I think if I had got into acting as a kid in Southern Cal, it would have been all about comedy, or independent stuff all the way for me, since big shot stuff always seemed silly to me! With music it's the same. So much more fun to be a musician with a sense of humor & independent artistic freedom, and I don't care how famous anyone needs to be or feel, that's their road, the chill crowd that loves to play music without the dead weight of someone super important hanging around harshing the mellow!!
To be clear I'm not talking about big time musicians in general at all, since I've known plenty that were some of the coolest funniest guys I've got to hang out with, but I've unfortunately also met some people & had some friends get famous and they really got deep, deep, deep, lost, in the big shot scene! How can it fun trying to convince everyone how important you are all the time???
My best times were about who I was hanging out with, and the fun stuff that we got to do, like when we were all kids, and being a big shot wasn't exactly cool. I never had a time when that changed, it's too much fun being real to sell that out just to hang out with other snobs?? yawn, not thanks!
I'd rather hang out, or jam, or work with, people like the ever humble Pablo Gilberto... Mr Paul Gilbert on lead guitar & jokes! See what I mean? If you can play like Paul and be just as much of a kid about music as he is, which is the same way I am. Music is an art form to connect people, not elite clubs of popular kids. That crowd is out there o plenty, but there are much cooler things than all that!
Just like when we were kids man! Seriously, back when we had to tell the rich arrogant kids to go back to the valley, and the plastic celeb crowd were the posers to never be like, and the cool skateboard kids and musicians that actually worked hard at what they did for the love of it & got good, had that freedom in their style! That raw expressive feel, that you can't get from tryin to be perfect, or trying to be a big shot, since that's not where the source of the good stuff is!!!
I've got a couple bucks in my wallet but I'll always be richer than any fool that need to feel superior, with the old... "I don't think you know exactly who I think I am!!!"
I do know who you think you are, I just don't care!! Haha
I do care about the people that some of those lost friends used to be, and if you ever decide to come down kid ego, we can still be friends! I think you just need a real friend who members you when you were a person like us, to slap some sense into you!
When I say we should jam sometime, you shouldn't look puzzled like you can't remember what that is??? One of my favorite things about being a part of the 90's Seattle scene is that we didn't have celeb culture! It was just a cool grounded artistic scene based on bands having their own thing and writing songs that you felt, and you played with sincerity to the expression!
It's not a coincidence that my new album is called "No Egos On This Trip" since that thing will sink your ship! Get that far from me, let's work on kick ass music because that's why most of us got into this as kids, not to be snobs!
I could write you a list of awesome human beings in music, and a list of not so awesome people, just like in any field. The point isn't who is or isn't cool, it's that it's a choice. As a kid I wished that less people came to LA to get famous, since we had plenty of famous people, what we needed a lot more & sometimes got, and still need more of today, was real artists that wanted to do something meaningful, like River Phoenix who actually cared about things as much as he did.
Not every artist is in it to be famous or rich, or any other empty reason! For some people the art is their passion, and they love it enough to deal with the BS side of things, and the snobs that never seems to change in their unhappy ways!
Life is too short, so I think I'll keep doing music with the joy of a kid on the playground, and keep being grateful that I never wanted to be somebody that I would have told to "go back to the valley" to as a kid!! Haha