Some may wonder why I don’t gig too much. Ya know, play my songs live on the stage in front of people. I could go out there more and my play my songs in front of people but the reason I don’t is simply because I don’t care to. I don’t look at music like a job like many out there do. I don’t live in rock star fantasy land, ya know? I’m just into music just for the pure fun of it and just in it for the love of it. I never cared to make money off of music ’cause that’s not what I do this for. Too many bands and artists in this day and age are obsessed with making money and being at the center of everyone’s attention. I don’t have to be like that, ya know? So many bands just gig on a weekly basis and waste a lot of money on studio time/CD manufacturing when they don’t really need to do all that.

What ever happened to making music for the pure enjoyment of it as a hobby of some sort? That’s how I look at my music life. I never looked at music as a “professional” career like many do. It’s very rare these days. There are too many bands and artists who are obsessed with “perfection” with their music when music doesn’t always have to be about “perfection” ’cause “perfection” in music to me is overrated. You don’t need to follow trends in music. You don’t need to play music what others want to hear. Just play music to whatever makes you happy. Music is here for you.

I just read an interesting interview by John Frusciante in this month’s Guitar World, and he said, “I just don’t believe in that game of pretending with music in order to make money and get attention”. He also explained that it’s unhealthy for a musician to live their lives by playing live more than just writing/creating. He doesn’t think it’s healthy for a musician to be on stage all the time and seek attention. I agree with him. Frusciante is a guy who doesn’t care for fame and money at all which is why he left the Chilli Peppers ’cause he felt the workload overwhelmed him and he just wanted to make music for himself and enjoy life.

That’s pretty much how I feel.

Bands/artists are obsessed with attention and money ’cause I still blame it on the mainstream music industry. They all wanna be “stars”. I don’t have to be that. I just want to make music for me although I appreciate the support of my listeners/fans who came to believe in me.

You don’t need to be all fancy in music. To record music, all you need is a cheap home recording rig. Maybe ProTools or an Ipad w/ Garage Band. That’s all you pretty much need. You don’t need to spend lots of money in a studio. When you’re an unsigned musician, you can release music however you want to. You don’t always have to force people to pay to listen to your music. I just like sharing it and getting people to hear it. The internet is a good tool to share your art. I miss the old days when original local bands/artists used to throw music online for people to hear and to share it but it isn’t like that anymore. These days, everybody wants you to pay for something in order to hear their music online and to me that’s pretty shady.

There are very few bands around this area who believe in the Free Music Movement and the Lucky Jukebox Brigade is one of them.

Music should be a community. Where musicians share each other songs, get feedback on it and getting non-musicians to listen to your stuff as well. Nope. It isn’t like that anymore. All bands wanna do is promote themselves to death more than making music and obsessed with playing live. All the promotion of your music, playing live and all that silly stuff is just a distraction from making music.

I don’t care to play live. Playing live is like meaning-less to me. There’s nothing special about playing music in some small place to play for a few people.

Don’t get me wrong, though, I do like playing “live”… I’m just not that obsessed with it. If I got the opportunity to play live, I look at it as something fun. I’ll never look at playing live on stage as a job. I’ll look at playing live on stage as a way to share my songs to people. That’s why I never cared to get paid playing shows. I’m always willing to do free shows. I don’t even care to get paid a few bucks off of playing a gig. I never cared about money playing live. Just wanna share my art for the people who like my music and hopefully attract new listeners.

When I do play live, though, it’ll be only when the time is right and when I’m ready. I’m not that obsessed with playing shows daily or weekly. I don’t need that kind of stress. Playing a show once in a while is a cool thing to do.

As a musician, you don’t need to play live with your music. It’s a choice whether you want to or not.  Just make music for the internet, that’s what I prefer to do more.

As far as playing a show again at a venue, will I? It all depends if it’s the right thing, ya know? If it’s the right venue, the right promoters/bookers, if the bands/musicians on the bill are right, etc. I’ll think about considering it. Only when the opportunity comes up. I don’t really mind playing a few shows a year or none at all. When I get enough new originals written, we’ll see. I might book a show in support of my planned, “internet album”, I wanna get in the works.

Kev