When to give it up?

[Uladyne]

I'm not sure if this is the best forum for this thread or not, but as a musician in a serious local level band, as I'm sure many of you here are as well, I was wondering what keeps you going in terms of striving to do music proffesionally?

I'm 25 and I've been playing in metal bands for about 8 years straight. Recently as things get more serious and press photos and management and contracts become part of the picture, I've begun to long for the days of just jamming out and writing songs in my bedroom. No managers, no websites, no deadlines, no hauling gear, just you and your music.

Sometimes it seems like working a regular 48 hour a week job and trying to be a serious musician in a metal band at the same time just seems like more work than what its worth. When I try to compare the negatives with the positives of playing in a metal band, the negatives add up quick, while the positives aren't much to speak of. What keeps you going strong? We all know theres no lure of fortune or even much fame if we become successful, so we're basically left with just the love of music to keep us packing our gear into clubs, setting up, playing our hearts out, tearing down, packing it all away again for maybe enough money to pay for gas if we're lucky and some verbal displays of appreciation.

Maybe I'm losing it but sometimes I envy those who never picked up an instrument. I know I'll never be able to quit playing music as long as I live, and I feel like a lot of opportunities pass by as I try to keep things going for a band that may never really be appreciated outside a small niche.

And what if your band does become somewhat successful? All that is guaranteed really is that you get to leave behind your shitty job (even though it probably pays better than your music will) and spend months on end away from home cramped up in a van and breaking your neck every night in some club hundreds of miles from anything you know, night after night.

I've never been this close to giving up. But I know there has to be a time when it's necessary. What are the things that keep you all going?

 

[jgpgw]

Pull yourself together! This isn't brushing your teeth we're talking about, teeth are a chore, playing music isn't, or at least shouldn't be... It is definitely nerve racking being on the edge of signing contracts and tours with little promise of material reward, but you've got to try and look at it all from a bit higher up.
For a start, if you're working 48 hours a week of course you're tired and thinking of cutting down on extra curricular activities like playing in your band.
Secondly, one of the joys of going on tour and playing shows IS going to places hundreds of miles away from any place you know. How much more fun is it going somewhere you've never heard of and playing to 5 indifferent people with your friends/bandmates than it is sat at work.
Who gives a s**t about success, success is a measure of how well you've managed to make your music appeal to the largest number of people. Most people have no taste, which is why the most successful acts are people like Take That and the Spice Girls.
Thirdly, you're already 25, in a minute you'll be 80, do you really want to look back to when you were 25 and remember that you decided to pack in playing guitar and travelling around the country/world(possibly...) because it meant you'd have an extra $20 in your pocket at the end of the week, even if it meant working 48 hours a day for someone who probably couldn't give a s**t if you were there or not anyway?
Only James Bond lives twice, you won't be able to play metal and tour forever, there'll come a point when your back won't let you lift a 4x12 and you'll have to stop anyway. When that point comes and you're getting older, do you really want to have just had a job and have gone home every night to the telly? You're wrong if you want to give up when you can carry on. You only live once, so at least have some fun. Don't live for what you think other people think you should be living for, live for yourself, in the present.

 

[bloodredlake]

i wish i could play in a metal band but as of yet i'm not good enough. im alright. i come from a small town in wales were the metal scene is none existant. we can trade places if you want?

 

[bloodredlake]

i just finished reading the rest of your message. your bitching about the wrong thing. it doesn't sound like music is for you. what i would give to just play my guitar for a living i know that even if i could make enough money to pay for food and a place to live all i would do is play guitar. when im at work all i think about is playing guitar, but what your saying is the opposite when your playing guitar all that your thinking about is having a normal life with a shit job.

 

[jgpgw]

Bloodredlake sounds like he might be right. Do you feel some kind of guilt, that you should be working, getting an honest wage and acting more like some kind of regular guy?
The only person you're ultimately answerable to is yourself, don't make yourself feel crap because you think playing isn't what is expected of you, if it's what you want to do then do it, stop amming and ahhing about your life and live it before it all stops.

 

[jgpgw]

and you don't need our f**king opinion either, you obviously know what you want to do, you're just looking for someone to say it's alright. Who gives a s**t whether me or bloodredlake thinks it's the best thing to carry on playing, you've never met us and never will, answer to yourself and trust your own opinion, it's the best one you've got

 

[Satanstoenail]

Uladyne, give it up. It sounds like you don't have the passion for it. Most musicians would love to be in a position where they could tour and make any sort of living from playing.

 

[Uladyne]

Thanks for the encouragement, guys. I think thats the main thing keeping me going is the fact that I know I'll regret giving up later in life. Probably within a week, really. All I do at work is think about metal, whether it be about actually playing it or watching other bands or just thinking of songs in my head. I guess if I gave it up I'd be forced to actually think about my job, and we can't have that now, can we?

I guess I'm a fool to not realize how many people may envy my position (even just being able to have bros to jam with). I think maybe I just need to relax a bit and forget the politics and the business and just play some damn metal. Thanks guys.