Coming to the end of a weekend of gigs and I realized that I haven’t really posted anything since my first gig of the week on Thursday.
And today while I get ready for my last event of the weekend I couldn’t help but wonder why?
In my endless thirst for content to get me focused and hyped on working on music and my career I stumbled across a book by Ari Herstand called “How To Make It in the New Music Business”.
Side note here for any musician friends reading this. I really can’t recommend this book enough. I wish I had read it a decade ago. I don’t care what your excuse is, go fucking buy it and read it.
Back to my rant! There is a chapter early on in the book where he talks about cover gigs being a trap for someone trying to foster their career.
He goes on to say that you need to find a “job”, in this case a source of income, that takes your body but not your mind.
Because energy of the mind is needed for creating content and writing.
As I listened to it (since I mostly listen to my books on Audible, do that too, if it works for you of course) I nodded in agreement and didn’t necessarily think about it again.
Coming to the end of my weekend and seeing that I really haven’t put up any posts on any of my social media platforms, I can clearly see that he was right.
I have been playing cover gigs now for probably 13+ years. It is true that I enjoy playing cover songs, and that I am grateful for the opportunity to play these places, and hone my craft.
But after a good weekend of gigs, I don’t even want to look at my guitar for a couple days.
It drains me creatively, having to be “on” at the shows, which I will always continue to do, as a performer.
It really exhausts me.
All that being said I have come to the conclusion to scale it back a bit in the fall, to dedicate the much needed energy into recording an album that my soul yearns to create.
It’s interesting reflecting back on my career. And how playing cover gigs is kind of like renting vs. owning a house.
It’s true, it is giving you a place to live, but at the end of the day you are not any closer to a larger goal.
I wonder how many other things like this that there are in life? Some things are a perpetual journey, and then you die. I.e. Self-work, fitness, learning, etc…
But how often in our lives are we metaphorically “renting” instead of “owning” our journey?
For me that subtle differentiation in something is so important.
Like “gentle” vs “enabling”
It’s imbued with an entirely different vibration. And takes you down an entirely different path.
Do you have any other examples in your life like that?
Thank you so much for reading if you are!
With unconditional love, always.
– Matthew