23rd of August Blog update

I am writing this blog update on a train rushing through beautiful Danish countryside. We were over here to play at a festival in the north Jutland with Sliotar. Now we are on our way back to Dublin. The week just flew by once again. To be honest with you, I am glad to have this trip under my belt, as it involved a lot of traveling. The subject of traveling was a lot in my mind this week and it reflected in not only this weeks song, but few blog posts as well. I hope you enjoyed them:-)

The weather in Dublin has been actually quite summery for a change, and here in Denmark we had nothing but sunshine on our short trip. But right now as the train rushes past some Quite remarkable nature, something a good friend of mine Barra often says. “Who’s leg do you need to hump here to get a cup of coffee?” 😀

This week I had an interesting set of lessons.

1. Too much coffee on an empty stomach can be quite uncomfortable (yes you heard me right, I had too much coffee…)
2. Don’t assume, ask. This one actually became one of this weeks Quick tips 🙂
3. I learned that some people almost feel sad for me when I tell them that I haven’t had any alcohol for over three months. And trying to convince them that I am actually enjoying not having a drink, and they should not feel sad for me. I am still looking a way to do this.
4. Our own perception of our level of skills in the past might have been very different in reality. I got to see some footage of Sliotar show form 2010, and even though I know my singing has improved a lot in the past two years, I was very impressed with the old footage.

So lest get into this weeks blog posts.

This weeks song “The Ballad of a Road Warrior” seemed to have resonated with quite few of you 🙂 If you haven’t heard it yet, check it out in the link below and download your self a copy:

The Ballad of a Road Warrior

On Monday I talked about the dangers of assumption and the effect it can have for your career:

Assumption

The Quality of the answers you receive is directly related to the quality of the questions you ask:

Quick tip 156 Ask the right questions

I know the debate about the Streaming services is starting to be a bot of yesterdays news, but here are some facts about where the money that does get paid actually end up:

Transparency

It is important to know your limits in music business:

Quick tip 157 Know your limits

Had my back against the wall bit earlier this week, and I thought to share some of the lessons with you:

Back against the wall

Sometimes we try so hard to be innovative, that we loose the sight of things that already work:

Quick tip 158 Don’t try to reinvent the wheel

People can sometimes have somewhat romanticised idea of what being a musician is like. So here is some of my hard facts:

Sweat, blood and tears

Don’t just assume things are done, double check!

Quick tip 159 Double-check

On the weeks last Quick tip I talked about how we should stay positive and how it can effect everything you do:

Quick tip 160 Stay positive

On my trip to Denmark I got thinking about the price many musicians are willing to pay for getting to play a great show. Read all about it here:

The price we gladly pay

So that is it for this week. But as always I’ll be back for more next week 🙂 If you have any subjects you’d like me to cover here, or any other suggestions, I’d love to hear them. Just leave comment below. Thanks very much for reading and listening and have a great week 🙂

J.P.

The author J.P. Kallio is a singer songwriter
To get EIGHT of his songs for free go HERE