I know a few of you have been wondering where I have disappeared to for these past few months so I just wanted you all to know that I am alive and well and I have mostly been producing a new album for another artist in the USA. I have been working on the project for about 4-5 months now. Its a big project for me and I have the duty of doing the entire project as a producer and doing some song writing to. Its an exciting step forward for me even though it may not been under the Frankmusik brand. Plenty more info will come about it in the near future. Also side note, I will be posting much more about what I do as Frankmusik the producer rather than just the singer which is mainly what I am known for. Its so frustrating how many people I meet who here my music for the first time and just assume I sing and the backing tracks just make themselves. You can apparently only be a producer if you have never sung and released a song in your life, be a DJ, own a million dollar studio and where sunglasses with silly shirts with dragons on it. Well that is why I released the instrumental album so I could show where all my time really goes, into the production. I digress. Since with quiet time on social media and in public in general I have plenty of opportunity to think about what I am going to do next with Frankmusik. The good news is that I believe in my work more than ever (I think). I just needed some time to live a little more life and get inspired by my own journey again. Away from music though life has not been easy for me or my family for the past year or so. We have had to deal with a tiresome and arduous legal situation that I touch on in a couple of songs on my last album. But all you can do is carry on right? Well this is what I am doing. I am reading many more books again from Terry Pratchett to Malcolm Gladwell and its opening my internal horizons in ways that I have not experienced for quite some time. I am even drawing again and riding my BMX. My new attitude is when in doubt work and I feel its been paying off. There is no point forcing an album or trying to make something because you think you should. It has to come from a place that is burning, a place that is familiar but also changing and evolving yet resolute in creating something new and interesting. There is no correct way to work and live in the music industry. Some people just have a little more talent, luck or jut sheer stubbornness to get ahead in this world. But we all run our own race and to compare yourself to others is the first sure way of making yourself go crazy. For the longest time I have felt ashamed for continuing in my journey of music making. For most people I meet at bars or in social circles I am always given the look or response of how can you survive in the music industry if I have never heard of you or the people you have worked with? Its surprising how defeating that can be after a while. Thankfully there was a day I stopped punishing myself and it was when I realized that musicians have an odd job in a way I never thought of before. Yes we keep strange hours and yes we have an artistic temperament but the real kicker for me was my new Plumber theory that dawned on me at an airport in Russia. It was 7 am and I was in Burger King of all places eating something awful, like onion rings and as I sat there eating for the only purpose of not being hungry I looked up at the rather large tv they had in the seating area and an Ellie Goulding music video was playing. It made me think how easy it is to go crazy in the music industry if there were not already enough reasons. Which leads me to my plumber idea. I imagined my job as a musician being the same externally, but I had a different occupation internally. So I played it out in my head and this is what I came up with.For the sake of this example the plumber will be a man for no other reason than I myself am a man but yes you can put a woman in this example if you so wish. The plumber is asleep in the morning and is awaked by his radio alarm clock and hears on the radio what the order of the top 40 plumbers were this week and hears 3 minute examples of why they are in the top 40 list. He gets shaved showered and dressed to go to work. He then gets in his transit van and turns on the radio again to hear an interview of another plumber explaining their excitement and pride at the fact that they will be plumbing in front of 70,000 people at a plumbing festival. Our plumber gets to work and does his job fixing broken pipes and testing boilers for the day. But a lot of his clients wont pay him until all the work is done in full and will only be paid if the client likes the look of the pipes and craftsmanship. Also he may not get paid a penny at all as there is this amazing way of getting plumbing done for free now that everyone is using. Sometimes he does the work and gets paid a year later or only gets paid a tiny tiny sum every time the tap is turned on. But most of the time he signs contracts that mean that he wont get a thing because the client is still paying for the cost of the pipes and until the pipes have been paid off our plumber wont get a penny.Even if he wants to dispute the contract most solicitors will say to him Isnt that just part of the plumbing business? Meanwhile there is a never ending amount of people explaining on a reviews website for plumbers that our plumber did an okay job but they thought his last plumbing job was better and he should probably stop plumbing because he sold out the moment he went to work with a big company in america. The reviews are scathing and were only subjective opinions rather than objective reasoning. The plumber did a lot of work that day like he did everyday knowing that even though he has been doing this for over 10 years most people will never know he is a plumber, just a guy with a tool box that walks into peoples houses sometimes for some strange reason. There is also this awful new thing called Plumify where plumbers do a job and after people have watched the job the plumber gets paid 0.05 cent for their effort. But its good because it means he gets to be seen with other plumbers in a playlist. Thats right right the plumber asked himself doubtfully. But our plumber chugs along knowing that he may never become a top 40 plumber or be loved for his work and only ever mocked and criticized by people who dont know how to be plumber. So he finishes his job at 7 am the next day although he started at 11am the day before and goes to the shop to do some groceries for one final reminder that paralleled the start to his day. The plumber walks to t he check out to pay for his groceries and just before he reaches the checkout he sees a shelf full of square plastic cases that house images of better, cooler, younger and more successful plumbers than himself. But the plumber just walks past and puts doubt to one side. The plumber rounds off the next day with a dinner party where he had to explain to every other guest why no one had ever heard of the plumbing he had done. The questions never stopped and the looks of pity and disappointment were clear as day as the plumber did his best to justify his labor and choices to people who stopped listening as a top 40 plumber showed up at the party. Now everyone wants to talk to that plumber instead. When our plumber did mention something that one person in the party had heard of, the guest told our plumber to stop name dropping. It was after I played out my life through the eyes of another persons occupation that I realized that yes it sucks to be a musician most of the time. But there is no book, no apprenticeship or teacher who can ever prepare you for the real challenges of living a life in music. You could be Mozart and people would scoff at you if they themselves didnt have a clue about your work. Its because of this that I realized that I wasnt jealous of Ellie Goulding on TV instead of me in that airport in Russia. I was jealous of everyone else in the Burger King who didnt care less who was on the TV to start with. I wish I could remember how that felt sometimes. Life is complex and I fully embrace complexity. I know I would hate a life of mediocrity and ease. But sometimes things do get a little on top of you. I guess I wrote my plumber story not to insult plumbers or anyone with a proper job but for those of you out there who have experienced similar situations with people and environments doing a job like ours. We have no unions or support from government or other organizations (that do much). We are at the mercy of opinion and money. Yes I would love to disregard all silly things like and live my life like Picasso but we are in an age where you need the internet to do your job well even though it comes with a ton of dross. You guys keep me going though and I am sorry for being away for so long. But I think David Bowie (Official)once said you have to go away sometimes to come back. Thanks for reading
Posted on: Sun, 11 Jan 2015 02:53:30 +0000
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