We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Brian Cox a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Brian, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your creative career sooner or later?
Absolutely. I wish my creative path would’ve been encouraged and celebrated as a viable career. I was always told to make sure I have a “guaranteed job” and to put my creative things on the back burner because it is hard to make a living as an artist. I completely agree that it is difficult to make it as an artist, but I wish I would’ve had a better fighting chance from the start instead of heading straight into college to pursue a life somewhat chosen for me. I wish I would’ve taken a gap year after high school to figure out what I wanted for my own future and attended some sort of musical production school. I have been playing guitar for about 29 years now, and I would’ve loved to attend a school where those talents could’ve blossomed more. A lot of my paths were chosen for me.
In this society we are told that we are supposed to graduate high school, then go to college, then get a job we may or may not like, then start a family. We need to change that model. Although that path works for some, it’s not the path for everyone, and we need to be ok if people want to take time off and figure out what they want to do so they don’t waste time and money pursuing something they never wanted to pursue to start with. I think it is in each person’s best interest to take time after high school to discover themselves; travel, meet people, learn things, figure out their likes and dislikes, etc. So many things can be learned without going to an official University, and I think that’s going to benefit the individual moving forward.
I didn’t start recording music for release until 2016 with Golden Holiday, but I was already 31 by then. I have released numerous albums since then, but I always wonder where I would be if I would’ve pursued music right out of high school instead of a degree. Where would any of us be if we were encouraged to pursue our dreams instead of buying back into the system that keeps us working day in and day out? I feel like the world would be a much brighter place and creativity would be on the forefront of people’s minds.
Brian, 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?
My musical journey began back in 1995 when I was in the 5th grade and I began playing guitar because my older brother started. Throughout junior high and high school, I played in various bands where I was able to continue to discover myself and the things in music that really drew me in. Through music, I met some of my favorite people in the world whom I still consider to be some of my best friends.
In college, I continued to surround myself with people who loved to play music. This consisted of late-night jams, and this is where I recorded music for the first time with one of my friends. We spent countless hours in our garage in Huntsville learning how to record while recording, and we made a ton of mistakes. We recorded a bunch, but we never finished a project, which seems to be a recurring theme for much of my life, especially when it comes to personal projects.
After I graduated college in December of 2009, music seemed to take a back seat. Yes, I had opportunities to record and create, but my focus was not on bettering myself or honing my craft as a musician. I ended up jumping into a relationship that I should not have been in, eventually getting married. We did not make each other better people and we were way more focused on having a good time rather than becoming better people.
In 2016, another one of my best friends, Mark Lancaster, paid for myself and a couple of friends to record the debut album of Golden Holiday, self-titled (link below). This was a delightful experience, and I cannot thank him enough. Being able to meet at the studio, record, and improvise to create a completed project was a game changer! I had never felt the sense of accomplishment that came out of creating and releasing an album until that point, and I was 31. If it seems like there was a lot of wasted time from 1995 until 2016, there was.
After that album was released, music took a back seat once again for the next few years until Justin Cutburth, another great friend, wrote and directed his first short film, “Extraction” and he asked me to be the lead character and to write the score, which I jumped at the opportunity. I have always had an affinity to collaborate with people and I had always wanted to attempt acting, and this project was so much fun to work on. Once we finished that film in 2019, Justin began working on his second short film, “Repentance”, where he asked me to be the lead and write the score again. We learned so many things from “Extraction” that really made “Repentance” a much greater film and soundtrack, which was released in 2022.
I was not in a good headspace during this time of my life. I was depressed and didn’t know it. I had accepted death as this only way out of my relationship. I was raised in the church, so “Till death do us part” was drilled into my head, and divorce was not an option. For anyone reading this that might need to hear this, divorce is ALWAYS an option. If you are not happy and you realize that you are not making each other better people, you are never stuck. This is very easy to say, but when I was in the middle of it, I did not have this clarity. I was so focused on my appearance and what people would think of me that I maintained this extremely unhealthy relationship, so I continued to self-medicate and self-destruct. This bled into my musical journey. Unless someone else was playing music or needed help with a project, I did not pick up a guitar. I did not have the intrinsic motivation because I was in a pretty dysfunctional marriage. My wife at the time did not support my creative endeavors, and when I would have concerts or art displays, she would say I was being selfish and making everything about me. This caused me to retreat internally, not knowing that being proud of something I’ve created was a perfectly normal reaction. I needed to hear that it is ok to share the things you love with people around you, and if they love you back, they will be just as happy as you are.
In 2021 I got a divorce, and it was the greatest decision for both of us to move forward and truly find ourselves. The self-love I was able to get back was astronomical! After the divorce, I began dating my best friend and co-creator of Dr. Babe, Ashley Forester. After several months of long distance dating, I sold my house and moved in with her and her two kids in South Dakota later in the year. The entire house is full of creatives and creative spaces. Corbin Forester (link below), who is 19, has been recording and releasing his own music since he was in junior high, so seeing someone so young being able to do all this on his own was the motivation to begin pursuing what I love doing most in this world again. The creative process with Corbin began with him asking me to lay down a solo on one of his songs the first time I came up to visit simply as a friend about four years ago. Since that first song, we have collaborated on multiple albums, be it laying down tracks for a song of his or him helping lay down beats for one of mine. He is a brilliant producer, musician, singer, and songwriter. Dylan, my step daughter, is a hopeless romantic with endless songs in her heart, and there is not a day that goes by where we do not hear her beautiful voice coming from her room. She also plays guitar, flute, ukulele, and kalimba and has been writing her own songs since elementary school. She has a beautiful voice that carries emotion and I can’t wait to see what she does with her gifts. Ashley is a beautiful poetess and plays the guitar as well, so combined with my musical abilities, we began writing original songs almost immediately. She is the most supportive person I have ever been around, and she loves listening to me play and sing, and especially loves watching her words come to life with music. Since I’ve moved in, Ashley and I have written and recorded 2 full albums and 1 single under the name Dr. Babe (link below). When you look at the track record of my life, these past 4 years have been an explosion of creativity, and I have my beautiful, creative family to thank for that. It is pretty exciting to think that this is just the beginning and it’s already been such a productive period of my life.
In the words of Ram Dass, we are all walking each other home and our goal with our music is to be some of the soundtrack for that walk home. Life can be hard, life can be phenomenal, and life can be everything in between, so we are just trying to connect with people through our personal experiences being part of the bigger shared experience. I think this first album, “Be Whole”, is special because it’s a moment in time we can always come back to and remember how happy, in love, and even lost we were in the early part of our relationship (link below). We had a host of love songs we could have put on the first album but wanted it to be a little more multidimensional and acknowledge that shadow side of life too so it was important for us to add some not so happy songs on the album too. But mainly, I think we just want people to listen to the music and feel good about it because they have shared a similar experience or thought. Love is a powerful emotion and I think at times, it is a huge part of the driving force behind creativity for us and I hope we’re always able to tap into that and keep writing meaningful music.
One of the biggest challenges I faced moving up here was completely adjusting when and how I work on music. Before, when I was self-medicating and drinking too much, I would work through the night and sleep during the day. I was trying to escape my life and find solace where I could, and I was causing some serious damage to my body and mental well being. Since moving up here, I have quit smoking, stopped self-medicating, gave up drinking, stopped taking Adderall, and I am the healthiest and happiest I have ever been. Getting sober has been its own journey but having a fiancé and 2 kids to live for has helped tremendously. I used to think that I could only be creative if I had some sort of chemical catalyst first and really worried how getting sober would affect my art. Ashley shared something that has stuck with me since the beginning, “If you can create music when you’re under the influence, you can create music sober. All of that energy, creativity, and information is still there for you to access without the aid of substances. You’re lying to yourself if you think otherwise”, and she is absolutely correct. I have learned to listen to my body and understand the natural changing rhythms of the day to harness my best energy, which is from 8 am to around 2 pm. When I work on music, that time slot is usually when I have the most natural energy during the day and feel most motivated to work. There is a book by Rick Rubin titled, “The Creative Act: A Way of Being” that has been a huge help in the process. He talks about how we need to ride the wave of creativity because we might not ever get back to that exact same moment again, and that has stuck with me. When you have the energy, roll with it for as long as you can.
If I could leave you with any bits of advice, it’s to surround yourself with like minded creatives who are supportive of you, who push you to be a better person daily, and are willing to be honest with you. Never stop learning, never stop reading, never stop trying to change bad behaviors, and most of all, take care of yourself because we all deserve to be loved. In the words of the wise RuPaul Charles, “If you can’t love yourself, then how in the hell are you going to love somebody else”. I would not be the person I am right now or have done the things I’ve done over the past 4 years if it wasn’t for Ashley living by example through those principles.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
In shorthand, to have a sense of community and connectedness. I have always had a gift of bringing people together, whether it is organizing a camping trip, throwing a party, or jamming with someone so they can shine and music can flow. There is a very unique bond that occurs when you get in a flow state with someone else musically and something organic pours out. I am at a stage in my life where I am feeling called to dig deeper and explore my gifts to the fullest potential, and to me that is bringing people together on an emotional level. Through releasing music publicly I am opening myself up to hopefully feel more relatable to others so they can connect on an emotional level; a so called “emotional networking”.
I love playing music, painting, and the arts in general, and I want to do what I can to continue playing music while supporting other’s talents as well. I want to create a place where like-minded creatives can have an avenue to share, collaborate, or just exist together. We have so many friends that are amazing artists, authors, and movie directors, and we want to be able to collaborate with them while also providing a space to showcase their work as well. Very few of us would be where we are without the help of others and we want to embrace that. I am learning how to do web design so that we can create a path for us that we want, such as making music videos, producing albums, promoting other artists, designing band posters, etc.
That goal is to create The Ayurvedic Collective; a source of good things to consume in a variety of ways that allows us and our friends to share our gifts to the world in a positive and healing way. Ayurveda is the knowledge of life and focuses on what the senses take in on every level; visually, auditorial, orally, physically, mentally, and emotionally. Ayurveda is about cultivating joy in life and finding balance that works for each person individually.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
Go straight to the source, buy straight from the artist, be careful when negotiating prices, and share their art with as many people as you can.
Although streaming services like Spotify are a great way to get music out there, they do not pay musicians well at all, especially small artists. Find them on Bandcamp or their website (below) and actually purchase their music/art. Also, subscribe to their youtube pages. We live in a day and age where we don’t own things anymore, and that is a huge strain on artists. Etsy is a great website to support artists without dealing with large corporations like Amazon. We are in control of where we choose to purchase things from, and if we all agree to stop going to large corporations to buy our things, they will slowly become a thing of the past. Help support local, help support small business, and help support small artists.
When I was doing art pop-ups, almost everyone tried to negotiate the price of original paintings. Artists spend a lot of time working on their pieces, and they have already put a lot of thought into the pricing, so it can feel like a slap in the face when someone wants to drive the price down. I’m not speaking for everyone and every piece, but it can happen. Our society does not value art as much as it should, and art is fundamental to the advancement of the collective mind. When you see a piece that is calling to you, do your best to try and support that artist, especially if they are a small artist. Most artists are struggling to make a living, so I’m sure they would appreciate as much support as possible.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://drbabemusic.com/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@drbabemusic
- Other: Dr. Babe – Be Whole https://fanlink.tv/bewhole
Dr. Babe – Revolution: A Trip Around the Sun. https://fanlink.tv/a_trip_around_the_sun
Golden Holiday – Golden Holiday. https://fanlink.tv/goldenholiday
Dr. Babe on Spotify. https://open.spotify.com/artist/4GoThyQ7JlWJSKOnxtKOJF?si=VE0hWoI3SNajh4WzTVmbcg&nd=1&dlsi=99b201e2694341f3
Brian Cox on Spotify. https://open.spotify.com/artist/2SmeuhEl8SLzYcOTOkdGqr?si=B-_g-ZPZRpmHVNLDvK6XeQ&nd=1&dlsi=0c84319a48224ac5
Corbin Forester on Spotify. https://open.spotify.com/artist/4KBNtjsYJ3pVduqvPyjI6c?si=e2ZhZbkiT2Gw-4hGYg9qcg
Image Credits
Ashley Forester