Introduction to the Rebooting of a Neglected Blog About the Woes of Being an Unsigned Indie Artist

Hello. Why are you here? By accident? Or because you're a fellow musician stuck in the mire of a local "scene" that really "isn't"? Maybe you're a seasoned musician like myself, with decades of memories, experience and trauma from being a musician. Or maybe you're just starting out and want some insight from someone who had to learn it the hard way. In either case, welcome!

This blog is kind of a reboot/retool of a blog I started over a decade ago. I have recently been inspired to start it up again, but I wanted a fresh slate (more or less), with an opportunity to revisit previous posts, do some editing, some hindsight reflection and maybe some updates while also writing about current concerns, issues and ramblings. 

Musicians are a unique breed, consisting of surly, petty people, addicts, jealous cutthroats & the RARE genuine artist who actually loves what they do for the right reasons. For every bighearted artist who creates music with substance, relevance and whose work speaks straight from the soul, you have fifty narcissistic douchebags who take themselves far too seriously, have no qualms about dicking over their fellow musicians, using and abusing any who will let them, all so they can get their name onto a social media post or a little chalkboard sign out front of a venue. Some of them actually create art, others just go through the motions and don't have an original bone in their bodies. It's hard to be an artist in a scene that caters to hacked, overplayed cover songs by mediocre-at-best cover-bands (and the occasional "tribute" band, which are even cheesier and worse, believe it or not), backstabbing, chemical abuse, shitty business practices & the lowest of standards from performers and audiences alike. But I persevere. 

I am a multi-instrumentalist who plays guitar (in various forms/configurations), bass (upright and electric), drums, keyboards, harmonica, lap steel, mandolin, a little banjo and random percussion. I am also a vocalist, and have spent most of my musical "career" either fronting or co-fronting bands so as to avoid having to deal with some egomaniacal "frontperson". I've broken that rule more times than I care to admit, and it has never gone well. In my teens and early twenties, I also helped manage a mom-n-pop guitar shop on the weekends, as well as having worked as a studio engineer for an old-school reel-to-reel studio. I also am a songwriter (or "songsmith", as one of my more douchey former peers would cringily call it), and have created music ranging from folky Americana to punk, from bluesy-rock to "grunge", from new-wave to metal, from bluegrass to modern alternative. I'm all over the map, and kinda' proud of that.

This will strictly be a blog about/of/for music, from the point of view of a soldier in the trenches, so to speak. You'll find observations, lots of humor & even hopefully some helpful advice from time to time.

Enjoy, and if there's a subject you'd like to learn/read more about, please let me know!

H