You used to put out a record and play a hundred shows before even thinking about moving on to the next thing.
You believed that people would be better off if they came to your shows, experienced your show, experienced this music.
And then over time and the ups and downs, it changed.
You put out a record and play ten or twenty shows. Then you take the temperature. If it’s feeling like a loser, you begin putting distance between you and the particular project. Maybe you don’t say it yet, but that sentiment starts creeping its way into the visible and feel-able picture.
But the separation only leads to more separation and less commitment to the belief you need.
You HOPE people will be better off if they come to the show, but you don’t BELIEVE they will be. And that changes impact of the show. It makes it worse.
You need to remember how to believe. Like the colorful food fight in Hook.
We want to believe in you. We just need you to go first.
Being a hard worker doesn’t mean you’ll scale the heights of success you desire…but it helps.
People respect a hard worker. And successful artists, for the most part, are respected.
Hard work is also one of those things you don’t need to wait for anyone else to start doing. You don’t need the go-ahead from your manager or agent or label.
Go and work hard. In time, go work hard and delegate wisely.
Allow the definition of hard worker to evolve over time, circumstance and experience…but it’s always worth setting out to be one, and to be known as one.
p.s. Also worth mentioning here…
If you desire to be an iconic artist and everyday you unload and reload the trailer, chop down a tree to build a guitar, and play 3hrs a night down on Broadway and 4th Ave…that’s a horrible plan, but wow you’re a hard worker. Respect for commitment and sheer will power. You are exceptional. Not smart, but exceptional.
I was flipping channels tonight and ventured into the 300’s…all the sports and news in the 200’s was a snooze.
Channel 334 (on Directv) is called Audience. They play some cool music stuff…not a lot, but some.
I happened to come across it at the top of the hour when a Butch Walker special was just starting. I’ve never been some giant Butch fan, but I knew the Marvelous 3 hit way back when and a couple of his solo records (Left of Self Centered, and The Lets Go Out Tonights).
So I knew just enough to stop on the channel.
Instantly I got it. All my pals who have always told me “you gotta see Butch live”…I got it.
Absolutely magnetic.
The format of the show was Butch and his band would play a song in this LA studio and then they would cut to him being interviewed by the host.
I was hooked. Didn’t even hit previous-channel to check the score of the game I’d been watching.
About half way through I thought…I should write about this tonight. But I wanted to write something more than “he’s just got it” (he does) or “you know it when you see it” (I did).
So I started looking a little deeper. Here’s what I saw…
Butch really wanted to be there. There was no audience while they played the songs, but his joy was still evident. He even got the crowd clapping during the breakdowns even though there wasn’t a crowd. My guess is Butch appreciates and values most situations he finds himself in…that’s why when put in a cold studio for TV, it still comes out, he’s been practicing gratitude for the moment.
Butch is willing to bring his passion, show his passion and lead with it. He’s willing to be the energy that everyone else bounces off of. He’s willing to be physical, to enter into his songs with his face, fingers, legs, mouth, eyes, to amplify the strength of the signal of the song.
And specifically pertaining to the interview segments…he gained experience by DOING things, by being active. Going and Doing create magnetism. Experience is interesting. And age gives perspective if you’re willing to pay attention, which he is.
Check Butch out. Check out his tunes, his interviews, stuff he’s written and produced for other artists. I think you’ll learn a lot.
Diving into and figuring out what the purpose of your band is is not being over analytical or self indulgent. Putting ‘defining your purpose’ on the top of the priority list is not taking yourself too seriously, it’s not hocus-pocus new age fluff.
And it’s not something that will figure itself out.
What’s the point?
So many bands. So many artists. And yet very little definition out there.
Believe it or not, you are already in a box.
The goal isn’t to get out of it…but to figure out exactly what it’s made of, and what you can do and are willing to do inside of it.
3 page brochures. They’re everywhere. And that’s the size.
How come all the necessary info about so many things can fit so nicely into a 3 page brochure?
Trick question. It can’t.
There’s way more information that should be there, but 3 page brochures are normal and consumable, so the information gets shrunk in order to fit.
Can you imagine a 7 page brochure? Exhausting…too exhausting to even start reading.
3…3 is the right number.
You need a great single (and you need that single to have a great intro).
I know you have so much more to offer, so many songs, but the single is the normal, consumable, 3 page brochure version that makes the people ask for more.
Positive, unplanned and sudden things are incredibly exciting.
Also, positive things that seem unattainable or far away are incredibly exciting.
The idea of playing for 50,000 people sounds incredibly exciting. If someone came to your house right now with a plane ticket to a private jet and that jet was set to take you to LA where you were going to play for a sold out Rose Bowl…what an emotional overload. A miracle. A shock to the brain.
The impossibility of it gives an electric charge when you think about it.
But the only actual way to play for 50,000 people is to plan for it, to believe it to be, in fact, possible. And then more you plan for it, and the closer you get, the less of a miracle it becomes and more just ‘the next thing in the story’.
And the ‘next thing in the story’ isn’t as crazy cool as the hypothetical amazing thing that it once was.
When it’s planned for, instead of a huge WOW factor, it feels natural…like yeah, this is exactly what’s suppose to be happening now.
So the goal becomes less exciting but more possible.
It’s the letdown of getting what you hoped (and planned) for.
You should absolutely feel the freedom to celebrate and be excited about the bench marks you achieve…but you’ll probably recognize a certain degree of ‘eh, no big deal’ to go along with it.
That just means you did a great job planning and executing, instead of just being handed the keys to the kingdom at no charge.
Dream big. Plan specifically. Take Action. Enjoy the results. And appreciate the non excitement.
