Not really sure to be honest! My answer today would be different than tomorrow or next week or year.
One thing I do find to be challenging time and again is in regards to the performance aspect. We'd all like to think of ourselves as artists, but we're creating our art every single time we play, every performance. If there's not a recording (and even if there is, really) there's nothing left behind besides a memory. Imagine if every painting done was invisible as soon as it was finished. How would that change the way we perceive paintings?
A lot of these thoughts came to me while thinking about the difference of playing at home in a room by myself and how I feel when I'm on stage with Dead Horses. In addition to the sound being different (room sound, amps and speakers, crowd noise etc) as well as all that extra energy rolling around the room, the lights, the smells, the set list or lack of one, the energy the band before left on stage and in the room...
There's also the freedom in sitting at home alone... choice to pick up the guitar when you want to, play whatever you want to, sing or not sing, stop a song in the middle or play it five times in a row. There's therapy in that.
And on stage the idea of what's going to happen and what needs to happen is different in every person's head- especially in the audience. This whole idea is partially why it's hard to hear people shout out songs that you don't really feel like playing!
At the same time, there's challenge in staying fresh on stage- a challenge that requires some discipline. And the reward is getting to work with new energy at every single show, to experience every song differently every time you play it, and to do that is a give and take between all the people in the room.
This I find as very spiritual.. we pack ourselves in these rooms and move our bodies around to the sound waves, energy waves back and forth, back and forth. Push and pull, ride, repeat.
Everyone one of your performances is like a new painting to me. Watching art happen in the moment it is created is life.
ReplyDeleteThat's the art. To me art is the peeling back the layers of ones soul. Each time an Artist takes the stage the peeling begins, and to what ever level the exposer of the soul takes place more or less the artist leaves behind. That being the art.. Not every time on the stage is the same, so the art is always new in some way. We all go through ups and downs. Being a block, health, a personal life event. For me right now is health. But the artist in me has not died, it is just resting. As soon as I can find a way to over come this bout of pain that is stopping me from playing the art (me) will have once again changed. For the good or the worse is yet to be seen. Keep on writing , it will all come out as art. (the peeling back of our souls) :) Break a leg out there Kid,
ReplyDeleteMusic is a unique art form. When you have performed and concluded a song it is but a memory for the audience and the musician. But you have a CD that you can hold in your hand and say,"We collectively made this beautiful recording." That has to give you a great deal of satisfaction. Something concrete you can put your hands on which can be shared with others.
ReplyDeleteI find myself walking around the house humming your songs almost every day. Your art has affected many people. Not a day goes by that I don't listen to your music and each time I hear something new and refreshing. You are indeed an artist in every sense of the word.
A picture is permanent and is rarely modified but you as a musician have the ability to perform your songs differently every time. You can play it slower, faster, repeat or add new verses, and make it totally new and exciting. And no one on the planet can make it sound like you folks do. The Dead Horses are one unto itself.
This is a beautifully written post. I miss seeing you play. You should come and do a tour through Alaska someday.
ReplyDeleteUnlike a painting, charcoal sketch, or other visual art, music is an active, living thing, re-experienced each time it is played, whether live or recorded yesterday or a century ago. As individuals and as a band, you create a delicious collage of musical and emotional vibrations each time you play live or are played via a recorded medium.
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