So, what other huge things are going on in my life right now? Well, as you HOPEFULLY have gleaned, I'm working on an album of classic covers. I'm trying to release it in the Spring. I'm not so sure if that's definitely going to be the case.
And, ever the impatient one, that was irritating me. Here's why:
1.) My producer was originally just an artist I hired for my session and was so inspired he decided he wanted to be my mentor/producer for the remainder of the project (and my music career, it seemed). NOW, however, he seems to be losing a bit of steam. Not creatively. He is a WEALTH of creative knowledge and resources that I am proud to be aligned with and completely blessed to work with. BUT, he's a working musician himself. He's got his own album that just came out, with his own shows to do, and his own music videos to shoot. And my eagerness to get this project done so I can GET OUT THERE as an artist appears to be wearing on him.
Also, although he offered his services as a mentor (and definitely HAS provided me with some awesome advice), I was treating him somewhat as my manager during this whole process, and because of the aforementioned responsibilities, he's just not able to be as hands-on and constantly-available as I'd like. I'm new at this, and I'm nervous and excited and amped beyond belief. And it's just a lot of energy to direct at someone who ALSO has his own stuff going on, no matter how much he wants to work with me. I worry he won't actually want to continue working with me after this project is done, at least not on any NEW projects. I could have just tired him out and that's got me a bit bummed.
2.) My producer is busy, and so are ALL THE OTHER MUSICIANS. I'm the only one who's NOT busy, because I haven't released this album, and that's another reason for my eagerness. I want to take four days to respond to a text, possibly NEVER respond to a phone call, and have to pencil someone in two weeks from Saturday to DISCUSS scheduling something else because I'm so busy with my music career. That's where all of the musicians I'm working with are. I'm INSANELY envious of them, and eager to get where they are. I want to put in the work. I'm totally willing to. But, dang, every delay is made worse by seeing people who are already where I want to be.
3.) This is much bigger than I anticipated. This "project" of mine started as a glorified demo, just meant to get me work around NYC and THEN work on a REAL album sometime in the future. I lucked out and found great musicians who wanted to turn my "project" into a bona fide ALBUM, but that means it's costing more money, taking more time (see above), and including way more things I hadn't planned on tackling right now. Like paying for royalties. And getting a website. And taking publicity pictures. And meeting with a lawyer. And possibly submitting this to labels. And researching which labels would even WANT to hear my stuff. And trying to garner fans. And picking a release date. And building a fan place. AND AND AND.... Even ATTEMPTING to think about the big picture makes me a little nauseous and it feels so far away and I'm a bit down about that.
But hey, LIFE INTERVENED. My "project" turned into an ALBUM and that is AWESOME, and YES, that does mean more time and stress, but it also means more IMPACT, more chance of NOTORIETY, more general PROGRESS in my music career than I'd even anticipated at the start.
And so here's what I'm doing to overcome my few frustrations with the project:
1.) Stop treating my producer like my manager. He doesn't need to be consulted for every, little decision I make and he doesn't, if he's really honest with me, WANT to be consulted about the non-musical stuff. Sure, he cares about my album and he's made it abundantly clear he's going to stick with me to the end. But it's not his job to entertain my idle mind. It's not his job and he doesn't have the inclination or ABILITY to walk me through this like a baby. I have to find a way to deal with my own frustration, I have to find a way to keep myself busy and still focused. So I took charge as of 2011 and decided I'd get back to my roots of singing background. True, it's not gigging as a solo artist, but that's coming. And in the meantime, I need some "busy work" to keep me from going insane. So work work work is what I'll do.
2.) Meditate.Nothing like a few "woosah"s to get me to be a bit more zen about something.
The rough mix for the project isn't ready Tuesday, but SATURDAY? So what? What's a few days in the long run?
Your musician friends aren't asking you to sing on their projects? So what? You should be making a name for YOURSELF, not relying on ANYONE ELSE'S name.
It's going to take FOUR overdub sessions instead of ONE to take care of all the extra instrumental changes to the songs? So what? It'll all be worth it in the end.
My album is going to be ELEVEN songs instead of TEN? No. TWELVE songs instead of ELEVEN? No...So what? However many songs, it'll be awesome.
You just have to take a moment to see the beauty in the constant change.
So yes, my album is coming along. Yes, there's BOATLOADS to still be done. Yes, I'm excited about it (so excited I'm going a little crazy). But it will be done when it's done and it'll be awesome and worth the wait. As my mother said, "You only make your first album once." Thank goodness. Doing this again might KILL me, lol.
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