„6, drugs & rock’n’roll? Let’s rock all 12!“ – Volume 3
Cheerioh!
Welcome to the third volume 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.
All volumes of this newsletter as well as more posts are always available on my blog.
Today: Autumn blues – the discovery of melancholy
Rock’n’Roll ist just fun and Halligalli? You’re wrong. Rock’n’Roll has its roots for instance in Blues-music. And without making a fuss about music history: Blues primarily doesn’t have anything to do with Halligalli. Blues talks about pain and loss. Blues is honest and Blues is straight forward. When I’m looking at the span from old Blues classics to current Rock music I get the feeling, that it’s always somewhat about loss of something and the search for something. Sometimes deeply depressed, sometimes highly euphoric, there’s always some melancholy in it. For me, that’s the secret ingredient, the right spice for great music.
Without this deep pain, be it of personal nature or in the shape of „world-weariness“, Rock’n’Roll probably wouldn’t be what it is. Still this pain, source of this strange kind of melancholy, often is hidden behind a lot of fuss: cool outfits, dazzling light shows, monumental arrangements and all kinds of rock clichés.
I would even go so far as to say, that many rock hyms that we dance to and sing along to are just the icing on the cake of the musical work of an artist or band, that is actually far more melancholic and processes far more pain and suffering than those hits may suggest.
Others scream it right at you, like Bruce Springsteen’s „Born in the U.S.A.“ for example.
That’s why I think that if you really want to understand an artist and the human behind it, you should often rather listen to the more quiet and melancholic tones.
After all: only the slogans are shouted out loud but stories are told in campfire atmospheres.
blu12 perspective
Every month – right here – you will get my very own personal perspective: today it’s the view on the station of Manarola. The words in the picture are part of my song „Geisterbahnhof“ (engl. translation: „Ghost station“ – „Where did the train go, with the determination? Who was on it, we stand ready alone.“ → never mind the bad translation – that’s poetry!), which is about the loss of determination and optimism, that is crucial for personal and societal development and progress.
News in short:
- blu12 plays live at the Arnstädter Bachadvent, 26.11.2021, more info in the festival’s program soon.
- 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)
-
the blu12 mobile stage finally starts into the construction phase. More about that in my next newsletter as well as soon on my blog!
blu12 backstage journal
What am I doing all day? What’s new & what does that mean for you?
Sometimes I do all and nothing at all. Self employment means there is no fixed closing time. Especially as an artist you are always busy wiht your projects. Some days are like standing up – starting, finishing – going to sleep. Sometimes everything feels like a big river, where you try to somehow steer the water into the right direction. But the river steadily keeps on flowing. The art here is to make some waves and be seen. For others this may seem weird, especially when you’re just coming to the river to scoop a bucket of water, stopping at 4pm sharp.
Accordingly this work can be a little overwhelming at times. You face endless to-do lists, try to juggle between different projects and reluctantly work through legal topics that just steal your time. Especially in uncertain times like these, that really takes it out on you. Still, for me, it’s no option to work at 50%. On stage I always need 100% focus and full energy.
That’s why it is so important to take time off early. Since last year I use time during the fall for that. It’s the time between the summer- and the Christmas season, that time where it’s still summer in the South and where the coasts in the West aren’t that crowded anymore – both perfect to fill up your energy tanks.
But I also love this roller coaster drive between stressfull weekends und relaxed Mondays, between 20-hour days and sleeping in, between a night of full focus and a day full of distraction.
While I write those lines, it’s 3:20 am. So good morning and nice to have you 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 Rampensau
EN 
DE