I am. Down the years ive had countless jobs but gradually became a full time musician in my early 20's. Ive studied pretty much constantly, taking qualifications, performed, taught, written etc.... Sounds really exciting doesnt it..Let me tell u...its a fkn soul destroying slog into nothingness. I use 2% of what i know 98% of the time. Ive had to combine my music career with other jobs, particularly when i was gigging a lot. Now ive been off work since January due to my injury ive had time to think. Ive lost all my private students and will be returning to teaching in schools/colleges, which i fkn hate with a passion for so many reasons. Ive decided to jack it in. Im sick of the industry, which is based almost entirely on luck. The UK music scene is so narrow, unlike Germany or the US. Where i live (Nottingham) is a provincial industrial city in the East Mids, so therefore has a cabaret/working mens club scene which is a joke. You dont spend years studying music theory and compostion, taking classical guitar diplomas, music degrees etc to play '500 miles' to pissed up miners. I dont want to return to London as i was sick of the appalling standard of living and the constant rat race. Im fed up with the trade shows, constantly trying to promote myself, constantly submitting articles to the magazines, not getting paid, rehearsals, travelling, practicing, trying to write material for youtube (which i still couldnt finish thanks to my spinal injury)..i hate that when you dont/cant practice you go backwards, and fast, i hate teaching from home..the crap hours, people not turning up, not practicing, treading dog shit into my house, i hate that if i gig its when everyone else is out enjoying themselves. Guitar and the so called music biz has destroyed my friendships, destroyed my relationships, ruined my finances, wrecked my social life and let me utterly unfulfilled. Luckily, ive always lied when it came to getting mortgages and insurance..you never say youre in the 'entertainment' industry...much less self employed in that industry. You wont get quoted, wont get finance, wont get overdraughts, wont get credit cards, cant open a bank account, cant get a meeting to start a new business..you ahev to lie so much that its an accepted part of it, no one even discusses it and its simply not even lying anymore.... I dont know a single muso who has anything like 'musician' on his passport or other documentation..Its always 'teacher' or some such crap, because its on that basis that you can get on. No wonder so many players end up drunkards, drug addicts or suicidal. A career to oblivion, and the better, more knowledgeable about the subject they are, usually the more destroyed they become, the worst being the jazz scene..Exceptional talent directed into a cul de sac. There cant be many careers that take 12-15years of solid work on the instrument to simply move out of the beginner/intermediate stage can there? Or where an Honours Degree or Masters means nothing, literally nothing. Ive been considering studying for a PhD but my mate (Dr.Alan) did one in psychology the 90's and reckons it was a total waste of time...so i dont know....anyway, his band got signed and they toured the States, got to number 5 on the Billboard 100 and were left with $250,000 of debt. (they were called Blue Train by the way). All the guys i know who can play..i mean really play are scratching around for a living..they might be doing the trade shows, producing stuff for youtube, creating backing tracks and dvds for companies like lick library, getting published articles, but they are ALL, every single one of them..ALL stuck teaching, more often than not Primary school kids for the local authority, living in shared accomodation or with their parents, permanently skint but able to have the prestige of playing at the wembley guitar show with a 'name' (who is usually just 2 steps in front in the finance stakes and not as a good a player). In this game, perception is reality. Thats why the useless rise to the top..idiots that wouldnt get accepted onto a foundation music course at the local college but are indie 'superstars' etc. Im taking steps to get out of this pantomime, i fkn hate it and ive had enough. Im 42 next month, and just starting to regain my independance following surgery and ive decided i dont want to do this soul destroying shit anymore. Ive had enough. I just want to be happy. ps. because it is so competitve and futile, there is precious little bonhommie..just very small circles and cliques were everyone tries to cover there own arse...its an impenetrable wall, and if you break the wall you find that the garden on the other side still stinks of shit..its just that now you have people telling you how great you are....which you can revel in as you drive back up the M1 in your 12 yrs old Datsun.
Dude I am with you 100%. Ive worked in the travel and travel industry (reporting queues etc) on the fringe of the rado industry on and off fro 15 years. Ive been in my current job for 11 of those and Im looking at re-inventing myself. What makes it really hard is I am also trying to move out of London down to the South to set up home with Sarah. Its really fucking hard man. My skillset is pretty much all editorial based, but I still have lots to learn and that is where I want my career to go. Ive set up a website, half for fun, half as an advert (i'll give up the link on here when its ready) which will certainly be better than not having one. My biggestest problem is my industry is so niche that I work for the only company left in the country that does it as we bought out everybody else. Happy is the key, I know that. I dont have to have a massive salary, in fact i'd happily sacrifice that for happiness, but a decent salary is kinda needed to be happy (much less stress) I wish you the best. I know how it feels, ive been trying for three years to move on with my life. Sarah always says to me you don't know whats around the corner. It could be the best thing to ever happen to you. Funky, you've had some shit luck, and you're due some good fortune. Have faith, in yourself if nothing else
Me too......sick of the construction and development industry...........after having been treated like cr*p by a number of well known companies, even though I was in a senior professional position (with huge experience and extensive knowledge), I started my own company from scratch about twenty years ago....... ....it took off much faster than I expected and I found that I could provide a substantial fast response to all my clients, even though it meant working seven days a week, up to 18 hours a day (sometimes 24 hours x 3 days on the trot)...... ....then at the end of 2011, I get ill which combined with the medication meant that I couldn't do the work fast enough....so all clients p*ssed off.... .....now I get the odd project which fundamentally goes cold in the middle of doing it, and clients simply f**k me about..... ....so basically, I have f**k all work to do and f**k all income.......Not surprising I just got ill again..... AL
[QUOTE=funkyrimpler;72559 I just want to be happy. You could have fooled me. All you ever seem to do on here is f#cking whinge.
Lads theres so much of what youre saying that i can relate to..so, so much... Regarding the health issue Al...as you probably know ive always been a bit of a fitness nut, but when i couldnt physically work either due to immobility or pain it was amazing how fast people leave you to it...i know students/clients/customers/punters cant wait indefinately but wheres the loyality, the dare i say it, compassion?? Try not to let it get you down too much..If it wasnt because of fkn money we'd all be so much happier, able to pursue our dreams. All the stuff thats happened to me this year has made me re-evaluate everything. I dont want the life ive been living. Ive been given a second chance to live again, and i dont want to waste it...i couldve ended up on a respirator for the rest of my life or simply in agony. I feel like jacking it all in and clearing off. Im writing a check list of all the things i want to do, want to learn...ive made a pact with myself to return to things i used to love, and start interests and learning that ive put off for one reason or another..sort my head out, start leaving the house and get a woman in my life who wont fkn up and leave me when its my turn for some help and forget that i put up with 4 years of trying to help her cope with bulimia for instance.
Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony. --Mahatma Gandhi 'bollocks'.
I think this is a symptom of the modern job market, fewer workers more work to handle, dissatisfied customers who think they are always right, the incessant race for profit, it's tough out there. I count myself lucky I've always worked in the industry that I've enjoyed and was reasonably well paid, moved around when the sh!t piled too high and able to retire next year with a reasonable pension...........I count myself one of the lucky ones despite two failed marriages. But I look around me at work and see young men struggling with families, mortgages, rising prices with little or no hope of advancement and greater demands for more effort, greater flexibility and more hrs at work. Sorry guys but roll on next april when the escape tunnel is finished.
Mmmmmm now there's a thought................I think that stuff they put in our tea during the war is starting to wear off :wink:
know what you say and understand 100%. its all about luck in this world. Intelligence and wisdom only takes you so far. I work in a bank(lowly staff so don't fire on me about big bonuses coz i don't get) with much more knowledge and wisdom than a lot of the people who get big bucks or atleast more bucks than me. Doing models and stuff for people because i'm the only person who can but yet, no opportunities to move anywhere. No other jobs on offer that will take me because i don't have the relevant experience. And when the cuts come, its the lowly guys who get cut while the top dogs keep their jobs to save head counts. If only i knew or was buddies with someone "senior". And unfortunately, thats all there is to it.
but luckily also steel balls. Without getting into one of politcal rants, the sad fact is we dont live in a Meritocracy: a place where people prosper based on their talents. The music game (and possibly acting) are the worst examples of a 'career' that i can think of. To add insult to injury, i hate going out anywhere where's there's live music..Usually its terrible, covers, tribute acts or a terrible tribute covers act. Imagine spending a day examining bands for their A-levels then seeing a band in the local pub that arent as good as the kids youve been getting deafened to all day..its ruined many a night..'cheer up you boring fekker' they say....'lets go and admire the gents' i say to my tiler friend with a glint in my eye. Im done with it...i just need to think about my next few faltering steps.
It's real shame you've fallen out of love with the very industry that should by rights be looking after something that you love. But let's face it, the music industry has always been like that, more about shifting units & gathering gold & platinum discs, hardly ever a noble endeavour about nurturing talent (with a few notable exceptions). Granted today it is more cut throat than ever and if you don't sell a shed load of your first single than you're out of the door. Although I have a couple of mates who are in bands (one of them in a classic rock covers band, sorry) and they do it cos they enjoy it, it's a laugh & the gigs pay for beer & new strings. I used to be good mates with a guy whose Mrs was an art teacher with degrees & awards coming out of her ears, and she had a rant that was almost exactly like yours, except obviously about painting & sculpting. Teaching was a hateful means to an end, art teachers were never taken seriously, you can never get your work out there without paying exorbitant commission to galleries, only the "sexy" artists got any public recognition and they were all shit, a load of chancers who'd conned their way to their millions..... all the real artists were either in hovels or classrooms. Good luck with your exit strategy
got get bar job in bali its summer out there play you guitar to the punters and chill you will love it,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, oh and you will get laid, students on gap years see you have a bit of talent will be all over you like fly's round shit
I suspect if your hobby becomes your job, it can cease to feel like a pleasurable passtime and just starts to feel like a job, a chore, the daily grind. Having done the total career change thing a couple of years ago (from stressed lawyer in the civil service to humble administrator with a firm of financial advisers, earning less than half what I used to be on, but actually having more free time and no hideous commute into London), I'd recommend it. I was sick of the law, sick of politicians, and realised that although I was a pretty good lawyer, being one really wasn't good for me, drawing on and reinforcing some of my more unhealthy personality traits. As for what's next, an open mind is key -I had no desire to go into financial services - I just signed up with a few local temp agencies and said send me to any kind of office job. I found myself doing a variety of things I certainly wouldn't have set out to do, but found myself enjoying - working for the Army, working for the IFA where I now have a permanent job, even working in a warehouse parcelling up exam papers (no possibility of working late, compulsory lunch hour, radio 4 on my MP3 player all day). On the other hand whereas I might have thought I'd like to work for an engineering company (i.e. a company actually making real stuff, rather than just generating words on paper) the temp data entry job I had with one was mind-numbingly dull. What I learned is that the things I used to think were important to me job wise (intellectual challenge, using research and analytical skills, even working for an organisation doing something reasonably worthwhile) were not so important - what really mattered was working with nice people, in a workplace with a good atmosphere, being just busy enough (neither idle nor overwhelmed) and feeling at the end of the day not only that I had done my best, but that my best was good enough to get the job finished to my satisfaction (rather than always feeling that there was more that I should have done - unhealthy perfectionist tendencies). That was certainly not what I believed when I had a bit of careers counselling when I was first thinking about making the break. As for the music, I sometimes think I'm lucky having no musical talent or training (beyond a couple of years of guitar lessons when I was about 9 - being one of those kids whose efforts Funky is finding so soul destroying) as it means I can listen to a lot of mediocre music without realising just how mediocre it is, when those with musical knowledge would be cringing and nitpicking!
