I frequently get asked by young kids, wanting to know how to become a ‘rock star.’
The last few days I’ve been asked everyday, as being on the road I encounter many people from all walks of life. Especially when i am invited into peoples homes and play my very personal and much loved House Concerts. Most kids i meet want to try out for the next TV show and they seem to want to be a celebrity and the idea a music career will make life better .. That’s cool!! But there is many sides to that great story-
Some Kids always seem to be looking for something external (once they get to a certain age) to fulfil them and not realising that creating from what they already have in built within themselves, is where they’ll find their treasure.
My passion to create has always come from the wanting to expand further in life. To challenge the normal expectations and get people thinking about who we are and what makes us tick. I’m still learning about myself and aren’t we all.
Music has unlimited potential just like each and every one of us. It comes from a pure expression.
I’ve seen audiences from all walks of life, no matter religion or colour or political view, become ONE with one simple chorus of song.
Within music, I like to channel my angst. I learn from the great Mellon Collie feeling that comes from contrasting emotions, the power of real life and it’s challenging, expansive, sometimes cryptic and intricate ways of teaching us all about each other and ourselves.
But Most importantly having great love for what I do.
If it doesn’t feel right, I stop doing it.
Gandhi said, ‘I want freedom for the full expression of my personality.’
When I was a kid I never felt anything like the warm embrace of music.
It made me aware that we are all connected to a higher impulse, and music connects us all.
When we speak in conversation, sometimes we don’t get our feelings across, but through music we can say everything, whether it’s our own music or the use of somebody else’s.
I write from my own experiences and perspectives.
Being in the flow of your craft like a surfer on his board riding a wave, you just unite with a much greater presence than what you see in your physical surroundings.
Whatever you do, whether you work for yourself or you work for someone else.
You are your own industry, you are your own business. You are Your own marketer.
You have all the tools to create something from within yourself. To inspire others and reach greater possibilities.
If you’re looking externally for something to fulfil your life, you will never find it. I’ve always fallen prey to external temptations and have learnt the hard way many times over. Never beat yourself up, as its all a blessing.
Try to Look within yourself, and create from that perspective. Meditation is the best way to do this.
Whatever your actions, use the power and great knowledge from within to do it.
Find your own unique voice and when you find that voice, that’s true power. And that is more powerful than anything you will ever experience. Through this, you will Learn to shape and create your own destiny without straining or harming anyone.
Seeking approval will only diminish your creation, but listening to external opinions can expand your creation.
So take care when exposing your passions and creations to others. When you are on to something you know is your purpose, people will want to know how,when, where, and why?
Try not to boast.
Try not to preach.
You won’t want to anyway if it’s your true path you are living.
If you are only after the reward or the notoriety etc. You will never find your passion for It is not a passion from the heart, and it will not fulfil you.
You will always be looking for something else. It may even have the opposite effect. We are here to be free, so whatever you do, be free doing it.
For me it was music from an early age….
When i wrote my first song, or picked up an instrument for the first time, or walked on a stage etc. I was completely in love with my art. My artistry is what saved me from tensions at home, difficulty at school and teenage challenges.
It wasn’t just music though, it was a certain attitude I felt when playing music, like I was invincible and empowered to tell the world my stories.
I was first introduced to people within the music industry when I was 14 years old. I started playing shows at that time and began my long journey.
Sadly, I believe, for now, The music industry has lost its way.
It’s perpetually seeking the next big thing instead of acting with purity and heart that built what the industry is today. Now It’s purely run on economics and celebrity. There is so much great music to be heard these days, but unfortunately crowded out by gossip magazines and media publications that dominate the consciousness of society.
Once you unconsciously give your power away to any external force you have lost that creative spark of genius, that uniqueness, that purity, that divine knowing that once gave you those goosebumps playing your own music and expressing your own experiences as a kid. You don’t know any different as a kid, your sweet naivety is what gives you wings to expand and create from your own true awareness, without knowing limitations that you tend to put on yourself later in life.
The music industry has forgotten fundamental principles of artistry and creation. It once depended on the artists to create and keep challenging the ‘normal.’ To break free from their daily lives, to remind us all, we are free, to create a shift for a global consciousness and remind us all that we are all connected by a higher awareness. That we belong to something. Music connects us all, it’s the universal language. I guess that’s why songs created from pure heart are still being celebrated now and we see countless nostalgia bands celebrating these songs because some of today’s music has sadly become disposable in a anxious, fickle industry and marketplace.
Ancient tribes and some tribes today have used music to heal the sick and when the early blues and rock and roll came along it started a revolution that set many cultures free..
We tend to forget music is essentially, another form of spiritual practice.
There’s more notoriety and celebrity fuelled by gossip magazines and tabloid media, than there is purity and heart.
Without heart there is nothing, and mostly there isn’t much heart in the corporate music industry that entirely controls what is produced and released for the masses to digest. There is an elitist, angry, fickle low vibration which spawns from insecurity and ego, governed by illusionary thinking. Once we get our heads out of the sand, stop complaining, stop the divide and conquer approach to running business, all art will breathe again. We must know the art of dying to know the art of living. Learn to die when alive and you will be reborn.
I open my heart to the people who are afraid to change or who try to govern in fear. All we can do is send them love.
Henry David Thoreau “those who govern least govern best.”
I’ve seen so many artists and business people trapped by their own egos , they can’t understand why they aren’t selling more and winning more awards. If you say to the universe ‘gimme more’ the universe is only going to respond, ‘gimme more.’
What do you stand for other than your own selfish desires?
Music is a service to fill the world with higher vibrations of awareness and love, that’s when communication through music will work again. It’s not ours to own we are a vessel that this sound vibration travels through.
The “mainstream” are starting to ‘wake up’ and become conscious, there’s a huge shift in society. Can you see it, more importantly, Can you feel it?
I’ve sat in boardrooms where the company i was affiliated with have spoken about the mainstream people on a whole as being stupid. That they will buy into anything if you tell them and saturate the market, they will have no choice but to buy..
These big companies have no respect for their consumers.
This is why there’s a major shift in society and we only have the big companies to thank for creating a shift of awareness and reminding the ‘mainstream people’ that they aren’t stupid and gullible. I have met thousands of people across the globe and they all have one thing in common, and that is everybody wants to be loved. If you love people and touch their soul whatever you do, it will be reciprocated.
YOU ARE THE INDUSTRY!
Whatever you choose to do. Established companies will have you believe that they will create you. You are already who you are! You are the divine power that uses your unique essence to create and inspire others..
No need to create something just to be seen or follow the pack of what already is..
Create something because your heart yearns for it. Remember, If you look for anything external you will never find the freedom you yearn for. Creative freedom is always within you. Listen to Your intuition, it’s already telling you. It’s there, just waiting behind the millions of egos crowding your mind..
Quiet your mind, you will see..
It’s fun when you first start searching within yourself for YOUR truth. You may discover you never wanted to be a lawyer or what you think you are. It was just what you thought everybody else wanted you to be.. Sometimes it can be confronting. Like that funny little elf man said in the movie the never-ending story, ‘ even the bravest of warriors can run scared when confronted by their true self.’
A great way to do this is to meditate. If mediation doesn’t float your boat, talk it out with a friend, if that’s not what you do, write a song about it, (everybody can write a song, it’s simple – musicians will have you believe otherwise.. But it’s a piece of piss) take a long drive, walk. Etc.. Or just take some time off to re-evaluate your own desires.
You will soon feel that First comes your pure intention like magic, out of nowhere. You get a rush of inspiration. Then Inspiration flows once you leave your conditioning mind behind. This can take a while to shake off.
Your conditioning mind is what you have convinced yourself to believe by following what other people have thought best to tell you what you should do, and not following your own heart’s desires. That’s a good thing!
You will end up thanking those people that lead you astray because In this moment of clarity you can find what you are meant to be doing.
Be grateful for the people that lead you astray..
Once you find your hearts true desire,
It’s like A divine messenger that comes to deliver you a sacred secret.
It can completely pull the rug from underneath you. Give yourself space to Be kind to yourself.
And it’s all hidden within yourself.
It’s A true knowingness simmering Deep below the surface of your ‘monkey mind’ (the ego.)
just listen within the stillness.
Second comes creation that’s when you materialise your intentions, don’t force your thought or your intention, just let it flow through you. Let it come in divine time.
That’s how all my songs write themselves.. I’m just the vessel.
Then with your unique creation, comes true power. The kind of power that doesn’t strain or force. It’s total power that can hypnotise. Its magnetic. Total freedom. It’s A healing power that cuts through the barrier of language. Reminding us all that we are all ONE.
You will start understanding how to work with energy and get to feel your way through the psyche of people, no matter the person. I love to know that when I want to, I can effect an audience, get them out of their seats and see them let go of the inhibitions that cloud their egos and just be at one with the music and me.
That’s real show business and entertainment!!
When finding your hearts true desire, Your consciousness will shift in wanting good for humanity, and not seeing people as competition.
Now You are living your true purpose Just by listening to your feeling, it’s your deeper awareness.
That’s when you can channel your craft and speak to peoples hearts through your heart song, whatever your art form. Be it, painting, playing footy or fixing a toilet.. It can be anything. Everything is art. Do it with your own unique flair.
Stay with your true intention, keep letting it make you feel good with that mad rush of adrenaline, and feel those goosebumps. There’s no need to listen to external noise, just listen to inner working of your desires, with the ear of your heart.
That is part of creating your OWN INDUSTRY.
Love,
WES x
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4 comments
Graham Brennan ( Grazy ) - 24/02/2015 10:37 am
Enjoyed reading your words Wes , good to know I’m not alone .
Grazy
Nirrimi - 27/02/2015 1:23 pm
raw and real and true Wes, thank you for your openness and your love. sending it right back to you.
Nadine Lee - 01/03/2015 7:22 am
This is so beautiful !
You are setting such a great example for the next generation / humanity.
Love xx
Karen Burgess - 31/05/2015 4:04 pm
Wes, this is the best writing I have ever read on the industry, fame and integrity of purpose. Thank you so much, sharing your voice in so many ways. Word for word you expressed what I would love my daughter and aspiring stars to know. ☺