Whenever I talk about this stuff, the topic of musicians around the Capital Region being so egotistical and arrogant jerks, no one will believe me. Instead many would think that I’m just trolling or bullying… ya know, being the bad guy but I’m not at all. I’ve been a part of the local music scene for many years; I’ve been a part of local musicians community for like a decade or over so I pretty much know how musicians are. I have eyes and ears so I see and hear things. Why would I make this stuff up?

What are the reasons that musicians can be so egotistical and arrogant? There are many reasons really. One of them is that there are a lot of musicians that believe that they are so good at what they do musically and they know it. They are not afraid to tell people that they are so talented. Whether it will be singing or playing an instrument or both, if they’re good and they won’t be afraid to brag about it publicly. There are even musicians out there who are not that good musically, but they still happen to have a huge ego problem. I’ve seen all of this over the years.

A lot of musicians can have huge egos, but the egos can be worse with the more popular and established musicians. Trust me, it can be pretty crazy in the local music scene. I used to gig myself and I used to hang out with other musicians at other band shows so I know what it’s like out there. It can be pretty crazy online too.

Once again, I know not all musicians are a bunch of egos and arrogant jerks… some musicians can be great people. All musicians are different. We have different attitudes, different feelings and different personalities. That’s all I can say. A lot of musicians just like to be themselves.

The thing is there are so many musicians who are so protective of themselves and very protective of their music. That’s why some of them can’t take any disagreements or criticism of any kind ’cause they can be way overly protective of what they do. Their egos gets much worse once they go somewhere with their music. Their ego grows larger the more popularity they get and the more success they get with their music. That’s how it is around here, really.

Interacting with musicians in the scene may sound fun but it isn’t always fun. If you don’t want to deal with the egos and arrogant jerks around here, you gotta weed ’em out. Only interact with the musicians who are good to you. If you find musicians who treat you good, supports your music and your playing then that’s who you want to support back. Why would you want to support musicians who are nothing but stuck-up assholes,  ya know? There are musicians out there who are wonderful people, down to earth and humble… you just gotta find ’em. My advice is that don’t support musicians who always look down upon you and always treating you with pure disdain ’cause you will meet musicians who’ll always put you down and act more superior. There will be musicians out there who will act more superior and think they’re better than you. Those are the ones you gotta ignore.

When you want to play your music and get yourself out there, you can’t be intimidated by the egos ’cause you will definitely meet some out there. Never let them think they’re better than you ’cause they’re not. We’re all musicians. Nobody is superior than anybody else. So because a musician or band has had some success with their music does not necessarily mean they’re more superior. There will always be those who think they’re know it alls just because their music went somewhere. Don’t let them bring you down. Just play your music and do your own thing.

I’ve had plenty of musicians over the years of my life who thought they were bigger than me and acted like my music was nothing. Don’t let any of that bother ya and just continue to play. Never let others think they’re better than you. I never did.

For years, musicians and promoters complained about the person that I am and they still do. That’s okay. I am who I am. If other musicians think they can be themselves then why can’t I, right? Never do things to please other musicians and just be you. I just want to play my music like everyone else and it’s that simple really. I don’t do this to become a rock star like many nowadays, all I want to do is make music and that’s it.

That’s all I got to say about that for now.

Kev

Nowadays, it seems to be getting easier and easier to piss off musicians in your local musicians community. No doubt some musicians have really short tempers and they go off on a lot of things even the small stuff. I’ve been a part of the musicians community for many years so I have seen their behaviors over the years of my life.

If you don’t want to piss off a musician then don’t do or say these things:

• Criticize their playing or singing: A lot of musicians around here can’t seem to take criticism that well even if the criticism is constructive. They may not respond to it so kindly. I’ve seen musicians defend themselves each time they’re criticized by somebody. I’ll never forget the old local music message board days. It’s still a problem today.
• Say you’re not into playing music for the money: This seems to upset some musicians for whatever reason. Each time I say that I don’t play music for the money at all and I just play music for the love of it… that seems to offend some. It only seems to upset musicians that likes to make money for playing music. There’s nothing wrong with having an opinion of playing music for free and playing music for the love of it. Not sure why they get upset at this one. It’s either out of jealousy or they can’t take the truth.
• Say you’re not into this to become a rock star or an established act: Many musicians are into it to become rock stars. They all want it, they just won’t publicly admit it. You want to say that you’re not into this to become big stars and just want to play for fun, you might upset some in the community. I’ve seen it happen before and even I’ve experienced this. I don’t play music for fame and popularity. All that is cool but that’s not what I do this for.
• Tell them that they have a huge ego problem: This one will pretty much do it. Tell them that they’re ego-driven, arrogant or full of themselves or whatever, they’ll become immediately defensive. If they refer to themselves as a “humble” person then they probably aren’t. If they’re getting mad then just proved that they have an ego-problem.
• Tell them that they have an unprofessional attitude: This one will do it too. If you tell them they have an unprofessional attitude, they’ll go off. Many musicians around here can have negative attitudes. There are a lot of jerks and mean people out there, trust me. Not all musicians are the same and not naming names, though.
• Tell them they aren’t a real musician: I’ve seen this a lot over the years. A lot of musicians want to say that they play their instrument on a professional and advanced level, but when someone comes around and say they don’t… watch out. They get all mad for some reason.
• Disagree with something they’re doing or something they said: They don’t seem to take disagreements with you so well either. You want to say that you don’t agree with them of how they’re promoting themselves or how they’re booking their gigs when all you’re doing is looking out for them but they get all pissed off anyways.
• Have differences of political views: Politics in the musicians community seems to be a real problem. There’s a “right vs. left” problem in the musicians community too. Some musicians will kindly accept others political views if they’re different but most of them don’t most of the time. A musician has conservative views other liberal musicians around the scene won’t take it so well and vice versa.
• Tell them that they don’t need to do band competitions just to get somewhere like “Battle of the Bands”, voting contests you see online and on radio stations… things like that: I was never a big fan of competitions for bands that you see out there. Most of them are a “scam” anyway and most of them are looking to make a quick buck. I never did band competitions of any kind and I avoid them like the plague. If other bands and solo artists want to do ’em, that’s fine by me. They’re just not for me. That’s not what I do this for.
• Tell them that you don’t need to do crowdfunding to make an album, go on tour or release an album: I never agreed with all that pledgemusic, kickstarter and gofundme bullshit. I avoid that crap like the plague too. I hate it when bands and artists do this shit too. It’s their prerogative if they want to do it but not for me. I would never start a crowdfunding campaign when I do an album and I usually never donate to other bands either. I never once donated to a crowdfunding campaign. It’s all ridiculous, in my opinion. I don’t need to take money from fans.

Well there you have it, hope you enjoy the read.

Kev