We were lucky to catch up with Nicholas Foster recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Nicholas thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Are you happier as a creative? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job? Can you talk to us about how you think through these emotions?

I have some level of doubt as to whether or not I want this as my full-time job pretty often. The boundless nature of the work—no defined schedule, endless potential for improvement, a myriad of different projects with different goals and values—is easily overwhelming for me. It’s hard to enjoy an afternoon off (or a dinner with friends, or name your leisure time) when there is a pulling that *something* could be done. I wonder if having a more “traditional” job—regular hours, definable benchmarks—would help me compartmentalize my work from the rest of my life. Not to mention, music doesn’t always pay well, and I feel like the amount of work I put into this usually comes out in other ways besides money. Which can be a beautiful thing! And also I wonder if I’ll ever be able to purchase a house or support a family.

But then I usually end up at the conclusion that every career is going to have its difficulties, and usually unseen ones. The tradeoffs of feeling distractingly tied up in my work as opposed to being too distant from it to care seem to be worth it. It comes down to getting to pursue deepening my relationship with music every day, and that’s been worth more to me than anything else.

Nicholas, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am Nicholas Foster, drummer/composer from Tulsa, OK. I am both a lifelong musician and lifelong Tulsan. I grew up playing in bands with both my dad and my friends, and started gigging professionally at 15. We always had recording software and music-writing software from an early age, so growing up I was able to experiment with other aspects of music such as recording and composition.

I went to University of Tulsa to study music, specifically jazz, and met a lot of my future colleagues and best friends there (I am in a fortunate space where my closest colleagues are also my best friends), and built community in the Tulsa scene by being as involved as I could, first as a spectator and then working my way up to a participant. I have a lot of pride in my ties to the scene because of the time I spent growing up following people that eventually became collaborators.

I am primarily a drummer in multiple projects around Tulsa including King Cabbage Brass Band, Knipple, The Earslips, and Snobug (among others). My creative involvement in projects varies based on the situation, but in many I am involved heavily in the composition, arrangement and recording. I also have my own solo project, Winston Churchbus, which allows me to both experiment in the studio and play live as an acoustic act. Being able to wear as many hats as possible is not only artistically fulfilling, but also expands my ability to participate in more environments than I would be able to if I were just a drummer.

Recently, I have been doing more studio work, producing songs for other artists, and arrangement work, writing sheet music for larger ensembles. The nature of what is asked of me keeps changing, and I love following those rabbit holes and ending up in unexpected places. I am the most proud of the breadth of my skill set, and l love approaching creativity from a variety of angles.

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

As hard as it is to hear, I think it’s important to know that approaching any artistic endeavor with a money-forward attitude is a losing game. That’s not to say that it isn’t financially viable if run the right way, but the goal should always be community-focused. Art is a quality of life improvement, and the primary goal should always be to enrich the community. Startups or other entities that start supporting the arts with the idea that it will make money miss the point entirely, usually don’t provide for artists in a genuine way, and end up not being financially sustainable after all.

Art is not about money, and genuine support and love for the art and artists is, perhaps ironically, the only way to build something financially sustainable.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

No one can be as you as you are. In that way, you are already the most qualified to do your job of anyone in the world. My goal at this point is just to be as true to myself and try to represent the intersection of my interests, tastes, and talents as much as I can. I am the mostly uniquely positioned person to create things that sound and feel like what I want things to sound and feel like, and now the journey is learning how to be in touch with that and make those things happen.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @winstonchurchbus

Image Credits

Phil Clarkin Photography

@fivish

Jason McCaleb Photography

Olivia Barnum Photography