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

Brian, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Are you happier as a creative? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job? Can you talk to us about how you think through these emotions?

I think I’m definitely happier as a “Creative”. Happy in general? not always but life can and WILL launch many arrows at you and I can’t imagine myself being able to take an arrow to the side and just barrel through to a roofing job or go sit at a desk making sales calls with an arrow embedded in my torso. Being an artist and a musician allows me to catch some of those arrows, melt down the arrowheads and make an amulet, widdle the wood into chopsticks etc.. I guess what I mean is my schedule is pretty flexible which allows me more options when dealing with some of life’s stressors. There are of course negatives such as not having a guaranteed set amount of monthly income, having to self motivate and self-manage. As someone who has raging ADHD I struggle with motivation and wrangling myself, it’s why I don’t think I could succeed working regular jobs. I also don’t handle daily repetition well , so going to same place and doing pretty much the same thing everyday is a nightmare for me and most regular jobs are like that. Sometimes especially when I’m scrounging for rent or can’t do anything on weekend nights bc I have a gig I think “life would be much simpler if I didn’t have the brain I have. Like, I could go to my regular job every day and just come home and chill. and that’s it.” But that’s just grass is always greener nonsense. I’m sure people with regular jobs look at me and are like “he doesnt have a 401k? NIGHTMARE!” and that’s fair.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

It’s me Brian Langan! I make drawings and songs as well as other things. Most of my drawings are for bands. Some artists I’ve worked for recently that get me goin are Dr Dog, The Menzingers, Justin Hawkins, Billy Strings and Carol Cleveland Sings. sometimes I paint things that people put on walls. I write mainly 60’s/70’s inspired pop songs that are often in the psychedelic realm. I play in a fantasy folk band called Langan, Frost & Wane. Video Games, Fantasy films, Horror movies, weird Egyptian shit, food and love inspire me a lot. I love the creative world bc you get to conjure things that didn’t exist until you conjured them. It proves that magic is real. I’m pretty sure deep sea creatures are real too and that is insane.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

It gets talked about a lot but maybe not enough and I think it’s getting better but creative jobs are still often considered hobbies to most of society. People are still blown away when they have to pay for art or pay a band more than beer to play a show. I wouldn’t DREAM of asking my HVAC guy to fix my AC for exposure. Verizon doesn’t take “We played in front of 200 people” as a form of payment. I think it should be treated more like a regular job. If you can’t or don’t want to do this thing, you pay someone to do it. but who am I kidding, I don’t have an “HVAC GUY” oh wait….my buddy Devyn is an HVAC GUY. Shit! I HAVE AN HVAC GUY!

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

I just want to be happy and I’m happy when I’m making things and for the most part doing whatever the heck I want with my time here. There is no guarantee how long we are in this world so why not try to have the experience we want and let others do the same as long as we respect each other in the process?

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @brian_langan
• Other: https://linktr.ee/BrianLangan?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAadorIw_uFrUn9NzsRffCKLOjNLT23rItTGKE_nwe4b0atJZ9luLYAmV-roWzA_aem_dZfHixczy12hMHTYBfnnDw