I thought it was about time to put some thought into what "The Always Unprofessional" is becoming.
Almost a year ago now I played a (frankly tragic) concert at a local festival. I hadn't played on stage in about two years, wasn't writing music and had no real inclination to be a musician anymore. Indeed by rights that concert should have been the nail in the coffin of 15 years of performing.
Three things happened to change that. The first was that I discovered how easy it was to scratch up songs with my MacBook and a copy of GarageBand. The second was that I found the music sharing site "Soundcloud". The third was I found a supportive community of musicians in "We are the Music Makers" at Reddit.
Tentatively I recorded and released a few songs that sort of followed on from what had been "Turner" our local 90's LoFi indie band. Those songs got a little support and some good feedback. Then one night (after much frustration trying to nail a vocal) I recorded a down beat, sentimental ballad called "One Last Song Marie". The awesome response to a song that I felt would be largely ignored changed my view on what I wanted to do online.
Since then I have skewed my songs more and more into the down tempo, gritty and sentimental style that is becoming The Always Unprofessional. At the same time a whole 'persona' is building itself around the songs which isn't necessarily my own. More like an act or a character, which is fine. After all this is a performance medium and online communities lend themselves to playing out a role.
At the same time I have turned my Soundcloud account into a sort of scientific project. I have been learning what drives plays, comments, likes and downloads and trying to define (if not adhere to) a from of best practice.
Most of all I enjoy what I'm doing. Writing songs has not been a hobby for me for many, many years. It provides a fantastic outlet for stress and introduces me to some lovely crazy people.
Anyway, back to work.
Sent while I was out and about and whatnot
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