Unlikely Events

I had a fun conversation with a friend today about moments that ended up happening but not how we thought they’d happen. Getting on a tour bus for the first time, recording in a real studio for the first time, playing famous venues, meeting some of our heroes.

A couple things…

-Of course they didn’t happen how we thought they would. Unlikely events are already unlikely. It’s much more likely that an unlikely event will happen not how we thought it would.

-This is not to say you shouldn’t plan. The great part about following a plan, a specific desire and goal is that wonderful unlikely things are much more likely to happen.

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What Goes Into Getting On Stage

When you’re up on stage in front of everyone no one knows how hard it was just to be standing there.

There’s the career side…how hard it is to get a good agent, book the venues, sell that many tickets, have music people want to hear, have a show people want to see, build the fan base for years.

But then there’s the sheer logistics of the day…the airport, the waiting, the bus, the vans, the hotel, back into the vans, soundcheck, problems at soundcheck, what time is dinner, wait some more, share the green room with the other acts, try to facetime with the kids, poor internet connection, showtime…

The hurdles and hardships just to climb onto that stage are exhausting. It’s a miracle every time it happens.

But for those who get it…there’s something about that final step onto the stage that somehow makes it worth it and keeps a desire to do it all again.

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Walking Into New Places

An important part of the touring musician’s job description is ‘walking into new places’. We do that a lot. Way more than most people.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve asked where the bathroom is, where’s the stage, is it always this cold in here, what good restaurants are within walking distance, what’s that smell.

There’s a certain rhythm that unfolds when showing up to a new place which becomes oddly familiar. If you can be ok with that, you’ve got a chance at survival.

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Tolerating Crazy

If you’re the kind of person who is willing to tolerate a lot of crazy, you’re going to attract a lot of crazy. So if you find yourself dealing with a lot of crazy and chaos it’s worth asking yourself how much of it is there simply because you don’t do much to get rid of it.

Tolerating crazy sure makes for some great stories but the shaky ground and exhaustion that is often left in its wake might not be worth the thrill ride.

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Walking By The Fruit Stand

When you discover and decide who your music is for it’s unlikely that the other people will come up to you and say, ‘Ya know I’m sure other people like it but it’s just not for me’. That would be great but it never happens.

The way that it actually plays out is that those other people will simply ignore you. You’ll be jumping and waving at them to come check out your fruit stand and they’ll just keep on walking…and you might think they’re being rude or disdainful (and it might hurt). But they’re not. They’re just ignoring you because they’ve decided it’s not for them.

In the course of your career, especially at the beginning, you might have to do a little jumping and waving…but the people who are ignoring you, give them the benefit of the doubt and imagine them saying the line from above.

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Tactics And Presence

Tactics are fun to focus on because you can learn new ones quickly and implement them and see the change right away. And you should.

Presence (character, posture, purpose), on the other hand, is the thing underneath the tactics, the backbone, the strength…presence is what breathes life into the tactics. Presence is grown and modified much more slowly than tactics. It can rarely be rushed.

But a stronger presence will increase the effectiveness of your tactics much more than different tactics will.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple