Over the last ten years or so, I have been observing how local musicians act professionally. I have been a part of local music for a long time now, so I know how a lot of them act. The thing is, a lot of those guys think they are professional acting musicians but truthfully, they are not. I know a true professional acting musician when I see one, and there aren’t many around here. There are very few around here that can be true professionals and know what they are doing. Being a professional musician is a learning experience indeed. I have learned a lot from it over the years. Over the years, I look at how I put myself out there to people in person or online. When you want to become a musician, put your music out there for the world to hear, you must put yourself out there carefully, off and on the computer. Doesn’t matter where you go, or who you talk to, your professionalism affects everything.

A lot of musicians make the mistake that you can act how you want as a musician. You can if you want to, but it’s all up to you whether or not you want your dreams and goals destroyed, or worse destroy yourself as a human being overall. Being professional is key to having a successful music career and if you want to go forward to having bigger opportunities.

I have been noticing that bands & musicians act like professionals on their official facebook pages, but when they have their own personal facebook page, they have a different personality. Acting like huge egos, going on negative rants, bad attitudes, acting like comedians, etc. All that is fine and good, but when you’re a musician, you must have a professional attitude on your personal facebook pages too. Which is why I like to treat my personal facebook page a more positive direction. I like to stay as positive as possible these days. I do it because it’s best for my music and myself as a person.

I really did learn that being a negative nancy or a troll will get you no where in music, and wish other musicians around here would learn the same thing but they never will. Oh well, let them continue to act like unprofessional douchebags, ’cause all that is doing is proving my point that’s what most musicians around here really are, douchebags. When I say this stuff, other people will of course, stick up for them, and I would get called the badguy just for calling out their unprofessional behavior. Gotta love it how people think they can get away with this stuff.

Another secret to acting like a professional, is never get into any negative drama of any kind with anybody, whatsoever. If there is a huge flame war online with other musicians, stay out of it. If you’re not getting along with other musicians, ignore them and brush it all off. If you’re getting bullied or criticized by other musicians, don’t reply to any of them, at all. I’m learning all this stuff, as much as possible.

Sorry but trash talking other musicians (including me), is pretty unprofessional behavior, no matter what you think of it. If you don’t like a musician, keep that opinion for yourself and move on. There are still other musicians I don’t like, but I try my best to keep those opinions to myself. There are too many crazy and delusional musicians everywhere.

If you have a professional attitude at all times, it’ll make music life much easier for you. I have been criticized for my professionalism all the time, and I still get criticized by people, but I don’t let that criticism bother me. What people say or think about me, is entitled to their own opinions, not factual. Having a professional attitude will get you more respect by the public, no matter who you are. I’m not the bad guy that some people try to make me out to be, it’s just that there will always be people will think of you that way, no matter what. It’s all bullshit, I know, but if you want a good music career, you have to be strong and tough to get through all the bullshit. Sometimes it’s worth it going through all the drama and negativity in music.

Musicians and other people in the music scene think they’re hot shit, they’ll want to think they are a better person than you, and if music is what you like to do, then you only concentrate on that alone and not worrying about what other people think. Period.

Kev

There was a commenter in this blog that said, not all drummers and musicians who play other instruments, will not want to play your songs live in the studio. You know, just go in the studio, plug in your instruments, and record the song in one take, all the way through without stopping. You see, this is where I disagree with this guy.

You can find plenty drummers and other musicians that are willing to play live in one take in the studio. Believe me, there’s plenty of talented musicians out there that can play everything and anything. Those are the kind of musicians that I would prefer to work with ’cause if you listen to my songs, I like to jam out and improvise. I like to wing stuff out as soon as the record button hits, that’s how I always wrote and recorded songs.

There will be musicians willing to play live in a studio instead of tracking separately at a time. You just need to find the right musicians and why you need to audition. There’s going to flubs (as another word for mistakes), yes, but that’s why it’s called, “live”. That acoustic demo I did in 2006, that ten song demo was recorded in one take, all in one day. Yes, there were a few little mistakes and flubs, but that’s okay. That’s the fun part of playing live.

There are plenty of bands that record their albums in the studio live. Just rehearse the songs good enough before recording them in the studio and it can be done very successfully. You don’t need to be a perfectionist in music. Just play and enjoy.

Kev

So we’re talking about how to become a respected musician by the public. You see, begging for respect, if you’re getting a lot of haters & doubters, is not going to cut it. You’ve got to earn the respect yourself carefully and responsibly. Not only that you need to be positive at all times, leave your ego at the door and be professional. There are other ways to earn respect by the public, just by simply working hard on your music and concentrating on that only. If you concentrate on the music only, not getting into any kind of online discussions, rants or other bullshit, and not getting into any drama of any kind, that is one way to earn respect. Other ways to earn respect, is work on your music and improve your talent. The better you become musically, the more respect you will get. Just work hard on your music, and play the gigs, the respect will come to you on it’s own.

If you do get into online discussions with other people, be careful with those too. I know how musicians love to go on rants online but at the same time that can be dangerous for your career, professionally. Words do come across people, if you say wrong things. There’s nothing wrong with a musician being honest about things, but there are better ways of handling it. I still like to be real and honest about things to this day, but I learn to get better at it, by not being so aggressive as I used to be, and learn to leave names out of things.

Yes, there will always be those kind of critics who will always dislike you, no matter how good of a person you are, but you can’t please everyone, right? Pay no mind to those kind of people and just continue to be you. Those critics and haters will always be around, no matter what you do. So don’t reply to anything written about you, and continue to do your thing.

Who knows, maybe the critics will come around and respect you later, once they realize that you are talented and can be something special. Give it time, don’t worry about negative feedback and before you know it, you will become respected on it’s own. Keep working on the music and who knows what may happen. The internet gives people the freedom to be honest, just take all feedback with heart.

Kev

You see this all the time at local band gigs and acoustic acts. Singers, singing with their eyes closed throughout their entire sets. I could never understand why. When I ask this question, why singers sing with their eyes closed, I can think of a few reasons that could be possible.

1) They have stage fright.

2) Their way of concentrating, trying to remember lyrics and stuff.

3) They feel emotion.

I disagree with closing your eyes while performing. I always thought it was important to have eye contact at the crowd at all times. Watch my live videos in youtube, and you would notice immediately that I never closed my eyes once. It’s called confidence people. If you don’t have the confidence performing, then there’s no need for you to be up there performing to begin with.

Eye contact at the crowd is important. It’ll let your audience know that you’re right there with them and it shows that you’re not afraid of being on stage. It makes you feel more alive. You want to show the audience that you love performing, by keeping your eyes open.

Yes, there are a few exceptions when performing on stage with your eyes closed. Sometimes it’s good to perform with your eyes closed only when you’re performing a powerful song that gives everyone goosebumps. When you’re playing a ripping guitar solo or singing an intense vocal melody with passion, those are a few good reasons to perform with your eyes closed, when you’re performing a mind blowing song.

You don’t want to perform with your eyes closed randomly or for no reason. When you tell people this stuff, they’ll claim it’s for “concentration”, when you know it’s a lie. I think they do it ’cause they are scared performing in front of people still, period. Like I said, it’s okay to sing or perform an instrument with your eyes closed during a mind blowing performance.

Don’t be a coward on stage. Practice at home in front of a mirror with your eyes open, that will help build your confidence up.

Kev

Do I see myself as a professional musician??? Some people mistakenly accuse me that I think of myself as a “professional” musician, but I know I’m not one. When you want to play an instrument whether it would be a guitar or whatever, it’s your choice whether you want to play as a hobby or professionally. I choose to do it as a hobby. Just something fun. That is it. Yes, I could forward my career to a bigger level if I wanted. I could try and get signed to an independent label, and have the label do all the work for me, get good opportunities, play bigger stages, and bigger venues. All the good stuff other bands are getting, but I don’t care to get all that as I repeatedly said.

The same goes for playing live gigs. I consider that as a hobby and for something fun to do as well. I think a lot of musicians and bands take themselves waaayyyy too seriously when it comes to gigging. A lot of musicians and bands would gig for other reasons. For example, a lot of musicians like to perform live for their own ego, to be at the center of everyone’s attention. They want to try and get many fans as possible. Some of them gig just for the money alone. There’s a lot of musicians that aren’t passionate enough about gigging even if they look like it.

Well, I am passionate about gigging, 100%. I love performing live in front of people. Can you see it in the live videos of mine? I love sharing my songs with other people. I love interacting with the audience and getting a reaction from people toward my songs either good or bad. I just love that feeling of getting up there and rocking out. Yes, I know I haven’t played a gig in a long while, but I’m trying to get back out there. I don’t really need to gig, but I do because it’s an awesome thing to do. I see too many musicians at live gigs that look bored to death playing on stage and they don’t look like they’re having fun. Playing live for me is like going to Disney World or Universal Studios. You may like going to amusement parks and going out to have some fun, but playing live is what I call fun, more than anything.

If I ever get myself a rock band, I would treat gigging the same way, treat it as a hobby and something for fun. You see? Music is just fun for me. I don’t do it to become the most popular musician in the world. If you’re that kind of musicians that wants to shove your music into everyone’s faces, that’s fine. That’s not me, ya know?

Yes, I do like getting new fans and supporters who truly do like my music, I appreciate that. I don’t take music so seriously, and just want to write, write, write. I just like putting it out there and getting responses from it. I like the mixed reactions, good or bad.

I do want to get back out there playing live and trying my best. Need to write a new batch of songs which is what I’m trying to do ’cause I want to forget most of my old songs and focus on mostly new ones. I’m still getting requests that I should bring back my old ones, which I will but only a few of them. I need to move forward and focus on new material. Go different directions and evolve. I don’t want to be playing the same songs, and the same styles of music, all the time, ya know? I want to get better and improve my talent some.

Music is a beautiful thing in life. No need to take it seriously. You don’t even need to play live at all if you don’t want to. Just play at home just for yourself. Music is in my blood and always will be.

Kev

I love how they stopped the anonymous attacks at the CRUMBS blog. For some reason, a lot of trolls like to go to the Times Union blogs to attack me anonymously, which is one of the reasons, I hate the Times Union blogs ’cause most bloggers over there are horrible moderators that a lot of them shouldn’t even be blogging to begin with. I thought the Times Union was supposed to be a family friendly paper? Yet, they continue to let anonymity attack other people, except the CRUMBS blog were kind enough to stop it.

Now you see why I have to review comments before posting here? It’s because I have a lot of anonymous trolls on the internet. They attack at other places ’cause they know they are not allowed to do it here. Wish those trolls would get a life. The Times Union blogs are crap, except for CRUMBS which is the only one that I read.

Kev

Before people get mad at the title of this topic, let me explain. Hell, some of you out there may even agree with me! A lot of musicians and music fans mistakenly believe that musicians playing in bands or acoustic solo, they make music to please as many people as possible, when in reality, that’s what music shouldn’t be about. There are reasons that someone wants to become a musician or singer or whatever. Many personal reasons. Not just for the enjoyment and fun, but playing music helps make them become a better person. Playing music is a good stress reliever for people. Playing music makes people stronger and happier. Can help people have better things in life. Making music helps people go through good and bad times in life. Helps people keep going and stay alive. Those are the reasons why I play music.

If I don’t get popularity or don’t get recognized with my music, I’m okay with that. If I get other people hating my music and think I suck, I’m okay with that. You should be okay with it too. As long as you’re creating music for yourself, creating art, making yourself happy, that’s the only thing that should matter. I feel good being what I am. A musician and songwriter. It’s pretty much all I have in life, you know? I don’t know what else I do if I didn’t do this.

You can play whatever genre of music makes you happy. Write songs however you want to write them, and not caring what anyone else thinks. Sometimes there are people that tell me how to write songs how they want to, and sometimes people tell me to play what genre of music I shouldn’t be playing. For example, people told me I should be a country & folk songwriter, but that’s not me. I’m a rock n’ roller and quite proud of it, thank you.

Metallica is a perfect example that fits this topic. That bands just plays whatever music pleases them, not caring what other people think. If they want to move away from the speed metal genre and try other things, they can feel free to do that. That’s the power of music. The freedom to do whatever you want to do.

I like people supporting my music, don’t get me wrong, but music should be about making yourself happy, that’s it. You don’t have to stop because other people want you to and you can’t let those haters/doubters bring you down ’cause people want to see you fail in music, that’s why they are what they are, trolls and haters. You don’t have to be music perfectionists. You don’t have to take yourself seriously. Just play to make yourself happy. That’s what music is here for.

Kev

Those few songs I’ve recorded in garageband recently, I just recorded little bits at a time and put them together. I don’t like recording that way. Never did, and here’s a few reasons why. First of all, it’s very difficult and challenging to me to edit small pieces together without making the music sound like they skip to the next riff to the next, know what I mean? Sometimes there’s little bits of silences in between the riffs, it’s hard to make the tracks sound good. The second reason is, you can tell the tracks are edited and clipped, the songs just don’t sound good when songs are edited like this. Just my opinion.

I know there are so many bands and artists that record in local studios that record little bits and pieces at a time and put them all together, but I don’t believe in recording that way. I only recorded that way in garageband, just to get the hang of the software and learn how to use it.

The way I always recorded over the years, I would write the song first, and record it all the way through. Like a live recording except it’s in a studio or at home. Live recording is better ’cause it makes the music sound better and more real. It also shows that you can really play. It won’t sound like it’s edited, and all that stuff. I recorded my first demo in 2006 in a studio this same way. Just recorded all 10 songs in one day, like it was a live concert. Another reason live recording is better ’cause it makes it easier for overdubs like guitar solos or other instruments or whatever. It just makes you sound more human recording live at home or in a studio.

If I ever record with a band in a local studio sometime, I’m going to record the songs the same way. Record all the full band stuff live. Just hit record and away we go. Just write the songs first, rehearse them good enough, and record them live in the studio. Live recording is awesome. You should try it sometime. I think I’m going to record this way in garageband from this point on.

Kev

Have you noticed that there are way too many egos in unsigned music as of late? Just look at social networking sites especially facebook for proof. I have been mistakenly accused of being an ego-maniac myself by some certain folks, but over the years, I never once had an ego problem. I never thought I was better than anybody else at all, and I’ve been accused of hating on other talent or people thought I was a better musician than everyone else. Not true at all. I know there are local musicians out there that are way better than me, I’m not stupid. I also respect talents of all kinds.

If you want more evidence of how I’m not an ego-maniac, I’ve treated many local talent with respect in this blog. By giving them shout outs ’cause I dig their tunes, giving them reviews, or interviews or things like that. I would plug in their videos or songs if I like them. That is me being respectful to other talent right there.

Over the years gigging, I never believed in being a superstar “headlining” act. I think the “headliner” is silly in local music, no such thing, in my opinion. So when I’m playing at a gig sharing a show with other acts, I don’t mind playing first, somewhere in the middle or last. I also don’t mind getting paid very little or not getting paid at all. I also don’t mind playing a short set when I’m told to.

I’ve tried to be friendly, kind and fun to talk to musicians over the years. I don’t care to hog the spotlight of other musicians ’cause I want other musicians to succeed and forward their careers. I try my best to give other talent respect, but I can’t support everything ’cause there’s so much music out there and that’s why I only support the stuff that I like, you know?

On my facebook fan page, I try to be respectful and try my best to not sound like an egomaniac as possible. The trick to not having an ego problem. Just stay positive. Get rid of your bad attitudes. Too many musicians have ’em, not naming names. Stop being a big shot musician. Stop having the “I’m Great, Listen to me” attitude. If you want to promote your shows and your projects, you must be careful how you put that stuff out there. Everything you put out there matters and what you write on that keyboard. Some musicians and bands don’t promote themselves good. You let the people decide if they want to like your music or if they want to come to your show.

Yes, I’m sure you’re a great and talented musician, but that doesn’t mean, you have to go out of your way bashing other musicians who are not at the same level of talent as you, this is not aimed at anybody. I’m tired of the, “I’m a better musician than you” game, it’s all over the place. I’ve seen enough of it. When I post my songs or live performing videos, I never posted things like, “Watch my great video”. I just put it out there and let people give feedback on it. That’s not having an ego problem at all. The same thing when you play live gigs. You can’t be an ego to club owners or on the stage.

I’ve always been a positive guy toward other talent. So to those who say I’m a hateful person, just don’t know what they’re talking about. They’re just being an ego-maniac themselves.

Kev