Wednesday 4th Octobre, 2023
Well well well, what have we here?
Over a month late on this journal? Where have I been? What have I done?
I won’t labour the details… Instead I’ll guide you swiftly through my September!
Firstly I turned 31, & with every birthday, I got all existential & philosophical… since then I’ve had some big revelations that I’ll be sharing with you soon… mostly next week though. I’ve been writing a copius amount of songs, I’ve been on two little holidays, one to the Giant’s Causeway with my sister, & one to Hamburg & Bruxelles with friends.
Now that I’m back, I’ve had my first week of my final year in college, & my first week of a very intense Circus training course. So my body, my mind, & my soul are exhausted… & I’m happier than I’ve been in a barrel of weeks.
Right now I’m sat in the front row of Ireland Music Week. This year I don’t have the same ferocious networking intensity as I did before. I’m more concerned with meeting nice folks this year… cause honestly, right now, I don’t really need to meet many people. Some songwriters, producers, & artists would be great to chat to… but not many industry folk.
I’ve felt, for a long time, that I was an outsider in the industry. Recently I had a chat with a very talented music manager in Ireland. He asked me some questions about my project, he told me how he’s handling his artists right now, & gave me a good sense of what’s expected of artists in the industry. (it’s basically what I said once upon a time: “as an artist, you need to prove to the industry that what you’re doing works”.) Towards the end of this meeting he started recommending people I should reach out to, or get to know… & what I found was shocking. I knew pretty much all of them, or I knew of them. It turns out, I know more people in this industry than most! So much for being on the outside…
I wonder if that’s the case for most of us. Do we have more than we’re aware of? Do we diminish our own assets & value? I dunno… being in the Circus world, it’s easy to compare yourself to other Circus artists. Suddenly your ability to balance a piano on your chin is a normal thing & not a novelty that people love to see. Suddenly, you feel a little less unique. As a Musician, having an album released.. A WHOLE ALBUM… doesn’t feel that amazing or unique when you’re surrounded by dozens of people with albums.
In the Circus course we had this comparison of flexibility. If you sit on the bus, you’re probably one of the most flexible people on it (if you’re a Circus artist)… but if you go to Circus school… you might be one of the most inflexible. Your skills, talent, uniqueness is dependant on your surroundings.
So as a little exercise… take a moment, step out of your world. What is it that makes you unique? What amazing thing about you do you take for granted? I guarantee there’s at least one thing. For me there’s a whole bunch, mostly because I’ve had a weird life & odd hobbies.
Okay, that’s probably enough for now.
Starting to get glances from the panelists… my typing is a bit loud. :U
Nathan
