Introducing

I visited one of my old haunts recently, a coffee shop not far from my house in Nashville.

The cafe was pretty full and I was waiting in line behind a handful of people.

As I was standing there the next song came on.

I am not kidding you, within first second of the song, that first little piano run, about everyone in the room looked up or looked at the person next to them smiled, bobbed their head and felt sassy.  And I’m not exaggerating about the one second thing either.

The song was Roses by Outkast.

If you know the song, go listen to it.  So good. That piano intro is a signature, a stamp, an ID tag, and is instantly recognizable, in one second.

In a similar vein…

One night this past summer I was hanging with friends. Listening to music on a back porch with a bon fire going.  A great summer night.

Someone was playing DJ with Spotify and a jambox speaker and he said “see if you can guess this song…”

He played the first 3 seconds of the song…everyone knew what song it was. Easy.

But this was fun.

We kept going only we shortened the time, so he would only play 1 second of the song and then cut the music and we would guess.  

We went by decade, first doing a 60’s playlist, then 70’s, 80’s all the way up through today.  It was amazing. You need to try this game.

I’d say as a group we had about 95% of the song titles and artists correct by hearing only one second of each song.

The intro is important. All the hits have an audible ID tag, a signature within the first 2 seconds.  

The chorus is the most important part, but so is the intro.

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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com

Goal Orientation

I used to not really be into New Years and all the “fresh start” type stuff.

I didn’t set goals, that felt too adult, or too serious, or too uncool or something.

Now I’m into New Years and fresh starts and setting goals.

I was an idiot all those years for not being into it.  At this point it’s become a vital part of my life.  Necessary for growth and action.

Goals are not what you had when you were a little kid.  Goals are not the things you talk about late at night after the gig.   Those are dreams and visions (both great things…but they aren’t goals).

Goals have more intentionality behind them.  As it’s been stated by lots of other people before, goals have a handful of specific qualities.  

Goals must be:

Specific- I want to play gigs vs. I want to play gigs in 300 cap rooms in the southeast.

Measurable- I want to play 20 gigs in 300 cap rooms in the southeast.

Yours- Who came up with this? You or your agent? You or your manager? All of you together? You have to be connected to it and the best connection comes with being a part of the creation of the goal.

Time Sensitive- I want to play 20 gigs in 300 cap rooms in the southeast by July 1st.

Written- If you do the previous four steps and start feeling good about yourself but you skip this one, you’re back to zero.  Write it down. On real paper. With a real pen. And actually, believe it or not, the bigger your write it the better.  Our brains are weird like that, bigger is better.

So now you’ll either follow these steps or you won’t.  You’ll completely embrace it and dive in, or you’ll write it off as stupid and not worth it. (I can hear the voice in your head right now saying “yeah, that’s just not for me”…that used to be the dominant one in my head too)

The season you finally follow this guide, you’ll wonder why you hadn’t been doing it all along.

Will you designate a time and place over the course of the next 7 days to sit down with your band and team to set 3 goals for the year?

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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com

Behind Your Scenes

What is going on behind the scenes?  Is there a lot of work being done behind the scenes??

Sure, you can pass as a well oiled machine when people see you playing a gig…but what if they really got a glimpse of the day-to-day.

Would you be able to wow them as they see a band and team who works tirelessly, communicates effectively, sets and achieves goals, shares a stated/common vision?

Or would you make excuses as they see a band and team who is separated, nonchalant, wishful, bogged down, afraid?

I know, for you it’s a combination of the two scenarios.  But my guess is you (collectively) lean one way or the other most of the time.  The pattern of the organization.  The ethos.

Artists present so well. (So does breakfast sausage)

At the shows its all good, or when you release an album its all good.

But what’s really going on behind there?

Be honest. Brutally honest.

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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com

You Are The Stadium Act

If you’re not huge…everyone at your shows show wants you to be huge.

It affirms them.

You might even be so captivating that they think you’re already huge, and somehow booked this smaller venue by mistake.

If you’re good, they’ll give you that benefit of the doubt on the career side.

When people talk to you after the gig, they’re looking for a thrill. Give them one.

Shying away from a compliment (with false modesty or humility) neither affirms them, nor brings you closer to being an authentic person.

Everyone wants to feel like they matter.

Like it or not, walking onto a stage and into the spotlight makes you the ring leader, the shepherd, the usher, the grand master for for showing them, or reminding them, they matter.

Never forget that.  They are there for what YOU can do for THEM.  

They scream your lyrics at your show, because it makes them feel good…and as a byproduct, you probably feel good.  But it starts with them.  And you taking the lead.

If Katy Perry, or Coldplay or Aerosmith played a gig at the dingy venue you just played…does it mean they’re not huge stadium acts?

No, it just means a huge stadium act happened to play a crappy club.

So here’s a new thought…You are already the huge stadium act, you just happen to be playing a crappy club.

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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com

Nightcap 3

Has anyone ever cleaned the nooks but left the crannies?

The only men to wear tighter pants than girly-skinny-boy musicians are gladiator-manly football players.

Having no manager is better than having a bad manager.

FYI, we still don’t know how they built Stonehenge.  

Nobody cares about .1 more than a half marathoner.

Walking away cocky from a victorious coin toss is a silly thing to do.

Neverland Ranch is for sale. $100 million.

No one I know buys cartons of cigarettes, they buy packs because they don’t think they’re smokers.

The conversations had in the front of the bus/van are different than the conversations had in the back of the bus/van.  Much more whispering in the back.

3pm is too early or too late to start anything.

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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com

Don’t Give Up

I moved to Nashville when I was 18.  Young, dumb, tons of teenage confidence.

Every year there’s a writers festival called Tin Pan South.  The big hit songwriters from all over the world come to Nashville and hang out for the week and get to perform their tunes themselves at the night time showcases…there’s also panels, Q&A’s and all that during the days.

Passes to get into the showcases can be pretty expensive.  I was 18 and I couldn’t afford expensive. I could barely afford cheap.

But there was one particular venue that me and a buddy knew how to sneak into. I could afford that.

After getting in I tried to blend in (I’m sure I did a horrible job) the best way I knew how…by talking to someone.  

Turned out the first lady I talked to wrote the song I Hope You Dance.  Pretty cool.
As we were talking, I glanced over her right shoulder as some bright colors in the crowd caught my eye.  

Neon pink, neon blue. And it was on someones face.

There’s only one guy I knew of who usually had a goatee like that.

Mark Hudson.  Among tons of other hits, I knew him from all the Aerosmith hits he’d co-written with Steven Tyler and Joe Perry.  This was big time.  I’m a big Aerosmith fan.

I pointed him out to the lady I was talking with.  She could tell I was nervous so she asked if I wanted her to introduce me.

Um, yes.  

I talked with Mark Hudson. He told me Aerosmith stories,  Ringo Starr stories and some writing stories.  A really really nice guy.  It was awesome, especially for a kid who just moved to Nashville.  

As we were parting ways he gave me his email address and told me to drop him a message.  

What?! Nobody like HIM gives out their email address like that. It was an AOL email. Remember AOL?

A couple days later I sent him the “nice to meet you” email. And he replied asking me what I was up to and what I wanted to do.

Really?! HE asked ME???

This was my chance.  I should tell Mark about the awesome rock songs I was writing and how I wanted to take over the world with rock music.  He would tell Steven Tyler, Steven would freak out. He’d call me, invite me on tour, invite me into the studio, invite me into his heart. Obviously.

So I wrote Mark an email back. A long email. An email straight from my 18 year old heart.  I wanted the moon and I had to be clear, not sparing any detail.  The more I explained, the more he would understand, and the closer I’d be to world dominance.

I hit send, and instantly started refreshing my inbox waiting for a reply.  

A day passed. No reply. Obviously he was still catching his breath from my stunning email.

Day two. Refresh, refresh, refresh.  Sweating.

All of a sudden there it was.  Mark’s reply.  Would there be an attachment of a plane ticket to come meet him in LA? Would there be a bank transfer code so he could send me a pile of cash?  Would there be an invite to a weekend getaway with him and Steven and Joe?

After pouring out my heart, soul, plans, goals, dreams to Mark Hudson….this was it.

I clicked to open.

Here was his response in it’s entirety.

“Don’t give up.

Peace,

Mark”

So I didn’t.

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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com