Mixed Signals

Mixed signals come. Guess it's up to you to make of it what you want. As a musician and artists there are two distinct things people always stress:

1. "Focus on your craft. Master it. Be the best you can be at it!"
2. "You have to focus on your online presence and content! Keep Twitter updated! Blog! Post on Facebook! Book your shows! FOLLOW UP! GROOM YOUR IMAGE! BRAND YOURSELF!! .... the list goes on and on.

Jack of all trades, master of none. As an independent artist you do have to be your own everything. I try not to spread myself so thin that I lose sight of what is important to me though. The two  most cherished of all my "hats" are being a musician, and also being a visual artist. These take priority. Luckily I have found a way to combine them both. As far as titles are concerned, for a while I've considered my self as a "creative" more so than labeling myself as a "song-writer", "composer", "singer", or "illustrator". Ideas rush into my head. I do my best to bring them to "the real world" in some way. (Sorry about so many quotations. Out of all these titles, being a writer is not one that I exceed at.)

For instance this idea was bouncing around in my head for about a year and a half. Finally, after contacting a friend we managed to bring it to a tangible/functional piece of art:

Combining my music and visual art I have taken on making the music videos for this Noble Creatures project. Mostly because I love the creative process, but also because I don't have enough money to pay anybody to make a video for us. Collaborating would be amazing though.

An idea I've had in my head is to take found art or public domain art and re-purpose it. Just like this guitar shelf. Our new lyric video does just that. After scouring the interwebs for a comic whose storyline somewhat followed the lyrics to the song I came across a comic book called Romance. If I'm not mistaken. It's a bit of a stretch, but not as much as my original hope which was to find a romantic adventure story that took place in space. That's enough rambling though. Here it is! I believe it's the 4th lyric video we have so far. Solely for your entertainment... and my amusement.

It just hit me

Some people may laugh and say that it doesn't count being so young, but I started making very deliberate steps towards a music career when I was around 7th grade. 

Before then it was just an activity I did and classes my parents enrolled me in, but since then, I knew what I wanted. 

What is that... about 21 years now?

 ...21 years. 

Holy shit... that's more than half my life. 

I'm just gonna let it sink in before I decide what to make of this information.

Unbelievable

This month has been such an incredible journey with the release of our album! People keep asking how it feels to finally reach this point after so long. Truth is it feels right and well-deserved. Not in a cocky sort of way, but in a way where it feels absolute to have so much love, creativity, determination, hard work, and perseverance create this body of work that is now in people's hands, and circulating the web. 

On top of all this we saw families come together to support, and old friends we hadn't seen in years come out of the word work!

The shows were insane. Before downbeat, I sneaked a peak out from behind the curtain to a few people waiting for us. It occurred to me that maybe most of the people wouldn't be able to make it. For a second I felt doubt but then realized no matter what we were going to have fun presenting a damn good show! By the time we huddled in the green room and did a little pep talk we filed out on stage. The lights were bright so you could barely make out what was out in the room. By the time I put on my guitar as approached the mic I noticed the room was PACKED. It was pre-decided, and this just solidified it, we came to party. And holy shit did we party!! That room was packed full of good vibes.

We had to release the secret weapon we had planned for the audience, The Circle. At the moment they came parading in you could see the entire crowd become alert. They stopped all at once to get there bearings on what exactly was happening. You could see heads bobbing from side to side trying to see what was going on. Almost simultaneously it seemed like the crowd at once realized that there was a drum circle parading around them as they all lost their shit! It was madness from where I was standing. The crowd undulated in this great wave of bodies dancing at a fevered pitch! It was insanity! It was a beast that couldn't be stopped! Haha! From then on there was no doubt that it was an epic night.

Gotta hand to everyone involved on the music production side that night: The Circle, Brandon Peterson, Tony Hampton, Liana Bowman, Canyon Cody, Flash, Novena, and The Virgil. Thank you for Being part of this and delivering one helluva show for everyone.

Huge thanks to all our fans, friends, and families that came that night ready to get down and celebrate. Together we all made that night something special. 

Since then we've had the pleasure of mentions and interviews on LA Talk Radio, Lurssen Mastering, Ojai Valley News, Enclave LA, Afroxander, and Keeping Up With Jones. We have a few more things in the works and hope to keeping building and acquiring more an more opportunities.

I will say that I'm learning the quirks of giving interviews. They're fun. I have realized that pauses are important cause if theres no distinct pause it can sometimes change intent. For instance, in the flow of conversation I have found that what I meant as a list of positive things turned out to make me look like a douchebag, but hopefully people won't hear it that way. I'm known as being mostly a listener, so I'm Getting used to speaking more apparently. I get so many ideas trying to get out that usually only fragments make it out.

I know I speak for the band when I say we're all very grateful for all the love and support. We intend to take this on the road, record more, and make this our sole career. We're in it for the long haul.

Gratitude

"Thank you" doesn't seem to match the immensity of this gratitude.

http://youtu.be/_pte_6gHyuk

We've been busy I can tell you that. I keep hearing that when you want something the world will test you. Proving grounds. As we are working on our album release campaign with 3 music videos, 2 release parties, 3 photo shoots for the album design, 6 making-of videos,  revamping the website, and booking an east coast tour delays and the like run amuck. I used to get discouraged easily, but that became exhausting. There's no time for that when you have things you want to accomplish. Energy is important. Better to focus on something that gives you strength.

For me that is the vision. Where and what I see for myself down the road. Setbacks scatter like dust in comparison. You can use the friction to stoke the fire, gain that momentum.

Lately it feels almost like water. There's an obstruction, water flows around it. When faced with an obstacle, frustration is now replaced by creativity and vigor. Almost to the point its become a game. Cat and mouse. It's a puzzle. Thinking 3 steps ahead. Always running...like water.

Not to say there haven't been times I've found myself cursing at my computer. These days its more because I know its slowing me down rather than feeling I don't have the resources. Truth is, now I do. I'm capable of fixing/working with it, but I know the time that it will take to get back on the workflow. There's a lot to accomplish. Time management has gotten a lot better.

Thankful for this developing perspective. Grateful for the support. Grateful for the opportunity to challenge myself and grow.

From 5 years to 2 weeks

After 5 years of obstacles and challenges, but always pressing forward, finally its come down to two weeks before we enter the studio.

Admittedly there's a small small voice telling me to stay on watch for anything that may derail this, but to that I say we're crossing the finish line one way or another. It's been set in motion. All parts are in play. As we have done the past 5 years we'll continue to work and press on towards our goals.

Glorious thing of it is, I'm not stressing about the outcome. I'm just SO GRATEFUL and happy to have this opportunity that I'm loving every step of the process. Even all those 5 years of obstacles just made this moment sweeter.

Definitely not getting ahead of myself trust. I'm still hitting the grindstone as always not taking anything for granted.

You gotta love the process. Do the best you can with what you have at the moment.

There's a whole lot of heart and life in these songs we've been playing. Even if some of their content is "taboo".

Looking forward to making this album with some great friends. Called in a few buddies that I've met in my time out here in LA. Crazy-talented people. There's not one person involved in this that I don't look up to and admire.

Excited!

Intention (random thoughts to entertain)

There are a lot of people talking about intent. A good majority of what I hear is along the lines of "if your intentions are good then its all good" and "put your intentions out into the universe and be open to receive." This is all and good don't get me wrong, but I've noticed that I feel a bit of apprehension when I hear this, so I've decided to delve into that apprehension and examine it. I acknowledge full and well that maybe I misunderstood where they're coming from, that there are clauses, and/or theres a whole philosophy that it was taken completely out of context from, but if that is the case that may also be why I feel that those kind of phrases if spoken should be used carefully and mindfully (if that's even a word). As a listener I should also be mindful of where I'm placing myself.

Let me entertain a different perspective and follow along if you want to explore it with me.

These are exaggerated/caricatured  examples but they are to illustrate a general point without getting too far into detail. "Intention"....hmm... So does it make a difference by itself? What kind of difference? Then at/until what point does it make a difference?

Lets entertain the idea that I slap somebody in the face. Bam! The dude gets knocked into next week. Now lets say  my intention was to deter him from something that in my mind would've saved him a lot of grief (moral, circumstantial, whatever) down the line. Does my intention make it right, good or just? How would I feel? Well, I'd feel like a hero dammit! How does he feel? Like somebody he considered a friend just slapped the shit out of him. He feels physical pain. He may decide to go the angry route, maybe the confused route, whatever. Either way he doesn't feel good. Considering this, who's to say that slap corrected his future? What's "correct" anyhow? Does having an intention justify my actions or beget good things? Who are my intentions really benefitting? Consider that just maybe my intentions really only benefit me and the way I feel about a situation brought on by my actions (justifying myself). People might say "intentions do make a difference because if you explain to him why you slapped the shit out of him it'd be okay." Is it really that that makes amends or is it the physical/productive action of walking up to him and explaining, apologizing, and continually trying to explain myself over again? If I didn't say anything, whether his life down the road would happen to be "corrected" or not, the fact remains that my actions, and the series of decisions, led to his face being physically smacked by my hand as it hurtled towards him leaving an unsavory feeling of pain to his sensory system. My intentions were good, but does that make me right, give me warrant, or make the world a positive better place? Does it do any good to anybody else other than myself? Or is what really matters in my action? Action of explaining, reconciling, action of caring. In the end, by explaining myself and actively caring I'd be willing to bet you he'd understand to some extent and forgive. (Even though you don't need anybody else to forgive anything, but I added that for sake if this "illustration").

Now, same instance, same poor guy getting knocked out, same me, only this time my intention is to make him feel my wrath or my disgust in him. Bam!! He goes down. Same process follows. If my actions follow the same as before explaining that it was for a higher purpose and going through the motions of care, even though only I know its not genuine is there the same probability that he'll give me the same extent of understanding/forgiveness (if I was a damn good actor)?

Here's a concept by Anthony Robbins thats taken out of context to invoke some thought, of course I'm paraphrasing but the gist of it is [he was talking about positive thinking]: if you sit in your garden and do nothing and think to yourself "there are no weeds, there are no weeds, there are no weeds..." over and over again, no matter what, if there are weeds in your garden they are gonna do their thing and they're gonna take over your garden. Since he wasn't talking about intention I'm not using it emphasize intention, but using it to emphasize my other point: the importance and influence of action. 

Freeze frame on me slapping my friend: at the moment of contact is he concerned about my intention, or about the action of my palm racing towards his face? Then afterwards, what means more to him: my actions of care, or intention (which holds no action or gesture on my part)? Now, regardless of right or wrong, good or bad; what invested more into life, what was more productive: the  action of slapping him or me thinking about my intentions? Likewise, what invests more into life, what was more productive in life: the action of caring or simply me knowing my  intention?

Here's another exaggerated example: What has more "worth" to you "hey, I meant to pull you out of the way of that moving bus, but I didn't act on it for some reason. Sorry bout your legs." or "hey, that was a close one, it was a good thing I pulled you away in time! That was crazy!"? It's interesting to think of the dynamic of difference of hearing "hey, I wish I was able to pull you outta the way faster than I did. It just happened so fast. Sorry about your legs."

As I've seen it, people prefer results. Business prefers results. I'll go as far as including you in this: We prefer results. I prefer results. Give me the option between "I'll be thinking about getting you $1,000,000" or "here you go, here's $1,000 so far of the effort I've put in. The rest is still coming in with production" I'll take the latter! Give me an option between someone saying "I love you" and sitting lifelessly on the couch, or someone saying "I love you" and running up to me, smiling, giving me a huge embrace, I'd take the second any damn day! But I'm not like everyone.

Yes, I agree this universe has and will provide us with possibilities somehow someway. Last I checked you can't just think "I'm hungry. My intentions are to satiate this craving" open your mouth and trees will shoot fruit into your mouth! Although that'd be sweet. You need to pick your fruit, raise your crops, speak your peace, ask the right question to the right people, start your business, produce your dreams, nurture your talents, etc. But heck, I could be wrong.

These examples are extreme but they help illustrate some points. Hopefully the absurdity made you at least keep entertained. I had no idea where this came from. This is stream of consciousness writing. Random thoughts to entertain. 

On a personal note, I like to see people being productive, putting ideas into action, and choosing a positive constructive perspective. I also enjoy when I'm doing the same.

The Process of Making an Album

We did preproduction and researched a little bit of contact info for press. What we didn't  plan for was working out Agreements! We're aiming to make this this as legit as possible, and so once we drafted an agreement between us and the producer we set off to get it checked. I luckily was able to find friends of friends who were experienced in this. That being said, remember to budget in for lawyers! It also depends how much you want them involved. At least just consider it.

Also, been drafting an Agreement for the band itself. I always want to make sure everybody understands what is happening with money. Money if handled improperly as I'm sure we all know at one point or another can rock the boat. Taken care of properly though it can really clear a secure path. Even if it feels uncomfortable to talk about, work it out. In the long run that little discomfort will save you a lot of trouble in the long run.

That's all going well tho. I've learned a lot for sure as I scoured the web on how the industry works. The Internet is an amazing resource. Blows my mind.

Beyond that we've begun research more contacts and data on press outlets. We plan on releasing the album in the spring of 2014, so we want to hit up press 3-4 months before to have it all build up to that release party. We are also researching contact now to contact venues in January to book on an East Coast Tour in October! Plan ahead!

People have this idea that being in a band is just fun. You see a band just jumping around on stage, but you don't realize the amount of work done before they hit the stage. As its been for me, working on booking, scheduling, rehearsals, composing parts, arranging songs, filling out forms, networking events, research, data upkeep, distributing compensation, writing contracts, making ads, promoting, making preproduction, creating and up keeping the website, among other things, hitting the stage and performing is just 3% of the job...and I may be generous in that estimate. You gotta love what you do!