What Should We Play Next?

Being on stage is a bad time to ask this question.

(That is, unless asking ‘what should we play next’ on stage is your thing, like Springsteen. Just like books aren’t choose your own adventure unless they’re choose your own adventure.)

You know the arc of your show (even if you don’t realize it). You know which songs usually do what. You know where the climax is gonna to be. You know that if the next song isn’t the perfect one for the moment, it might still be the best option you’ve got.

The show doesn’t get better by discussing it more, weighing all options and taking a band vote before getting on to the next.

If you’re on stage still choosing what song should go next, make a call and go with it.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

Dinner Conversation

Dinner at the taco truck.

vs.

Dinner at the hip fine dining place.

Both are wonderful. And they draw out two different conversations. The aesthetic, style of food, pace of service and eating, delivery method, lighting, decibel level, size of table, proximity to others, price, layout of the menu…

It directs us and guides us toward what type of experience we want to have, expect to have and end up having.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

For Them To Become Fans

For people to become fans they don’t need to love all your songs.

You just need a song they love and a sound they love.

And then when you have these two things you end up getting the benefit of the doubt as it pertains to your other songs. They’re more likely to fall in love with your other songs if you’ve given them the first two things first.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

Recording Then And Now

It used to be that a two hundred thousand dollar album sounded ten times better than a twenty thousand dollar album.

It used to be that record companies had an exorbitant recording budget MINIMUM written into the contract that the artist had to spend on making the album. (Of course all recoupable.)

Because it used to be that good sounds were only possible in a few rooms with a few select people at the controls.

Now it’s possible to have no sonic difference between the twenty and two hundred thousand dollar album. Now the record company has to be smarter about what makes a good album. Now it’s about knowing the right people for the job you need done…not just knowing one of the top dogs.

The old way was probably easier but the new way is better.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

The Ride Home

Ending your tour in your hometown vs. ending it somewhere else.

Ending it somewhere else gives you a longer ride home.

And that ride home is its own thing. It’s special. It’s weird. The after glow, the come down, reflection, savoring, the in between, it’s over but not yet, the last lunch at summer camp.

The full power of the magic of music comes head to head with the fact that you’ve gotta get your tire pressure checked and your neighbors are always putting their excess trash in your bin without asking.

It’s a strange and wonderful ride home. Road life and home life packed into real life.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

Perfect For Now

The only way to make timeless music is to make music for the present moment…to make music that sounds like the present moment and reflects the culture as it stands.

Let It Be is timeless. But if it came out today it wouldn’t be. The sound, lyrical style and content, production elements, the mix…it’s all wrong for today. But it was perfect for back then.

So in turn, that’s the goal…to make something perfect for right now.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple