Seamus.TV Episode 4 online now

There’s plenty of time to sleep when you’re dead

A fly on the wall look into my late night songwriting process (technically referred to as jammin’).

Never Tell People What You Are Planning

That’s the advice I read from Derek Sivers and I reckon he is one guy who ears should flap enthusiastically towards, so I have left a post I got ready for Seamus.TV unposted, and made a different video instead.

The unposted vid was about all of my plans, and as I mentioned in the last post here, it was a kind of “this is who I am, take it or leave it” thing to all my nearest and dearest.

But it was wickety-wack; Those closest to me know I am a “lone nut” and they only wish me well. I reckon they would just prefer to let me do my thing and I shouldn’t worry so much about what others think.

So I am just forging ahead. I am loving the idea of making music and video blogging about the process and co-creating a source of inspiration for all musicians who may feel frustrated, burnt out or hard done by, for those musicians who think they are too fat, too old, too ugly, too shy, too lazy, too un-hip, or too remote. Every time I bring these kinds of feelings and issues up with musicians anywhere, they all latch on to it enthusiastically. I think a lot of musicians feel the same (that it all isn’t working out for them) and I think we all need to address what “it” is and turn it around. So that’s my mission, to do this for myself (well I already am) and to inspire other musicians to do the same.

Oh wait! There I go - announcing plans again! Sorry Derek, I’ll shut up and get on with it!

So here is the latest episode:

Seamus.TV – A Musician’s Guide to Giving it a Red Hot Go

To “give something a red hot go” is Aussie slang for giving something a try, for having a shot at doing something.

It’s  not about me preaching about “how to be a rock star”, that would be not be keeping it real – that would just be silly.

Rather, it’s a diary of me getting my music out there and generally raving on like a loony hopefully inspiring you to do the same.

So I’ll be making great music, having fun promoting the music (on and offline), and trying my damnedest to find a  bigger audience to dig my musical vibe-ola.

Yes, I still REALLY need to get a better camera. Yes, I have a LOT to learn yet about video blogging. No, I don’t think it’s better to wait until all the ducks are lined up: Real artists ship. Check it out:

Seamus.TV – A Musician’s Guide to Giving it a Red Hot Go

If you like it, please subscribe to it, or connect with me via Facebook or Twitter and let me know what you think. That would mean the world to me.

Ok I gotta go, I got a gig tonight.

Introducing Seamus.TV

Hey! I am happy to announce that I have decided on a name and concept for my new video blog - or vlog as “the kids” call it.

Seamus.TV - A Musician’s (Potentially Dubious) Guide to Giving it a Red Hot Go

I am pretty excited (and nervous) about this new project.

The reason I am starting another website is because I simply believe that those who get in now and start their own online TV shows will be in a good position to get some serious eyeballs and opportunities in the years to come.

So while what I have there now is pretty simple and the video and sound quality is totally shit, I will improve this over time and I am hoping it will grow into a really interesting source of inspiration for musicians all over the world.

The basic premise of the show is this:

• I have privately (sort of) come to the decision that I cannot really be happy doing anything else other than pursuing my music (doing the right thing by my health, my family and society aside that is).
• I have come to the conclusion that there is nothing sensible about “sensible”. What I mean by this is that by playing it safe all we achieve is mediocrity. I have been pounding my head against the desk for years now trying to come up with a “sensible” career option - but I cannot make it work despite ample raw talent - because I simply only have one love - music (and yes, writing, the two are inseparable to me).
• What this means is that I will never really achieve any great level of satisfaction and/or income doing anything but following my passion.
• So, while I will always make sure that I first meet my responsibilities to my family (which is pretty easy really), once the rent is paid all bets are off. “Sensible” can go fist; I am up for some Epic Shit. I don’t care if it IS a damn fool idea, I am chasing that beautiful, wonderful, music all the way to Zanadu.
• And I reckon there’s plenty of people out there, other musicians, who could use some support and inspiration to make the same crazy (smart) decision that I have made. I would LOVE to help somebody reignite their passion and put their musician hat back on in a big way. So while I get on with making and promoting my music, I will be documenting the process through Seamus.TV

So there you have it. Now all I gotta do is tell my wife - Ha!

Seriously, that is the theme of my next video post - announcing the above plan not to the world “out there” (that’s easy) but to the immediate world of my partner, family and friends.

THAT’s what I am a bit nervous about - not of failure or looking a like a mug (I’m used to that shit) - but of putting the above plan to those people in my life who know me, have seen me try all kinds of wacky schemes and who probably just wish I could be happy settling into a nice, sensible career.

But … Sensible? Stuff that up a dead duck’s arse!

I am pretty hopeful that the people closest to me will be cool about it. After all as my best mate Peter Owen said to me the other day (something like): “You and the normal world = square peg and round hole”.

Amen to that.

So go check out Seamus.TV and subscribe by email or RSS

2nd video blog episode

Below you will find the second episode in my new video blog experiment.

If the experiment works, and I continue to publish this, I may put it on it’s own domain and find a better name for it, but for now this is all about getting the ball rolling. It’s not about preaching how-to do things that I have no right to teach - it’s about taking people with me on my journey as a musician, and joining others on their musical journeys. I want to connect with all the people out there who (like me) sometimes let their enjoyment of being a musician suffer for various reasons (mainly Fear aka The Lizard Brain) but who (like me) MUST keep making music all their lives no matter what.

I have been working on this for a few days and to be honest it has been really hard to hit publish because my Lizard Brain is resisting like crazy. It is saying:

“Aaagh! Don’t do this - everyone will laugh at you!” (Well maybe they will laugh, more likely “they” won’t even notice.)

“You can’t publish this - the video and sound quality is terrible!” (Yes the quality is a very much on the lo-fi side but I am publishing anyway. If I stick at this video blogging lark I will get a better camera.)

First Seamus Video Blog Post

I have been wanting to do this for ages, but my Lizard Brain kept feeding me reasons why I should hold off till later.

Until today when I said “Screw it, let’s do it”.

This first post, completely spontaneous and unscripted, is a ramble touching on what this blog is about and where I see it going - essentially what it means to be a musician, how to get satisfaction as a musician (as I reckon 99% of us are frustrated) and ways to differentiate ourselves as musicians. I don’t actually answer these questions yet - but feel free to start up the convo!

I recorded the above video on my iPhone, same goes for this song below called “Never Gonna Be A DJ”:

Depth and Focus

Just reading an awesome free E-book called “What Matters Now“, compiled by Seth Godin; love this quote:

what produces real work (and happiness for each of us,
in my opinion) is depth, focus, concentration and
commitment over time.

By one Steven Pressfield.

It’s not a very trendy thing to say but it is the truth. It’s why I don’t seem to use that Twitter account I briefly flirted with. It’s why I will pursue my music until my pursuing days are over.

Speaking of which, two advancements today in that area:

1. An awesome new vision (virtually worthless until realised of course)
2. A new iPhone sketch, and right on-message too:

An Interesting Life

New song flavoured with a genuine hangover, some minor stuff-ups and a hint of lawnmower in the background. The Scarab Bar is in Belgrave, Victoria but it could be any bar anywhere right?

If you like ze tune zen please download and/or use the share function to ping it around the world, around the world, around the world, around the world (repeat).

Are You Too Old To Be A Musician?

The answer is “no”.

You are never too old to be a musician.

Maybe you’re too old to be a pop star for the teenage market - but do you really want to be that?

Just make your music dude, and don’t worry about how old you are. Age is meaningless.

In Defiance of the Lizard Brain

I was sitting in my little office in the backyard at about 4:30pm yesterday thinking about wanting to record and that little chicken voice, the one Seth Godin calls the Lizard Brain, was giving me the usual crap:

but you need money; make money then you can relax and make music.

Suddenly I just took on board Godin’s whole message from “Linchpin” (brilliant book, read it). I reached for my iPhone, pressed a button and recorded this:

… and by the time I went to bed I had figured out how to convert the file into something usable and it was online and available worldwide.

OK so it took me about 10 minutes to make the cover, and it’s pretty lame - but I can come back and fix that later.

OK so it’s recorded in one take on a Dictaphone. OK so it’s technically sub-standard - but you know what? I don’t mind.

Listening back to it, I like the way it sounds; it reminds me of a Neil Young song recorded around a campfire back in the 70s. I even like the 20 seconds of nothing at the end (the world needs more quiet moments of nothing between stimuli). Polished recordings have their place but so do quick n’ dirty guerrilla recordings. And meanwhile, the lyrics are exactly perfect for the statement: it’s about contributing - now, while you have the chance - not passively consuming.

OK so just because it is available worldwide doesn’t mean the world cares, but that’s not the point.

The point is more people are going to care than if I don’t record it and, just as importantly, release it (Godin calls it “shipping”). Don’t record and release - move nobody. Record and release (however flawed) - move somebody, somewhere for sure. And as an artist, all I really care about is moving people with my art, making a difference.

So bugger off Lizard Brain, get thee to a nunnery and I’ll call you when I actually need you.

I’m going to record and release a whole album like this over the next week or two; the working title is “Recorded on my iPhone (in defiance of the Lizard Brain)’.

Thank you Seth, you moved me with your indispensable book.

Two-Step Music Success Hypothesis

Having completed the last rash of music work, getting the reckoning website and store up, recording my Anti-Christmas carol Friggin’ Christmas and then pushing it all ‘out there’ a bit online, I’ve been taking some time to read up and get some strategic ideas about what my next move in the cut-throat world of big money showbiz will be.

I have become convinced that there is more opportunity for artists now than there ever has been … BUT … it’s all up to the artist - i.e. you.

The following is my incomplete, two-step music success hypothesis. Incomplete as in there are surely more steps - hard work, persistence and people skills anyone?

By the way - I hypothesize because I neither want to preach what I cannot claim to practice nor do I want to blab on about things I’m “gonna do”. Theory is theory. It has a tenuous relationship with fact at best; might as well be honest about that.

First Step - Self-Empowerment

When I started out in music back in the early 90s, the best you could do was get an awesome thing happening, get as well known as possible locally and then hope you got picked up by a record company or a national booking agent or whatever. Sure, there were skills useful to making this happen (high-powered suction capacity being just one) but even if you were good-looking and available, it was kind of hard to sweet talk a record executive when there weren’t any within a 700 kilometer radius.

Now this has changed. I think a lot of musicians know this but, just in case you don’t - there is now nothing difficult about recording and distributing your music globally from your bedroom. It’s pretty much a given. The only thing stopping you is a lack of self-empowerment.

Even at my incredibly advanced age, I’m not that well-off that I don’t have to scramble to find the money to record, buy a better instrument or press a bunch of CDs, but if you scramble enthusiastically, you can usually find the dosh you need.

It also takes patience to learn how to market your music online, how to record your own music on your PC, do your own cover art  - or how to score a chick who can do your art for you - a specialty of mine - but you can learn new skills. All you gotta do is empower yourself to do it.

For some people this ain’t easy, but it is doable. If you live in the first world and you ain’t getting your art out there, then that’s because of YOUR failings not the screwed-up system. Turn of the video games and get off the pot - it’ll help.

The next trick is rising above the noise; getting noticed.

Second Step - Make Like Dog Balls (Stand Out)

Low Cost Recording and Worldwide Distribution Are Easy - Now What You Gonna Do?

I can’t remember if I am paraphrasing Seth Godin or Derek Sivers (aka God) but I am pretty sure both have commented that the real trick these days is not getting the music made and available, but marketing it in such a way so as it gets noticed, talked about, bought, borrowed, stolen, cared about.

There is a great line in a Pavement song that goes something like: “Songs mean a lot when songs are bought”, and terrible as it may seem to the sensitive amongst us, I am afraid it’s true. Whether people buy the songs literally on CD or online, or via concert tickets, or via a t-shirt doesn’t matter. Money is energy, when they trade money for your stuff it’s ‘cos it means a lot to them.

So How Do You Stand Out?

Well, it’s simple - Ha! - be remarkable. And this brings us back to self-empowerment.

If you empower yourself to make your music, to learn how to use all of the tools and resources available to us and to stand out and be unique, different, original, remarkable, amazing, commendable, outstanding, pass-on-able, memorable, wonderful, essential, must-see-able - and if you have all of your other hypothetical little ducks in a row - then you may do well.

This is my challenge as this new decade comes around.

It ’s probably yours too.

Good luck.

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