We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kristian Blanchard. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kristian below.
Hi Kristian , thanks for joining us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?
Since I can remember, I have seen music being an essential part of my life. When I was 6 or 7 I made a guitar out of some cardboard along with a microphone, my mother even crocheted a guitar strap for me. My parents would find me in my room “playing” and singing (not very well) along to the radio. I attempted to learn other instruments through the years, but the thought of the guitar stuck with me. My father gave me my first actual guitar when I was 11 and signed me up for lessons. That lasted for about a week or two, until I realized the instructor just wanted to teach me how to play other people’s music. I wanted to play my own, so I sat and listened to the sounds as I played them and taught myself. I learned I have a pretty good ear and can pick out how to play what I hear pretty easily, that definitely has helped through the years. Looking back, I just wish I would have furthered my schooling in music production rather than psychology.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Throughout the years I was lucky enough to acquire the tools needed to record myself. Growing up in the 80’s we had the “luxury” of synthesizers and drum machines which made it quite simple to make more than just guitar & vocal tracks. I again taught myself the ins and outs of these machines and thoroughly enjoyed layering all of the different sounds together to make a song. I to this day enjoy hearing what sounds I can come up with by layering tracks.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
In the 90’s, when I first started recording, there were no social media, streaming, hell we barely had the Internet. So, it was a bit more involved than just uploading a song to a computer. I had to master my songs to a cassette tape and then physically make copies to hand out places like parties and the bars. There was also a book, “the billboard directory of New music”, that was used to see what record companies were looking for in new artists as well as their contact info. Again, no email, send a tape with a letter in the the mail. Unlearning how all of the physical copies of the music as well as the leg work has definitely been hard, not to say this digital way of getting heard isn’t a whole lot easier I have learned.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
I feel like my entire music journey is a testament to my resilience. I recorded my first song at age 11 and 40+ years later, I am still making music. There have been numerous ups and downs, co-artists, and other learning curves, yet I am still standing and creating my own sound through it all.
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Image Credits
Virginia Justice-Blanchard