Ok. So I'm still playing the role of unemployed musician. I have some leads on music related work in London which is good, but the bills do need paying, so I might have to settle for something non-musical in the near future.
I've been feeling much more motivated the last few days then I have in quite a while. So much so that I actually recorded a tune which should be up on Myspace shortly (I'll post here first). It's called "White-Coated Wolves" and personally I think it is one of the best songs I've ever written.
I've also come up with some goals for the rest of the year. They are quite minor in terms of the bigger picture, but I need to start small or else I risk getting overwhelmed by worrying about reaching goals that are too big for me at the moment. So here they are.
Goal #1 - Record a 5-6 song EP by December 31st. Now by "record" I mean actually go into a proper studio and record an EP. It will probably take 2 days to do what I'm thinking of (mostly guitar/vocals or piano/vocals), and cost around 200 quid, but it is a necessary step towards being a full-fledged musician. I've already got 3 of the songs that I know I'll want on it for sure. I've got about 15 songs written, but I'm beginning to understand why bands write 50 or 60 songs for an album and then pick their best 10. I feel like I've been progressing as a songwriter, particularly with regards to the lyrics, and as such, my earlier work just doesn't stand up to the quality of the later stuff and would bring any collection of works down. So I need to get writing. I've got some ideas floating around, and you'll probably hear some roughly recorded home versions before the EP comes out.
Goal #2 - Play at least one paying gig. Open mics are a dime a dozen in London, and I'm going to be hitting them up very shortly (hopefully next week). But if I really want to call myself a musician, then there has to be some form of income in it. So my goal is to play at least one gig where I get paid more than it costs me to get there and back. It's been a while since I've played a gig where I made more money than I drank, so this is going to take some effort. London gigs are notorious low paying as there are too many bands about that will play for free or near to free. It is for this precise reason that my goal is "at least one". I don't want to set the bar too high, and I may even have to look for gigs outside of London to secure something decent financially.
So that's where I'm at with my thoughts on Beware! The Leopard for the next few months. Hopefully there will also be some news on the band front shortly. Keep your eyes peeled for updates.
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