Day jobs and a Music career

[richardmac]

Most of you guys are talking about gigging, but can you 9-5 guys find a good block of time to practice on a regular basis (say if you weren't gigging)?

 

 

Practice on my own? Absolutely. Practice with other people? That's when family life interferes. I may have Thursday open, but not Wednesdays, and other guys might be busy Thursdays. That's how it goes with old guys like me. But I wouldn't trade it. To each his or her own.

[cpeck]

This is, as has been said, a very interesting topic. It's interesting on a personal level, because within my 'musician' group, we've all taken very different paths, with varying degrees of success.

 

I'm from just outside Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Halifax was known in the post-Nirvana haze as the 'new Seattle', mainly because of bands like Sloan and Eric's Trip (Sloan signed to DGC, and Eric's Trip were the first Canadian band on Sub Pop). Other exports we've had include Sarah McLachlan and, more recently, Wintersleep.

 

Having known various people in some of the bands I just mentioned, I can say this: that even with a major label deal (or a great indie deal), nothing is set in stone. I know one singer who had to cancel their national tour and start working in the town he was dropped off in because creditors were knocking down his proverbial door. This person had recorded in the same studio as Weezer, Dinosaur Jr, and Radiohead, had the major label deal, and was still, in no uncertain terms, drowning.

 

Even the people that haven't been in that bad of a situation are still not in *great* situations. Most of them have ripped off friends of rent money, worked awful, awful jobs, and have had to be pretty slimy to 'make it'. The trade-off is, they get to tour non-stop and have very little in terms of responsibility.

 

In terms of handling the real world and the musician's world at the same time (ha...)...

 

I am a full time 8th grade teacher. I run a small, but successful independent label. I also play in two bands. I have a girlfriend, 2 cats, massive student loan payments, and a car payment.

 

Time is not something that I have a lot of, or so it seems.

 

However, it was my choice. While I missed out on a lot of stuff from the age of 17-23, I now have a good job, good income, and a ton of time away from work. Playing a headlining gig on a weekday night and getting 2-3 hours of sleep is not so awesome....but it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make. I try to make decent decisions (is the gig worth it, are we oversaturating the particular town, etc), but occasionally you find yourself in a situation that just isn't ideal. I call it life, and deal with it. The trade-off for me is that I've been able to put away money for the future, buy most of the gear of my dreams, and still produce original music that I'm proud of.

 

I guess it depends on your scope and your dream. My band plays post-punk dissonant sort of stuff. I'm fully aware that this type of music is not commercially viable. We get airplay on college radio stations, and when we tour, we do well. Luckily, we've been able to get a grant to help with press stuff (mass mailouts, getting a real press kit done up, etc), but the bulk of the money comes out of our own pockets (travel, recording, mixing, mastering, production of 1000 cds...not cheap). Again, it's a sacrifice, and one you go into knowing fully what it entails. I like to think that there's a bit of integrity involved with it (although my Mom would certainly say that integrity and dollar signs have a very bad relationship).

 

The biggest weight I feel is responsibility from all areas of my life. Without getting too specific or rambling too much...I find that I've got a lot on my head at all times. I'm on summer vacation right now - which so far has consisted of recording a 3 song 7", finding a local artist to do the artwork, filling out grant applications, planning a short fall tour, researching vinyl pressing plants, finding trumpet players, getting press photos done...these are all things that i've done myself without much help from bandmates. It's not necessarily a matter of me being a control freak, but it comes from my bandmates knowing that I'll make the final product happen.

 

I love it. But it makes me very tired. I'm actually thinking of moving to my cottage for a full week without a phone, a computer, or anything related to the outside world (well, maybe some movies and my J-45).

 

It's tough. Music separates the wheat from the chaff, imo.

 

So, why do you do it? Because you love it, plain and simple.

 

EDIT: I wanted to add...the music industry is obviously changing. From here on in, I'm doing vinyl with download codes only. With the advent of the internet, home recording, MySpace, and iTunes, you don't need to be pounding the pavement 365 days a year to 'make it' in the music business - you just have to have the right mix of diligence and talent.

[fuzzball]

I have one band rehersal a week (unless we have a gig...then 2 times).

Other than that I try to practice an hour a day, some days I can't so I play longer on another day. I can usualy get a day or 2 in with around 2-3 hours of practice.

That is between working a full time job, running a project studio, and a small record label.

[rockerdiva]

Nothing wrong with having a day job. The only reason I don't is that I never pursued one and don't really know what I'd do. I make enough $ from gigging and some side music teaching to pull my weight for the family. Truthfully, without my husband's job - I'd be able to live a very low lifestyle and pay bills but that's about it. I'd probably not manage to sock anything away for the future. I'd certainly have no health insurance. A few years back I out-earned my husband for about 3 years even though he worked a 40 hour a week job. Yes, it wasn't a great paying job that he had, and those were my biggest years and I worked 5 to 7 gigs per week (doubling up some days, tourist town, soloist). He has since gotten a better job and I have cut back. Now I have started to work some in a band situation which means more hours and sometimes, less dough. But I make an ok "living"... if you can call it that. As I said, if I were single I'd be just barely scraping by if I did only music. But I do play mostly covers. I doubt anyone around my local scene makes much $ doing all original music...

[Poker99]

You would be AMAZED at how many of your favorite "rock stars" have day jobs. In todays day and age , there are only two types of people who are full time musicians that are playing in unsigned original bands : 1. Kids with rich parents. 2. People with no other obligations and nothing better to do.