STORYTIME: Why I missed the 1.1.19 release.
When I was in high school, music was my passion. I played guitar and performed in pop punk bands with the dream of being discovered.
We were passionate as anyone... and we were good. At the time Vans warped tour was at its peak which pulled the local “underground” music scene subculture into the mainstream, with bands like Fall Out Boy and Paramore launching their international careers from that platform.
After high school I took a job as an Art Director for 5 years and continued to play around the tri state area. I took freelance gigs all over and when I left my 9-5 in 2016, I had a network of collaborators I worked with to complete various multimedia projects for different businesses.
I poured my creativity into creating digital marketing material helping businesses kickstart their digital advertising; and it was genuinely fulfilling... But about six months ago I realized that I had not picked up an instrument to practice or play for almost two years, and I couldn’t bear to keep living that way.
So I put my nose to the grindstone and started planning. I put a calander up on my wall and started filling in dates with things I’ll want to plan for. I realized that with a little bit of effort maybe I could bring music back into my life. I made a plan, set some deadlines and got to work.
Scrolling through the past 6 weeks of my Instagram you’ll see my creative output... and the stark contrast between now and before. There’s almost a perposful devide between who I was and who I’m becoming. My art spoke to me (and some to other people as well) and that motivated me to keep going.
I poured my heart into my work everyday and still maintained a healthy work/life balance as I worked towards the 1.1.19 release.
Then I hit a roadblock...
I saw what everyone else was doing and realized that it’s not enough for me to just “be a musician”. I slowly started to understand that the “new wave” of artists and musicians are going to be well rounded professionals; having a hand in every aspect of their creativity. A “Creative CEO” as Kanye likes to call himself.
The problem is as Kanye suggests:
“I think it’s obvious... It’s rediculous to just give some celebrity a Creative Director role of anything... There’s only three guys that I think could even possibly work consistently in that space.”
If I want to compete in the FUTURE marketplace... I’m going to need to step it up. Good music always sells but what if I have good music and merch? Then music, merch and physical products? Could I release music; grow a fanebase which allows me to travel for work, work up to collaborating with the professionals I want to work with and use my income to pass on my extended creativity into software and hardware? This blank canvas feeling led me down a spiral and I started creating like I never had.
10x my productivity overnight.
Fast forward six weeks to Christmas Day. With 12 demos, three print releases, one physical info product and 6 solid shirt designs; I’ve reached a new personal record I didn’t think was possible and the support from friends has been amazing.
I OWE IT to myself and the people in my life to actually get my junk together and do the best work that I can do. And if I’m going to release some music... It better be good.
The reward of restructuring my goals for the possibility of greater achievement in 2019 far outweighed the embarrassment of having to tell people I failed. And that to me might be the first sign to myself that I might be growing up.
So I’ll be releasing music in the next couple weeks. In the meantime I’ll be continuing to share my experiences on Instagram, and as I grow I’ll make sure to share the tools I’ve found along the way.
I couldn’t have asked for a better beginning.