Juan Mantilla

Juan was born in Mexico City, Mexico but spent most of his childhood in Yorktown Heights, New York before moving to North Carolina for college. He began composing music at a young age and took up clarinet and saxophone in elementary school. It wasn’t until 1989, however, when he discovered AC/DC, that he knew he wanted to pick up and play the guitar. It didn’t take long for Metallica, Iron Maiden, Rush and Dream Theater to dominate his mix tapes and CD collection. Juan and Ruben began writing in 1995 and after meeting Steve Laur in 1999, Paradigm Blue was born. The power trio draws influences from all walks of music, from synthwave and prog rock to blues and chugging metal. Transist begins a new era for the band, and all are looking upwards to a bright future.