We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Brandon Z. Smith a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Brandon Z. , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

When I was in high school I taught myself how to play guitar by using online tabs. I basically just learned power chords and called it good. I was able to start writing songs immediately, which was the point. I’ve never cared all that much about my own technical ability. However, as my musical tastes matured, I found power chords to be limiting. I started learning basic chords and progressed onto more complex ones, all while still using online tabs.

In hindsight, it probably would have been better if I took more time to learn the instrument before writing but it all worked out anyway. I’m just glad to have started writing songs at such a young age. It’s given me time to crank out some real clunkers, which are essential to one’s artistic journey.

Brandon Z. , 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?

I am a singer/songwriter who spends most of his time on the couch slumped over an acoustic guitar. What you hear on my recordings is all me with the exception of the drums which are performed by the mercurially talented Barry Dingle. I record and mix everything myself in my modest little home studio and my wife, Lidia, creates all the album art.

I got my start as a musician as a teenager and have always been more interested in writing lyrics and melody above all else. If anything makes me stand out within the eternal void of music uploaded online, it might be just that.

What I’d want fans or potential fans *gazes longingly into the camera* to know about me is that I just want them to be amused. How deeply they may be affected is relative, but I’ve gotten so far beyond the point of feeling like my music has to evoke anything in particular. I used to think that every line I wrote had to be a eulogy of sorts but that mentality is self-defeating and boring.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

For starters, I think everyone could be a creative. It’s just a matter of finding a medium that speaks to the individual. There’s really nothing mystical about it. I feel like a lot of people have their creativity stifled throughout their youth but everyone is born with the ability to tap into it.

The only difference between creatives and non-creatives, if we have to use such terms, is that creatives cannot be convinced to abandon their interests. Personally, I’ve tried countless times to pursue other paths but I always come back to music.

I think that people get too focused on the terrible odds of “making it” in the arts or the entertainment industry and lose sight that all that really matters with art is the creation. You’re successful if you continue to push yourself beyond your limits and refuse to rest on your creative laurels. The point is to have a healthy definition of success that is not reliant on factors outside of your control. This makes rejection, which is usually a constant until it isn’t, easier to weather because you can take or leave anything outside of yourself.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

I love that I can create instead of always having to consume things to be entertained.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/brandonzsmith

Image Credits
Lidia Veloso