As most of you would know, I’m new to this whole performing thing. Literally only started doing paid gigs (as a solo artist) last month. It’s been fun so far. One thing I’ve noticed is there aren’t too many venues that wanna hear original songs. Most gigs are covers gigs. Which is fine. Most people wanna hear stuff they already know.
It got me thinking: Do I want to perform more, or make more original songs? As it stands, I don’t think I can do both. If I want to get more gigs, I’ll have to do more covers than originals. I could, but do I really want to? I’m leaning towards no. I think I’ll stick to my guns and just keep doing 99% originals. That’s what I enjoy doing most. And I’m crap at doing covers anyway. It just means I’ll only be gigging once or twice a month. Which isn’t all that bad, now that I think about it.
When I’m faced with a “fork in the road” kind of situation, I ask myself - Why do I do what I do? Music has always been a source of happiness for me. My favourite thing about music is writing songs, and being able to share them with the world. So I probably shouldn’t try to get more gigs just for the sake of getting them. When I run out of songs to write, or when I really need the money, I might do more covers to get more gigs. But right now I just want to do my own songs and have fun. Even if it means less gigging and a smaller audience. I have an original song called “Back Yourself”. I’ll keep doing exactly that.