Flying Solo is Good Enough For Me

Lately I've been thinking about how I'm doing this thing called music.

I used to do this in a band, but now I'm doing this alone.

Every time I see my friends doing well in their own bands, I'm reminded of the fact that I'm doing this on my own. No one else to share this with. And it kinda feels lonely sometimes. Don't get me wrong, I'm truly happy for them. It's awesome they can do this with other people. But it would be nice to experience all this joy we get on stage and in the studios with someone.

But as Common reminds us on a Robert Glasper's track, "Sometimes we feel alone. But alone ain't always wrong..."

I enjoyed being in a band, but I wanted to write my own music and produce it the way I want.

(I'm a 90's kid and I'm heavily influenced by that Golden Era.)

I loved working on music with other people but I wanted to do my own thing for a long time.

I do feature other artists in my music and that's always fun. That's totally fine with me as long as I can produce it myself.

Being in a band, to me, was challenging to say the least, however great our stages were.

We got to write and release a few songs together. Everyone was talented and cool to hang with.

I think what became apparent was that how far each of us wanted to go with this. I wanted to go all the way; write and perform original music, do as many stages as we can and build our rep, and start making real money. We did to an extent but not everyone was on the same page. Some of us were more relaxed, some of us were busier at work, and we definitely had different taste in music.

I guess that happens to a lot of us musicians lol

So for a while I performed with different people each stage. And I got to perform with some amazing people. I want to say I became friends with them, but maybe we just do music together and that's it. It wasn't exactly like we hung out or anything.

Through it all, The 880 with Mark worked out pretty well. It's a pop acoustic duo and it was just the two of us. n though Mark's now back in the US, we're friends so we can get it going if we were to create something together again. We just can't perform together for a while I guess. Mark is basically a friend from home that we met in Tokyo in a way, and he's an awesome guy to hang with.

Feel Like Gettin' Close 2 U featuring Matt Churchill was the first song I've ever written & produced all on my own. I recorded Matt's trumpet myself in a studio in Tokyo, recorded my Fender Rhodes, edited the notes, recorded my vocals and backing vocals, rap, recorded the drums, added other instruments and everything.

I wrote this song in college and produced it like 3 times since then. But my version was the one that I'm completely happy with. I don't have fancy techniques and it's fairly basic, but it's all mine. And I'm proud of it. I was finally able to produce a song exactly the way I wanted.

It's a lot of work at my desk and piano all by myself. I'm sure I'll enjoy working with other people to create music and we'll share all the good times and the bad. I'll be ready to work with someone soon, if anyone takes me.

But in the meantime, here I am in my studio, working. Alone. And it ain't always wrong.