We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Alec Thompson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alec, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

When I was recovering from my rock bottom, learning to love myself and my musical passion again. I was alone in my room inside of my recovery/halfway house and was writing lyrics to what would become my song “Dead Broke & Dopesick”. Upon releasing that song, one of my best friends reached out to me saying he was about to end his life and had a gun to his head but saw that song come across his phone and decided to listen to it. He said hearing my story and overcoming my demons touched him to his core and ultimately told me I saved his life.

After that, I knew if my music could impact people and even save lives then I have a responsibility and an obligation to give it all I got.

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

Alec Thompson aka A-Game is a 30-year old business owner for “The Raptile Room, LLC” and recording artist from Bradenton, Florida now living in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. A-Game has built, owned, operated, and maintained his own professional home studio since 2009 and offers recording, engineering, mixing and mastering services both to himself and to other clients both locally and around the world. A-Game is also a touring and performing artist, performing on tours, festivals, album release parties, and more in over 27 states in the USA.

The Raptile Room, LLC is a entertainment business, record label, recording studio, in-person and remote engineering such as mixing and mastering, reptile and aquatic consultation, caretaking, and enclosure sales. This fits perfectly with A-Game’s lifestyle and passion for reptiles, adopting “The Raptile” as a moniker/alter-ego to describe how he’s felt throughout his childhood and his career, being often overlooked and misunderstood and judged until you get to know him as a person. A-Game owns multiple reptiles of his own and spends his time educating anyone he can about the reality of our cold-blooded friends and overcoming their fears.

I started in the music industry as a freshman in high school, learning and offering graphic design services to fellow peers in the underground hip hop scene. Working with artists, such as Hopsin, Mission : Infect, Wicked Intent Radio, BloodShot, and more. During this time, my desire to record and write my own music continued to grow and I began sending my first recordings to the same peers I did graphic design for, who gave me honest, constructive criticism that I took to heart and progressed with.

There’s a lot of things I can look back on and be proud of, but I try not to highlight them too often because there’s so much more to do. But I’m proud of becoming an artist that is not ashamed to hide who I am and who doesn’t try to pretend to be something I’m not to fit in with a crowd or network. For anyone on the outside looking in, what you see is what you get. I’m unapologetic and unwavering in my beliefs, my actions, and my music and won’t hide who I am even if it’s not the popular thing to do.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

There’s a meme I saw on facebook a few years back saying that your friends are quick to spend $1500 on concert tickets or $60 on a t-shirt for a celebrity that doesn’t even care about them at all but won’t spend $10-20 to go to a local show or buy their friends merch for $10-20. The next big thing could be someone you know. I’ve personally witnessed the rise of others whom I supported in the beginning who never gave up and eventually it paid off. Support your friends like you do these celebrities.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

Creatives are the adults who never grew up. For some, this is a hobby or a pastime. For others, this is an outlet. A therapist. An escape. A saving grace. We aren’t always creative, but we need to be able to have that outlet to be creative. I believe if you put a creative in an environment that hinders them from having that outlet, it can put that person in a pretty bad space. If you love someone who is a creative artist, give them an environment that allows them to flourish and express their inner child.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://agametheraptile.bigcartel.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/agametheraptile
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/agamemusik
• Twitter: https://x.com/agametheraptile
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/agametheraptile
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/agamemusik
• Other: Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/a-game/1396539075
  Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3sowzfp3SG3oGn7M7DkPpp?si=FG-Z3JPCSgCnclNnVWu1-A