balancing music and bills

[dagosto]

Let's face it. Music is not always the most lucrative business out there. It can take many years to get to a point where you can turn a profit on your investments in gear, travel, and time (if you ever get to that point at all). In the hope that this will one day happen I've gone through some stupid situations as a result of my interest in music. Here's one of mine:

I lived in an unheated apartment through one of the coldest winters because it was a practice space as well. I kept my space heater where the gear was stored instead of in my room so it wouldn't freeze. I ended up getting a good amount of my sleep at the library in my school and at friends houses. All the cats that lived in the house started sleeping on top of each other to keep warm (we had 8 in the house). That was the cute part. One day I came home to a basement flooded with water because some of the pipes froze and burst. The funny part is we knew this would probably happen and had kept all the gear off the ground to keep it safe.

[lucidlou]

Originally Posted by dagosto

Let's face it. Music is not always the most lucrative business out there. It can take many years to get to a point where you can turn a profit on your investments in gear, travel, and time (if you ever get to that point at all). In the hope that this will one day happen I've gone through some stupid situations as a result of my interest in music. Here's one of mine:

I lived in an unheated apartment through one of the coldest winters because it was a practice space as well. I kept my space heater where the gear was stored instead of in my room so it wouldn't freeze. I ended up getting a good amount of my sleep at the library in my school and at friends houses. All the cats that lived in the house started sleeping on top of each other to keep warm (we had 8 in the house). That was the cute part. One day I came home to a basement flooded with water because some of the pipes froze and burst. The funny part is we knew this would probably happen and had kept all the gear off the ground to keep it safe.

Good Thinkin'

[Bellringer]

Sounds familiar. I rented a house with 2 friends that was to be torn down late the next spring to be replaced by a condo. The floors and walls of the house all leaned at strange angles. The staircases narrow and barely holding together. Rent was super cheap. No one could get gas on in their name but this house was for practicing so we were happy to have electricity.
After sleeping there for a few weeks we began hearing noises in the walls. Strange, scratching noises. One day I went down to clean the practice area (where we also kept gear up on crates for fear of floods) and saw a large hole in the wall about the size of a baseball by an outlet. I walked closer to see what happened and a rat looked out at me! Nasty.
We began our battle with the rats for this dump of a house. They were in the walls chewing the electrical wires, instrument cables. Eating thru Cup O Noodles containers and any other food in the house. If you had a box of cereal, the next day there would be a hole chewed through it and the Count Chocula would be gone!
We started poisoning them (they were cat sized). So we started to have the smell of dead rats in the walls. We paid a deposit and our first month rent and the landlord was told if the rats live free so do we.
They began to walk around us like they were roommates. Finally after about 5 months I had enough. I had a big fat rat crawl across my legs while I was falling asleep and that was enough.
Sometimes you gotta suffer for your art. Sometimes you gotta move on!

[lukedavo]

Man that sucks........ bad!
I practiced in some bad spots, but those two sound awful. It would have been sweet if you and Dagosto were neighbors, all those cats would help with all those rats.

[smopo24]

yea, trying to eek out a career when no one is willing to pay you can be tough. sticking it out sounds noble, but knowing when to moving on is a hard sometimes.

[dagosto]

For a lot of people it is just being able to play music with others that is important. This can be tough when you are trying to balance it with a career inside or outside of the industry. I personally feel like I even though I play out a lot and I have my job, I still don't get to play with other people as much as I would like to.

[smopo24]

just affording to get a career off the ground usually requires a 2nd career; too bad we don't have the dole in the U.S.