Is it worth it
For a few years now I've been trying to make a band work. For a year or so, it was working fine. We were playing shows and last month we had a gig every week. It was great.. But when everything's going so well, something has to go wrong. Two members of our band left within a period of 24 hours and it really did shake us. Leaving three of us to try and fix the situation. With ongoing struggles and confusion I thought I'd give you a little insight into what it's like being the vocalist of With Grace & Charm. For the most part I'm not Burton, for 360 days of a year I'm Billy Keen. 18 year old student who's recently dropped out of a drama course to study music technology 48 miles away from my home time. I spend days on end doing the same old thing usually. Not to say I don't enjoy it Ofcourse. My weeks tend to consist of me visiting grandparents, sleeping in and going to girlfriends house. It's a lot of money. I travel almost 70 miles to her house and it became a weekly thing. I tend to sit for multiple hours a day writing songs that nobody ever hears. And when I do get round to recording to the songs we never get to release them. Either I don't like how my vocals turn out or how I recorded a guitar part. I have a microkorg that I never ever really play. It was an impulse buy and it wasn't really worth it. I'm sure someday I'll find a use for it. It's always good to have musical gear. Anyway, in regards to shows we play, we never make money. For shows in Newry, we lost out (we weren't paid and we had to pay petrol). For shows in Belfast it was the same except for our headline ep release show in JamLive. I ended up forking out money I would rather not have. Our shows in Dublin were a lost. Both shows we had to pay entry and petrol and made £18 back from each show. Fuck all in comparison to the £50 we forked out for each show. Thankfully our next three dublin shows aren't pay to play and have a bit of hype to them. Anyway, being in a band is hard work. There's arguments, fights, making enemies, making friends and for the most part you aren't a musician. You're just yourself trying to be a musician. It's tough but if you're mentally strong enough and have your eyes only on music, it is possible to actually enjoy yourself and have a good. Being on stage is home away from home no matter where the show is. Our next shows are all in Dublin Fibber Magees, Dublin. Unleashed Festival - September 14th Mitch Lucker Memorial - November 2nd A letter To Jane support - December 6th. Anyway, to anyone who has downloaded our music, bought our merchandise and came to our shows. Thank you. To anyone who's got in our way or tried to put us down, Fuck you. That us all.
