I might be a little too different! There's comfort in familiar sounding voices, styles, etc. I decided many years ago that I was just going to be me and sound like the best me I could! Back when I was first trying to get signed, and spent a bunch of money on an EP, consultants, PR, etc., I was told that I was too old to market, that my sound was to "all over the place" that I had to have just one trick, essentially, to get anywhere, or I would confuse A&R. So, my journey to finding my "thang" was just so that I could carve out a way to keep going, making, performing and writing music long-term. Nobody can ever take my sound away from me, so I'm at peace with this. I know I can't satisfy everybody, so I focus on the joy, and when I gig, I do originals and my own uniquely arranged covers of my favorite songs. No more being a tribute act, I'm free!
Morning, Chris. I have no recordings up that really capture what I do live (I came back to amend this and say that “My Skin” on my channel is a pretty authentic performance, actually…) because I had yet to crack the code of how to ALWAYS deliver passionately. It was previously only a thing that happens on the spot when I perform for some new individual or group. The recording process has often tripped me up. But… A few weeks ago, we were having a town wide garage sale and we set up. I put out ALL of my music equipment except for my Tascam DP32-SD, my Behringer compressor, my monitors, and my Canon DSLR with its 35mm lens… everything else, every guitar, bass, amp… every single one with a price tag outside… I was letting God decide. I shouldn’t have held back the other things - but maybe I should have. My wife warned me to put my primary acoustic guitar, a Takamine from the 90s, back inside the house. So I did… But NOT until Tony, an older gentleman, showed up and purchased some things. And then I offered to perform a song for him through our banter. He came back an hour later and I performed a song for him, right outside. It was the best performance I’ve ever done, to that point. A couple of days later, Pete, a guy who had promised to come back to purchase a short-scale Ibanez, returned… and in that conversation, same thing happened… so I performed for him - same song. Then THAT was my best performance… ever. And they both said, “Wow, you really have the talent.” I heard it - I didn’t even really need to be told… I could feel it, too. For the last two years, I have been taking a “supplement” called kratom which I originally started taking for neck pain. But the usage got way out of control…. Because it’s actually an OPIOD. And I decided that I was going to use alcohol to get myself off of the garbage. I ended up weaning from the kratom too quickly and drinking too much wine and ended up in an EXISTENTIAL AGONY the likes of which I thought was the worst I had experienced to that point - this was only a week ago. I went to the hospital to withdraw and detox from BOTH; but they only really handled the alcohol withdraw; and really, they didn’t… they let me stay in a lot of pain for a long time - and then let me finally relax for a few moments. I was released the next day… but still needed to withdraw from kratom (and really, still detox completely from alcohol). So I started a weaning process; I was VERY close to success and suffered monumental pain and tremors at home. I thought I had it beat at 2:24pm on Sunday…… Now, I still had not slept a WINK since before going to the hospital and it had already been days… 5 days to be exact. But by 4pm, the harshest wave of insanity, pain, hallucinations, just SHEER LABOR that seemed like withdrawal and partial seizures took me over. Everything got bright, my pain was intense, my lack of sleep was making me paranoid… I was praying to Jesus the whole time. IT was too much. I had my wife call 911 to get an ambulance out here. Chris and Barry showed up… and saved me from that sheer terror and took me to the hospital. Now, that is an entire story of its own… but the point of all of this is this - I should not have lived. But BY THE NEXT MORNING, my vitals were the best they have ever been in my entire life. How is that EVEN POSSIBLE? It felt like I went through insane labor and then came out the other side with a fresh view on life; my arrogance, completely eaten alive. And now I’m home for the last couple of days, slowly recovering and regaining my motor skills, my memory… But something unlocked in that process for me. I don’t have to wait for my audience to perform passionately. I originally started out just writing my own songs. I would play some covers to learn on - both church worship and grunge-rock stuff. But when I wrote, it wasn’t quite either of them… it was, like a blend on accident. But it sounds like me. IMITATING came later in the form of those grunge singers of time past…. But that was a phase that was necessary, even if ineffective in its form; because it forced me to know the difference between who others are and who I am. Today, I’m back to my voice - but far more refined. And I will be capturing an actual performance of mine in the coming days… No more trying for so much production anymore - I’m going to capture what I did for Tony and Pete. It WILL make people FEEL and resonate with my story. My song is my sound. My sound is my voice. My voice is my heart. My heart is my life in this body - given back to me when I nearly lost it. So I’m going to give it out to the world.
I might be a little too different! There's comfort in familiar sounding voices, styles, etc. I decided many years ago that I was just going to be me and sound like the best me I could! Back when I was first trying to get signed, and spent a bunch of money on an EP, consultants, PR, etc., I was told that I was too old to market, that my sound was to "all over the place" that I had to have just one trick, essentially, to get anywhere, or I would confuse A&R. So, my journey to finding my "thang" was just so that I could carve out a way to keep going, making, performing and writing music long-term. Nobody can ever take my sound away from me, so I'm at peace with this. I know I can't satisfy everybody, so I focus on the joy, and when I gig, I do originals and my own uniquely arranged covers of my favorite songs. No more being a tribute act, I'm free!
Yes, in the end it's about pleasing your fans, not the whole audience.
Excellent advice, thanks Chris
Great to hear! Sorry for the late response, sometimes I forget about the UA-cam comments that aren't on the blog page.
Nice to hear you ever since the courses ended
Good to hear from you too! Sorry for the late response.
Morning, Chris.
I have no recordings up that really capture what I do live (I came back to amend this and say that “My Skin” on my channel is a pretty authentic performance, actually…) because I had yet to crack the code of how to ALWAYS deliver passionately. It was previously only a thing that happens on the spot when I perform for some new individual or group.
The recording process has often tripped me up.
But…
A few weeks ago, we were having a town wide garage sale and we set up. I put out ALL of my music equipment except for my Tascam DP32-SD, my Behringer compressor, my monitors, and my Canon DSLR with its 35mm lens… everything else, every guitar, bass, amp… every single one with a price tag outside…
I was letting God decide. I shouldn’t have held back the other things - but maybe I should have. My wife warned me to put my primary acoustic guitar, a Takamine from the 90s, back inside the house. So I did…
But NOT until Tony, an older gentleman, showed up and purchased some things. And then I offered to perform a song for him through our banter. He came back an hour later and I performed a song for him, right outside.
It was the best performance I’ve ever done, to that point.
A couple of days later, Pete, a guy who had promised to come back to purchase a short-scale Ibanez, returned… and in that conversation, same thing happened… so I performed for him - same song.
Then THAT was my best performance… ever. And they both said, “Wow, you really have the talent.”
I heard it - I didn’t even really need to be told… I could feel it, too.
For the last two years, I have been taking a “supplement” called kratom which I originally started taking for neck pain. But the usage got way out of control…. Because it’s actually an OPIOD. And I decided that I was going to use alcohol to get myself off of the garbage.
I ended up weaning from the kratom too quickly and drinking too much wine and ended up in an EXISTENTIAL AGONY the likes of which I thought was the worst I had experienced to that point - this was only a week ago.
I went to the hospital to withdraw and detox from BOTH; but they only really handled the alcohol withdraw; and really, they didn’t… they let me stay in a lot of pain for a long time - and then let me finally relax for a few moments.
I was released the next day… but still needed to withdraw from kratom (and really, still detox completely from alcohol).
So I started a weaning process; I was VERY close to success and suffered monumental pain and tremors at home. I thought I had it beat at 2:24pm on Sunday…… Now, I still had not slept a WINK since before going to the hospital and it had already been days… 5 days to be exact.
But by 4pm, the harshest wave of insanity, pain, hallucinations, just SHEER LABOR that seemed like withdrawal and partial seizures took me over. Everything got bright, my pain was intense, my lack of sleep was making me paranoid… I was praying to Jesus the whole time. IT was too much. I had my wife call 911 to get an ambulance out here. Chris and Barry showed up… and saved me from that sheer terror and took me to the hospital.
Now, that is an entire story of its own… but the point of all of this is this - I should not have lived. But BY THE NEXT MORNING, my vitals were the best they have ever been in my entire life.
How is that EVEN POSSIBLE?
It felt like I went through insane labor and then came out the other side with a fresh view on life; my arrogance, completely eaten alive.
And now I’m home for the last couple of days, slowly recovering and regaining my motor skills, my memory…
But something unlocked in that process for me. I don’t have to wait for my audience to perform passionately.
I originally started out just writing my own songs. I would play some covers to learn on - both church worship and grunge-rock stuff.
But when I wrote, it wasn’t quite either of them… it was, like a blend on accident. But it sounds like me.
IMITATING came later in the form of those grunge singers of time past…. But that was a phase that was necessary, even if ineffective in its form; because it forced me to know the difference between who others are and who I am.
Today, I’m back to my voice - but far more refined.
And I will be capturing an actual performance of mine in the coming days… No more trying for so much production anymore - I’m going to capture what I did for Tony and Pete.
It WILL make people FEEL and resonate with my story.
My song is my sound. My sound is my voice. My voice is my heart. My heart is my life in this body - given back to me when I nearly lost it. So I’m going to give it out to the world.
I hope you are cracking that code!
❤️🔥
Nice!
Hi Chris, I’ve added my contact to Sync Songwriter to get information on becoming a music supervisor. Is this the correct way to reach out? Thanks!
I can't help you become a music supervisor, but I can certainly connect with them if you are an indie songwriter.