Welcome to my blog. I document life as a failed musician.
After taking up the hobby of photography around five years ago, I’d started to build up a fair amount of photos on my hard drive. Most of them were of course awful but there were still a few that I were somewhat proud of.
Since I have a review of Clickasnap on this site which seems to get a reasonable amount of traffic, I thought it's about time I attempted to try and actually get hold of my earnings so I can report back any problems!
Most times when we find ourselves sightseeing in a new city, we often end up in the cathedral. Often, it just seems like one of those things that needs to be ticked off a list.
As of right now, Clickasnap is the only photo sharing site in the world that pays its users a cut of the ad revenue for every view of their uploaded pics. So is it possible to cheat the system and make some quick cash? Read on to find out!
Nothing much good has come from the coronavirus pandemic. Sure, for the individual, the chance to learn something new or get something done that you’ve been putting off for ages during lockdown isn’t bad.
The dream of never having to work on ships again didn’t last long. One year after last ferry contract, we’re back at sea. And it’s awful.
I haven’t written anything on here for a while. This was entirely down to severe anxiety brought on from an impending endoscopy appointment. As well as going straight on to another contract in Monaco.
When life gives you lemons, you’re probably staying in Menton. Due to the screw up I mentioned in the previous post, our latest hotel contract in Monaco was a little different.
Good gigs seem to be coming one after another at the moment. In this case from an unexpected place.
After the fairly miserable rant that was my last post I have been hoping to have something positive to write about.
As far as most jobs go, musicians have it fairly good. I’ve mentioned before that if you are able to make a living from performing, you should be relatively happy with yourself, as well as counting yourself lucky.
Considering that at the time of writing this the Vasa Museum has a google rating of 4.7 out of 5 from over 21,000 reviews, you could easily come to the conclusion that yes, it is worth the entry fee. And to be fair you’d be right in thinking that.
Just over two weeks ago I arrived back in the UK from a three week contract at a hotel bar in Monaco. It’s always a nice change from the ships and as nearly everything work related went well, it looks like we’ll be working there a lot more than usual next year.
I was at university in 2007 when the 20th anniversary MusicMan Stingray 5 was released. I’d wanted a five string for a while but hadn’t come up with a good enough excuse to go out and buy one. I was also low on cash and so couldn’t realistically anyway.
I presumed I’d be feeling slightly sadder than I am at the moment. Last night was very possibly (hopefully) our last night performing on the Baltic ships after coming here for over seven years. Instead I can’t wait to leave.
After an eight month absence I am once again back on the Baltic ships. I actually arrived in Finland just over a week ago. That’s been just enough time to settle in to the usual routine of mild alcoholism, poor quality sleep, contracting some kind of respiratory disease and not seeing any daylight for I think eight days now. As long as I don’t get the stomach flu that’s going around, I’ll be happy.
For me, the biggest joy of being a professional musician has to be the travelling. Like I’ve mentioned in a previous post, it has for now only been around Europe but it’s still great to experience places I may not have thought to visit otherwise. The one obvious downside to working abroad however is the worry that your instrument might not make the trip in one piece, if at all.
When I started playing the bass at the age of 13, I loved music and would spend hours practising. When I wasn’t practising I was listening to music and imagining myself on some big stage in front of thousands of people, like I presume a lot of young musicians do.
Whenever I tell family or friends that I’m about to go away to work a contract on a ship, they seem to assume I’m going to have a great time. This is understandable as most people who hear about ship life are used to stories of drinking and partying. Playing music as a job is itself considered an easy ride by most.
Being a professional musician is mainly great. You get to do some travelling, meet new people and although there are negatives, stress levels are pretty low once you have some steady work in place. If you make a mistake on stage, chances are nothing bad is going to come of it. It’s probably one of the least important professions in the world and anyone able to make a living from it should be really pleased with themselves.
