The Vicious Circle

I took the name of a Facebook group that I joined for the title of this post. I believe the group deals with ranting, but I realized that ranting takes away from the time needed to become successful. However, we all do it from time to time so here is the link to that group if you feel the need to do so. The one good thing about a rant is that many people can relate to do it. For those of you that are linked to my Facebook and Twitter accounts, you may noticed that I created my catchphrase for the most dreaded day of the week, Monday. I figured, we have “Feel good Friday” and “Throwback Thursday” why not “Bitch and Moan Monday”? Come on you know we all do it, so feel free to post it but make sure you include these hashtags: #BMM #ihatemondays #mondayssuck.

The Vicious Circle I am referring to is that which as artists we must be a part of. My last few posts focused on learning how the music business operates,putting out and promoting a professional release, and developing stage presence. I never mentioned all the hours of writing and rehearsing that is included in this or the fact that all the things I mentioned will be repeated over and over again. I recall years ago my friends and I were talking after a band rehearsal and one of them was questioning how many times Metallica must have played some of their early material. Think about it, many well established acts that have been around for decades have performed the same songs thousands of times. Let alone “reinventing” their sound and image. Take a look at Pantera for example, this a pic from when they first started: And here is one from later in their career:

Obviously all this can get overwhelming and pros make it seem so easy. Going into a career as an artist is sometimes a blind alley in which I hope to shed some light on. So always seek to find answer for things that you are unsure of. I am always here to answer any questions and today knowledge on the music business is plentiful. We often learn as we go and mix in changing trends along with advances in technology it gets increasingly overwhelming. As far as trends go, that’s part of the Vicious Circle Think about the resurgence of Glam rock and Punk. Years ago people were saying both those genres were dead. As far as technology goes it is always good to keep up on what is new. But if you have what you need to make your sound work its best to save your money for other things. New technology should be looked at as a way to make your production work run smoother and or sound better.

The problem that many new artists have is that they don’t realize all the work that is put into creating a sound and image. I must have recorded most of the songs on my first album at least five times or more. We discovered better ways to record the songs and or changed parts of the songs. Again it does seem monotonous but just keep your sights on your goal and be patient. All this work that goes into creating and honing enough songs will be repeated on the next album. But next time you will be more tenured and will be able to avoid the issues you had in creating the first album. Remember : knowledge learned is knowledge earned. The same goes for your album promotion and tour. Their maybe things you couldn’t do or tried that didn’t work or a venue that you wasn’t a good fit for you. Many bands that make their own contracts find themselves adding things to them after each show.

So does all this sound like fun? To me it does because all these things that have to be repeated over and over and over again just mean that you are still in the game. Don’t think of yourself as some Hamster on a wheel and don’t think of this as work. Think of this as you taking your life in your own hands and doing what you love. Along the way you never know who you will meet and what you will get turned on to. But I do stress to learn from your mistakes and avoid negativity. There are so many people that are looking to cut other other people down just to mask their own inabilities (which may include not having the courage to go up and perform themselves)and that’s just the average Joe not to mention critics. Many professional musicians and actors learn early on to NEVER read reviews because they know that the bad reviews will just bring them down when they have to keep moving ahead. It is in our nature to absorb negative comments and much more than positive comments. The higher you climb the more people will notice you and critique you. Go look at the Youtube likes and dislikes of famous bands. Most of them have more dislikes than most average bands have likes and these are on songs that may have even won Grammys. Just put the blinders on and keep working at it.

Thanks again for reading and I know I may have posted this before, but this is a great video to watch to keep yourself from giving up. Be well, Nate