We recently connected with Scott Tucker and have shared our conversation below.

Scott, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

It’s hard to say what the most meaningful project I’ve ever worked on has been. I’ve been playing in bands since I was 15, curating art shows for over a decade and writing for the past five years so I’ve had a lot of opportunities to engage in work I find particularly meaningful. Overall though I believe in the importantance of people finding work that encourages them to continue learning new things throughout life.

My most recent cultural project has been working as the Media Director for a non-profit called The Deep Ellum 100. We recently raised funds to put out a historical vinyl album in celebration of the Deep Ellum’s 150th year anniversary as a neighborhood. The project is called Sounds of Deep Ellum and as my latest and I’m proud of that.

Next year my band Aztec Milk Temple will be releasing our first full length album for Idol Records. It has taken a chunk of both money and time to complete but it sounds magnificent. It’s the best thing I’ve released to date, as it should be.

Scott, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’ve always been into art since I was a kid. My dad was a professional artist and supported an entire family on his talent so that part of my creativity comes very natural to me. As a kid I often worked with my dad helping him complete numerous art projects. He taught me a lot about work ethic, being a person of your word and always getting the job done.

Writing for me was just an extension of painting. Organizing ideas as a painter is the same as organizing ideas as a writer. I also fell in love with reading books and it changed my perspective on literature as a timeless mode of self expression.

My obsession with music and the creation of music is a whole other story for many reasons. Music didn’t come as easily for me and it has taken me my whole life to have a comfortable relationship with it. The way I feel writing and recording music is powerful and almost dangerous because absolutely nothing ever feels as good as experiencing that. Music has given me the absolute best and worst moments of my life. I have to be careful with such a powerful thing.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

For me, the most rewarding aspect of being an artist, and especially writing about other artists is having unique opportunities to meet so many different kinds of people, connect and share meaningful conversations about life experiences. I think that we ( as in humanity) are natural story tellers and have very important things to share with one another. As a journalist these conversations have shaped the way I perceive and think about the world. Then as a musician, I’ve connected with a crowds and sharing what my experience has been. It can be very powerful when we take the time to listen to one another.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Resilience is a very important personality trait to have if you are planning on working in the arts and especially in music. Not everyone is always going to connect with everything you do, and to be honest artists, musicians, and writers can be extremely competitive with one another.

Out of the three, I would say that being a musician is the most competitive and volatile lifestyle of the three. When people sit down to think about a career choice, there usually are clear paths to success. If you make great grades in high school, you can get scholarships to great colleges. If you make great marks in college and keep moving forward with your education you may end up having a Masters or a PhD if you choose that route. This obviously makes you a better candidate for a high-paying jobs and fruitful career.

When you are a musician, so much of what you do is subject to someone else’s opinion of what you do, not necessarily the work you put into it, or how incredible you are at what you do. Of course there are always exceptions, just as there will always be exceptions, but the pool of people wanting to break into that career path is massive and everyone is usually good so competition sometimes just comes down to who you know, not what you’re able to accomplish.

One way I have managed to keep the same train of thought going with my creative practice has been branching outside of the confines of my own ideas on creativity. After my last band almost got a major record deal and broke up, I started a new band and got a record deal within a year. When Covid hit in 2020 a month after we got signed, I doubled down and worked a regular job a couple of years to pay off my undergraduate college loans while we couldn’t tour. During that time I also started writing music and art articles and getting published regularly. I then took all of that inertia and used it to get into a graduate school program which started this fall. The world of graduate school has reinvigorated my ideas and made me really consider a lot of different thought models, which goes back to my claim that people need to continuously learn new concepts to truly be happy.

So resilience is really about being stubborn and knowing when one door closes another is either going to open, or you’re simply just going to kick it in.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Aztec Milk Temple
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottevantucker

Image Credits
Profile picture Gianna Madrini WFAA picture Maureen Womack Live picture 1 Unknown Live picture 2 Jason Janek Art photos own