Pioneers

Played a fantastic gig last night at 'Proud Camden' really good venue in London, brilliant crowd. Anyway we were playing on a bill with several other bands. So after we had sound checked i was watching another band get ready when i realized something.

The best artists are stubborn.

Not in the way that they're a pain to work with, but with the way they play live. They're doing it the way they think is best. No matter what their label says, their manager says, the sound man says, and if they're really fearless, no matter what the fans say.

The big pioneers in all areas of art surly had their critics. Now had they listened to them and conformed to what everyone else thought. They'd never of become as pinnacle figures as they did. Its sounds cheesy, but its true, as soon as you stop believing in yourself and doubt your own ability and creativity, you'll never become great. As an artist you need to be unmovable with what your going for... I'm not saying you need to 'go it alone', and I'm definitely not saying you shouldn't progress your sound. The opposite.

You need other people, you need support, but only the right kind of people. You need pioneers. The kind of people who are creatively on the same page as you are. Or better yet, someone who's even more venturing than you are. Find someone like that and it will challenge you to move forward. However if you surround yourself with negative thinkers the opposite will occur. Unless you shrug them off they'll pull you down. They're down on new ideas, and they're down on the unfamiliar. There like a cancer for the innovative.

My favorite kind of bands always progress. Its always risky going for a new sound, especially if the old one worked so well. But no matter how much you get slated you've gotta do it. Other wise its just re-runs. And sure 8 times out of 10 the fourth album is never as good as the first or the second. But personally, I'd rather of written 5 different records, some not as good as others, than 5 records that sound exactly the same as the previous. Its all about taking a risk, stepping out.

True Artists

Its Been 9 days since i did my last blog, so i think its about time i write a new one. I have no idea how some people write them every day. I've recently subscribed to 'Bob Lefsetz's' blog. Really good. If your interested in music business you definitely should check him out... Anyway, he used to be pretty big singer song-writer, but now is a big wig music business kind of guy. He has all of the know about the industry.

I read an awful lot of his blogs and the big thing that he seems talks about a lot is honesty about the state of the industry. Which taken the wrong way, as a musician can be a little discouraging. However, I've come to realize, as an artist, that while the music industry has become a more tough business over the years. It has also done something quite special, and often rather difficult. Its amazing! As if by accident, it has separated the true artist from the fakers.

Because anyone with a smart business head will tell you that basing a career from the ground up in music is a waste of time. Its a market that is making less money than ever. In fact the industry as a whole is worth less than half of what it was 10 years ago.

So where does that leave us? It leave us with true artists! People who aren't only concerned with the size of their wallet, in fact that's the last thing on their mind! People who focus far less on their 5 year business plan and more on the lyrics of a new song, and they're not trying to write the most catchy tune to make their next million. They're not sell outs, they love music, and that is their soul reason for doing what they do. And i would say to everyone else, GET OUT OF THE WAY.

Cause I wanna hear real music!