We were lucky to catch up with Bobby Malone recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Bobby, thanks for joining us today. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?

Being an artist, to me, means creating something new and hopefully unique that hasn’t been done before. I’d say that’s the goal that most of us are chasing, at least. Letting a feeling, idea, or emotion drive you to create something that you are proud of can be one of the most gratifying experiences. It can also be a struggle too. There are times when you have the urge – or need – to write something new, yet everything you try isn’t working. Peaks and valleys. When that inspiration all comes together, a single idea can go through many iterations, to the point it might not even be the same thing you started started with, which is okay! Eventually all that work is going to pay off and you’ll find yourself on stage performing that new song to an audience. That makes it all worth it.

The thought of being a full time artist enters my mind all the time. I sometimes wonder if creating and entertaining would still be as fun as a full time gig if it was the primary income that paid the bills, and I think it would be. I really never get burned out on music. You can always switch genres or instruments to keep things fresh, too. Also being in a band while working a busy 9 to 5 work schedule is very challenging!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

Takipnik was originally formed in 2019 as a guitar and synth based duo performing original indie pop songs. That evolved into a heavy synth rock duo after a lineup change in early 2020. We performed our songs with heavy sub-bass along with various samples and synthesis backed by Ableton Live – which gave us a lot of sound for a duo playing drums and guitar with vocals. Eventually we found a third member to play bass which changed a lot for us. And that brings us to where we are today. Drums are performed by Gabe Kohan, bass by Ethan Kotel, and guitar and vocals by me. We still perform most of our tracks with additional backing from Ableton Live, which adds complexity to our setup on stage, but also provides that extra edge to our sound. For the most part we perform our originals at shows, although we recently started playing a few covers which is fun and mixes things up a bit. We typically play around the Denver area, but plan to do more out of town shows. Playing outside of town currently is not so feasible with the current gas prices.

Our first album was released in February of 2020, and at the time we were still a duo so it’s all sub-bass for the low end on that record. We worked with Brad Smalling at Evergroove studio for the first time, which was such a great experience, and that led us to working with him again for our second album.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on NFTs. (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

Absolutely hate NFT’s. Very energy intensive created art work shouldn’t be the direction the music community is going in. It also just seems silly and ridiculous. Maybe there’s something I don’t get or understand with it, but if blockchain didn’t have such an environmental impact I’d be more onboard with NFT’s.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is creating something new, from the ground up, that you can call your own. When you go through the song writing process, that begins with a rough draft or idea, then you iterate on that until it becomes something you are proud of. Eventually you have this new song that you perform to an audience that really digs what you are doing. That is the ultimate for me. A true accomplishment.

Also I absolutely love working on new ideas and recording at home. It’s so fun to play around with new sounds and experiment. You need to be in the right state of mind when you are experimenting so that you don’t disappoint yourself. Don’t expect results, but rather be ok with the process and if something comes out of it that’s useful, it’s a bonus.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://takipnik.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/takipnik
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/takipnik
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/takipnik
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4Bi5AXmb-_ufY2gc0zsQ5A

Image Credits
Chris Tracy Andrew Raaber