We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tim Philpott a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Tim, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

I’ve been a full time self employed musician going on 17 years now, and while it can be tough sometimes I throughly enjoy the variety of styles of music I get to play as well as the interesting people I meet – and being my own boss ! In addition to performing I have a few students and working on my visual art side hustle.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I began my music journey at age 14 on the guitar. When my friends and I started a basement band we needed a bassist and I knew my cousin had left his at home when leaving for college. I went over to “borrow it” and never returned it … I still play it today! From there I went to school for music and eventually started working as a professional bassist playing around the country with touring acts. After moving to Colorado in 2016 and getting involved with the local music scene over the years I met my friends Ashley Niven (vox) and George Horn (drums) and we formed French Cuffs. We most recently added another friend Connor Terrones (guitar) to complete the lineup. We started this band to rock out…my background has been primarily funk and jazz based music so writing and performing heavier music has been a ton of fun. I’m proud of our work ethic as a group and how we work together- everybody plays a role and contributes to this thing of ours which makes it a success in my eyes.

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

The goal which I believe we’ve attained is to write original music that is honest to ourselves and fun and challenging to play. I want to continue with this by recording more music and striving to make our live show better with each performance.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

I’d say creating something from nothing – hearing a rhythm or sound in nature and turning that into a song. That and getting to work with my friends to breath life into these songs is extremely rewarding.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/frenchcuffsmusic/?igsh=MWp2cndranMzMDNheQ%3D%3D
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/frenchcuffsmusic
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@frenchcuffs2579?si=6kjuWcVP2uWQtzKN