Since a few people here have shared their experiences about music, I'll go with mine.
Been playing since 1987 or so in various barkada bands. Ended up playing with people who would later on be famous in their own right.
Come the new millennium, got a phone call from an old bandmate (and a very good friend). I join up with the band, going straight from new wave and into metal. We start by practicing for almost a year before playing. We played gigs where we could.
Since we couldn't find gigs, some of the band members founded a production, tried to hook up with other metal bands, so that a round-robin among the productions by the bands could be started. We were taken advantage of, and in the end the guys closed the production, since it was not profitable, both money-wise or mentally. But it was worth its weight in gold in experience, so to speak. We learned then that if we're going to do this band thing, we would do it on our own terms.
We kept on gigging, eventually landing a major label contract of sorts. Since I was a legal management major for part of my school life, I took a look and was horrified by the clauses. We laid down our terms, and said we wouldn't sign unless the changes were implemented. Middleman says sure, but when the contract comes back...they just changed where the nasty clauses were placed in the contract. We only signed after a clean contract according to our terms was given. Even then, we had to accede that if we were to ever come out with the songs we gave to them, we would have to rerecord it - they would own the recording of the songs, essentially. Given how our sound was evolving, it was no problem...after we dropped the two songs from our playlist, we haven't played them live since.
Eventually, one of us decides: form a studio, and later on, a record label.
He started talking to other bands, and eventually it happens: a record label. Selective or little radio or TV/Cable exposure, but somehow we sell albums. We eventually tour. We've had two tours so far, and this year, we've just gone to our first out-of-town gig that required an airplane. We're surprised that people over in Bacolod know our stuff.
Through all this, I have kept the faith. I have avoided getting jobs that would kill my nights and weekends - I even resigned from a job that was fairly lucrative, in part because it was taking too much time away from my band and the music.
I have always believed.
9 years going. 22 if you count since I held a bass guitar.
But my belief is to simply go out there with my bass, with my band, and to just play. screw getting rich and famous - that's just extra sauce on top, after all we've been through.
edit: not exactly screw getting rich and famous, but to be honest, I think it's still luck/x factor. I would appreciate the money (finally, bayad ang lahat ng gamit ko without having to use my money from somewhere else), and i won't mind the fame (who hates being famous, really?). It's just that right now, I guess, my mindset is: live, let live, enjoy life, it's the only one we got. If you hassle yourself too much, then just let go, and do what you think you should.
what matters is that there are nights when i plug in my bass, and when I hear that right "thump" in my chest, I can close my eyes, fret the note and I can hear a part of my life in the songs.
"Aum" by way of metal music.
