We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Gary Grundei. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Gary below.

Gary, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

Currently I’m working on a double-album concept album with my bandmate, Amy. Together, we make up the indie-rock duo, High Fiction. It’s meaningful because I’ve always loved the intersection between longer form storytelling and rock. We’re aiming to make an album that stands alone or stands as the foundation for a theatrical production or film.

I could tell you that the project is based on a book, but we actually like the idea of people listening to the music without knowing the story connected to it as it is usually told, since we’re placing it in a newer context around white, het, cisgen male privilege.

Gary, 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?

I’ve had the honor to work on so many different kinds of projects in my musical career – everything from theatre with movie stars and movies with theatre stars, to placements in TV, to conducting and writing for major choruses, to making large scale events with my band, to producing other artists in my own project recording studio.

And all the while, I’ve been teaching. It has really fed me to be able to share with others what I’ve learned from my mentors and from experience.

So when I founded goldenlotusstudio.com a few years ago, I wanted to build an online home for songwriters. I’ve seen the magic of the right kind of supportive and instructive feedback for all levels of songwriter.

Art-making, despite the myths, never happens completely alone. It never happens in a vacuum and the last few years have taught us all about our interconnectedness and what it really means to make a sustainable life as a musician.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

One myth I had in my head, that I think is not uncommon, is that the musical artists we know and love are somehow fundamentally different people than us.

It took me such a painfully long time to complete and share the first song I ever wrote as an adult for the sake of writing a song.

The big breakthrough moment was when I realized that I would rather finish the song and have it be lousy than to be stuck in the unfinished stage indefinitely.

And then I realized that everyone’s first piece of art is probably not that great – what we might call “student work.”

And the song turned out pretty good, after all.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

For me, I’ve always been interested in the intersection between music and awakening (aka enlightenment). I’m interested in it for myself and for others. I’m interested in how music can wake us up. And I’m interested in how waking up can make our music better.

Music can change our lives and the lives of those around us.

HOW it does so is not always obvious or linear, but we know it does. So, I’m here to make it easy, approachable, fun for anyone to jump in and explore.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://goldenlotusstudio.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gary.grundei/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/goldenlotusstudioonline
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-grundei-a545489b/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBJVX-taPKd-uTo5xrOFp8w
• Other: https://highfiction.com

Image Credits
Danny Bristoll