So, this post is semi off topic, but also sort of on topic (of being a musician that is). Bare with me, but I needed a place to rant to some fellow Musicians and A7X fans if I may.
You see, on January 21st of this year, I finally got to see my favourite band (Avenged Sevenfold) Live in Ottawa, Canada! Now you may wonder “if they’re you’re favourite band why didn’t you see them before?” Well, they hadn’t come to Ottawa since the City of Evil tour back in the day which I wasn’t able to attend, and all the cities close by I never had the means to travel to, which sucked for me haha.
Point is, it was probably one of the best nights of my life. I’m the type that tries not to fan out about things too hard in the sense that, we’re all people with different talents. So I try to look at big bands and musicians as fellow human beings, whom I have a deep respect and admiration for the talents they have and their creativity. But Avenged are a real special group, man. A group I have incredible respect for. As people (who I obviously don’t know on a personal level), they seem so down to earth and humble. I respect that. As musicians, they’re incredible talented and have created Music that means so much to a lot of people.
I went on a bit of a rabbit trail, but I promise there’s a point. Carrying on, after listening to Avenged for so long and watching countless amounts of videos of their live shows, it was the most surreal experience to see them live. The best part, is it was my son’s 1st show and he had the time of his life! The experience was unforgettable and I truly hope they come back around here soon!
BUT, it kind of slapped me with my own reality. That unfortunate reality, is that I (like so many) grew up since a very young age with this ambitious dream to make it somewhere with Music. Now, obviously I started playing Music for the love of it. That’s why I continue to play it. But because of my love for it, I wanted to create and play music for people all over the world. I was always so certain I could achieve it. Sometimes you just have this feeling that something is so possible, and you’re just so sure of it.
But things happened that acted as barriers to that dream. One of the closest chances I ever tasted was being offered a Management/Record deal with my old band. Being told they could get us on Warped Tour and the whole 9 yards, man. Was it true? It seemed legit. The thing is, my band mates didn’t share the same dreams I suppose and they quit the band. What a slap in the face that was.
To add to the backstory, I had been drumming and doing back vocals for a friends band for a while. Couple years after the other band quit (which I was Lead vocals and Rhythm Guitar for), the band I was drumming for opened up for an artist named Manafest to a sold out crowd of a few hundred people. 2 Weeks after that show I got hit with weird health issues. Unexplainable fatigue, weakness, random things like that. A year till they ruled out so many things it came down to a non specific diagnosis of Lupus (auto immune) and the possibility of Chronic Fatigue. 3 Years have past since, and I’m happily married with 3 kids at only 25! I still battle some level of fatigue and weird issues, but through exercising I’m capable of doing a lot more than 3 years ago.
Here’s where I’m at now. 3 years ago I gave up the possibility of ever pursuing anything big with Music because I thought my health couldn’t handle it. Now, even though my health is still crap and fatigue is a struggle, I feel like it’s very possible to get back on stage, though I haven’t yet. So after seeing A7X live, the next day I was flooded with emotions of wondering is it too late to try? Is it even possible at this point? Can I with my health? Am I getting “too old?” Is there even such thing as too old to have this dream!? Will I end up 50 still dreaming and it only be just that? Is it really a possibility for ME? I don’t even have a band, so where do I go? What do I do? How do I try? There’s not many local Musicians who share similar dreams AND styles of music who there’d be chemistry with. So there’s all these thoughts racing through my head, making emotions rush left and right, front and center.
But I suppose there’s 2 points to this post. 1 is to get all of this off my chest, because it weights heavy on me. I won’t lie, I still have a lot to figure out with this dream, and I get these dreams aren’t easily achieved, (and if anyone has some advice or encouragement it’d be greatly received!). But the 2nd point, is that success starts with dreams. The boys of A7X aren’t where they are by mistake. They loved playing music and they constantly had dreams to get to the next step, and the next step, and the next. Maybe they never realized they’d get so far, but I’m sure it all started with 1: A love for music and 2: a dream.
So even though I have no idea what to make of my dream and how to accomplish it, I want to leave this HUGE rant (sorry for that btw lol) with this. Maybe some say your head is stuck in the clouds and you need to come back to “reality.” I say, it’s those who can dream who are able to succeed. Is it easy? Never is. Is it impossible? Not at all. So as cliche as this might sound, don’t let others break your dreams and goals. Maybe you shouldn’t COUNT on anything, but also don’t give up on your goals and dreams either. Give it all you got, and when it feels like you got no more to give, push harder and give every last drop you got. At least you’ll know you tried everything and tried it as hard as you could! Maybe not every dream comes true, but dreams became someone else’s reality. They might just become yours too! So give it all.
Thanks for reading my wall of text and a special thanks to Syn & Papa Gates for creating this awesome Community.
– Josh L
You see, on January 21st of this year, I finally got to see my favourite band (Avenged Sevenfold) Live in Ottawa, Canada! Now you may wonder “if they’re you’re favourite band why didn’t you see them before?” Well, they hadn’t come to Ottawa since the City of Evil tour back in the day which I wasn’t able to attend, and all the cities close by I never had the means to travel to, which sucked for me haha.
Point is, it was probably one of the best nights of my life. I’m the type that tries not to fan out about things too hard in the sense that, we’re all people with different talents. So I try to look at big bands and musicians as fellow human beings, whom I have a deep respect and admiration for the talents they have and their creativity. But Avenged are a real special group, man. A group I have incredible respect for. As people (who I obviously don’t know on a personal level), they seem so down to earth and humble. I respect that. As musicians, they’re incredible talented and have created Music that means so much to a lot of people.
I went on a bit of a rabbit trail, but I promise there’s a point. Carrying on, after listening to Avenged for so long and watching countless amounts of videos of their live shows, it was the most surreal experience to see them live. The best part, is it was my son’s 1st show and he had the time of his life! The experience was unforgettable and I truly hope they come back around here soon!
BUT, it kind of slapped me with my own reality. That unfortunate reality, is that I (like so many) grew up since a very young age with this ambitious dream to make it somewhere with Music. Now, obviously I started playing Music for the love of it. That’s why I continue to play it. But because of my love for it, I wanted to create and play music for people all over the world. I was always so certain I could achieve it. Sometimes you just have this feeling that something is so possible, and you’re just so sure of it.
But things happened that acted as barriers to that dream. One of the closest chances I ever tasted was being offered a Management/Record deal with my old band. Being told they could get us on Warped Tour and the whole 9 yards, man. Was it true? It seemed legit. The thing is, my band mates didn’t share the same dreams I suppose and they quit the band. What a slap in the face that was.
To add to the backstory, I had been drumming and doing back vocals for a friends band for a while. Couple years after the other band quit (which I was Lead vocals and Rhythm Guitar for), the band I was drumming for opened up for an artist named Manafest to a sold out crowd of a few hundred people. 2 Weeks after that show I got hit with weird health issues. Unexplainable fatigue, weakness, random things like that. A year till they ruled out so many things it came down to a non specific diagnosis of Lupus (auto immune) and the possibility of Chronic Fatigue. 3 Years have past since, and I’m happily married with 3 kids at only 25! I still battle some level of fatigue and weird issues, but through exercising I’m capable of doing a lot more than 3 years ago.
Here’s where I’m at now. 3 years ago I gave up the possibility of ever pursuing anything big with Music because I thought my health couldn’t handle it. Now, even though my health is still crap and fatigue is a struggle, I feel like it’s very possible to get back on stage, though I haven’t yet. So after seeing A7X live, the next day I was flooded with emotions of wondering is it too late to try? Is it even possible at this point? Can I with my health? Am I getting “too old?” Is there even such thing as too old to have this dream!? Will I end up 50 still dreaming and it only be just that? Is it really a possibility for ME? I don’t even have a band, so where do I go? What do I do? How do I try? There’s not many local Musicians who share similar dreams AND styles of music who there’d be chemistry with. So there’s all these thoughts racing through my head, making emotions rush left and right, front and center.
But I suppose there’s 2 points to this post. 1 is to get all of this off my chest, because it weights heavy on me. I won’t lie, I still have a lot to figure out with this dream, and I get these dreams aren’t easily achieved, (and if anyone has some advice or encouragement it’d be greatly received!). But the 2nd point, is that success starts with dreams. The boys of A7X aren’t where they are by mistake. They loved playing music and they constantly had dreams to get to the next step, and the next step, and the next. Maybe they never realized they’d get so far, but I’m sure it all started with 1: A love for music and 2: a dream.
So even though I have no idea what to make of my dream and how to accomplish it, I want to leave this HUGE rant (sorry for that btw lol) with this. Maybe some say your head is stuck in the clouds and you need to come back to “reality.” I say, it’s those who can dream who are able to succeed. Is it easy? Never is. Is it impossible? Not at all. So as cliche as this might sound, don’t let others break your dreams and goals. Maybe you shouldn’t COUNT on anything, but also don’t give up on your goals and dreams either. Give it all you got, and when it feels like you got no more to give, push harder and give every last drop you got. At least you’ll know you tried everything and tried it as hard as you could! Maybe not every dream comes true, but dreams became someone else’s reality. They might just become yours too! So give it all.
Thanks for reading my wall of text and a special thanks to Syn & Papa Gates for creating this awesome Community.
– Josh L
Haha
Haha 
