We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Chris Taylor a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Chris , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?
Anytime I let someone hear something new that I have created, or anytime I go on stage to perform the music I written are both constant risks. I risk being judged for my content and on my performance. And while on paper, that may not seem as risky as skydiving, or climbing mountains, or wrestling alligators, the feeling of that risk has often times kept me from sharing my art with people. Getting over the risk and fear of being judged for my music has translated into other areas of my life. I find that I tell others what I’m truly thinking and feeling more these days. People that I love, I tell them. If that makes me a “softy,” so be it. I had to learn to get over the risks of what others think of me, and forcing myself to get in front of people to share my music is something I am very grateful for. It has changed for me over the years. Now, I feel lucky to have an outlet that allows me to share personal and intimate feelings with others. To me, it was the greatest risk I have ever taken.
Chris , 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 have been interested in music and the music industry since I was very young. At the age of 8, I began taking music lessons for a year or so. This provided a valuable foundation in the basics of music notation and song structure that I carried with me and built upon to this day. I started with piano, but was soon dabbling in guitar and drums as well. Eventually I branched out even more and wanted to learn every instrument I could get my hands on. This included bass guitar, woodwind instruments, brass instruments, and several types of digital softwares and synthesizers. Creating my own music was just a matter of time. In my early teens began experimenting with songwriting, recording, and producing. I also began performing live around that time in cover bands, and did that for over a decade. During this time, I was quietly creating my own original music, but never shared it with anyone. It wasn’t until many years later that I decided to share some stuff that I was actually proud of. As my own music started to blossom, I also began creating music and writing lyrics for others. This proved to be the main route for making the majority the revenue from content I create, and expanded into working as freelance producer in addition to making my own music and performing live shows. Today, I have a steady balance of working on my own content, performing live shows with my band, and creating/editing content for others. I have a large array of instruments in my collection that I play proficiently, as well as tons of studio equipment for making music. Its been a long road to get to this point and there’s still a lot I want to accomplish, but I couldn’t be more pleased of my progress so far and the work I have done that has allowed me to be where I am today. I have created musical content for artists to perform as well as music used as soundtracks and score for several types of media including, movies/tv, podcasts, and video games.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
There are so many ways that people can support musicians and artists. Following and and liking us on social media is huge. When looking to book shows, club owners and promoters typically check those out first and it plays a heavy role in whether or not they book that band. EVERY SINGLE “LIKE” COUNTS! You can have all the streams in the world on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, YouTube, or any other platform, but promoters and club owners have very little to no interest in that. Aside from social media, buying merch, going to live shows, and spreading the word about music and bands you like are all really great ways to support musicians.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
My goal is simple. Expression. I constantly am searching for ways to express my thoughts, feelings, emotions, and experiences with others. With every song I make, I get a little bit closer to hitting the bullseye of adequate and effective expressionism of whatever it is inside of me that I’m trying to get out. I want others to be able to feel exactly where I was at mentally, physically, and emotionally when I wrote the song. Hopefully, someone out there can relate to it. Humans love to relate to things. Hearing that I have created art that someone else relates to in any kind of way also has helped me to accept myself more and not be so judgmental or or critical of myself as well. 
Contact Info:
- Website: chrisfromspace.com
- Instagram: @chrisfromspace
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chrisfromspace00/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@chrisfromspace00
- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0x6Y7bagMNmnZ6jzeCqjpa
- Apple: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/chris-from-space/1297246483
- Amazon Music: https://www.amazon.com/music/player/artists/B076Q4LRQD/chris-from-space
Image Credits
Mission Control Media