Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Cooper Kelley. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Cooper , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. 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 don’t really know that ‘happy’ is a word I’d use to describe myself a lot. I think that one of the inherent things in being an artist is that we feel everything incredibly deeply. I go through times when I feel like my work is dragging along too slowly. I have days where I feel like my songs aren’t good enough and continuing to write them is useless. I also have moments of pure ecstatic bliss when I make something that sounds like it could never have come from me in a million years. Just last week while the band was playing outdoors in Lawrence, I looked up at the sky. The music I poured 5 years into was filling the spring air, and I was surrounded by people I loved. Doing this comes with every emotion on the spectrum. To answer your question, I couldn’t picture a day when I decide that creating art has not been worth it.

I am one of the many who have to keep my feet firmly planted in both of those worlds. But I wouldn’t necessarily say that I have a ‘regular job’ by any means. When I am not working on the next album or preparing for the next show, I work in the cannabis industry as an extraction technician, which is a completely different creative process to my music life. Being in a lab is a very measured experience with a lot of rules and standards of procedure, while music can be free of form and derived from the things I’m feeling and thinking at the time of inspiration.

Cooper , 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 name is Cooper Kelley, and I am the guitarist and lead singer of the band Surf Wax. We play summery indie rock tunes! We’ve spent the past year playing shows all over the Midwest and we have supported some really cool tours along the way. We aim to create a laidback environment that will also get you up and dancing when we play live. The band has 3 full-length LPs and 2 EPs under our belt and we are shifting into pre-production on the fourth album which will be the first album that I haven’t written and recorded all by myself!

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately. I have always been a very goal-oriented person, but sometimes I can get caught up in games of smoke in mirrors. I think a lot of creators right now need to take a step back and consider the framing of their goals. I think that framing the journey to be about commercial success and follower counts can get you stuck in the wrong place. When the journey becomes about personal development, doing your very best, and creating with love and purity, things like money and followers tend to come easier. And if they don’t, that’s okay too.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Sure, for our first theater performance, we were opening for oF Montreal, which is a band I’ve loved since I was in high school. In the middle of song 3, I fell over, broke a string on my guitar, and sent the whole thing way out of tune. Thank goodness the band picked me up and played the entirety of the next song while I sang and re-tuned my guitar. I ended up playing the rest of the show without my third string, and some people even left happy! Being a musician has taught me to roll with moments like that and not take them too seriously.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @surfwaxband link:(https://www.instagram.com/surfwaxband/?hl=en)
• Other: You can stream our songs on your streaming platform of choice!

Image Credits
Shannon Kilfoy