In the Mind of Nate

So there I was last week, watching a live stream of a music conference that I must tell you was truly a Godsend. One segment in particular, In which the panelists were speaking about how you can give up your day job and do music full-time. This is been pretty much a lifelong goal of mine and I really wish that I had chosen to be in the company of those who felt this way too. It's a real struggle when you're forced to do something outside of your preferred profession in order to have a roof over your head and food on the table. So, like most people after a certain point many of us just except it as a fact of life and "drink the Kool-Aid" if you will. Sadly enough, it's something I've watched many of my former bandmates do. And in some cases it led them to getting toss the aside bye the employer they showed this loyalty to when they were deemed useless. For me, this journey is a series of "what ifs". What if I choose to do things more indepe

A mutual friend had told me that Dean was about to start promoting his new solo project, along with their debut album "Life Lessons" and his new company: "Plan 916" where with the help of Owner Matt Kustom he has developed his own signature guitar pickups. This prompted me to listen to his new album and get some insight into how he formed this new project and his history as a musician Brandishing a persona that appears to be a hybrid of Johnny Depp and Stone Cold Steve Austin who happens to know how to shred on guitar, Dean has been performing live since 2002 with his first band,which was formed in the previous year: Eyeless ,and then with Deathstick,Verfallen and Salvage . He then went onto tour with more notable acts like: The Independents,Black Cat Attack and Darrow Chemical Company and currently is a member of Darkness Descends and Children of October ,and surprisingly a Hip Hip act known as the Draf and Retro Glam . However, "Life Lesso

If you have read the past few posts I have made you may start to realize that being a musical artist isn't always about writing and performing music. Especially if you are a DIY or an independent artist. You have to be your own booking agent, manager, tour manager, publicist and sometimes even your own record label. These dual roles or "wearing many hats" is not easy and sometimes your performance can suffer as a result of it. Many managers also have law degrees, but do not practice. However their education in law helps them read and write contracts for their clients in order to be more effective as representation to their clients. If you would like more information on this topic, I suggest reading this book on Music Law . Here is a musical fact you may not know: Huey Lewis of Huey Lewis & the News actually managed the band he created. Dual roles in music are so common that nobody even gives them a second thought. How bands do you know engineer their own