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

Hi AWZY, thanks for joining us today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

I started as a little kid looking up at the cool artists playing giant shows. My family was involved in Alice Cooper’s non-profit and I would see shows with Gene Simmons, Alice Cooper, Judas Priest, Johnny Depp, Journey, throughout all of my pre teen years. I was hooked by the songs: you could say anything you wanted… scream it, whisper it or not say anything at all and instead just bang on the drums. I loved it. I devoted myself to the craft of songwriting and producing music until I could do it at a level I was proud of. Finally, I feel like I am good enough and now record and produce music for myself and other artists. I have had enough successful releases to make money off my work and attract artists who desire similar successes. I am very blessed to be able to play music for my job.

AWZY, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

AWZY is an artist and producer based out of Phoenix Arizona. He writes, records, produces, and mixes his own music. Growing up around music and learning from greats such as Bob Ezrin, AWZY has broad influences and incorporates sounds from different genres all around the world. As an independent artist and producer, AWZY has achieved millions of streams on Spotify and Apple Music for various projects. Ultimately, he intends to provide hope and optimism through his music even while broaching the most serious of topics.

AWZY has a new song coming out in May featuring members of Sister Sledge.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

The music industry is certainly one that requires resilience. Over the course of my career I have failed more times than I care to admit. I have played to audiences of less than five and played to audiences of thousands. I have had songs that have received less than 1,000 streams and released songs that have gained more than 1,000,000 streams. Every day seems to be a test of resilience fighting against pressure and expectations to achieve greatness and become an overnight sensation. My objective is to keep working hard and showing up and try to keep a positive attitude and not get jaded along the way.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

A powerful lesson I had to learn was that receiving help is not a weakness. For a large part of my journey I believed that I had to be a one man show. I tried to teach myself the skills to be completely self-reliant only to find that I did in fact need help. Only with other people can we achieve true greatness and multiple minds are exponentially more powerful than just one. Having trusted people by my side has made all of the difference in my career – and who would want the fame and fortune if it means being alone anyways?!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @awzytheartist
• Youtube: @awzytheartist