Known professionally as The Philharmonik, Christian Gates is a vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, lyricist, music producer and genre defining artist. His story highlights financial resilience, the role of community support, and the challenges of maintaining professional and creative integrity while pursuing financial success.
Gates’ life was transformed after he was selected from thousands of entries as the winner of NPR’s 2024 Tiny Desk Contest for his music video titled “What’s It All Mean?” If not for the support of friends and the Sacramento community, however, Gates believes he could have never won the contest.
On the inaugural episode of the Community Minds of Gold podcast, Gates shares that he was struggling through a dark and humbling time one year ago. Already just scraping by financially and driving for Uber to make ends meet, he got into a bad car accident, could no longer work, and the bills were piling up. He was months behind on all his bills and about to lose his car and his music studio.
Down but not out
Despite plenty of ideas and the desire to perform and record music, he didn’t have the financial resources to make anything happen. So when he learned that the NPR Tiny Desk Contest had opened for entries, he reached out to the Sacramento community for support. And the community came through in a big way.
“Nearly everybody came through to help me, and I will be eternally grateful for that support. I think it’s really important for us to remember a lot of our successes wouldn't happen if we didn't work with each other.”
To get into NPR's Tiny Desk Contest, Gates had to come up with a vision, a plan, and a goal. He was making a lot of good music and wanted to get a lot of good music out to the world. But in addition to lacking funding he was missing the concept to tie it all together.
Step into my office
That concept came to life based on the requirement that his music video entry had to feature a desk. For Gates, the image of a desk conjures up many metaphors. It’s a place where people work on a daily basis, a place where innovation happens, but also a place where the work never seems to end, and the day-to-day routine can be monotonous and oppressive.
After some introspection, Gates imagined that a person working behind the desk was symbolic of himself trying to make it in the business world. So for the video, he and his band members donned shirts and ties to perform the song, What’s it All Mean in a faux-office setting.
That award-winning Tiny Desk concert showed that The Philharmonik is a rising talent in the national music scene and, at the same time, cast a positive light on the Sacramento community. “Sacramento is a very special place. I'm not originally from here, but I’ve found a strong sense of community and people who are willing to support individual arts projects. Sacramento is where I learned everything. This is where I got the practice. This is where I learned how to develop the Philharmonik, and how to develop Christian Gates. This is literally where I built my life and where I'm able to go out into the world and cultivate my purpose and go on my journey.”
Gates is celebrated in Sacramento for his music, strong work ethic, support of young local musicians, and advocacy for mental health.
What a difference a year can make
Looking back, Gates is glad he went through that period of financial and life struggles, because it has made his contest win that much more rewarding. “It's a reflection of what I've worked for and I'm grateful for everything I've gone through, the good and bad.”
A lot of good things happened in 2024. This past summer, Gates and his eight-piece band headlined the 10-city Tiny Desk Contest On The Road tour. The events of this past year and his connection to the Sacramento community have clearly given The Philharmonik a lot of thought-provoking answers to the question: What’s it all Mean?
Through our new Minds of Gold podcast channel, Golden 1 celebrates the richness of community, wisdom and generosity. This series is produced in a new multimedia format that adds the power of video to bring greater impact and entertainment value to the show’s content.
As a not-for-profit member owned credit union, Golden 1 is here to empower your financial journey and, ultimately, empower you – towards a brighter, more secure future. Tune in to Community Minds of Gold for additional stories gathered from interviews with subject-matter experts, business trailblazers, and community leaders.
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