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

Cole, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Has your work ever been misunderstood or mischaracterized?

A little. A lot of people assume because of my appearance or demeanor the kind of life I’ve lived and I’ve always found that a bit strange. There’s times in my life where I’ve lived in a really provided-for setting and there’s times in my life when I’ve been homeless and living in women and children’s shelters, but people seem to question or prejudge me based on what they assume my life has been like. I’ll post little clips of me performing my songs and sometimes people will say things like “wow, did not expect that voice” or “never judge a book by its cover,” probably thinking them compliments but to me they just come off kind of underhanded. Suffice to say there’s always a little bit more under the surface than people think – and whether it’s people underestimating the quality of my work, or just not expecting the product they get based on their assumptions about me, it’s a weird thing I feel like I deal with a lot. I actually have in “level up” (the song I just put out) where I talk a little bit about this: “now they hit my line and they want something free, you judging the fruit or you judging the tree?” Asking, “are you going through my body of work and using that to inform your opinions? Or are you looking at me on the surface and making assumptions about me?”

Not that anyone should put too much thought into what other people think; I am who I am and people’s willingness to give their opinions and kneejerk reactions is inevitable, but it’s something that I find tough sometimes.

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

Sure, I’m an artist, producer, and audio engineer based in Saint Paul. All through school I was involved in music, band and choir and all that and would write little raps and melodies in class. One day I bought a mic just to see what I could do with it and just kept working on the quality of my recording and writing. I went to music college and learned a lot about the technical side of making music, and that’s helped me a great deal in offering things like beats or mixing services to other people. Mostly though, I just like being able to make quality music for myself and to have it as true to industry quality as I can.

I’m a worker, man. If there’s something I don’t know/want to know/need to know, I find the answer. If I don’t know, I’m going to admit that I don’t know but I’m not going to settle, I’m going to work until I figure out whatever little obsession I have that day. That work ethic has created some pretty powerful moments. Songs like “petals” or “sushi” are songs I lost sleep on, tweaked ten times, got different artists on, switched out verses for…I make sure the end product is as good as possible and no matter what people’s opinion of the product is, I know that I went all out making it.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

It’s kind of a weird thing to try to articulate, but it can be difficult to have the resources, talent, and time to make quality art but struggle to make it. If I go into a studio session and there are instruments, microphones, and talented musicians and we can’t think of any ideas and we leave with a demo I’m not really into, or I close my computer for the night knowing I could have made a hit, but just couldn’t think of a hook compelling enough to be interesting to me, I feel really disappointed. It’s not about having the right voice, or the right effects, or the expensive microphone – it’s what those things form into and staring at a blank session just praying I can fill it with things that are worthwhile is a feeling I find myself feeling often.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

It’s a funny thing, but I feel like the most rewarding thing about doing what I do is knowing that I didn’t give up on what I care about. I couldn’t really say where this journey will take me, but I know that if I don’t get what I want out of music, it won’t be because of my effort or my desire to succeed. I’m aware each day that I could give up, or stop trying, and fall into a career I don’t care about that would pay my bills, but that would leave my so empty. While I can’t dedicate all of my time to music yet, it’s so rewarding for me that there’s a portion of my life that is solely dedicated to it, and I put maximum effort into that time. I sit down in front of my computer and I hope I can get even an inch closer to making this my full time job. There’s honor in that for me.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://solo.to/coletindal
• Instagram: instagram.com/coletindal/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/coletindal
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13BY02h-Hbc
• Other: spotify – https://open.spotify.com/artist/3WmPrhjsSrzIm5DEwOiwAN?si=UV-vpigLSl6vmFMAozb_xw apple music – https://music.apple.com/us/artist/cole-tindal/1347801563