Chapter 4: “It’s Time to Grow Up”: Compromise Is a Beautiful Thing

Posted by admin on March 2nd, 2010 | 2 Comments »

My friend Arthur said this to me yesterday.  Not the “it’s time to grow up part,” I put that in there myself,  but the “compromise is a beautiful thing” part.  He was referring to a general mentality that I’ve had towards music, probably for the past 7 years, which is that I should not only be able to do “everything,”  but that I also should do everything if I am going to keep peoples interest.

What I mean by “everything” is that, in some way, I have believed that my music should have enough of each genre: rock, folk, country, R&B, jazz, easy listenting etc. to please most people.  I hear an amazing folk song, so I need to either write a similar song or cover that song, I hear Beyonce sing “Halo,” and I know that it’s a really hot song right now so I need to do a cover of it.  I hear from a friend that I need to check out a song he loves, and I know that he is coming to my next show, so I need to cover that song. I see somebody play some awesome rockabilly solo on the guitar and I have to go practice it, and find some way to intergrate a rockabilly guitar solo into my set list.

It’s always been “the next best thing” with me.  My mentality has always been this stoner-hippy mentality of “mistakes are okay, it’s all music man…, it’s about the energy” and I’ve believed it so much that I even convinced myself that if I was truly a great artist, I should be able to do all this stuff on the fly; that I should be able to write out a setlist 5 minutes before a set time, and just get on stage and wing it and “flow with the energy” and deliever a great show. I even convinced myself that if I didn’t play my songs differently every night, with new songs and covers added to each new show in addition to my old songs being played different, that I would lose fans, and that people, including the musicians who played with me, would get bored.

The results have always been a ton of shit, mixed in with one to three great magical moments per show, (that probably are only as magical as they sound because they are sandwiched next to a bunch of shit.)  My friends usually gives me the same feedback as well: “Zach, you are so ridiculously talented but you need to get clear on who you are!” In other words, I can’t go from playing my original songs, to a jazz arragment of a lady gaga song, to a rock and roll scatting version of an old jazz standard, to an old American spiritual about Jesus and expect that people will either get it, that it will be any good, or that even if it is good…that anybody should give a flying fuck in the first place!

My mentality has been that of a narcissist protecting his insecurity.  By being afraid of not pleasing people, I’ve tried to please everybody and in turn, have ended up pleasing nobody.

My next post will be about how I am replacing this old mentality with a new, more empowering one.

Stay tuned…

Chapter 1: How I’m Going to Make It: Anything Can Be Accomplished In Life With 3 Things

Posted by admin on February 19th, 2010 | 1 Comment »

This is the first chapter of a story that both you (the readers) and I (the author) will have the pleasure of seeing and helping unfold in real time. Here is the basis of the story:

I believe that ANYTHING can be accomplished in life with three things:

1) A vision: my definition of vision is a clear, burning, and unbridled desire manifested in the form of a dream, or a want to become or create something in life. This could be becoming a doctor, a father, the president of the United States, a teacher…whatever.

2) An unwavering belief in oneself. This is self-explanatory

3) A shit load of hard work. Again, self-explanatory

This story begins with me, Zach Maxwell, who has had the vision of being a world-renowned singer, songwriter, performing artist, guitar player and motivational speaker since I was a young lad.

Why is this my vision? Because I believe that I have something to offer people, and that I have something to say. I believe that my soul is here to express my unique flavor of joy, passion, connection to God, the Universe, whatever you want to call it for the sake of helping others experience something greater for themselves as well. Call this arrogance, call it self-confidence, call it what you like. I call it my vision and it’s unwavering.

For the past ten years I have spent thousands of hours, at times, regularly practicing my instruments alone over 8 hours a day; refining, focusing, living and breathing my craft 24/7  to get to a point where I feel I am remarkable enough to offer something of value to people. I will continue to consistently practice my ass off and get better as this story unfolds.

For the past year also, I have been reading a lot on how the music business has changed, and how independent artists have a chance to “make it” in ways that they never could before with a lot of hard work and the technological resources available to us that weren’t available even 5 years ago. I am going to prove it.

Not only am I going to prove it, I’m going to use this blog to transparently share the steps I’m taking, as I’m taking them for all the world to see. This will be my “story.”

Just so we’re clear on what my vision is: My definition of “making it” is becoming world renown. Not being on the cover of People Magazine, not being a tabloid “celebrity,” but being a “world renown” artist…known for making a difference for people with my music and message. Right now I have about 10 fans. A few people, if any are reading this first post. At the end of this story I will prove to millions of people that with a burning desire and vision, a firm and unwavering belief in yourself, and the willingness and integrity to work your fucking ass off for your dreams, ANYTHING is possible. How long it will take? A year, 2 years, 10 years…who knows?

Stay tuned as the story unfolds.

And if you would like to help make this story happen, feel free to comment, share and spread this post to anybody and everybody that you feel would be interested.