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

Jess , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

I think that even as a young child I knew that I wanted to earn a living doing something creative; I just never thought I’d have the opportunity to make that my full-time career. I generally got decent grades in the academic subjects at school and I then went on to study mathematics at college and university, but towards the end of uni when we were all supposed to be applying for graduate jobs relevant to our fields I remember thinking ‘I can’t spend the rest of my life doing any of this’. I’d been playing gigs since I was sixteen and by the time I was in my final year at uni I’d released a couple of EPs and was planning to release my first album, and playing and writing music was the only thing that I felt happy and fulfilled in doing, so that’s what I decided to pursue. I’d never really considered being a professional musician an option, it was certainly never suggested to me at any of the careers fairs I went to, but that was the only thing I could imagine doing, even if the reality of it looks a lot different to what I’d thought.

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

I’m a singer-songwriter from the Black Country, UK. Ever since I was a kid I’ve loved doing anything that’s creative and I’ve been lucky to work in an industry where I’ve been able flex all of those creative muscles in the projects I’ve been involved in. I play a lot of shows but the actual performing is just a tiny part of the puzzle of being a musician.
I first started playing gigs over ten years ago and since then I’ve been able to progress from playing covers shows to a handfull of patrons at local pubs to selling out venues around the UK playing my own material. At the start it was all just about singing songs to as many audicences as possible and hoping it’d start to snowball, but then I came to realise that there’s so much more that needs to go on behind the scenes in order to make any progress. Yes, you need to perform the music to people, but you also have to write it, record it, market it and so much more and, much as it can be frustrating, I love being able to be envolved in the entire creative process.
Looking at the songwriting aspect of what I do, in a world as tumultuous as this one, I always try and make the songs I write relevant. Not necessarily talking about specific events in detail (though I do have a few songs that do that), but more trying to write about things that might make people think and feel something. I don’t delight in upsetting people but when someone comes up to me after a show saying that one of my songs made them cry it means I’m doing something right. They are mostly happy tears! In the first instance I write these songs for me, because I need to, but after that you’re always hoping that they’ll strike a chord with people.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I think as an artist you have to steel yourself to the fact that a lot of people in society are going to refuse to take your profession seriously. I’ve lost count of the times that somebody’s asked me ‘Do you have a proper job as well?’, as if working as a self-employed creative is somehow not considered a ‘proper’ career path to take.

As a kid I never really considered earning my living as a musician an option when they asked us what we wanted to be when we grew up. You had to be big, you had to be famous if you actually wanted to make it a career. ‘I don’t know why you write about politics; the Bob Dylan argument’s worn a bit thin’ – verbatim quote from somebody at an open mic I’d performed at when I was about eighteen. I was always made to feel like I’d never get anywhere with it, that there wasn’t even the option to try and carve a path as a songwriter.

I don’t think people mean to be degrading for the most part – they’re just genuinely interested/worried about you – but a lot of comments that in effect tell someone they’re never going to achieve what they set out to really wares you down over time and it’s hard to get your head out of thinking that way.

Through a combination of patience and stubbornness I’m still here doing what I love but a lot of the time it’s been hard to ignore those little, niggling voices telling you you’ll never ‘make it’.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

Society relies on creatives and the arts to keep it sane. Everyone listens to music, watches TV, decorates their space with things they find aesthetically pleasing, and yet when we’re facing funding cuts the arts are always the first to go. I think when you surround yourself with creatives and people who appreciate the arts you can forget that there’s a wider society of people who aren’t necessarily a part of that community, people who may not be aware of the fact that what may seem a tiny action on their part could have a massive impact on the creative on the other end of it.

On the large scale, funding the arts so that everyone regardless of background has access to them is essential to nurturing a thriving and diverse creative ecosystem. On a more personal scale and focusing on music, people going out to gigs, buying t-shirts or CDs, sharing stuff on social media all contributes to a musician having the space (and the money) to create.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://jesssilk.co.uk/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jess_silk
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JessSilkMusic
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/silkj1
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/Jess92Silk
• Other: Bandcamp:
  https://jesssilk.bandcamp.com

Image Credits

Late Developer
Andy Harrison