(dont know if the forum is fixed properly yet but this is Declan from Belfast, or 'Dex' as per my actual username)
Fran, I have been a follower of Travis since 1999, and I have always tried to remember your words in an old interview when asked what advice you would give to young budding musicians. You said something along the lines of 'Just keep on picking up the guitar and writing songs, it's the ones who spend all their time sitting on their bed writing that will eventually make it in the music industry'.
Well I'm 27 now, and since then I have pretty much done just that, writing many complete songs and creating hundreds more ideas. I sacrificed a lot of money on instruments/equipment and formed a band in 2005 which we called 'Heyday' (named after an old Mic Christopher track.) We were doing pretty well locally and had a decent following, enjoying the gigs and even had a manager for some years. Though we kinda felt burned out after 5 years trying to 'make it' and subsequently went on hiatus for the last few years.
However, we realised that music is where our passion lies and are now going to make another stab at it.We renamed the band 'The End' and our first step was going to the studio recently to get 3 songs recorded. One of these songs ironically has the same name as a song you know very well indeed 'River'. I wrote this song a few years ago and really believe in it, the problem before however was getting a wide enough audience to hear our songs.
On that note, I ask that you take a few minutes of your time and have a genuine listen to this track and see what you think. To have a successful artist give me some advice or direction on the music itself would be a massive help to us, and I ask this as someone who is eager to make a living in the music industry..as you once did yourself. Thanks for reading, and here's the link :)
I think the music and the lyrics are great, however, this being a very personal opinion, I think I'd liked it better with a different, more accelerated rhythm that linked the verses in the chorus, so that there wasn't a long hiatus between them... again, I'm just a listener, not a musician.
While I think "those who work the hardest will make it" is generally true, it can't always be true. I thought your song was good so I'm not saying this applies to you but someone could work really hard but be really bad.
And there are local acts I have heard that are tremendously more talented than some well-known acts. "Making it" unfortunately is about way more than talent. So much now is about marketing someone and all of that crap.
So I guess you need to ask yourself what your definition of making it is. Does that mean doing music full-time and being able to live off of that? Or is making it mean creating music you feel passionate about?
I would encourage you not to give up on playing music no matter what happens in terms of "making it.: It's clearly part of your heart and soul. I understand, I sing and I would feel incomplete if I didn't have an outlet.
I do wish you good luck and I hope this doesn't come across as me pissing on your dream. I am really not trying to do that, just trying to say there are lots of definitions of success.
Thanks Fenririel for taking the time to listen to the track and for your constuctive criticism, though I don't quite understood your suggestion or necessarily agree with your point about the 'long' hiatus between verse and chorus. I think that part is fine timing-wise :) but thanks all the same.
And to Weirdmom, I agree with what you're saying about the marketing side of things now is what can mean the difference between success and failure in the music industry. But to answer your question, I've already made a lot of music that I feel passionately about already so in that sense I'm content. But to 'make it' would entail us making a full-time job out of the music, getting signed to a record label, having an audience to listen to the songs and hopefully appreciate them for what they are and just generally being able to contribute in some way to the music world. My attitude is that you only live once and if you want to be happy and fulfilled then you must follow your dream.
As a follow-up, the full EP has now been uploaded to our facebook page. There's 3 songs now available for your consumption. I know this is Travis' board,and I am buying their new album, but I'm just posting in case you guys wanna hear something else new. Sorry/thanks lol. Here's the link
