Songwriter, guitarist and novice home audio engineer. Formerly of Beantown, currently sojourning in the Land of the Morning Calm. I believe in God, humanity, peace & quiet, good conscience, good photography and good music. I enjoy collaborating with other musicians, especially songwriters. Unless otherwise noted, all music I post on Drooble are written and produced by myself as a hobby at Morning Calm Studio. All rights reserved.
Music is the form of expression which is essential to me. It took many years to learn that. Music is a way for me to find and communicate the deeper self. Making music feels like being let out of a cage.
Musically, my dream is to communicate effectively enough to reach others and perhaps inspire them to do the same. This does not necessarily need to be done through music obviously, but it is my medium, so to speak. Any creative outlet someone has a knack for would do.
The world can be tremendously egotistical and lonely. And when I say the world, I suppose I am referring specifically to humanity. I would wake everyone up, if possible, to that reality. Most of us walk around blind and afraid, and don't even know it.
The most memorable song from my childhood is an old Wings tune called Silly Love Songs. I have very fond memories of singing it with my mother every time it came on the car radio. I was only 4 or 5 at the time.
I am a long time fan of singer-songwriters John Prine, Gordon Lightfoot and of course Bob Dylan. My favorite bands would be Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers...nothing from this millennium.
When something is stirring or troubling for me deep inside, for good or bad, music is a means to air it out.
I have no specific message, except that music, like any art form, is a language of the deeper self, the soul. This becomes more important because of the shallow consumerist society we live in nowadays. It reminds us there is more to life than large breasts or the latest shiny object...
Well, it has been a few years...but of course I get the jitters like most others. Once I settle in to what I am doing, though, I find the energy building and flowing between the band and the audience and just plug into it. Playing live and playing to record are very different experiences.
New musicians have a tough path ahead of them. The music industry I grew up enjoying has pretty much evaporated. It seems to me that creativity in popular music is at an all-time low. For a serious musician to make it today and going forward, I believe, will mean the necessitate the rise of grass-roots movements, where musicians can be creative and open new avenues to connecting more directly to an audience, though festivals, coffee houses, YouTube etc. Monetarily, it is hard to imagine things getting much worse than they currently are for recording artists. Fresh ideas are needed terribly.
So far, I like it. I like that it gives voice to more than just the music. The community I have engaged with so far seem kind and curious and creative. I couldn't ask for much more than that of any online environment.
Ego.
I have been living abroad for several years in a country in which I do speak the native language fluently. That being said, I do tune in to local musicians when they are performing locally and when I happen to hear about it by visiting the venue and enjoying the music.
This is a tough question, because much of what it necessary in today's environment goes directly against my own natural flow. But in summary, I'd say you really need to compete hard and be willing to prostitute yourself (figuratively speaking) shamelessly on YouTube and anywhere else people will watch. YouTube is easily the most accessible.
Jang Sa Ik - Folk singer-songwriter from the Republic of Korea. You don't need to understand the words, you feel them. His voice is tremendous. The Lonesome Souls - a now semi-defunct band formed on Bandlab (a cloud-based music collaboration website). These guys were so good it was hard to believe they'd never met in person. They made music like they'd been doing so together for a very long time and they inspired many other artists on Bandlab. Hollow Coves - perhaps not entirely unknown anymore. These guys just happened to meet one day and discovered they could make music together. They are the only band I know of who made a real break via blogging.