On April 21, Atlanta band Daath will release their second album, The Concealers, which was produced and mixed by Jason Suecof and Mark Lewis (Trivium, DevilDriver). Before he gets tied up in promotions and touring, guitarist Eyal Levi wanted to start working with us on a new column, which he hopes to update with some frequency. Here's the first installment of "Jumping Darkness Parade."
I love music. I love the music business. Funny that people say they hate it so much. If it was so truly so bad they wouldn't be in it. True, there are lots of scumbags to deal with. Trust me. In my various pursuits in music I've encountered my share. I've fired plenty and I'm sure I will again. You can't avoid it. These are the bottom feeders.
When you're in small band like I am there's a whole section of the industry who is drawn to you because they feel like they can take advantage of how green you are. Hence, bottom feeders. Small bands are like the s--t at the bottom of a fishtank. So being that I'm in a small band, and have had so many run ins with scumbags then why do I still love the music business? Simple. Because I love music. I love bringing my music to people. Without the music business I wouldn't be able to do that on the level I'm doing it now.
There's a cliché about music which states that the music industry is the most relationship-driven industry in the world. I believe that's true. My most important breakthroughs on a business level have come through friends that I've made. Mind you, these are friends of mine. Not "contacts." Contacts are just people outside your inner circle and they're great to have. But what you really need are true friends and a wide support network. Even if the relationships were formed around making money, the friendships that have resulted have been completely real.
It seems like the complaints about "the biz" are mainly from people who would complain no matter what line of work they were in. Do you think they would love their cubicle jobs? Think they'd really dig their job at the grocery store or get along famously with all their fellow construction workers? Or what about people in upper level business jobs in the corporate world. What world is not rife with scumbags and villains? People are people no matter what industry you're in. In the music industry at least you get to party with the people you work with and maybe you aren't BFFs for life, but at least you're throwing down.
I'm going to complain for a second. Here goes. I f--king hate complaining and I feel that people in this business complain too goddamn much.
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