The Phaedrus Blog

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

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.

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.

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.