In this episode of SoCal Soundcheck, Brian sits down with Temecula saxophone player Cole Weber, who spent most of his life resisting the very thing he's now built a career on.

Cole grew up in Lake Elsinore surrounded by music (his dad is a working sax player), but wanted nothing to do with it. He chased competitive soccer instead, making a team ranked fourth in the nation, until two knee surgeries rerouted his path. Even through years of school band and a stint studying music production, he kept one foot out the door.

The turning point came when he found himself at his girlfriend's parents' house with no job and no plan. She pushed him to give saxophone a real shot, his dad handed him some starter gear, and within three months he was booking full-time income.

From there, the conversation gets into the realities of making a living as a working musician in Southern California: why Instagram outperforms every other platform for bookings, how word of mouth drives the Temecula scene, and the honest math behind solo gigs versus band splits. Cole also shares his five-year plan to move away from live performance and into producing and releasing original music, inspired by artists like Russ, Honest AV, and Nick D, who built audiences by dropping a song a week.

Plus: the heartbreak songs that shaped his writing, and the life motto that changed how he approaches networking ("it's not a flex to be busy, be available").

Connect: ColeWeberSax.com | Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kolewebersax/