Attitude

As much time as you spend in your rehearsal space perfecting your sound, it won't mean anything if it's botched coming out of the PA. All the money you spent on new pedals, amps, guitars and strings doesn't matter if the mix is off in the club.The sound guy (or gal) is the most i...

The hardest thing for musicians to hear and the reason so many are held back for so long lies in a simple, nauseating realization: your music doesn't matter.Of course I think the music matters. All musicians are passionately, desperately and hopelessly in love with music. It's wh...

Anyone who has seen my solo live show knows that I have a lot going on on stage. I run multiple instruments and microphones through a mixer into my loop station and out to the house. I have quite a bit of gear setup on stage for a solo artist. I've played over 500 shows and just...

Being the opener for a more established act can be one of the best ways to make new fans. I can pinpoint specific opening gigs where I gained a large amount of fans who are still incredibly supportive to this day. I love opening slots for more established acts because I get to wi...

One of my friends, let's call him Tom, is in a fairly successful band (especially in his local city). Tom couldn't get the radio DJ of the local show to reply to his emails or play his band on the radio show and Tom felt he deserved to get played. After about 5 emails, instead of...

When I was first getting started in Minneapolis I took note of other local bands who were somewhat successful locally. I was not yet. I sent these bands emails to the extent of 'Saw your show last night. Love your sound. If you ever need an opener hit me up.' As you may expect I...

The music industry is one of the harshest, most demanding, unsupportive, emotionally exhaustive and flat out difficult fields you could enter. But the payoff is... well you know.You have to have thick skin to survive in this industry. People say this pretty much for any creative...

The idea that you will work at a coffee shop until your band gets their big break and then you're a rock star is laughably false. I wouldn't even mention this if so many young musicians didn't believe this. I know I did.The days of the 'big break' are over. A music career is now...

When I was a freshman in college an uncle of a friend of mine was the caterer for John Mayer's tour. This was around the Heavier Things time so he was touring arenas, but not a superstar celebrity by any means. The uncle hooked me up with two 'meet and greet' passes. I was a...

Right when my name was starting to become known around the University of Minnesota, a Facebook Group popped up entitled 'I Hate Ari Herstand.' With notoriety and marginal fame come the haters. The group happened to be started by a guy who dated a girl I wrote a song about, but mo...