We recently connected with Sunflurry and have shared our conversation below.

Sunflurry, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

A current project we’re working on that is very meaningful to us is an upcoming show spotlighting some of our local singer/songwriter friends. We (Sunflurry) will be the backing band on multiple originals and cover songs chosen by our friends, who will rock on lead vocals.

Over our two years in the Akron area, we have met so many incredible musicians – this inspired us to put this project together. We’ve enjoyed learning their originals and discovering new cover tunes that we would not have otherwise considered playing. It’s been a wonderful experience, allowing us to connect with our fellow artists on a deeper musical level.

The show is at The Jenks 1929 Building in Cuyahoga Falls. 7pm to 9pm on Thursday, December 8th 2022

Ruby, 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?

Imagine a child of the 80s/90s underground scene falling in with a 70s prog, classically-trained cellist. What do ya get? A refreshing and often unexpected sound. Originally from New Orleans, now based in Akron, Ohio, Sunflurry performs unique original songs and a wide variety of reimagined covers by Kate Bush, Led Zeppelin, King Crimson, and many others.

We have shared the stage with such acts as rock legend Heart, international pop star Zucchero, Dave Matthew’s side man Tim Reynolds, and has placed music on the Emmy award-winning show “Nip/Tuck.” We have performed at venues such as Akron’s Lock 3 amphitheater, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, House of Blues, and the New Orleans Civic Theater.

Ruby Rendrag – the band octopus – delivers a sultry vocal and sets the groove with her guitar and foot drums. She was born in New Orleans to a Houma Indian Mother and a banjo playing, West Virginian Father. Ruby has been a part of the music scene for over 18 years as a performer, studio manager, and now owner of Muse Artist Services. She infuses Sunflurry with her bluegrass/rock/ 80’s underground influences.

Cellist Suki Kuehn was made in Japan (a Navy brat). He began studying cello in the fifth grade and settled in New Orleans after a stint driving subs for the Navy. He enjoyed a career as a chemical engineer while performing in a slew of folk and rock ensembles. Suki plays an old French cello that for who-knows-how-long lived in a barn south of Paris. Using a few tasteful effects, he shapes Sunflurry’s sound with rock, folk, jazz, and classical styles.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

One of the challenges of being a performing musician is getting people to realize the required investment is often not offset by the income potential.

The investments include equipment/instrument/maintenance costs, travel expenses, and tons of time.

As an example our typical income, lets look at a two-hour show that’s one hour away and pays $200

Let’s look at what we really make on a per-hour basis:

We must rehearse at least an hour each day for a week to prepare the set (about 24 songs) = 7 hours
(Let’s not forget we had to write or learn the songs first – time not included in this example for the sake of simplicity)

Load out/drive time from home to the venue = 2hours

Load in/ set up/ soundcheck at the venue = 1 hour

Play the show = 2 hours

Load out/ drive time from venue to home = 2 hours

Add it all up and we get: 14 hours of our time involved in this one show.

Divide $200 by 14hours = $14.29 an hour

Divide that by two musicians = $7.15 per hour each.

We think it’s important for people to know that this is typical for the majority of today’s performing musicians. Recorded music no longer provides a source of income since streaming platforms offer about 0.003 cents per stream (e.g. you’d need over 300,000 streams to make $1000!). CD sales are suffering as well because of streaming platforms, but also because cd players are becoming a thing of the past.

As you can see if a musician is not signed by a major record label, you’re barely making a living wage. Add on top of that expenses for recording, merchandise manufacture, advertising, etc. and one might begin to wonder why we even do this?

The answer is music is our lives – a passion – and there is only one life. So, we hope the above information helps people understand a bit better why audience and venue patronage is so important.

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

Music is a huge part of our relationship as a couple. It also connects us with our world and the people in it. We have the opportunity to express our experiences in this life and hopefully share that with others. If our music also enhances a few hours of someone’s evening out, all the better.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.sunflurrymusic.com/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sunflurry
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFl4ieGY1c_8TOjxRJcOnrYcddwMuf1iv