By Alissa Szandzik & Anthony Harris
Warrior
Utica HS
Division 3, Yearbook
Personality Profile
In addition to serving as captain of the varsity football team and being crowned homecoming king, senior Austin Kowalczyk, an aspiring singer and songwriter, put out his first album this year.
“I discovered my talent on accident,” Kowalczyk said. “One day when I was in eighth grade, my friend and I were recording fake tracks on a voice changer app. When I played it back, it actually sounded good and I wanted to try it for real.”
Kowalczyk released his first song, “Real” under the name “Anonymous” when he was 13. He received comments from classmates, and people he had never spoken to before.
“After reading the comments about my song,” Kowalczyk said, “I announced that I would record more to be released later that year.”
Kowalczyk has tried several stage names, such as “Anonymous” and “Teddy,” but he decided to drop his first album at the end of the year under the name “Bubba Klutch.”
“This mix tape is for people who have similar goals,” Kowalczyk said, “and for people who face the same obstacles in their lives. I want them to relate to it.”
Kowalczyk is not alone in this process. Senior Elijah Zentz films and edits all of Austin’s music videos, on top of producing his music and creating the artwork for the mixtape cover.
“I think he’s got a ton of talent,” Zentz said. “I think he’s going to go far. Exposure will be the hardest thing to come by, but he just needs somebody big to realize the talent he possesses. I am very proud to help out one of my best friends.”
Kowalczyk has performed at two talent shows, and plans to book shows at other venues in the future.
“I don’t want to be compared to other artists,” Kowalczyk said. “I want my music to stand out as kind of its own genre, like its own
music.”
Kowalczyk released his LP for download on Datpiff.com and soundcloud.com in January, with plans to release the entire album.