We were lucky to catch up with Chris Cranick recently and have shared our conversation below.
Chris, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?
Though it has its ups and downs, I am ultimately most fulfilled living as an artist and playing music. I have had fleeting moments of wondering what it would be like to have a “regular” job. I’ve even considered fully pursuing a handful of my day jobs over the years.
Most recently, I had started a job at a wholesale music distributor in Metro Detroit. I thought it was the perfect day job for a musician, and on paper it was: selling exclusive instruments and brands to retailers across the nation by day, and performing shows by night. What more could a music lover want? There was a catch, however. Supply chain and inventory issues were a constant issue, along with high employee turnover, as I came to find out.
A salesperson can only truly thrive if they have the proper goods and inventory to sell to their clients. At the time, I was really trying to make a life for myself in Detroit. I was saving as much as I could to buy a house, and while my base salary was decent, I wasn’t able to fully capitalize on commission due to shortage of goods. But that’s adult life, right? The American Dream? Deep down, I had a sinking feeling of dread but couldn’t quite put my finger on it, so I pressed on.
There were moments of excitement. Our company landed an exclusive deal distributing the Australian based guitar manufacturer Maton. I was able to attend the Winter NAMM show in Anaheim, CA. But these moments were short lived as I was unable to completely fulfill orders due to the ongoing inventory issues. The true highlights of these months were attending concerts and performing shows of my own with Overdrive Orchestra.
Finally, everything came to a head. My personal life was turned upside down, and I faced a choice: Double down on my 9-5 job and push music to the wayside as a hobby, or take a leap and dive headfirst into my true passion. In a moment of weakness, I almost chose the former. Thankfully my best friends and bandmates convinced me otherwise. No one could imagine me being happy without also performing music.
I ultimately took the leap of faith and left that sales job without a backup or safety net. I had saved enough money to get by while I filled my calendar with solo and full band shows. It took a few months to get the ball rolling, and I definitely had my moments of doubt. Ultimately, however, I made the right choice and haven’t looked back since. I learned to always follow my gut instincts and chase my bliss. The nature of working for yourself and creating art is tricky with no guarantees, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I am a singer, songwriter, guitarist, and frontman of the psychedelic hard rock band Overdrive Orchestra. I began my musical journey over half of my life ago, when I was gifted my first electric guitar for Christmas. I was immediately hooked, practicing for hours on end throughout my high school years. I performed with various bands throughout high school before attending Ferris State University. It was during my time at college that I formed the first iteration of my primary passion project, Overdrive Orchestra.
Throughout our time at Ferris, I performed with OO as well as solo. I played all across the state before moving down to Nashville, TN after graduating. I mostly performed with Overdrive while living down south. After a few years, the band and I moved back to Michigan to continue our musical journey. After a few lineup changes and my brief moment of doubt mentioned above, I fully committed to being a freelance musician, performing solo, with O2, and other groups including the Midwest based Bluewater Kings Band.
I think what sets Overdrive Orchestra apart from other bands and artists is our unwavering commitment to authenticity. We don’t force ourselves to be a certain type of band – we simply get together in a space and make music that is true to each of us. As I’ve said, our sound has changed over the years, but it’s done so in a very organic way. Even our newest batch of songs are different from what we presented on our 2020 release, ‘Electric Mind’. We’re always looking forward to the next sonic adventure, and we’re all ready to take the journey together.
Personally, I’m most proud of the musical chemistry and brotherhood that I have developed with my bandmates in O2 over the past six years. At this point, they’ve been a part of our musical family longer than any other band members, and it absolutely shows in our music. Even after an extended hiatus during the pandemic, we’re tighter than ever before. It’s like we haven’t missed a beat, literally. It’s incredible to hear the feedback from the audience at our shows, and the high of performing live with my best friends is truly unmatched. Music is the best drug there is, period.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
Above all, I think society can start by acknowledging the importance of the arts, in all of its forms. It begins with music education. All too often we hear stories of budget cuts in schools, and almost always it’s the music and art curriculums that fall to the wayside first. Instilling the importance of all forms of art and expression at an early age will do wonders.
I believe people also need to appreciate the price of art. Not enough consumers realize how much time and effort goes into creating a piece of art or planning an event. I’m exhausted by the amount of people who ask for “reasonably priced” services. That kind of language immediately undermines artists. Streaming an artist’s music online equates to fractions upon fractions of a cent, whereas purchasing an album, shirt, or other merchandise directly supports the creator.
Keep in mind that any money an artist makes from selling their music or merch almost always goes into creating more art. It is a never ending cycle because as artists, we are always chasing the creative muse. As soon as we complete a recording, we’re already beginning work on new material. By the time consumers hear a new song or album, it is old news to the creator.
Directly supporting artists through purchasing goods and attending shows goes a long way into curating a thriving creative scene. It is needed now more than ever, given what we’ve been through the past couple of years.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
Hands down, performing live music is the most rewarding experience of being an artist. Each performance is unique and one of a kind. The space you’re in, and the audience, both help to set the vibe of the show and feed into your performance. It is pure bliss being on stage – the best natural high.
A very close second, is creating something new from the ether. There is a saying that everything in music has already been written and that is partly true. As a musician, we have the unique opportunity to take what has come before, interpret it in our own way, twist and mold it into something new, and release it into the world for the cycle of inspiration to begin again.
Writing, recording, and performing music are entirely different animals in execution, but they share a common creative thread. It doesn’t get much better than writing and recording a song or album, then performing said song to an audience and having even one person in the crowd resonate with the lyrics or music. If they then in turn buy the recording, whether in physical or digital format, then you’ve successfully mixed art and commerce – which more often than not are at odds with each other.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://overdriveorchestra.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/overdriveorchestra/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OverdriveOrchestra/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/O2theband
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/OverdriveOrchestra
- Other: https://overdriveorchestra.bandcamp.com/
Image Credits
Joe Hirschmugl Kelsey Becker