Kyle Castellani has had a love for music for as long as he can remember. Growing up in a home full of instruments, his father introduced him and his brothers to jamming at a young age. Whether it was with a guitar, drums, or even pots and pans, Kyle has always been intrigued by the art of noise.

In middle school he started playing in ska and punk bands where he found a core group of musicians with the right musical chemistry. Throughout high school they refined their sound and headed in a more rock direction. They called the band Nural.

Nural toured the United States and began generating interest from major labels, all while still in high school. They showcased for Capitol Records, Island/Def Jam, Atlantic Records and Epic Records. After a small bidding war ensued, the band determined that a major label was the wrong fit for such a young band with budding lives and careers. They set their sights on independent labels and soon joined the family at Hopeless Records. They continued to tour in hopes of developing a strong grassroots following. In 2005, the band released their debut album, ”The Weight of the World.”

For the next three years, Nural continued to tour and write. The fans and experience they gained led the band back to where they started, a major label. They paired with Atlantic Records as part of an upstream agreement with Hopeless Records. Nural travelled to New Jersey to team up with award-winning producer David Bendeth (Paramore, Breaking Benjamin, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus) to create their sophomore release, ”Entitlement”.

Returning to California with a finished CD recorded and mixed by David Bendeth and the prospect of upstreaming to Atlantic once they released it, the band was in great spirits. Anticipating that their careers were about to go to the next level, Nural decided to ask their management about the possibility of looking for new representation. The meeting did not go well.

Following the meeting the band received papers in the mail from their managers’ attorney. They were being sued.

In light of the new lawsuit, Atlantic Records declined to bring Nural to the label. The band eventually released the album digitally and began playing shows again in an attempt to pull themselves out of the funk, but the name of the band had been tainted throughout the industry and the members were still individually wrapped up in the lawsuit.

Two years after being served their court papers and negotiations going back and forth between the band’s attorney and management’s attorney, the case was finally resolved in court. At some point during the two year long process, the band decided to break up.

Moving on wasn’t easy and Kyle took it particularly hard. Having been with the band from the beginning and being its prominent songwriter, music was all he’d ever known and he wasn’t about to give up. He knew he still wanted to do music, but he didn’t know which direction to go.

He dabbled in writing for other artists. He was hired to sing lead vocals on different songwriters' demos. He sang back-up vocals on other artists' music as well. Although he enjoyed it because it was music, he still wasn’t fulfilled as a musician. It was a long transition period for him, but a necessary one.

After a long hiatus, Kyle finally decided to jump back in to the music scene head first, band or no band. He took a collection of songs he had written and teamed up with his guitarist from Nural and producer/songwriter Doug Allen. Together with the help of a few contributing musicians (Matt Buehner, Keita Ishibashi, Dave Haberman) they created Kyle’s solo debut, ”Pseudo Romance.” The album was released in May of 2011 and marked a new beginning for Kyle. He has since released two singles titled ”She’s My Religion” and ”Zombies” and also a second album released in August of 2012 titled ”Lemonade.”

The contrast between Nural and his new direction is remarkable, but you can hear his growth as a musician and as a human being with each song released. Though his experience in the music industry hasn’t always turned out in his favor, music is his life, and he will continue making it regardless of what happens.