Keeping Those Fires Stoked – The Importance of an Artistic Community

Last week I had a great chat with an old friend from high school, Justin Best.  Justin is in post-production for his first feature length film, Face On.  I haven’t seen it yet, but it looks incredible in the clips I’ve seen online.  He wrote it, directed it, produced it, edited it and when he lost his composer, he got out his musical gear and scored it.  Not only is it an incredible undertaking to play all these roles, but to be willing, out of necessity, to dig down deep and take on another role to see it to the finish line… it not only demands respect, but it’s inspiring.

Now, I still feel that fire in my belly when I hear great music.  When I sat down just now and put on the headphones, “Head On” by The Jesus and Mary Chain and then “Thirty-Three” by the Smashing Pumpkins came on Apple Radio and I said to myself, “Hell yeah, I still want to do this!”  Sometimes though, you get down on yourself and that’s not enough.  Although I often joke I prefer records to people (and it’s mostly true), it’s like Hugh Grant said in About a Boy, “Bon Jovi once sang, ‘no man is an island.’” 

We need a community of artists around us. 

Much like Justin, I wear a lot of hats:

·      Songwriter (music & lyrics)

·      Arranger

·      Producer

·      Recording Engineer

·      Multi-Instrumentalist (guitars, bass, keys, harmonica, mandolin, vocals, drum sequencing and any other object that makes noise)

·      Editor

·      Mixing Engineer*

·      Art Director

·      Photographer

·      Graphic Designer

·      Record Label CEO

·      Website designer

·      Marketing & Social Media

·      And I’m sure there are things I do that I’m forgetting because when things need to be done, you just do them, you don’t think about what role you’re playing.

This can be exhausting at times.  I love the work, but it’s a lot.  A lot.  Most people see the sausage, whether they like it or not, and they have no idea how much work goes into making the sausage.  “Oh look, Jeremy wrote a song.”  Yeah, there’s probably 50 hours of work in that song.  It takes a long time to create and only a moment to consume. 

But I look at what Justin is doing and I say, “that’s awesome.”  If he can do it, I can do it.  He is equally encouraging of my work and those words go a long, long way some days.  Those notes and conversations, much like conversations with my friends Travis Dolan (who does my final mixing and mastering) and Mark Anderson (creative person extraordinaire) about creativity or the creative process, those keep the fires stoked.  Maybe we’re just talking about plug-ins or workflow, not real sexy topics, but you’re getting better and there’s an unspoken sense of being in the trenches together. 

Getting better keeps you motivated and you don’t get better alone.