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Keep the Passion Alive, like Joe Lange and John Veneziano
Quote of the Day: “We are the clean up crew for parties that we were too young to attend, no sex that isn’t dangerous, no money left to spend…” –Kevin Gilbert
Guest of the Day: Distant Brother band members, IT manager Joe Lange and toymaker John Veneziano who create music that they produce and publish online.
Passion: John says, “We get to express ourselves because of the world we created for ourselves.” They are passionate about transforming the world through their ability to create music digitally with band members nationally to impact people globally.
Joe says, “…we’ve always enjoyed writing music together and creating things together, and it’s just something we never gave up doing. We kind of committed with each other that we would just keep rolling with this thing and not do it for the money. And not do it for the notoriety or anything like that, just do it for ourselves.”
Challenges: Juggling careers while keeping pleasure in their lives can be inconvenient. Other band members have to be flexible because of this, and Joe changed jobs to lessen his commute so he could make band practice on time and “cancel band practice less.”
Learned About Self: Joe: “…one of the things I’ve learned with regards to the music, specifically, is that I initially…discovered myself through the years that I didn’t want what I thought I wanted early in life, which was, you know, to be in a band and get famous, and be playing Madison Square Garden and all of that stuff.” Joe says that there were times he asked himself why he is even creating music at all if he didn’t have grandiose expectations with it. But now he says, “Once music is in your blood, and it’s in your soul, it’s not something that you can just turn your back on, it’s a part of who you are.” He adds that it is the creating of the music and collaboration with band members that he most enjoys, and he has found that this way of doing it is comfortable and satisfying for him.
John: “I still want to play Madison Square Garden, I can say that.” John also realized that with hard work he could learn to play the guitar. “…it makes me feel like a kid when I realize I can do what I really wanted to get to do” – which is play in a band with the Lange brothers. “And I guess that I learned about myself that…that I wasn’t a musician. When ya know…I always wanted to be, but I just never was. That I decided I wanted to be a guitar player, and I practiced really hard. And I practiced a lot, and now I’m good enough to play with dudes that, you know, I still think are way better than me (Joe: ‘That’s not true’) but I can hold my own… and I think we write really good songs.”
Suggested Resources:
- The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by Eckhart Tolle
To produce your own music…
Envision: See yourself getting past the inevitable failures, because that can be “debilitating” and “it can cause you to just completely give up.” But, “That’s what success is, just a string of many failures.” Envision yourself loving what you do because even if you are the only who enjoys what you’re putting out: “That’s why you’re doing it, is really for you.”
Explore: Explore affordable technology that is dependent on your skill level: Garage Band, etc. Things that prepare you for recording status. Explore within yourself what you want to accomplish: performances or writing and producing. Explore the available software. Study how to get proficient at production, practice is key.
Execute: Publish through a site like CD Baby for distribution, and focus on promotion, which is available, inexpensive, and easy to do, but grabbing people’s attention will be the most difficult part. (The effort you put into the execution is dependent on the result you desire.)
Advice to Listeners: John: “Like I said, if music is your passion, just do it…as much as you can without it feeling like it’s a burden…if it feels like a job, then take it easy for a minute, because once you lose your passion for it and you feel like it’s a job, then it is a job and who likes going to work?”
Joe: “I think being a songwriter…that itself is the inspiration. That’s what keeps us doing this regardless of the outcome. I think when you have that kind of love for something, and a passion for something, that’s really the relationship that you have with it. There’s no other options you just do it because you love to do it.” He adds, “Write as many songs as you can.”
Motivational Go-Do!
Don’t keep your work hidden in a closet, get it out onto the web!
How Motivate Me! Ultimate Support System can rally around Joe Lange and John Veneziano:
Website: www.distant-brother.com
Facebook: Joe Lange
Facebook: John Veneziano
And, as always, on the Facebook page: Motivate Me! Ultimate Support System
CLICK HERE to listen to Joe and John’s interview.
If you enjoyed, a review on iTunes and Stitcher would be much appreciated!