We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Connor Frost a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Connor, thanks for joining us today. 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?
I left my full-time teaching career in 2012 to better position myself to pursue my music. This decision, scary as it was, propelled me to releasing 8 albums over a decade, touring the country and internationally, and launching my dream songwriting mentoring business. After I left my job, I picked up some tutoring work to make ends meet, and moved into a $460/month bedroom in Jersey City. That’s when things really started to happen.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I’m a songwriter, musician, and professional songwriting mentor who helps songwriters to write their first collection of songs. I work with those who struggle to get to the finish line, whatever that is, and whatever the reason may be, including perfectionism, lack of knowledge and understanding of certain songwriting elements, imposter syndrome, etc.
I got into this work through my many experiences as a DIY musician, running my band, Dizzy Bats, as well as my love for education, specifically being a guitar, Mandarin, and trumpet teacher for many years, before transitioning into songwriting and artist mentoring.
I’m proud of the amazing community of songwriters I’ve built online and within my mentorship, and my own ability to have positioned myself to do what I love every day – help people write songs.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
I was driving home on I-95 from a weekend tour in the summer of 2013, when I had to pull over. I thought I was about to have a nervous breakdown.
The show ran extremely late on Friday, and the manager was not in attendance. So to get paid, I needed to wait until they closed out the drawer.
$11 was my total.
The next day, after a bitter-tasting drive from Rhode Island to Maryland due to that less-than-handsome payout, I found out that the woman I had been involved with for quite some time, no longer wanted to be together.
The signs were all there, in hindsight, but of course the news hit me like a brick wall. There was a lot I didn’t understand about that situation, but I still had a set to prepare for.
The show itself was less-than-amazing. The venue, unbeknownst to me, did not have a PA, and one of the bands decided to bounce right before my first tune (personal pet peeve).
I started back home, and at one point, it all hit me. “What am I doing?” I kept asking. The negative self-worth loop rang loudly in my head.
These thoughts started to manifest in a physical way, so I took the next exit to stop the car, gather my thoughts, take deep breaths, and have a good cry. I was back on the highway after about an hour.
I continued to wrestle with my life decisions and general confusion over the next few days. I felt like I had nothing to grab hold of – music and my relationship were now hotbeds of existential dread.
But one day, I was on the phone with a friend when he suggested:
“You should just write a lot.”
I immediately heeded his advice by putting pen to paper.
I channeled that sorrow into the creation of a collection of songs that would eventually make it onto our second full-length record.
Had I not gone through those crippling moments of self-doubt, some of my best pieces would have never been realized.
And the artistic process allowed me to digest and dissect the negativity in my life in a healthy and calculated manner.
I’ll never forget that day on the interstate. It was the restart I needed to fuel my artistic pursuit.
It continues today.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
I want to help 10,000 songwriters to write their first collection of songs, so they can effectively start their Artist journeys, and live their most musical and creative lives.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.connorfrost.com
- Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/connorlfrost
Image Credits
Michelle Rose Photography, Casey Dworkin