LET`S JUST GET TO IT.
1) You Believe Everything Nice That Your Friends Say.
- Some of your friends are your friends because they comfort your precious ego... Having those friends around all the time is not always a good thing. You need to learn how to take criticism from others and how to give it constructively in the band itself.
1.5) You Care What Other People Think...
- There's a point where you and your "rock star"-ness need to not give a flying fuck about what other people think. If you do, your creativity will bend towards others opinions and your simple freedom in no time will become an act of labor instead of a labor of love.
2) You Have A "Dream Killer" As A Boyfriend/Girlfriend/Partner/Life Partner/Blah.
-You are with someone who doesn't have your best interest in mind. Someone that is insecure so deeply that they need to claw at any attempt you could possibly have to achieve success you could have for yourself and possibly share with them. Some people could just say the words responsibilities and children, and just say that those could be other reasons as well. Paying the bills is needed, and brick by brick you can build walls, but when it comes down to it, if your support group isn`t there, well, you won't be getting any support. You are going to go through many a battle trying to achieve what you want, "Keep your friends close and you enemies closer," but that doesn`t mean you have to share a relationship with them. Trust me.
3) The Music That You Are influenced By Is Complete Shit.
-Don't keep eating fast food and expect to have a beach body.
4) You Play To The Same People At The Same Joints Every Time.
- STOP IT!!! Even those same people are semi tired of hearing the same thing. Unless you rarely play the same songs over and over and are continuously writing like a mad person, this won't get you anywhere. You cannot expect opportunity and fame to pick you up like an innocent child. You need to (actually dislike the term but...) "sell" yourself a bit, spread the love, get out there, share, and whatever clever shit you could come up with for ending this really long sentence. The same person can only buy one of your shirts once, clap less enthusiastically throughout your relationship, and just watch you fade into a wallflower as your band dismembers itself over time. The venue itself is along the same lines, only giving you a shit ton of residency to drag in the dead for its vulture beak to feed off of in the lifeless environment it is so content with.
5) You Think Your Shit Doesn't Stink.
- Open your ears, just as much as you wish an audience would do so to your music. There is nothing wrong with having a bit of confidence, a bit of ego, but it needs to be subconsciously guided by a bit of common sense.
6) You Are Not Goal Oriented.
- What do you expect and want out of doing this? Is there even a goal other then doing it for the mere enjoyment and beauty that is the creation of putting sounds together for the greater good of man and woman? In a perfect world right... Well, do you want to become famous, continually create as a musician yourself or ultimately become a producer or something else in the music industry?
7) You Haven't Played Out Of State.
- I can't stress to you how much you need to actually get out there. The people in your city/town, county and state are not the only people that can possibly listen to your music. You need to put yourself out there once again and experiment with what works. "One man's trash is another man`s treasure." Rare is the truly genuine musician that comes from the heart and relates to all creatures. See what's out there, explore the world while figuring out who are and who you can be, and write about it, then sing it.
8) Every Song Sounds The Same.
- I should've just left this one alone. Try new things musically, always. Step outside your boundaries, tip toe outside of society's and let no one tell you you can't do it, musically of course. If you make a faster type of music generally, don't be afraid to make a damn slow song and vice versa. If you're punk, who's to say you can't dig funk? Mix it up, and breaking up with your girlfriend is not the only topic in the world.
9) Your Lyrics Show No Environment.
- Is one of your arguments that you don`t have the funds or time to travel? Then on one of the levels of making music, why do you not show "the world" what surrounds you? Why must some write about flashy bullshit they don`t even have, egos they could never defend, and sound like someone else other then themselves? Do you boo. What's around you is what should be dear to you, or at least relevant. What your eyes see is your truth, and what your head thinks, is your own twisted interpretation of that... Be a television of sound, a sonic newspaper, an ENVIRONMENT for all to embrace.
10) You`re Afraid Of Succeeding.
- You are afraid of the unknown and let it stay the unknown in your life until you get older and see that it was no biggie and that you should have just done it.
11) Inconsistency/Complacency/Following Through/Networking.
- You don't practice like you need to, you don't play shows, you don`t blog, you don`t update your social media, you have no social media, in the end you are a nobody to EVERYONE!
-You are content with what is at the moment and that` s where the standard will stay. You are unmotivated and expect others to get a rise out of your one dimension.
-You set shit up and flake or can`t show and don`t reschedule and every other aspect of just plain and simply following through.
-Every time you network, it`s under the influence. Sure you can be charming with some liquid confidence, but then you dried up and that confidence went away. Leading itself to everything I just wrote from here to the number 11.
12) You Suck Live.
-You couldn`t hold a lit candle in a dark room with it`s door closed... You are an effects wizard and a reality nerd. Kinda of like saying what's a song on an electric guitar worth to anyone when there`s only an acoustic in the room, and you can`t replicate around 75% of what you did without putting something into an electrical socket? Or trying to T-Pain your way through shit and you have yet to break your open mic cherry, fuuuuuuuck yooooooou...
13) You don`t respect your age.
- Stage names, cool. Lying or shying about your age in an interview, shameless. With age comes wisdom and knowledge, and trying to deny that or suppress that blessing is straight up even more foolish then the attempt itself. Do you boo. Play to "your" crowd and somehow, one way or another, humanity has a way of finding good music on its own. If you`re not serving food, stop catering.
14) You Are Too Wrapped Up Making Others Money Instead Of Following Your Own Dreams.
- Your job just doesn't let you have a life. Not a social life, as in time to reflect. Yes, you might have time to do shit, but do you have time to reflect and UNDERSTAND what's going on around and within you? You have no "me" time.
15) DRUGS.
-Someone is on them and loves sucking the life out of the life they have by trying find the life they are seeking.
16) You're Fake As Fuck.
-And it will show.
