When you want to be a musician and become a part of the musicians community, yes, you are literally going to be surrounded by a bunch of assholes, huge egos, drama queens, attention whores and you’ll have to deal with a lot of “cliques” but… playing music is not about making friends with everybody and trying to make everybody happy. That’s what a lot of musicians and local music fans mistakenly believe. You’re gonna deal with a lot of bullying, harassment and others making fun of you and all of that stuff but you have to ignore everyone the best you can and fuck everyone, ya know??? You’re gonna have heated feuds with other musicians and not get along with a lot of them. Like I said before in this paragraph, I’ll repeat myself once more, “Playing music is not about making friends and trying to make everybody happy”.

You picked up your instrument for a reason. You spent many years of your life trying to get good at what you do. Whatever you do, play covers or originals. You either sing or play an instrument, whatever.

To me what being a musician is all about is making music ’cause YOU enjoy doing it. Music is here for you. You’re here to make music to share it with the world. Whatever your goals and dreams are in music whether you do music for the money or not, you must focus on that and not worry about what others think. You’re gonna get haters. You’re gonna get doubters. That’s just the way music works. No matter how much controversy or backlash you get, you gotta keep moving forward with your music and only concentrate on that. You need to focus on your dreams and goals, not worrying about how everyone else feels about you good or bad.

I like what I do. Just making music for the internet and not worrying about becoming a star or anything. I just make music ’cause it’s what I do. I don’t care to perform on a large stage in front of thousands of fans. I’m fine with recording music at home with just a simple recording rig on a computer or an Ipad. That’s all I need.

You don’t need to play music to make friends or to be a star. I’m not in it to make friends or to be a star. You play music ’cause you enjoy it. I play music ’cause it’s how I live my life. Without it, I would be nothing. I love guitar playing and that’s all I wanna do. You should have that same attitude as well.

Kev

I probably did this list in the past a couple of times before but I’m gonna do it again. A lot of people wonder why I’m always critical about Albany’s music scene. I have been a part of the Albany’s music scene for over 10 years. Had my share of performing some gigs (which I don’t do much anymore) and I have supported other local bands shows (which I also don’t do much anymore). I have no interest in the Albany music scene as much as I used to.

In this list, I’m gonna name 10 reasons why I think the Albany music scene is crap. I know some musicians around here and some local band lovers are gonna get their panties in a bunch, cry about it and get all offended but I don’t care. I’m a realist and tell the truth no matter what anybody thinks. Some of you out there may even agree with everything I said but either way the truth is gonna get said.

Here we go:

• THERE ARE NOT TOO MANY VENUES TO PLAY AT: Venues come and go around here. I’ve seen it happen all the time. Long time venues close down and new ones open up. This is one reason why it’s getting harder for bands and musicians to book gigs ’cause of the lack of venues around this area. No places to play at anymore. You may play at some crap bar rooms and coffee houses, that’s about it but you’re not gonna find too many venues with a large stage.
• SHOW BOOKINGS ARE GETTING MORE STRICT: If you’re a cover band or an original country/bluegrass act, you’ll do fine in booking ’cause that’s what everyone wants to hear… but for an original rock band or a solo acoustic act, good luck on getting gigs around this area.
• TOO MUCH NEGATIVITY, DRAMA and OPINIONATED PEOPLE AROUND HERE: Need I say more??? There are way too much musicians and local people around here who feel it’s okay to say what they want about others. A lot of bullying and harassment around here. Especially online. I’ve witnessed too many crazy stuff with musicians around the scene. A lot of people like to look at musicians as friendly and wonderful people but not all of them. Yes, there are a lot of scum bags and dishonest people around here that you can’t trust, get over it.
• TOO MANY PEOPLE WITH LARGE EGOS: A lot of people like musicians living in their own delusional fantasy worlds. Thinking they’re rock stars and all.  Too many who think they’re the shit. Not naming names.
• PAY TO PLAY HAVE TAKEN OVER THE SCENE: I have noticed this. Pay to play is a new thing in this area recently. I would NEVER do pay to play just to get my foot in the door at some bar. Not gonna do it. Musicians are too dumb to fall for these “pay to play” schemes around here. When you get a gig booked and the venue gives you tickets to sell, that’s “pay to play”.
• TOO MANY BAND COMPETITIONS AND RADIO CONTESTS: This have been going on a lot in this area. Band competitions and radio contests where they have local bands enter and they win “big prizes”… Yaaayyyy!!! Ridiculous prizes like $5,000 worth of studio time, opening for a national act and shit like that. You don’t need to win awards to prove something. Yeah, your music may be good but that doesn’t mean that you’re gonna win every competition out there. I hate when bands enter every contest. If I ever get my own band going, I’m never gonna enter these things at all. I’m totally against band competitions. They’re nothing but popularity contests, that’s all they are, in my opinion.
• NOT A LOT OF GOOD TALENT AROUND HERE: There may be like a few good bands and solo artists that I like around this area but that’s about it. I remember in the 90’s, there were a lot of great local acts but there’s not much good talent anymore. The scene isn’t what it used to be.
• NOBODY GOES TO SHOWS: Once again if you’re in a cover band or if you’re in a country/bluegrass act, then you should be fine getting people out to your shows… however, if you play original rock, metal or acoustic music good luck on trying to get people to support you at your gigs. It’s very hard to get people to go out to your shows. No matter how hard you promote your show and no matter how many people you ask to come out, nobody shows. Chances are an original rock band or acoustic act would probably get a small crowd like 2 – 10 people.
• IT’S GETTING TOUGHER FOR BANDS TO GET NOTICED: Yeah, it’s getting tougher for bands to get some local press here like making the cover of newspapers or getting radio interviews… things like that. I don’t know why it is but it is what it is. There is a lot of great talent getting ignored around here.
• THIS SCENE IS OBSESSED WITH DRINKING AND PARTYING: Sorry to say but I’m not a party kind of person. I used to be but grew out of it. It’s amazing how this area is obsessed with drinking alcohol at local band shows. It’s like it seems that’s the only reason people go to shows for in this day and age. Bands playing at bars and clubs is getting popular around here ’cause all people wanna do is drink and get hammered. Well guess what, I’m not that kind of guy. I’m not a bar and club kind of person. I stay away from bars and clubs as much as possible. I try to stay away from playing at bars & clubs and I have played gigs at them before but if I were to play a bar and club again in the future, I would have to get paid for it. It be nice if we had more non-alcoholic venues like Cafe Lena for bands to play at but the bar and club scene is dominating this area.

That’s it. Enjoy it or get pissed off at it or whatever.

Kev

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

I’m usually accused of bringing the hate and drama upon myself around musicians. When a musician is getting harassed, criticized and bullied by other musicians, was it something that this musician did? Did this musician bring it upon his/herself? When you’re getting all kinds of hate mail, comments and messages by other musicians in your music scene… the last thing you wanna do is think that it’s something you said or did. It’s not. It never was.

Don’t ever think that you brought any of this upon yourself or think it’s your fault. It was never you to begin with. It’s just how musicians are. A lot of egos out there. That’s just how the music world is. People will just hate you for no reason. Like I repeatedly said many times before, haters are gonna hate and it’s true. They just have nothing better to do, ya know?

Usually when musicians go off on hating are the ones who aren’t successful. They don’t really have much of a career. Just bands who may play a few shithole bar rooms for like once a month. The more successful and established bands wouldn’t have time for hate and drama. The successful bands wouldn’t go off on hate ’cause they know it would be an unprofessional thing to do.

Some bands go off on hating and criticizing ’cause they think they know so much… they think it gives the right to be all opinionated about you and shit, ya know?

Like I said in a post before, it’s actually good that people are hating. Sometimes you need the bad publicity in order to get yourself out there and I’ll admit it, all the bad publicity I got over the years helped my web presence get more well-known.

It’s not me. It’s not you. It’s just how the music world is. People are always going to be judgmental and opinionated about you. You gotta ignore it as best as possible and not care what people have to say about you.

Even if you did say things that pissed other musicians off, who cares. You have every right to be yourself however you want to be. Other musicians don’t have the right to tell you how they want you to be. You have your right to speak your mind. You have your right to tell your truth and express your opinions. You have the right to speak about music however you want to. If other musicians have a problem with it? Fuck ’em.

I’ve had that problem with other musicians for years. Without naming names, some of them thought it was okay to change my personality and try to change who I am ’cause they didn’t like the way I talk online. I tried to change for the better. I really, really did but no matter how much I try to change for the good, people will always be hating and being negative. No matter what I do. That’s why you shouldn’t change for anybody if they don’t like you. Don’t ever let musicians control you if they don’t like you.

The only thing you wanna focus on and the only thing you wanna care about is yourself and your music. That is it. If you wanna have a happy and positive music career… stay out of drama and negativity at all costs. Don’t respond to any of it. Let it slide right by.

Just keep playing your instrument and doing the thing you love doing best. Once again, it’s actually a good thing that you get mixed criticism and opinions. That’s exactly where you want to be anyways. You’re on the right track. Think about it, if no one responded and no one cared, then your music isn’t going anywhere.

A lot of musicians out there think they know so much and know what they’re doing but in reality they are misinformed about a lot of stuff on how to be a real professional musician which a lot of them don’t know much about.

Just keep playing and that’s all you wanna do. I’m never changing for anybody and you shouldn’t either.

Kev

I haven’t had a topic on local music in a long while so I thought I would come up with something.

I’m sure some of you guys know that I have a lot of critics and haters from other musicians around the scene. I’m not the only one who goes through this. I’ve seen other musicians who have become a victim of bullying, hating, and bashing by other musicians too. It has always been a bit of a problem in unsigned music. The so-called professionals thinking they’re better than you and trying to put you down the best they can.

You see, playing music is not about making friends and getting everybody to like you like a lot of musicians mistakenly think. The fact of the matter is that playing music is for you. Music is here for you and that’s it. Just play music ’cause you like it and fuck everybody else. Just play your music and continue to be yourself.

On a side note, it’s actually a good thing to have haters. It’s not really a bad thing at all. I have been a target of haters and trolls for years and it obviously still happens in the musicians community to this day. If you’re getting too many people talking about you good or bad, that’s actually good! That’s gotta say something… it’s letting you know that you’re doing something with your music and you’re good at it, ya know?

That’s the name of the game when it comes to bands & artists. You wanna make music, get your stuff out there you’ll always get a mix of haters and fans. All bands & artists go through it, believe it or not. Not everyone is gonna like you. You can’t please everyone. Even the most popular and most successful bands & artists have a lot of haters & critics.

Just don’t listen to everyone’s bullshit and focus on the people who do like you. Trust me, caring people will come around and support your music. Everybody has fans no matter how many haters they have.

Once again, just focus on your own music and not worry about anyone else. That’s what I do. I don’t have time for drama and games. I just wanna play my guitar, lift weights, and enjoy life.

Don’t be upset over the haters. Be flattered and take the hate as a compliment anyway. When you get yourself out there, you’re gonna run into a lot of assholes and egotistical musicians. Don’t let that stuff bother ya or bring ya down.

Most musicians online make fun of me ’cause of my online web presence. They think it’s funny to do and do it for comedic material pretty much. Some just do it ’cause they really dislike me for whatever reason and they become obsessed with it.

Just goes to show that most musicians around here (if you can call them musicians, that is) are very childish and unprofessional people. If some of these guys wanna obsess with me instead of their own music, that’s fine. Let ’em damage their own reputation.

I enjoy what I do… playing my music and doing my usual online things… blogging, social networking, etc. I don’t dwell on the past. I’m about moving forward and focusing on my own future. I’m more worried about improving my talent musically. Trying to become a better guitar player and singer. Trying to take my talent to the next level as you can see. I’m enjoying it a lot.

Kev

Musicians are crazy animals. They really are. They are egotistical. Arrogant. Self centered. A lot of them can be delusional and they live in their own different worlds. I know how musicians are ’cause I’ve been a part of the local music scene for 10 years or more. I’ve seen how they are online (social networking and local music forums) and I’ve seen how they are in person at the gigs.

A lot of musicians make the mistake that they need to meet as many musicians as possible. Form their own community or their own group of friends. I disagree. If that’s what they’re all about… forming a large community of musician friends or networking with other musicians, then they are doing music for the wrong reasons, IMO. To me what music is about is making it and sharing it for people. You don’t want musicians as your fanbase ’cause musicians don’t count as fans, in my opinion. You want to attract people to your music who are non-musicians. You want to focus on your own thing. Not worry about what this guy is doing and what that guy is doing.

When I started out in the scene, I used to agree with being a part of the music community and networking with other musicians but I’m not about that anymore. Now I think that being part of a musicians community was a mistake.

When you want to put yourself out there, be ready for a lot of spiteful criticism, hate, bullying and harassment from other musicians. I’ve been dealing with this garbage for years. I just learn to ignore this stuff and take the spiteful criticism as a compliment. Musicians seem to treat you how they want to ’cause they believe that their successes and achievements gives them that right. Don’t let this stuff get to you.

The funny thing is, when musicians claims they are busy, have so much successes and accomplishments… they still seem to get into a lot of online drama and bullying with you. Ya know, when musicians claims they are busy and successful… don’t buy into it when they wasted all that time fighting with you online. Think about it… if they were really “busy” and “successful” as they claim, they wouldn’t take all their effort to write that stuff to you. If a band or an artist was really “busy” and “successful” they wouldn’t have all that time for online drama. They would be out there doing their thing… making their music, playing their gigs and all that stuff. The real successful bands don’t have time for online bullshit.

So next time you get into an argument or an online war with a musician and when they make claims like, “I’m a busy musician who plays a lot of gigs in front of a lot of people”… don’t buy into their bullshit lies. They’re just trying to make themselves look better than you and putting you below them. That’s all they’re doing. They’re just trying to make you feel jealous of them.

They claim that they are successful and big but when they obsess with picking fights with you online, then they probably aren’t. They are just a star in their own mind. There are too many idiots around here calling themselves musicians and “established” acts.

The last thing a band wants to do is say stuff that they are big and successful. You want the people to tell you that.

Don’t trust other musicians ’cause why? It’s because you’d never know how they really feel about you. Too much backstabbing and drama going on.

Only believe in yourself and your own music. Who cares what everybody thinks about you. Just continue to do your thing musically by making your music and sharing it with other people. That’s probably why musicians go off on hating you ’cause they know your passion for music and they know you love sharing it with people. Don’t feel bad if other musicians don’t like you ’cause it’s actually a good thing! It’s letting you know that you’re a good musician and they don’t like it.

Kev

I understand that local bands and solo acts want to move forward, achieve your dreams and get some successes but you don’t need managers/promoters to do all that. I know some local bands around here rely on managers to do all the work for them like marketing, booking them shows, etc. Sometimes I can’t understand why bands need managers to move forward when they can simply do all that on their own.

I understand that when you’re on a record label like indie/major, you’ll need a manager but when you’re a local band… no. All these successful bands make claims that they got there with hard work and they claim they are a “do it yourself” band… well, when you get a manager/promoter… technically that’s not a “do it yourself”.

When I see bands that rely on mangers to get themselves out there, it gets me thinking that these bands know nothing about marketing. In reality, they’re lazy as hell on the promotion part so they hire someone else to do all the work for them since the band themselves know nothing how music works.

You see, I have seen plenty of successful bands that got to the next level without managers/promoters. They got there with good marketing strategies. They were the best at marketing. I do know that some local bands around Albany hire managers or a promoter… sometimes I even get e-mails from their managers asking me to review a project for my blog site.

In my opinion, I think some bands get managers ’cause they think they’re special. It’s their way of showing off to everyone how successful they are. Instead of having the band/artist themselves contact me directly, they have to have their manager/promoter do it. Why??? It’s because I just think that the band themselves think they’re too important. They think they’re too good to contact you directly if you know what I mean. I just look at managers/promoters as if they are the band’s personal assistant.

Bands don’t want to admit that they are lazy at promoting themselves so they have someone else do it. Marketing yourself without a manager isn’t that hard to do. You just gotta do some planning, thinking and research marketing & promoting skills of your music.

Once again, I’ve seen some bands get some great opportunities without the use of managers. It can be done. You just gotta learn and do the work.

In my opinion, I think bands having a manager is just pretty silly. They’re just playing rock star, that’s the only reason they have one. When bands & artists rely on managers, you gotta watch out for them.

I give the most respect to bands who do all the marketing and booking of gigs themselves. You can still go places with your music without relying on managers. Read and study the industry. You’ll be surprised of where your music takes you if you do all the work yourself.

Kev

I only helped that one band for that “Festival of The Dead” show competition ’cause I thought I would be nice and try to help out and spread the word a bit but predictably the band I tried to help, Skull Bandit, didn’t win the gig. Which explains another reason why I hate band competitions and contests in this area. I actually dig that band’s music which is why I tried to help a little bit.

You guys know that I am no fan of band competitions and contests. I can’t stand those Battle of the Bands type shows and I hate these online voting things where you get to win to play for a huge show.

You see, when you’re in a band you don’t need to enter these stupid things to get to the next level. That’s cheating, in my opinion. I have seen many bands that got to the next level without entering any competitions or contest at all. They got success and more exposure on their own with hard work and dedication.

When you enter these garbage competitions, all you’re going to go through is humiliation and disappointment. You don’t need to go through all that, right??? You don’t need these competitions to tell you whether or not you’re a good or bad band. As long as you’re out there playing gigs and making fans, that’s all that should matter right????

It is very hard to win these things ’cause chances are most of these competitions and contests are fake, rigged… blah blah blah. The organizers behind these competitions have already picked the winner way before the deadline. It’s usually the band with the biggest fanbase and the bigger ego is usually the winner.

You don’t need to win stuff for your music. You’re already a winner by getting your music out there, playing gigs, and making new fans. That’s winning. Not winning some $5,000 prize to record in a studio or become the headliner of some ridiculous festival. That shit is worthless. What’s more important is your music. That should be your first priority… not sharing your music in front of idiot judges telling you whether or not you’re worthy to win the big prize.

I never enter myself into these things for a lot of reasons. Even if when I get a band of my own, I will never enter any competition or contest.

You can land yourself studio opportunities and get yourself great gigs without entering contests. It takes hard work and dedication. I will never be a part of this stuff no matter what. I’m not that desperate for attention. I just do music for the love of it.

Kev