We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful T.Can Surmen. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with T.Can below.

Hi T.Can, thanks for joining us today. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

Besides the beginning of my career, yes I’ve been able to earn my full time living.

My journey started at age 14 when I watched 12 year old Tony Royster Jr.’s drum solo. After that in high school, the drums started to be my obsession. I was listening to the music and practicing the drums 24/7. Starting from highschool to the University I started meeting and playing with other musicians some of them later became my bandmates. The hard work I put in and the people I met and played at that time still pays off to this day.

After graduating from the university I knew I wanted to be a musician. After trying some daily jobs to make my parents happy, we both see that’s not for me. And seeing how much hard work I put in to music, they started trusting and supporting me. I think that’s very important for a young musician who is trying to build a career. Apart from special stories, to be a successful and paid musician, you need time and financial support at the beginning. So with a little financial and big mental support from your parents and friends; your dedication can become real.

But of course your hard work and parent’s support is not enough. At some point you should take some major steps. For me, moving to Istanbul with my bandmates at age 21 from Ankara, where I was born and raised, is the one. It’s like moving to NYC or London. Ankara was a peaceful place to create but not enough for taking a big step further. You need a bigger audience and the right people to connect. And that was in Istanbul. Of course it was hard because you are not the big fish anymore. That was the toughest 6 months of my life. At that point you need to be patient and keep doing what you do best. Thankfully after 6 months we started keeping in touch with people and playing some shows.

Similar thing happened to me later on in my career after covid. We had problems with our band and at the same time the situation in the music sector wasn’t great of course. I needed to find another way to cheer my life up both mentally and financially. I started teaching drums and I found something new about myself. Not in the music part, but in the communication part of teaching. Never take anything for granted in your life and always find new features of yourself.

Looking back with the experience that I have now, I didn’t change or sped up anything. My journey worked well for me. Listen to your instincts and don’t afraid take major steps. Because that makes all the difference.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am T.Can Surmen. I am a Turkish musician/drummer living in Istanbul. I started playing drums when I was 14. School bands, cover bands and finally creating drum parts and arranging new tunes is my journey. Although I studied business in the University, I became a professional musician afterwards.

At the moment I am a member of 3 music bands. The oldest and the well known one which I formed with Arda Kemirgent back in 2012 is “Son Feci Bisiklet” is a Turkish indie pop-rock band. We made 3 studio albums, 1 EP and lots of singles. Currently 2,000,000 million monthly listeners on Spotify. We play around 50 shows a year and at the moment we are touring with the band in Turkey.

The other one is “The Flabbies” instrumental indie, shoegaze, disco band which I joined 2 years ago. We made an album last year and 2 singles. We are preparing for new songs and an upcoming European tour in autumn 2024.

And the last one is “Hend” which is a duo creating Turkish hip-hop, RnB, electronic music. We have an album and singles and a new EP on the way.

Besides the bands, I’m sharing my experiences by teaching drums.

I have a podcast called “Altin Bilezik ” where I chat with creative guests about their life journeys and jobs and also society’s job perceptions.

Also I’m a traveler and very much into gastronomy. I do collaborate with brands either about music, travel or gastronomy.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

The main problem, especially in my country, is society still does not see creative jobs as a “real job”. If you’re not a doctor, business people or from some well known profession, society sees you unemployed. For most of them playing an instrument or painting is still just a hobby. This needs to be changed. If this perception changes, that would be the greatest contribution to the thriving creative ecosystem.

Starting from early ages, there should be a playground for children to understand and discover art. Not like a lesson, the process should be organic. Parents and teachers are the leading roles on that matter. By bringing them to concerts or going to exhibitions or even watching movies together. Later whether you become an artist or not, this creative perspective gives you a great vision about life. Everyone doesn’t need to become an artist but if everyone holds that creative vision from a part, that will affect the society in a positive way for sure. In my ideal world society and art should become one.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

What I like about art is, there is not only 1 answer to a question. Each time, you can follow a different path and those paths lead you to another suitable answer. What I mean is; creativity has no limits and rules. Of course there are some shortcuts that speed up your process. But the essence of experience comes from the personal journey. Sometimes this period of time can be seen as a waste of time for non-creatives, but it’s the key for you to become who you are today.

How to I get into the music and the drums can be a good example. I am a self-taught drummer. After watching a 12 year old kid’s drum solo, a 14 year old me got heated and started gathering some information about how to play the drums. I begged my grandfather for a cheap drum set without knowing anything about the drums. But I was feeling it. Thanks to my family I got the kit. I constantly listen to music, watching live shows and trying to perform what I listen and watch. That was tough of course. For 2 years, the time remaining from my school, I practiced non-stop. At the end of 2 years I was in the school band and we won the high school music competition. I didn’t follow traditional ways, no one showed me any practice about the drums. But yet here I am, after 20 years as a professional musician. This path I followed to this day is very hard to understand not only for non-creatives but also for some musicians. In art, everyone has their unique journey. Today I’m sharing this path with my drum students and helping them to create their own journeys.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cansurmen
• Other: https://sonfeci.com https://theflabbies.com

Image Credits
Black and white photo with the drums: thevolcanic Photo with the shaker: Fatih Cihangir Selim Other three: Koray kalay