Writer's Block. It's a B*tch. Make it YOUR B*tch.

"I'm at a loss for words 'cause y'all already said it all

I think I'm runnin' out of clichesI'm gettin' writer's block" - Eminem, Writer's Block

This is going to be a long and slightly more serious one, not boring though! Would I ever bore you ;) I just hope people can take something away from this.

So I just wrote a blog post for www.GNothingness.com about motivation, as I write for them now, but I don’t get as personal on there as I would on here, so I thought I’d do one on here too. 

Writer’s block, lack of motivation, self esteem is all very familiar for a lot people unfortunately, for a musician/artist, it is one of the most crushing and frustrating things.

So many people have written about this in the past, but I am really hoping that what I write could help at least one person who happens to stumble on my blog instead of the countless others.

Let me start by telling you a little bit about me. I have ALWAYS wanted to be a singer, as far back as I remember, I used to lie in bed dreaming about being on stage, recording in a studio and writing music that people connected to. No matter how you say your ‘dream is to be a singer’, it sounds a bit childish, naive and I feel like people will probably laugh and say ‘and now you’ve grown up, what do you want to do?’ as if singing is just a fantasy and not a real career. Obviously, no one ever has, but I’d understand why if they did. It really is one in a million, and I’m not even talking about selling out stadiums, just making a living off writing and singing!

Technology these days makes it so easy to get your music out there, but at the same time even harder, because that also makes the competition greater with the amount of people who can easily upload music. I am still undecided whether I think the internet has hindered or helped people’s chances.

So I find personally, knowing how hard it all is makes it so much harder to push myself to go for it. I am going to put that down to self belief. For me it’s because of years of bullying, I can never get back. I never knew the extent of how much this effected me until recently (That is a subject for a whole new post) For others it might be different. But whatever it is, you CAN turn it round.

As soon as I say ‘self belief’ I feel like this is going to turn into one of those emotional psychological therapy blog posts, so I won’t say it again haha.. BUT, it is true, if you don’t have high confidence levels, it is SO much harder to push yourself to keep going or even know where to start.

Here’s a few things I have found definitely help:

• Surround yourself with like minded people, people who inspire you, people who will push you and be blunt with you when you’re being a miserable b*tch for no reason. My best friend is my hero for this.

• Don’t stay in and watch Netflix all day on your days off, as tempting as it is. Maybe every now and then, but trust me,  it’s an unhealthy addiction!

• If people are holding you back, cut chords (literally… aren’t I clever). If they're taking too long to send a track back, if they're flaky and seem to disappear every now and then, move on. It’s too easy to blame it on other people, so work with people who push you to keep going.

• Do something different. See something new. Break your routine, it's obviously not inspiring. When has the same thing day in and day out EVER been where incredible things come from?!

• Connect to how you’re feeling, use it to write something that could actually speak to people, a song that has personal meaning is always better written because you care more

• You don’t have to do it on your own. Song writing doesn’t have to be something you stay up all night on your own trying to create a masterpiece. When you write with other people, bring styles and ideas together, THAT is when you create something incredible

• Now, here is the most important one. It’s uncomfortable, it’s not pleasant at first, but I have been told it gets a hell of a lot easier, you have to put yourself out there. Hold your breath and just go, say yes to someone who wants to work with you, sing your idea to someone. There is no easy way around this, you just have to do it. If you do, tell me how it goes and I will tell you also.

• Here is the final one, someone commented this on my GNothingness post and I love it; Remember why you started. That is ALWAYS your strongest reason to carry on, ALWAYS. You wouldn’t throw all your passion, time and heart into something you didn’t truly love, live and breath.

That’s it, possibly my longest post to date. I really hope you get something out of this, and I hope you read it all the way through. Being able to make music is a beautiful thing, a true talent, you ARE special if you can do it. So KEEP GOING!

Much Love,

Chloë XO

Band Merch, Crackheads and George the Soldier.

I am the worst, I know, truly the worst.
I promised I'd post sooner than this, but I am just so busy!

But, now for the long awaited rant.
Band merchandise. For anyone who doesn't know what that is, it's the printed tees, hoodies, beanies blah blah... some get weird, so we will leave it at that.
At any gig you go to you will see a stall of clothes with their album cover, name or logo scrawled over it, they aren't that expensive, they tend to be cheaper than the average top you'd buy at Topshop and some of them, if done well, are actually pretty sweet, not the emo band tees you have in your mind. They tend to go down pretty well, but you will without fail, at any decent sized band's gig, get people selling fake ones outside. This annoys me. This will annoy any musician.

Point one. This is stealing, living off other people's success. Bands work their asses off to get to where they are and to built the brand they are, the march goes with this. They will usually have spent hours designing it themselves and it's not okay for someone to stand next to you with exactly what you've made, with cheaper materials and a few mistakes, and sell it cheaper. It's just as wrong as someone stealing your song, maybe not as annoying, but technically still just as wrong.

Point two. THESE PEOPLE HAVE NO IDEA. They genuinely think the bands on stage are minted. Let me just make one thing very clear, they are NOT minted. Unless you're going to see someone like Rihanna, Coldplay blah blah... Smaller bands like Architects, Letlive., Of Mice and Men...blah blah... will not be rich. All that equipment you see? Most of that is rented or endorsed.

Point three. Merchandise is where bands make most of their money when they're on tour. Yeah. Let that one sink in. Those tickets you're buying? That pays off everyone involved, the transport from venue to venue, the venue hire, food. It barely gives them any profit at all when they're at the stage of the bands I mentioned above. Obviously when you reach global chart topping level for a few years, that's when you rake in the money from gigs. So for these people to be stood outside, taking money from fans who love and support these bands, when it should be going to the band so they can afford to carry on touring for these fans. Well, you can see how wrong that is.

The reason I am making this point and rant is because at the Of Mice and Men gig I went to a couple of weeks ago. I went with one of my favourite humans, George. Little fact about George, he speaks his mind, very bluntly. 
So this woman selling Of Mice & Men merch was wandering up and down the queue telling everyone her stuff was £5 cheaper than what they were selling inside. Naturally George asked how much of the profit went to the band, to which she made up a random figure. Of course George told her she was lying and her response was 'You think you're doing the right thing supporting your band, how much have you paid for your ticket? You're stuck out here whilst they live like kings. How do you live? Do you live well?'

Firstly, that's an odd thing to say to someone you don't know, especially when they are obviously doing better than you as you are dependant on drugs (I know that is an unnecessary dig, but she annoyed me)

Secondly, one again, I really wish people wouldn't assume that because you are a band playing a sold out gig that you are instantly loaded and robbing people of their money. Okay, Of Mice and Men are probably one of the more successful. But bands from the UK that haven't broken into America yet, or the support bands still get these people lurking outside their gigs, and trust me those bands are NOT well off. The majority of them are probably still working a day job in Burger king just to pay for the tour.
The tickets you buy pay for everyone else pay check who is involved, the lighting, the venues, the sound... the profit is usually the merchandise. Yeah, now you see the problem. These people are taking away the bands only true profit.

I just think that this is definitely something to think about next time you go to a gig. DON'T buy the cheap FAKE merch from the crackheads outside to support their drug addiction, spend a fiver more and support the band you love so they can go on tour again!

Sorry, that really was a full on rant with no pretty pictures. But I hope you learnt something anyways! 

George was not harmed in the research for this blog post, but I suggest you don't try arguing with these people. They seem to get quite into the argument.

Much Love,

Chloë Rona

xo