We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jake Burns. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jake below.

Jake, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?

I am happy as an artist, most of the time. The thought of what it would be like if I wasn’t pursuing this path crosses my mind almost everyday as I think it does for a lot of up and coming artists. It’s not an easy thing to do. Not only do you have to navigate the struggles of being a small business owner but you are constantly sharing some of the most vulnerable pieces of your being in the hopes that people can relate to it. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don’t and when they don’t that can have a huge impact on your creative thought process.

Being a touring musician is hard. It’s a never ending cycle of work. Write, record, market, tour, repeat. You are always away from home and that means missing out on a lot of things that your friends and loved ones are doing whether that be going to concerts, birthday parties, family gatherings and sometimes holidays. Even when I am home my daily schedule is completely opposite of my partner and most of the time the only chance I get to see her is when she’s sleeping. These things always have me thinking about what life would be like if I wasn’t pursing music.

With all that being said, my thoughts always bring me back to the same conclusion. There’s nothing else I’d rather be doing at this point in my life. Everything is hard work if you really think about it. Especially if you are pursing something beyond the norm of regular life. I come from small town Ohio and I’ve seen loads of people working their ass off at a job they can’t stand all just to get by. My philosophy is that if you’re going to work your ass off you might as well be putting that time in to something you actually care about. This life of music is some of the most rewarding work I’ve ever been apart of. It takes one show, one song sometimes, to change someone’s life. It’s happened to me on many occasions and the fact that we get the opportunity to go out there and do that for other people is a dream come true. I don’t see myself stopping anytime soon.

Jake, 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?

Our rock/reggae group Rockstead started making music around 2013. Even before then, for me personally, I’ve been playing music since I was a kid. I started piano lessons when I was about 8 years old, joined the school band on saxophone when I was 11 and finally picked up a guitar when I was 12. I started my first band in 8th grade and we played together all through high school. It was in high school that we started getting our first real gigs. We would get paid to play local restaurants and friends birthday parties. It was a blast.

This group carried on over into college where we got another member and that’s when we became the first version of Rockstead. Playing lots of college house parties and DIY pop-up shows eventually led us into playing real venues and music festivals across Ohio. We then started touring throughout the East coast fairly regularly in 2018 and have been growing ever since.

I say we are a rock/reggae band because in my eyes we incorporate a healthy amount of hard rock into our music. We’ve got enough of the reggae vibes to include us into the scene but all of us that are now in the group, we’re a bunch of metal heads. We all grew up on that kind of music and still love it today. I’m really the one that keeps the reggae vibes alive in the group but I think it melds well and separates us from a lot of the music circulating through the reggae community.

One thing we stay true to is our message. Our music pushes the ideas of unity, positivity, hope, happiness, love and touches on important social issues that arise in today’s world. I’ve always been a fan of music that has a deeper meaning to it and I try to present that in my own works.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

For one, if you are a music lover, the best thing you can do to support your favorite artists is BUY THEIR MERCH. One of the biggest obstacles for up and coming artists is money. Buying their merch not only supports the artist monetarily but you also get something out of it!

Another thing that can be done to support artists is creating conversation about the smaller groups that you enjoy. Everyone has to start somewhere and the power of word of mouth is so much stronger than you might realize, especially with us having the internet! All of the top level artists don’t need help promoting themselves. They have labels and agencies and PR companies pushing their name in your face whether you like it or not. Your buddy Joe’s band down the street however doesn’t have all that. They have their kick ass live show and they have friends who are going to blast out photos and videos and posts about how awesome they are (hopefully). Don’t be afraid to show your support!

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

There are two sides of this for me. The first is being able to create something that you are proud of and release it to the world. In my case, music. Most people don’t understand how much time and money goes into making a professional studio track. There is the writing process, then you take it to the band and work it all out, then you record a demo, then you spend hours in a studio making it perfect, then you mix and master it, then you get artwork and blah blah blah. Then finally, you get to release it for the world to hear. Being able to have that final product and say “I made that” is a good feeling.

The other side is receiving that positive feedback from people who connected with your art. Having someone send you a message or talk to you after a show and tell you how much your song means to them, how your song changed their life or just simply got them through a hard day is extremely rewarding. Knowing that your art has an impact on the greater good, outside of your personal feeling of achievement, that’s what really keeps me going.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.rocksteadband.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/rocksteadmusic
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/rocksteadmusic
• Youtube: www.youtube.com/c/rockstead

Image Credits
Michael Clare DubDub Photos Luke Kalinoski