We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Poe the Passenger. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Poe the Passenger below.
Poe the Passenger, appreciate you joining us today. What were some of the most unexpected problems you’ve faced in your career and how did you resolve those issues?
Man, one of the toughest things is keeping everyone happy in a band. There are so many factors when working in a creative team. For starters, everyone has different schedules, and a lot of us do things on the side of music. Then, there’s the obstacle of assuring that everyone is happy creatively. We all have our individual influences, likes, and dislikes when it comes to a song, or music in general. Moreover, so much of what drives us is having a purpose or an actual affect. If someone feels like their ideas are not being taken seriously, or aren’t being implemented, they’ll soon withdraw. This process could happen slowly, or all at once.
What we’ve realized as a band is to accept everyones input. If someone has an idea for a song or an individual part, we will always try it before deciding if it works or not with the rest of the music. Additionally, as a band, there’s so many tasks that must be done outside of the music. We’ve learned that everyone should be given a responsibility. This helps generate a stronger level of connection and purpose to the group.
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?
Jeff and I (Trent) got into music from an early age. We both played in multiple bands growing up. Music always felt like that one thing that made sense. Music solved every problem we had. It was an escape when we needed it, an outlet for our emotions, and a mechanism to feel improvement or growth.
Poe the Passenger provides our audiences the same experiences that brought us to music in the first place. Our music and social media presence offers a community for those who feel invisible.
Our next album ANIMUS is definitely the thing we feel most proud of. We really pushed ourselves both musically and personally on this album. We’ve become more vulnerable with our lyrics. In the past we’ve been a little hesitant to have lyrics that are too personal or too close to home. With this album, we’ve really opened up to our audience because they’ve been so open with us. It only felt right.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
It really comes down to a handful of things. For starters, creating music together that we enjoy and are fans of is incredibly rewarding. It sounds a bit self indulgent, but we’re big fans of our music haha. You really have to be if you’re a musician. If you’re not a fan of your music or art, then how do you expect other people to be.
Another incredibly rewarding aspect is hearing feedback from our supporters. We’re still at the point where we see almost every message or comment people send. Trust us, the comments, messages, fan art are constant reminders of why we do what we do.
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?
As much as we hate to admit it, music/being creative can feel like a job at times. We don’t always feel like writing or working on band related tasks. However, much like other jobs, we set aside time to work on these things. It helps take out the feels of being creative. This sounds counter intuitive, but we find it helps our creative brains to know when it’s time to switch into creative mode. It’s kind of interesting how being creative is something you can work on, much like going to the gym.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.poethepassenger.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/poethepassenger/?hl=en
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/poethepassenger
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/poethepassenger
Image Credits
Amanda Rebholz