We were lucky to catch up with Michael Gormley recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Michael thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?
In 2022 I was working for Larimer County Food Bank as a truck driver, while Blast N Scrap was just certified as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. My coworkers were by and large the happiest coworkers I’d ever had. It solidified this feeling that I already believed, that, if you can make a living doing something that’s good for society, you won’t burn out. You can put more of your time and energy into it and over time accomplish a lot for your community. Blast N Scrap being a full time job was certainly always the goal, but I didn’t really think about it the first year; all I really thought about was NOT drinking. I worked really hard and did 74 shows in 9 months, I believe more shows than anyone else in Fort Collins had done that year. I worked overnights at the food bank to have a little extra money to put back into Blast N Scrap, so that it would survive. Paying other artists is important and the viewpoint is: If I pay myself just enough to make it semi-comfortably, I’m able to do a better job getting more artists paid and open up more opportunities by giving all of my efforts. Our trajectory was always huge. Our method has been to throw everything against the wall and see what sticks. We’ve found other people in the community who’ve taken what the Blast N Scrap model is and bring it to film, recording, photography and more. We’re a multi-media art organization centered around music.The possibilities are endless, and as long as an idea is mission-aligning, Blast can go anywhere. It saved my life and was what I needed when I was young.
Michael, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Come to us because we are you. We can make something happen, we are a community project. There are a handful of programs–Scrapped Magazine and Grrrls Scrap Back were pitched to ME–you tell us what you need. This is something that is ever-evolving. I am excited to one day hand over Blast N Scrap to someone with a fresh perspective.As long as there is fresh blood coming in, someone who thinks differently than I do, we can always grow. This is community, a function of togetherness and I’m excited to see where it goes.
As an addict, my workaholism is larger than most. Blast N Scrap is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with 10 programs, most commonly known for our mutual aid meets music program which organizes live shows with no one turned away for lack of funds, free fentanyl test strips, narcan, and condoms at every show, a collection table for clothing and nonperishable food to be redistributed to the houseless by Clothe The People and Food Not Bombs, no table fee for for visual artists to vend. I just ask them to share the flyer to get more people to come out and support us. We create a showcase that is welcoming to everyone. This grew into more programs like Scrappy Tracking Live, which came from Scrappy Tracking, where you can produce your own recorded single with a hands-off engineer who teaches you how to record, mix and master audio The B-42s started as a program to learn how to shoot your own music video, and B-42s Live began by shooting live video of bands performing. All of the programs are “for artists by artists for certain,” but to take care of both sides of the stage. In this circumstance “both sides of the stage” are the person who is teaching you, and whoever is actually performing. Band blast off is a program for 7-17 year olds that teaches how to make a band and perform music. Many of these programs stem from artists and creators in the community who wanted to give people with financial hardship a more accessible way to create. In any situation where someone is unable to pay a low fee for services from Blast programs, it’s funded by grant money.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
When it comes to the arts I think we need to throw away the supply-and-demand thing. When it comes to supply, music is the most consumed art form by far, and I get that the supply is huge but the demand is ever flowing and always will be. If we don’t find a way to get musicians to be able to make a living making music, we will not end up with the better art. That is important, it is important that we have better expression. If the only way to make a living making music is to tour, we are only going to get new albums once every 3 years.The album needs to come back and people need to support physical media of some form. We have to figure out how to rework the model and burn Spotify to the ground. They are putting the final nail in the coffin for artists. What is it going to take? The album is a dying art, like turntables in hip hop. The album is our portrait, our mural. It’s our center stage. We have to have some sort of awakening–come to terms with the fact that we just need to just buck up and pay ten fucking bucks. We need a renaissance of the record.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
That you have to defend yourself with words. When you do good work, people still talk shit. Sometimes their perception is factual to what they see and your perception is still factual to what you see. Mistakes will happen. You don’t always have to defend yourself. If you do a lot of work, as I have, you’re bound to upset someone at some point. You can’t make everyone happy all the time.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.blastnscrap.org
- Instagram: @blastnscrap
Image Credits
Some images provided by Rasor Sharp Photos. (not all)