„6, drugs & rock’n’roll? Let’s rock all 12!“ – Volume 2
Cheerioh!
Welcome to the second edition of my new newsletter! Without big words – let’s dive into my music, Rock’n’Roll and news out of the life of a stage-artist without safety net.
You missed out on the first volume? No problem: all previous newsletters are available right here on my blog!
Today: Lost in services?
Yes, I’m an artist. Yes, I’m also a service provider. Yes, combining those two things isn’t always easy. Actually expecially artists struggle with that.
The reason for that: art results from intrinsic motivation and is not primarily (or not at all) profit-oriented. At this point it gets way more problematic than you might think. There are many artists that live (or lived) in poverty because of that. And yes, some of these artists are well known and their works are sold for millions today and their names stand as synonyms for art.
So it’s not about quality, but about the reason why someone creates art. For me it has been clear for quite a while now, that money always has to be in second position. My motto: should money ever be my primary motivation for what I’m doing, I will quit. For me that’s the first step towards combining art and service.
The motivation is crucial, since I can make money in any job. Still I constantly get pushed towards more gigs, earning more money and just working „for“ the client by our capitalistic structures. Right there though I believe one has to intervene and think about:
- Which part of my job/art fulfills me most? In my case: certain music styles like rock- & popmusic from the 60s to the 80s, but I usually don’t play German pop hits.
- Where do I set borders to provide the right frame for my art? In my case: I don’t play live while the audience is eating.
Looking back: the more I adjusted my stage performances to what I like and what fulfills me, the more appreciative my audience got. Because I’m not just a jukebox playing coversongs one on one. I play my very own rendition of those classic hits.
Especially during Covid-19 in 2020 I only had a few smaller gigs which were quite intimate. Opposed to what I expected, those gigs had quite some concert feel to them. Instead of seeing me as only an entertainer, my music received special attention and I had the room to give every song that special touch. „Suddenly“ I’m not just the guy who has to spread good vibes and make the people dance, but I can experience unique moments of music with the audience, which probably will be remembered long after.
Right there I also get the opportunity to actually do justice to me being an artist: artists always have been bearers of messages, encouraged thinking and opened new perspectives.
One idea how I can incorporate that into my live performances is to present some songs with their historical background in a short and understandable way. Many of the songs I play have changed the way we think or feel and have even started societal changes (or have been an expression of those) – just think about the 69′ movement. Oftentimes the topics connected to those songs didn’t lose their relevance, quite the opposite: some topics are more relevant than ever.
I think that this way we can create a lot more connection and give the sole entertainment more substance.
All of a sudden, people were interested in my own music (even though cover music was booked). This made it very clear, that it does make a huge difference (for the audience as well as for me) how I set the borders between service providing and being an artist and how I open up the frame of an event.
Still it’s always a fine line and an act of balancing between the „poor artist“ and the „sole service provider“, which one has to define anew on a constant basis.
blu12 perspectives
Every month – right here – you will get my very own personal perspective: today it’s the view from Muir Beach/ California at dawn. The words in the picture are a part of my song „The sound of wood, steel & love“, which is about the feelings of a musician trying to set something against the crises and changes of our time through music.
News in short:
- New live music trailer is in progress – so you can already look forward to a cool medley + video
- The 4 th volume of the Mitossi Radio Show is online – exclusively on Patreon with blu12 live: https://www.patreon.com/mitossi (every support helps! Patreon posts are in German & English, the Radio Show moderation-parts currently only in German)
- More music with just as much musician: new equipment creates new possibilities – more about that right here in my backstage journal!
blu12 backstage journal
What am I doing all day? What’s new & what does that mean for you?
It’s here – long planned, long delayed, now finally done: a new pickup for my 12-string guitar.
As you may know, ears don’t just grow with age because they want to hear more Rock’n’Roll, but also because they get better. So it has been more than just time to give my 12-string, which I have been playing since 2015 live, an update. After thinking about it quite a while I went to my trusted guitar builder and now it’s finally done.
Why all that? Do you actually need such a pickup?
Without a pickup, the guitar can only be amplified externally by a microphone, so: Mic + mic stand in front of the guitar and trying not to move, not easy playing Rock’n’Roll – I know what I’m talking about! So if you want to hear the guitar in a room with an audience, you need a pickup. The goal there is to amplify the natural sound of the guitar as authentic as possible. For the music freaks out there: I now have the LR Baggs Stagepro Anthem in my guitar.
What is better now? Very easy: the sound is better, more authentic and can also be adjusted by mixing the pickup and integrated condenser microphone.
What does that mean for you? Compared to the old pickup you can hear much more tonal details. The more you can hear, the better your playing can get and the bigger the musical possibilities get. For example I can now use more percussive elements, because they a) sound better and b) get amplified accordingly at all.
So I can now finally spend more time recording (for example for the new live music trailer). You can listen to a first teaser of the new sound here:
Thank you for staying with me here! We’ll read each other in exactly one month when „6, drugs & rock’n’roll? We rock all 12!“ is back.
Martin aka blu12 aka stage rocker
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