LIVERPOOL — Dylan Michael Spadaro isn’t quite 13 years old, but he is already shredding on stages across the Syracuse area. The son of local musician Mike Spadaro, Dylan is a multi-instrumentalist, composer and singer. The Liverpool youth released his first album, “Dead on Arrival,” on Aug. 28.
While Dylan displays talent far beyond his years, he’s had to grow up fast. He lost his mother, Becky Baldwin, to complications of diabetic ketoacidosis on Nov. 27, 2021. She was 44. “Tearing Up,” the final song on his debut record, is dedicated to his mom.
“She was a very kind person. She loved anybody she ever met, whether you knew her for a day a week or a minute,” Dylan said of his mother. “At the funeral, the line was out the door through different rooms of the building. It was so many people who came to say their last goodbyes.”
Dylan released a video for the song on the one-year anniversary of Becky’s death.
“This was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to deal with in my life, and I’m in advanced math,” Dylan wrote in a Facebook post accompanying the video. “Waking up every day and remembering time and time again that she isn’t there to say, ‘good morning’ or ‘I love you,’ or pick me up after school and talk about how our days were makes me feel so empty inside.”
Despite his broken heart, Dylan had to pick up the pieces and move forward. After all, his mother’s motto was, “Everything is figure-out-able.” He spent much of the last year writing, rehearsing, recording and performing.
“I would like to shout out to my dad, Mike Spadaro, for helping me do all the things that I was able to do these past 365 days,” Dylan wrote on Facebook. “Seeing me every day and reminding him of her must be heart-wrenching.”
Mike, bassist for the Frank White Experience, said he sees a lot of Becky in their son.
“She was a beautiful soul as evidenced with what she left behind here: this boy,” Mike said.
“Tearing Up” is the only song Dylan intentionally wrote with his mother in mind, but her presence can be felt throughout her son’s metal album. Becky’s other son, Jacob Harrington, noticed the themes throughout.
“Most of the songs were about words that just sounded cool to my ear, if I was in my English class and a word stuck out to me,” Dylan said. “My brother pointed out to me that most of them are about my mom.”
Dylan began playing guitar about six years ago, studying with Baldwinsville musician Chris Eves. Among his inspirations are Guns N’ Roses and Metallica, who have been cutting tracks since before Dylan was born.
“My dad’s a musician and I used to go to all of his rehearsals,” Dylan said. “It just seemed like a really fun thing to do — to be able to play something for people.”
After learning the guitar, Dylan branched out into bass, keyboards and drums. He recorded each instrument on “Dead on Arrival” himself.
“It was kind of time-crunching. We only had a month to record the album,” Dylan said. “We booked the date before we had actually [finalized] anything.”
Dylan had written two or three songs by the time he hit the booth, and the rest of the album came together along the way.
“We took it an instrument at a time,” Dylan said.
If a section didn’t sound exactly right, dad-turned-producer Mike sent Dylan to re-record it.
“It’s like when a sports team watches film to see where they can improve,” Mike said.
Since the album’s release at the end of the summer, Dylan has played shows at venues such as Funk ‘n Waffles, Festa Italiana Syracuse and Meier’s Creek Brewing Company in Cazenovia.
The loss of Becky is still pretty fresh, but Dylan is forging ahead in his musical career. He will be participating in a middle school rock orchestra and is already working on his second record.
“He has continued unabated. Honestly, I believe we’d be at this point anyway — he has continued on his trajectory and nothing has stopped him,” Mike said.
Mike said Dylan’s Funk ‘n Waffles gig on Nov. 20 showcased the boy’s evolving skills.
“I see him play all the time but this was on another level. He was entertaining, improvising; his soloing was creative, different. He was doing things I hadn’t heard yet,” Mike said.
Like many listeners, Dylan got the results of his Spotify Wrapped last week. The streaming app compiles a user’s most-played songs. What’s on Dylan’s 2022 playlist?
“A lot more Guns N’ Roses than I thought,” he said, adding that his top song was Rage Against the Machine’s “Killing in the Name.”
Dylan Michael’s debut album, “Dead on Arrival,” is streaming on Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal and YouTube Music. Follow Dylan on Instagram and TikTok @dylanmichaelguitar.
