Ben Walker Music |
Guitarist, mandolinist, session musician, tutor+44 (0) 7946 416570contacttweet me |
It’s been quite a while since I posted here, but rest assured I’m still alive, well and tweeting…
To cut a very long, arduous and frankly riveting story short, the following has happened:
poster design…
Since finding myself technically unemployed in December, I’ve been aiming to make a go of the professional musician lark. It’s not pretty so far - there are upsides, downsides, and few nice things and a lot of attitude towards and from musicians that seems to be floating around…
January was a bit of a write off. I’d been on holiday (booked before redundancy), but was heading back to promises of producer work, which of course hasn’t materialised owing to changes in plans. Friends I’ve worked with before, I don’t mind having last minute changes, but people who claim financial constraints have forced them to cancel, but then remark about how they’re working with a “professional” really get my goat. Heaven forfend that they’re handing money over to someone who just wants to record them to pay the bills!! Two more recordings lined up for Feb and March though - if you’re interested, get in touch!
Getting some great feedback on Andrew Butler’s EP though - from The Blue Walrus, The 405, the “vintage vocal” from Glasgow Podcast and even the hallowed halls of For Folk’s Sake - here’s to the launch and the next Folkroom release!
Gigs are on the increase, which is certainly a good thing, though the perception of most promoters that artists should perform for free still seems apparent. It’s all well and good suggesting that you “bring 10 mates through the door and you’ll get £3 from each ticket sold” - but it’s a false economy. I don’t consider the music I’m playing to be so bad that I couldn’t find 10 people to listen to it, but when you’re performing so regularly, getting people to trek down on a damp Tuesday night to a back-end pub in Stockwell isn’t really going to happen… So you end up playing gigs to the other bands. The sensitive singer songwriter that still rhymes “arms” with “charms” and “farms”, the middle-managers who form a metal band every other weekend and gig once every other month… it’s quite depressing!
To be honest, I’d rather play for not a lot, but get travel, food and drink provided, and then sell people pay what you want download tokens for bandcamp after playing…
Maybe it’s a self-esteem thing? I still see playing guitar as nothing particularly special - just putting fingers on strings at the right place and time - so asking people for money to see me do something I would do anyway, seems almost alien - however it’s an attitude that needs to shift if that “professional” tag has anything to do with it.
Gigs this week -
Today’s a busy one: uploading Andrew Butler’s EP for press, sorting out the streaming versions for previews, making sure everything’s there for the Folkroom launch!
In addition, I’m playing tonight with Blue Rose Code at The Elgin in Ladbroke Grove, tomorrow with Josienne Clarke at Loughton Folk Club, and Friday again with Josienne Clarke at the Gallery Cafe!
No rest for the idle thumbed or something like that…
Recording with Andrew Butler today. A rather fantastic cover to promote the ep release for folkroom.