But hungry for what? Commercial success? or are we talking about being passionate for creating your music in a way that it represents what is in your head? Thats where my passion lies, and only I can prevent my own success in that sense.
I got nothin' :
...avoiding any implication that I have ever entertained a cognizant thought.
live samples:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwbCFGbAtFc
https://youtu.be/AEE5OZXJioE
https://soundcloud.com/yodelgoat/yod...om-a-live-show
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUe3YhCjy6g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VOCJokzL_s
Hungry to write new music? You bet I am. I still have a head full of ideas.
Hungry to get better? Always.
Hungry for succes? Sure. I hate it to be dependant of social security.
I am "hungry to stay in the conscience of music."
I'm not sure if I am still hungry. I just do what I feel like doing, its all about enjoying the process. Success is having spent a few hours in my studio working on songs I've been working on for years. Getting them better. I don't really push myself at all. So any hunger in that sense, doesnt exist. If I listen to a part and decide I can make it better, thats what I do. I'm like putting together the most complex jigsaw puzzle ever. And it doesnt have to be done anytime soon. No pressure to finish. In some sense, I may never finish. As long as I get to create, listen, improve and struggle through parts that are challenging, and eventually triumph. Thats what I love - Its actually the process of creation, not the satisfaction of someone else hearing and being impressed.
By the way, this happened to me on Wed night... I met up with an old friend who used to play with the Steve Miller band (a long while back), and I just let him hear about 10 minutes of what I was working on. I could see he was really impressed (it could have been my imagination), and he took the earbuds out and said "You really need to do something with this!" I've had conversations with him before about how I dont plan on releasing anything again, and he started up again about how thats just not right. But I told him I get much more out of playing this for people like him and impressing them than I do releasing music. It was very rewarding for me to hear him be so certain that This would go someplace with the right people behind it. I dont know how up to date he is on the state of the music world, but he was impressed and that was very enjoyable, because it was sincere. I dont believe that any music can go anywhere in todays environment. I'm still on a bit of a high, and obviously what I am doing is not self-delusional. - I am always worried that I have a better opinion of my stuff than anyone else. And I kind of assume its nothing special to anyone but me. Glad to know it can still surprise someone who's opinion I respect.
Anyway, I told him that when its done I'll let him spin it for some "people he knows" - whatever that means.
I got nothin' :
...avoiding any implication that I have ever entertained a cognizant thought.
live samples:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwbCFGbAtFc
https://youtu.be/AEE5OZXJioE
https://soundcloud.com/yodelgoat/yod...om-a-live-show
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUe3YhCjy6g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VOCJokzL_s
Well, the desire to improve your music is a sign of hunger to me. As I said, if you make some part of your personal music world better then it was just a second ago, you have hunger. You have a pulse and you're moving.
As far as making it in the commercial world, that is difficult, more now then ever, for a prog muso. Sometimes we doubt our commercial drive because it is a difficult road to travel and the disappointments both financially and emotionally are very great. I was lucky enough to make a living in rock when record companies were as big as movie studios and their directors had vision. Sometimes, misguided, but they had it. I was around to see many prog musicians, that I considered to be friends, call it quits in the early eighties, when it seemed that no one wanted to hear about them. I wish some could have stayed active, but they had families to look after and persued different options. But a couple persevered and actually make a modest living form their music now.
You just never know how things will turn out, but I always felt they had a bit more hunger then the ones who gave it up. JMO, on that one.
To be or not to be? That is the point. - Harry Nilsson.
^^^^ I agree that you never know how things will turn out, but I would miss working in the studio if I didnt do it (Almost every day). The people who have quit music all together are missing something in their lives. I dont know if they actually miss it, but I certainly would. I dont miss playing bad covers in bars at all, but composing never gets old. There are all kinds of surprises, like when you finish a particularly challenging drum part and it is spot on. Or suddenly the vocals sound like they do in your head.
I often wonder if musicians who feel like they have to produce new music - Say Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson who feel they owe their fans a new album every couple of years get the same level of enjoyment producing the music that I have - They always work under a deadline, but letting stuff go before its actually done must be hard. Perhaps they are so used to it that they understand that is the way it has to be for them. I cant imagine them recording an album without supporting it with a tour. I dont think they'll make money off of just album sales.
I got nothin' :
...avoiding any implication that I have ever entertained a cognizant thought.
live samples:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwbCFGbAtFc
https://youtu.be/AEE5OZXJioE
https://soundcloud.com/yodelgoat/yod...om-a-live-show
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUe3YhCjy6g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VOCJokzL_s
A deadline can be stimulating as well. A bit of pressure I like. And perhaps letting it go at some point, without being able to perfect it, till all the live is sucked out might be not unwelcome as well.
To be or not to be? That is the point. - Harry Nilsson.
Be yourself. If I consider how many times I've should have died doing whatever the hell it was I doing 30 or 40 years ago, I certainly couldn't put myself in that frame of mind now.
"And your little sister's immaculate virginity wings away on the bony shoulders of a young horse named George who stole surreptitiously into her geography revision."
Occasional musical musings on https://darkelffile.blogspot.com/
^^^Yeah, that frame of mind when put in perspective, was really dopey (pun intended) As I look at what I would accept then as excellent musicianship is nowhere near what I expect now. I actually think things have worked out better for me by only being partially successful in music in my younger years. Nowadays, its all about the process of creation. In my earlier days, we couldnt wait to get the songs out of the studio and on to the vinyl. Now I feel no pressure to do anything but get it right. There are always new ideas coming along, and I'm kind of slipping behind on those, but they can stew for a while before I actually start to work on them. Not to mention, all my material seems to fit together nicely, so the new tends to sync up with the old. Perhaps when I'm done I'll have four or five hours of related material. That may be a reason that I will never let it go - because it just might be - a little boring to others. But if it makes me happy, why does that matter? I hear melody where someone listening for the first time may miss it and think " man, this is boring" But after a listen or two it becomes a little more familiar and thats when you can start to appreciate the effort that has been put in. Who actually enjoyed Tales from topographic Oceans the first time they heard it? I dont pretend to be anywhere near the talent Yes was, but I get the idea that music should become more interesting with repeated listens.
I got nothin' :
...avoiding any implication that I have ever entertained a cognizant thought.
live samples:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwbCFGbAtFc
https://youtu.be/AEE5OZXJioE
https://soundcloud.com/yodelgoat/yod...om-a-live-show
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUe3YhCjy6g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VOCJokzL_s
I was in a composer's collective for about four years. It was an excellent group of people that really enjoyed each other's company for that time being. The group was mainly for "experimental" composers. There were some field recording, homemade instruments, mild industrial like people, oddball electronic pop, and so on (www.sonicabal.com is the site, kind of cool it's still up since we stopped meeting around 2004). I would join another one in a heartbeat. There is something about group energy where the sum makes the individuals shine and do things they might not have ordinarily done. There were a lot of really high caliber people in it that were music grads, label owners who also wrote/performed, and so on.
I was in a songwriters group when I lived in Seattle. I quit after a few months because the most successful musician in the group was the guy who wrote (this is not a joke) The shutdown jingle for Microsoft Windows. Yes, I kid you not. Now thats a prog song if there ever was one. The guy who ran it was once married to Bonnie Raiett (however you spell it) So it was a pretty good group of people, to be honest, but the idea that a guy who wrote a 3 second jingle was the guy getting all the attention, and the concentration was on making a living by writing something like that, was, well, a bit depressing. Plus the keyboardist from the Motels was always there trying to get me to buy his services in the studio... LIke I need an average at best keyboardist to lay down parts I can do with one hand by myself....
He kept assuring me that having his name on the demos would definitely get me noticed... The Motels? Really? Only the lonely was OK, but c'mon... he wanted thousands too... "Yeah, um... well I'll get back to you..."
I got nothin' :
...avoiding any implication that I have ever entertained a cognizant thought.
live samples:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwbCFGbAtFc
https://youtu.be/AEE5OZXJioE
https://soundcloud.com/yodelgoat/yod...om-a-live-show
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUe3YhCjy6g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VOCJokzL_s
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