If you've kept up reading my previous posts, you'll know I've been working on a rock album for the past seven months. It's what keeps me going. I recently reached out to three different people and asked them if I should keep recording more songs for the album, or stop at the number I'm currently at, which is more of an E.P. length. All three of them wrote back, "Keep going!!"
I tend to just quit stuff before I should in other areas (jobs, as one example), so I owe it to myself to complete an album-lengths of material, even if it takes a full two years of dedication. After all, writing music is not only a joy, but a privilege.
I plan to use Halloween 2021 as a checkpoint. Because I've kept such substantial documentation of what I'm doing, I can visually see I've completed around 40 different songs, and usually the "keepers" are written/recorded consecutively in the same month. So, for me it's somewhat of a momentum game. Now, onto my Rock dreams.
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| Mike Tyson vs. Roy Jones Jr. boxing exhibition match |
We all saw the Mike Tyson vs. Roy Jones Jr. boxing match, presented by Triller recently. The under-card was Jake Paul vs. Nate Robinson. During the event, there were several musical performances, for instance, Wiz Khalifa performed.
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| Wiz Khalifa performs at the Triller event |
My dream, and bear with me here, at this point, is to perform as part of an event like this. It's not much different than my long-time dream of performing on late night television. In fact it's nearly identical.
This fantasy is delusion, but it's also the reality of my day-to-day imagination. Every day when I'm at work, I'm able to get through the day by thinking, "What if?"
I'm pretty sure all the performers at the Tyson vs. Roy Jones event were hip hop artists. So why do I think I could even hang, as a Rock performer? I just know I can, based on the material I have stacked and my previous experience performing live in front of audiences and cameras. I have the experience, so I know what pitfalls to avoid.
My vision is based off of a visual like this:
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| Nirvana performs "Smells Like Teen Spirit" on SNL |
Now, I've already admitted this is a delusional thought, but is this fantasy a complete impossibility? I'm going to go out on a limb and say no, but I'll humor myself and lay out why this is at the very least completely impractical and improbable.
1. I work 40 hours a week and don't even have a band. Not only that, I don't even know any other musicians (drummers, bass players). How can I garner any sort of momentum or, as a friend put it, a "foothold" anywhere? The reality is I sit by myself and write/record my material. There is no activity beyond this.
2. I haven't performed live anywhere in public since 2016.
3. I'm not signed to a major label contract, I have no handlers, I own all my own material.
4. I have no fans. No one's ever heard of me. I have no name-recognition.
5. I'm getting older at 33 years old and started going bald at 26. I'm approaching "old guy" territory as it relates to fans of Rock music who are typically younger.
6. I don't have much interest in being a professional musician, because of the economics of it. I'm already aware you can't make any money doing it unless you have a guaranteed contract that basically sets you up for retirement.
I guess the trick to accomplishing your dreams is to look through a list like I've just laid out, and to remedy each issue completely. Just for kicks, I'll tackle one of them. Let's go with #4. In order to remedy "I have no fans, no one's ever heard of me, no name recognition" I think the best medicine is a music video.
Music videos can garner attention because the visual medium gives fans something tangible to connect your music to. If your video catches on in any way, you may find yourself with some name recognition, and that would potentially solve issue #4.
Now, an issue like #1 is nearly impossible for me to solve. That being said, there are always creative solutions to problems. Not every solution needs to be the most conventional approach.
All in all, I think this fantasy is possible. The reason why is because it is extremely specific. At the end of the day it's just a song's length of camera footage where I'm the temporary rock-star. - Mike
