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

Hi John, thanks for joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

When it comes to being a Solo Acoustic Artist, learning the music and putting together a 3 hour set is the easy part. It took me close to a year to formulate the Cover songs that I wanted to use for my first real set that I put together. I finally got to a point where I felt confident in my set list and my ability to play it live. This is of course after about 15 years of being a bedroom musician with a few open mics here and there. Then it came down to booking my first gig which is where I faced the real craft of being a Solo Musician, the networking and promoting. I started off by sending emails off to any local venue that had live music. 9 times out of 10, I would never hear from them at all. On the off chance that someone did get back to me, I would be told that they are already booked out for the year or they were looking for someone who has more experience. I knew I had what it takes, but I just didn’t have the experience of playing live yet. I always wondered to myself, how am I supposed to get the experience if no one is willing to give me a shot? Then I discovered the weekly open mics nights in my area. I knew there was always one on Sundays, Mondays, and Tuesdays. My wife was supportive enough to come to at least 1-2 of these a week. During these open mics, it gave me the personal reassurance that I could play live, and it also gave me an opportunity to record myself playing live at these open mics. I now had material to send out to bar/breweries so they could give me a chance. That is exactly what happened. My first ever booked show came from a place in Quincy, MA called The Pour Yard. They had a few openings left for the season and said they would be willing to give me a shot. The show came and I went in there fully confident in my art and my abilities. I played as if I was still a “bedroom musician”. The person who gave me a shot there loved my set and instantly booked me for their open slots for the coming months. Flash forward to today, I am one of their most used musicians and just celebrated my 200th shows which happened to also be at The Pour Yard. That is getting a little ahead though. At the time, I was still going to as many open mics as I could and trying to talk to anyone that I could. One of the people who made the biggest impact on my “gigging” life was one of the hosts of the open mics I would attend. He heard my stuff a few times and it didn’t take long for him to inform me that he books for a bunch of different locations. That was the start of a great relationship that lead me to booking so many gigs that I would have never gotten. So all in all, relationships and putting myself out there was what landed me the book of business I have today.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is John DeBellis and I am a part time Solo Musician. I have 9-5 job in sales and after hours/weekends I get to do my passion which is playing music. When I first started I was hoping to play 1-2 shows a month. That grew into the 10-15 shows a month that I currently play. I primarily play 90s/00s covers and I find a way to mix in a reggae vibe on a lot of my songs which people seem to love. I do a few originals here and there during my sets and I am actually coming out with my first studio single with a full band in Aug of 2024 called “Tell the People”. Although it is a lot of work and takes a good bit out of me after working a full time job, I love that I can call myself a musician. I love the relationships that I build, and the good times that I have created for people who just happened to be at the venue I was playing for that night.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

Although this might sound strange, I pride myself on not having a goal or a mission. I am doing this because it is something that I love to do. I always try to keep things simple. Be respectful, be on time for my gigs, and give the best performance I can give. When focusing on the small simple things like this, bigger things have and will continue to come my way that at a time I didn’t think was possible. By me just keeping my head down and focusing on the relationships and the art, I’ve booked private parties, played some pretty cool venues, and recently started playing festivals. I’m going to keep doing what I do and evolving my show (my product) so it stays fresh for me and we will see what else comes from this.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding thing to me is the joy and the entertainment that I bring to people. It is very challenging to be a Solo Musician. Many times I walk into a bar or restaurant to start setting up and I am hit with many dirty glares from people who are sitting close to where I am setting up. The way I see it is, I have 3 hours to make these people love me, to give these people a fun night they were not expecting to have. I would say usually by song 3, I have those same people who were giving me glares tapping their foot, smiling, and even singing along. I once had a large party get sat right in front of me. I can tell the wife was not thrilled to be in front of the live music. I kept my show going and kept things light and by the end of it she asked me if I could play a Private Show for her that weekend and that they all had a wonderful time listening to me. This is by far the most rewarding part of being an artist.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://johnsuffolk7.wixsite.com/johndebellismusic
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johndebellismusic/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/john.debellis.96
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@johndebellismusic

Image Credits

Hayley Lacava
James Cooney