − Joan of Arc, released on

*2010: ''Eating Happens 7"'' − Victor Villarreal *2009: ''Alive'' − Victor Villarreal *2003: ''Addicts and Drunks'' − Ghosts and Vodka *2003: ''Noyes'' EP − Noyes *2003: ''Chicago Punk Refined'' Compilation − Owls *2001: ''Owls'' − Owls *2001: ''Precious Blood'' − Ghosts and Vodka *1999: ''Momento Mori'' EP − Ghosts and Vodka *1998: ''Analphabetapolothology'' − Cap'n Jazz *1996: ''Poetry Class '96'' − Flashlight

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Villarreal, Victor Living people People from Chicago American rock guitarists American male guitarists American rock songwriters American rock singers American indie rock musicians Singer-songwriters from Illinois Guitarists from Chicago Year of birth missing (living people) American male singer-songwriters