A Weekend of Creativity

So last weekend, starting Friday night actually, I unexpectedly found myself working on 2 new songs, as if they were handed to me to create and complete like a project. Sometimes songs come to me like that, very quickly and take shape. Some take more time and work. These came pretty easily and took shape quickly. With all that was going on that weekend, from the Artwalk in Pomona to Mother's Day and getting out with mom, I still found some time to build on both of these songs. It's slowed down a bit only because I work FT and it's harder to lay down tracks during the evening here, but I'm still writing and completing tracks such as the strings, piano and such. I started off by working on more of the lyrics to Face The Day on my lunch today (posted below for your hearing pleasure :). I'm going to try doing more tomorrow because I have a chance to lay down more vocals right after work. I may or may not include these new songs on the EP I'm working on, which I'm hoping to finish and get mastered by the Fall. That may be the perfect time to present this type of music, although I plan on playing live at different venues starting this month at the monthly open mic they have in Claremont, where it will be my official appearance as Mayson Gray, where there's a pretty decent amount of both listeners and musicians present. I have 2 weeks to prepare one of my songs, and I was thinking of possibly creating either handout CD's of the same song or just small fliers or cards to help spread the word.

Some things have occurred to me while writing as Mayson Gray, which has been for the last year or so now. One, I think I finally found a style that I love to write in and am comfortable with. It feels like 'me', rather than pretending to present music that's not really 'me'. Two, that if I'm serious about getting this out, in whatever form that takes, then I need to take this seriously and treat it as a PT job or side business that NEEDS to be worked on, or else it will never get anywhere just fidgeting with it. It will simply be a hobby or side project, which in itself isn't a bad thing, but I myself want it to become more than that, which means I need goals to build on it. Third, that it would be to my advantage to gain knowledge of music in general, like writing, form, theory, and simply listening to other songs and seeing the structure. I was reading a magazine recently (that all too soon disappeared) and there's some great insight to be seen about structure and writing songs. Then lastly and recently, I came to realize (or maybe the Spirit may have revealed to me) that it's great that I'm working while doing this so I can invest in it, and also it's even more vital to work harder on this presently so that IF I cease to work for whatever reason, I'll be prepared by having completed, mastered tracks that I can work with and promote and hopefully, sell. And THAT, ironically, will be my fallback, at least for the time-being, unless Lord willing it becomes bigger than I expected. That would be a true blessing. :)

Hope you enjoy this nostalgic, acoustic track and if you like, please spread the word, I would be very thankful! :)