Some wonder why I always write long songs. Original songs that are over 7 minutes or a little longer. Well the thing is, I can’t help it. I guess that’s what I get for listening to bands that write songs pretty long with such bands as Led Zeppelin, Hendrix, The Doors, Dream Theater, Allman Bros., etc. I try to write shorters songs sometimes but a lot of times I can’t help myself write long songs ’cause I get that by listening to a lot of music that inspired me.

When I start writing new songs again, I’ll probably continue to write long songs. Probably because I write a lot of lyrics to the songs and I like to jam a lot. Ya know, improvise. If you seen a live show of mine, you would see how I would play.

In my mind, a song will end whenever they feel like ending. If you’re the kind of songwriter who predicts ahead of time of how long a song should be then you’re doing it wrong, in my opinion. You should never predict how long a song should be. Just play whatever comes out. My songs are pretty long ’cause I listen to a lot of jam rock music. That’s where I get it from.

Writing long songs is how I write.

Kev

I haven’t posted all day today ’cause I spent most of my day working on music. Spent some time recording vocal parts for “Mr. Tough Guy” and “Be On the Run”. I kept re-recording the vocal parts over and over again until they sounded right. I think I got the vocal parts good enough. I’ll upload them soon.

For my upcoming internet album that I finally started working on, I’ll let everybody hear every song on it by streaming every track. I won’t make the songs downloadable for free until release date which a release date hasn’t been decided yet. I gotta finish the album first and then I’ll decide a release date.

I am also planning to do a professional photo shoot with a real photographer so I can have photos for the album cover and photos for promotional material. There’s a pro photographer I know well in my hometown of Greenwich and I’m gonna see if I can work on something with him this Spring. I already have an idea of what I want the photoshoot to be like.

I’m pretty serious about this album but gonna do the greatest hits thing first. Get that out of the way and then I’ll start writing new material.

I’m planning to promote this album as much as possible and there’s definitely gonna be some heavy marketing on it. I want to get it out there as best I can. I want to take my time making the album ’cause I want to make it a real good one. Gonna try to give it my all. Gonna give it my best.

Kev

I was at Barnes and Noble bookstore earlier this morning and I was reading an interesting article through “Acoustic Guitar” magazine. In the magazine had this interesting article where it talks about the internet being an ugly place for musicians. It’s so true if you think about it. You’re a musician, an acoustic singer/songwriter or you just want to play in a band and all of a sudden you’re getting all kinds of criticism and hate online.

This article tells an interesting story about a solo artist named Frank Fairfield who almost gave up the music thing ’cause he couldn’t take the criticism from haters and doubters. Yes, this guy had a lot of them. I looked up Frank Fairfield in youtube and he seems to be a very popular musician. All of his videos that I’ve seen in youtube has got a lot of views so this is a musician who has gone viral for sure. He’s very good musically though! This is a guy who is not all that famous and he seems to be an unsigned musician.

Trolling for Trouble: The Internet Can Be an Ugly Place for Musicians

I understand where Frank is coming from ’cause I too am a victim of being attacked by trolls, critics and doubters. I’m in the same boat. I too came pretty close to giving up music ’cause of it all.

Yeah, I know the internet is a scary place for musicians so I’m glad I’m not alone on this. All musicians have their share of haters… all of them. It doesn’t matter how good of a person you are, there will always be people who won’t like you but who cares right?

I remember when I first started out in songwriting and guitar playing, I was putting up my songs online and right away people started making fun of me. They were making fun of my singing, my guitar playing and bashing the way I look too. Other local musicians in the music community tried to destroy me. I was a big target at CRUMBS, the RRC (Rock and Roll Confidential, which is a site that’s no longer online, good riddance that is) and other online message forums.

Yeah, you want to become a musician, get your music out there and play your music like everyone else but you gotta learn to stay strong and tough… stay above the negative people. Not everyone is gonna like you ’cause you can’t please everyone. People say that I deserved all the hate and criticism, they say I started it all by calling me a troll and stuff but it’s not true really. It’s the internet… people are crazy as fuck on here for sure.

Yeah, people will attack you for no reason… they will never have anything positive to say about you… people will doubt your popularity and your dreams… call you delusional on a lot of things blah blah blah blah. They will also criticize your music and your talent.

When you want to play your music, you’re going to meet a lot of crazy people so the best thing to do is not give negative people any attention. In the article above I like Bobby Owsinski’s advice that you should ignore the negative haters. I also agree with him that you shouldn’t read the “comments” whether it’s the comments on a blog, facebook or twitter… don’t read any of ’em and he’s so right. I gotta stop reading everything that comes in. Usually when something negative comes in, I’ll just delete it and ignore it. I would usually block the person too.

It is interesting though, how other people think they can say what they want about you but when you do the same to them, you’re the bad guy all of a sudden. It is interesting how other people think it’s okay to say what they want about me but I can’t talk bad about other people or I would get in trouble. That’s messed up. I usually don’t start things with people unless they start with me first but I gotta learn to ignore them completely which is what I’m getting better at.

You can’t give negative people any attention. If you want to play your music, go right ahead. You don’t have to give it up ’cause other people want you to. That’s why they hate ’cause they want you to give it up. The secret in staying above them is not giving a shit what everybody thinks. Just continue to play your music. You only care about the music and nothing else. I mean, look at Metallica for a perfect example. Metallica continues to be one of the most hated bands on the planet but they don’t care. They just keep going with their music by making records and touring, not giving a shit what anyone thinks. You should have that same attitude. When people see that you don’t care about the haters & critics, even more people will respect you for that.

Haters are gonna hate, that’s all there is to it. I stopped caring what people think of me a long time ago. I’ll continue to play my music. Continue to record my songs and continue to play live shows.

The internet is a problem, no doubt. I know from experience dealing with haters & critics. I still get ’em today but that’s okay. I’m a tough dude. I don’t let ’em bother me anymore.

Kev