Vanilla Music
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Do you make vanilla music? What the hell is vanilla music?
Vanilla music is music that sounds like everything else that is around or has been. Vanilla music is what dominates mainstream music around the world. Vanilla music is constant, boring, dull, lifeless, with no character at all.
Have you ever met a vanilla person? That guy or girl who knows the right thing to say at the right time with correct execution yet still seems inauthentic? This is what we’re hearing.
Vanilla. It’s a nice flavour. It’s there. It does the job. No surprises. We might even be able to tell the difference between some of the blends of vanilla. But it is still vanilla.
Is your music vanilla? Is that what you want? Having the right chords and the right rhythm so you don’t really stand out? Verse chorus verse chorus bridge chorus chorus. Is that you? Are you even trying to do it in an interesting way?
This is what today’s musician needs to think about. This is what I constantly think about.
I don’t want to create vanilla music that everybody around the world will enjoy and find pleasant. This is what everybody is else is trying to do, and the results speak for themselves. Look around you. Do you hear bands with a unique sound and a unique way of writing in mainstream music? I personally don’t. I hear mediocrity compressed in tiny little portions to fill the spaces between commercials. Sometimes they are even used in commercials.
I want to create Phaedrus flavoured music.
To quote master poet and singer Craig David, what’s your flavour?
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Why the name Phaedrus?
Why NOT the name Phaedrus?
I first came into contact with the name Phaedrus when I read Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance when I was 17. As was the usual custom at that time in my life, I never finished the book. But the name stuck with me.
A few years later I saw a book with the name Phaedrus on my godfather’s bookshelf. It was by Plato.
In my heart I believed it to be destiny. Although, now I no longer believe in destiny. Figure that out.
Everything about it just seemed right. I don’t really think I can rationalise it in a way that would make people understand. When you have a connection with somebody or something moves you deeply, to rationalise it and place labels to it is to diminish it, and it loses its value in some way.
The opening line ‘My dear Phaedrus, where is it you’re going, and where have you come from?’ immediately struck a chord within me, and from that point my fate had been sealed. I would write and perform my music under the name Phaedrus. The rest of the book itself I found fascinating and illuminating. I highly recommend it.
But I want to say that Phaedrus isn’t only a name for my music. It’s an idea, in the sense that when you step into the world of Phaedrus you are (hopefully) taken to somewhere you haven’t been before, a new experience that brings some kind of value to your life.
At least that’s what I hope.
You could also see it as just some music you mildly enjoy/hate and then move on your merry way.
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Your Musical Career
I’m going to share with you what I want from my musical career. Perhaps you are able to identify with some of the things I talk about. Perhaps you won’t. Whatever the case may be, I think its important that all musicians have a think about what they’d like to have from their musical career, honestly and sincerely.
Here it is, in no particular order:
- To create music that stands the test of time, that inspires or moves or transforms people in some way long after I have died
- To have my music appreciated while I am still alive
- To be able to make a comfortable living from music
- Not compromising myself or my music in anyway, by using it in an advertisement of some kind, or selling the rights to the highest bidder
- To keep my integrity, and be able to express myself sincerely through music
- To see my musical abilities grow, in terms of song writing and performance
- To have a strong connection to my fans, but not to the point where I have sycophants
- To be able to mentor or nurture upcoming musicians and see them realise their potential
- To meet musicians that I have respected and admired and collaborate with them
Those are just some of the things I would like to accomplish with my music. It is not a definitive list, and I am sure I will add to it in the future.
A final point I’d like to make is that although all those things are good aspirations to have, they are not the be all and end all of me. A musical career is a continuing process, and it is the journey, not the destination, that must be enjoyed.
It took me many years and lots of heartbreak and suffering for me to realise this.
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The Bullshit
How’s THAT for a positive title!
On your quest to becoming an independent musician(s), there will be such a constant truck load of bullshit that you may just get carried away in the tide. It is inevitable that this will happen. Your music will suffer as a result if you do not have your priorities straight.
The music: This, above all, should be your number one, absolutely, positively most essential priority in the universe. But as most musicians know, this is definitely not going to be the case all the time.
All independent musicians need to remember this: THERE WILL ALWAYS BE BULLSHIT.
No Exceptions. Here is some bullshit to expect in your musical future:
- People telling you to get a ‘proper job’ instead of being a musician (I hate hearing this. The worst part is that it will normally be family members or close friends who say this to you)
- Programs or websites not giving you relevant information to fix a problem
- People making promises and not following through
- Ungrateful people
- Small problems that consume an unnecessary amount of your time
- Fingers not doing what they’re supposed to be doing on an instrument
- Stupid people
- Creative blanks
Between studying for uni and finding a source of income, setting up this website, sourcing equipment, getting answers, the music slowly starts to slide down my list of priorities. When this happens, step back.
Step back from the bullshit and gain your composure. Emotions are clouding your judgement and you are not able to see things as they are.
Why are you doing all of this? What do you want from your musical career? Is this worth working through?
Ask yourself these three questions when things are getting to you, and you should be back to your path of musical greatness.
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The First Post
Here it all begins.
Phaedrus is the manifestation of years of wishing and praying to get a career writing songs and playing my instruments.
It is a new paradigm now in the music industry, one that will breed an innumerable amount of talent who would previously have been unable to get noticed.
The monopoly of the record labels no longer exists.
This is now our opportunity to do what we have always dreamed of doing: writing songs, making albums, performing live, and answering to nobody but the fans.
The musicians and the fans have the control now.
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