Tag: personal growth through music

  • From Vaporware to Victory: A Story Behind “Coming Home”

    From Vaporware to Victory: A Story Behind “Coming Home”

    It’s one of those moments when I need to remember that I should go back to my old way of announcing things, when they are already done. There’s an extremely prevalent issue in the music industry where things get announced and then they don’t happen. I’m sure it’s the same in the tech world too. They call it Vaporware. In music it’s just par for the course. In a way, it’s like Coming Home or full circle.

    For the longest time I had lots of things going on around me early on in my career. Where lots of opportunities were getting promised, along with tours, merch, signings, etc… I immediately learned not to open my mouth about them because so many of them turned out to be hot air that went nowhere. By my 2nd album, I had learned that it’s better to have it all in the pipeline and on it’s way before ever uttering a word. Today’s artist that does this best? Taylor Swift. Say nothing until it drops.

    Which is why, I’m bummed at myself for my last week’s update. I was so sure that I’d get a certain aspect of my email setup working that it was gonna fly on Thursday and be ready for Friday. Then plans changed. I didn’t get a chance to work on it, and even now a week later – it’s still not fully functional. ARGH!!! Thus, know that if you sign up on the email list right now, you can. That is working. Even the intro emails to welcome you in are working. That’s a plus. But it’s the true functionality that I was hoping to be ready, that is still not ready.

    Coming Home Cover Art

    Which leads me into this week’s release: Coming Home. When this first came out, several decades ago, I had members around me that were gung-ho and labels that were on the prowl. While I like to express happy news and I don’t tend to harbor bad news (meaning I’ll straight shoot it at you), I had band members that were more willing to shoot off about all the good things as if they were already a done deal. Then the original release date got postponed – the manufacturer fucked up the initial run. Therein is the lesson – until shit is in your hands: “Shut the fuck up.”

    Coming Home was an homage from that first album. An homage that wasn’t a secret, and yet somehow it still flew over a lot of heads. Very few people got it. Which is fine, but I couldn’t make it any more obvious from a writing and playing standpoint. Like the torch got passed along, I picked it up and passed it on again.

    The remix of this particular song is something. The re-release of it is even more. A spark that sent me down a road I didn’t expect 2 years ago when I started futzing around with my back catalogue. To that end, it really was a matter of Coming Home. Figuratively and literally.

    Coming Home has been one of my favorites for a variety of reasons and an upcoming version of it is the pinnacle of that, more on that soon. Though as the world learned yesterday, you also can’t always count on AWS (Amazon Web Services).

  • Why Thankfulness Matters More Than Talent in the Music Industry

    Why Thankfulness Matters More Than Talent in the Music Industry

    Thanksgiving 2017 has rolled up on us (my U.S. friends). What are some of the things I am thankful for this year?

    Thanksgiving 2017

    I am thankful that I have family who support my musical endeavors.

    I am thankful that I have a gift in creating music for you.

    I am thankful that I have fans that love what I do.

    I am thankful that I have been able to recover (slowly but surely) from a large theft.

    I am thankful for the team of people who are forming around my music.

    I am thankful for the people involved with a music festival / conference I’m putting together.

    How About You

    What are you thankful for, drop me a comment.

    p.s. – may you have a wonderful experience with your friends, family, and/or loved ones this day!

  • Why Winning Music Awards Takes More Than Just a Great Song

    Why Winning Music Awards Takes More Than Just a Great Song

    Moving Into The Lead

    There’s a little event coming up called the Utah Music Awards. My single Touch has been entered into the process for Best Pop Song and for Best Music Video. There’s an ancillary award called the Audience Choice Award. Currently Touch, as I write this post, has been moving into the lead. But there’s a hot contender that is moving up fast.

    Awards events can be a massive boost to the ego, or they can be a massive drain on the ego. I’ve won in the past for my song Falling In. That was a such a cool feeling. I’ve also been in the prelim rounds of the Grammys. I’d really like to make it out of the prelims and into the nominations round.

    There’s an awful lot of work that goes into making people aware of the music being voted on. I’ve got a couple of friends that have won Grammys and its essentially becomes a full time job sending out the music, making friendships, calling in favors, and generally asking people to look out for your music – then vote on it. A lot of moving parts that have to coordinate.

    Utah Music Awards Audience Choice Vote Here

    Hit the link, throw a vote on it and help boost my ego a little bit. I’ll be a sour Jedi Knight, ala Anakin, if I lose to a cover song from a two year old movie.