Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jill Derusch. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Jill thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
So far, my most meaningful project is a song I put out called, “Drink Yourself to Death.”
I wrote this song 5 or so years ago and it used to be about how I wished I was more appreciated. I would get into relationships where I was always begging to be loved and this song is exactly about that. Of course as time has gone on, it’s no longer about one specific person but it’s a reminder to everyone to appreciate what you have, while you have it.
I redid the song with my band. Same chords but a much fuller and a little heavier sound. This is really special to me because hearing one of my favorite songs I’ve ever written come to life and to be able to play it on stage makes me really happy. I wrote it when I didn’t think I’d ever be confident enough to share my feelings and music with people so to see this song grow with me has been really cool and I’m grateful
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I’m the lead singer of my band, “Comfort the Dead”, we make punk/alternative music with metal inspired sounds. I like to write music that expresses all of the feelings we wish we could hide about ourselves.
I’ve been writing music from the time I was really small, probably about 5. And I grew up being in choir and I had been going to rock concerts from the time I was a little girl as well so I very much grew up loving music. I started playing guitar at around 13 and started putting out songs a few years later. Eventually I started going by “Comfort the Dead” and here we are now.
I am also an actress. I’ve done theatre my whole life and I started studying at Stella Adler in 2019. From there I was able to lead quite a few plays which helped me get the attention of my manager (thankfully). Now I have a few horror movies that start filming next year that I’m really excited for you all to see.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
I had to unlearn being too shy to speak up. Ive always been really shy and I would try talk myself out of sharing my music or auditioning for things. I had to push against my own thoughts really hard to unlearn that. So far, it’s paid off.
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
I would say some people have a hard time understanding why I’d want to go through the discomfort of being an artist. (I’ve heard a lot of other artists say this as well)
They can’t really see why I’m okay with the instability being an artist can come with at first. Honestly, my life doesn’t have to be perfectly planned out as long as I’m getting to make things I love. The hard work and the struggle that gets put into what I do just makes the end result that much more rewarding and I’ll get to a point where I’m what is considered “stable”. It’ll just take time. The same path isn’t for everyone. If I were to do the same thing everyone else is doing, that doesn’t automatically mean I’d be happy.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/comfort_the_dead/profilecard/?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@jillderuijsscher9517?si=WBsqzbuFRlRLm7S_
