We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful The Frst. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with The below.

The Frst, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

Risks…Well a life in the music industry is pretty much all risk, even on the business or industry side…And of course you’d believe, at least I used to, that 1 hit song, or 1 major placement or cut could change everything…It certainly can, I mean Tarantino changed everything for us…But really the name of the game is continuing to do ‘your thing’ over and over and over again. The days of resting on your laurels are long gone. It’s 24/7 X 365 and if you can’t provide whatever it is that your audience is looking for, then they’ll go find it somewhere else almost instantly.

Every day is a huge risk, and that’s no different whether you’re a custodian or a musician. In my own past, moving from city to city, changing genres several times, health battles, physical danger- I mean, it’s a never ending list (laughs.)

The Frst, 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?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Frst

Sure, well after being a hired gun for many years and getting to do so many cool things I always dreamed of, I had the urge to start a project that really focused on songwriting, attitude, and making a positive difference.

I had a dream one night with the name ‘The Frst’ in it, and when I woke up the next day, I started the band. A few years later we had our first #1 on Soundcloud (“Ammo” – USA, Rock) and shortly after that our debut #1 at FM radio (“Tarantino” – KXFM) which surprisingly helped propel “Tarantino” into the iTunes Top 100 Rock Chart.

This is a great time to say, THANK YOU SO MUCH to The Frst Family for making of all this possible. <3

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

Absolutely, and there’s a few actually. When I started The Frst, one of our core missions was to try and give back to the music community and try to uplift those without a voice. We’ve donated profits from so many of our songs over the years to causes like Distracted Driving, Black Lives Matter, Mental Health Issues, Health/Medical care, and so many more.

Second to that, I hope to inspire others to pursue their own life journey to the fullest. It doesn’t have to be music either, it could be any pursuit. But for those who are inspired to start their own musical journey- I want to say that you can do it. You can go further than me….just don’t give up. That’s the #1 rule. And when you hit a roadblock, don’t make excuses, look for a way around it or an alternative.

I can’t tell you how many people say to me, “oh I could never do that, I don’t have XYZ, I’m not good at XYZ…” that’s always such a sad statement to me. I often think, “damn, if a kid who grew up in a trailer (in a swamp) that had an ear cut off twice, and had to relearn their instrument after removing nerves from their hand can do it, I really see no reason why anyone couldn’t give it a go, at least for awhile.

I suppose the final mission would be leaving a dent in the music industry as an independent artist. The odds are stacked against us. There’s something like 60K new songs released on Spotify every day. But I hope to continue proving to other artists that we can do this without a label. You can have a #1 song on the radio without a label. Or you can start your own label, which we also did. There’s just so many possibilities nowadays that we didn’t have even ten years ago, and I find that incredibly exciting.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Sure. There’s been a lot of reinventing involved, and I think that’s probably the case for any artist who’s made it past a few years.

I was incredibly blessed to build a reputation as a first call touring and session musician, and that took a long time to build. But after many years, I realized, if I can’t sing, I’m going to be a the beck-and-call of another artist for the rest of my life…Because in the end, in the music industry, it always comes back to the artist, or the vocalist.

So I pivoted by becoming a published co-writer in Nashville’s historic Music Row district, writing songs for other artists, which are still being released to this day, in fact Sarah Lake recently released our song “What Johnnie Can Do” with Steve Lester.

But similarly to my hired gun days, I knew there had to be more fun and freedom in music (hence the no ‘I’ in Frst) and after waking up with the name in my head, I knew there was only one direction to go. Once again I said goodbye to everything I knew and started all over.

Everyone said I was crazy. Both times! …But you know what? It worked!! Sometimes if something scares us, it’s because we know deep down that it’s a change we need to make for the better.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Frst
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thefrst
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thefrstofficial
• Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/thefrstofficial
• Youtube: https://www.Youtube.com/thefrst
• Other: https://www.TikTok.com/@thefrst https://www.thefrst.com