Apple COO Tim Cook said they are the most focused company he’s ever known, and that they “say no to good ideas every day.” In the last 5 years I’ve made the opposite my norm, to say yes to all the good ideas I come across in an effort to “get somewhere” and “be ready to follow the path that opens up.” I need to pick a target and I’m going to simplify my creative efforts and actually get focused for once in my life. So pretty soon I’m going to set this site to point to the Herva bandcamp page and just get down to the business of making music, period. Focusing, if you will.

It is for fun…

A drill, a broken music box, a tweaked melodica and some acoustic guitar make nice together in my song “Jung Luv.”

In Vegas a bearded man nearly collapsed in front of me on an elevator, he squinted at the buttons and shouted “22!” over and over. It must have sunk in because I have 22 tracks I’m working with as the basis for my album-to-be. These will morph and change (some a lot) over the next several months and I’ll post the progress in phases. Check it out here. Feedback/thoughts are appreciated.

Here are a few samples (bear in mind some are VERY rough sketches.)

Coram Deo 122bpm

Trip My Snare 122bpm

I’m tatoo-ing this on the inside of my face.

The problem lies in how I’ve been defining success.

I’ve been defining success in terms of two things, one being money, two being acceptance. If I could make a career out of my music that would mean I was successful, and I could rationalize spending lots of time making music (on top of having a day job, a family, and an old broken down house to work on.) On the other hand If my work is accepted, or loved and appreciated then the money wouldn’t be necessary because its quality would be validated, and I would be fed by the positive response. Unfortunately for anyone seeking to create (the “A” word, or artist) these two destinations usually require serious compromise.

Here’s where I’m at today. Forget “fitting in.” AND, just as importantly, forget success. For now, I just want to create with as few constraints as I am mentally and physically able. I want to make music with my heart and my hands, to paint or write (or whatever) with my insides (intelligence, spirit, guts, soul) guiding my choices. Will anyone pay for it? I have no idea. Will anyone other than me think it’s good? No clue. But I have to allow myself not to care or worry about that right now. Every creator I’m a fan of creates things oozing in singularity, works that rise out of the sludge due to their originality, clarity, and vision. I don’t see the words acceptance or money in that last sentence at all. Do I hope that in doing this some “success” will come eventually? Sure. But in the making of it, in the actual creation, I want freedom.

Here’s to FREEDOM.

I’ve been making music for more than a decade and have never gone on a “tour.” This needs to change! I know many musicians like me who have passion for their craft but don’t know how to do anything with it outside of the “stuff of life;” their job, family, etc, so I thought I would catalog my journey in words, pictures and video. My dream is to have my cake and eat it too, to be a dad and a husband, and to make the music I have in me and get it out there to as many listeners as I can. Let’s get it crackin!

Main site/blog
RSS feed
Music (listen and buy via Bandcamp)
Twitter
Video (on Vimeo)
Merch/Store via BigCartel
Pics/Art (on Flickr)

There are other scattered accounts with Herva on them (Itunes, CDBaby, Soundcloud etc) but those will either go away or not be tended to for now.