In local music, there is always this never ending debate on whether certain musicians & bands are established acts. Established – meaning being well-known and recognizable. Sometimes people would debate this toward my own music as well. There is usually this argument on whether or not my online web presence is more popular than my music or whatever. Whether or not that claim is true… I don’t really care. The last thing you wanna do is care whether or not you’re an established act in your area. You don’t want to call yourself an established act ’cause that would make you look arrogant and a bit egotistical. You want to let the people tell you that. There are too many delusional musicians thinking they have made it to the point where they are successful and “established” when technically, they are nothing

Even if you’re not established and successful, who cares. Just play and enjoy. That’s all you need to worry about — not being desperate for popularity and fame. Just be appreciative of what you have now. Just never take yourself seriously and just play for the love of music. Don’t worry about chasing dreams and moving forward. It’ll be nice to play the bigger stages and play in front of thousands of people but those dreams should be secondary. Your first priority is working on your music.

Even if you’re still playing the small clubs and craphole bar rooms, you should still feel appreciative for that.

In reality, though, all of us musicians are successful at what we do. If we’re playing our music… writing it, recording it and performing it… that’s being successful in my book. Not playing the bigger stages and performing in front of thousands of fans.

We’re in this day and age where all local musicians want to become big stars. You see all these big and successful local bands being marketed and heavily promoted everywhere while all the unknown bands & artists continue to struggle to get recognition. That’s a huge part of why I think this local music scene is getting so bad. It’s getting tougher for musicians to get in the spotlight.

What I’m trying to say in this post is that you don’t want to look like that you’re trying to move forward and become successful. You want to look like that you’re enjoying the love of music and being passionate about it. Not caring about success or fame. Even if you do get success or some fame… don’t embrace it. Don’t acknowledge it. Just continue to act like you’re a nobody. People will give you a lot more respect if you don’t realize your success.

If you call yourself an “established” act and thinking that you’ve “made it”; chances are, this musician is a huge egomaniac who all they do is jerk themselves off with their accomplishments. That’s not the kind of attitude you wanna have.

I may not have made the cover of Metroland yet or opened for a national act but that’s fine. I’m not worried about it. Sure, those dreams maybe fun and glorious… don’t get me wrong but I don’t give a shit to get there.

I just wanna play my guitar and write songs… that’s all I wanna do. Although, I do appreciate getting supporters and fans myself. Being the big star to me is kind of silly. I don’t need that kind of attention.

Kev