Honing the Blade
“People only want to see the best version of yourself.”
We formed our band back in 2014 during me and our bassist’s first meeting in our freshman year of college. He said he was always under the impression that “Divine Dragon Cannon” would make a great band name, based on the 1999 videogame “Legend of Dragoon”.
I thought it was fun enough, so we went with it. We wound up meeting with our keyboardist and vocalist, Zae, in 2017 and began writing music with him that spawned the current meta we hover around. Now, I had been playing a few shows with Foxes and Peppers (something I’ve always taken grand appreciation for) around this time, and we decided that we’d use the furry scene as our venue to play music for live audiences.
I’ll never forget that first show we played at TFF 2018. An absurdly large crowd of people poured in and about halfway through, I asked “Why are you guys even here?” in jest.
Zae took me aside after that show and told me something I’d never forget. “People don’t want to come to a concert with a band that thinks they’re bad.” he told me. It was like a switch had immediately flipped in my head. That singular statement made so much sense to me, and I have not looked back since.
It’s unfortunate to say I see that problem with a lot of musicians and producers that want to make their debut. It may sound a little pretentious to be speaking from this angle, but no matter how your music sounds, as long as it is treated with confidence, your viewers and listeners will create their own respect in their minds for you.
I find it a shame that I’ve encountered so many musicians who have had that mindset of “I’m not good enough, so why try?”. It’s severely debilitating. It also sparks an internal dialogue that can quickly turn into a grappling match with the mind. Since that moment, which I personally define as my turning point in musical confidence, I’ve sought out my best effort in re-affirming musicians who struggle with such a hardship. “You’re doing your best,” I tell them, “people only want to see the best version of yourself.”
As much as I’m aware of this issue falling upon deaf ears, I sincerely encourage musicians to take an internal look at themselves and find some level of appreciation. “In order to love others, you must first love yourself.” or so the saying goes.
The same rule applies for a musician and their fans. Now, a relationship between a musician and their listeners should not necessarily be a romantic type of love, so much as a firm appreciation and a desire to impress out of due respect. These people come to YOUR shows. They want to see YOUR music, and they certainly don’t want you to be questioning yourself on stage, be it conscious or subconscious.
Being your best self is the greatest expression you can make with your music; this feeling is only amplified via live performance. The topic of ‘becoming the best self’ leads me to more complex and convoluted topics like networking:
People don’t want to network with others who have no respect for themselves…
It’s an unfortunate truth.
I personally have found the classic “fake it ‘til you make it” approach to work just fine. Talk yourself up in your own head (while avoiding obvious delusion, of course) until you respect yourself enough to take it all seriously. I never considered myself to be the greatest guitarist who has ever lived. But I’ve certainly considered myself to be the greatest guitarist I could be. You don’t have to be the best. You just have to be the best you can.
Networking determines precisely who your music will be around internally, and who your music will reach out to. I’m aware that’s a bit of a vague way to put it, but I’ve always inherently been an esoteric individual. Good people naturally want to be around good people. And smart people can determine who is good people and who is bad people. You probably don’t want to fall into that latter category. Respect is immensely important in this sense because it tells others that you are proud to be working with them. Of course, humility in others will always make them say things like, “Oh, I’m nothing but X or Y”, but that message can typically be interpreted as accepting of your compliments or respect. You need to talk the talk in order to walk the walk.
My message is to encourage musicians to respect themselves first and foremost, in order to garnish the respect from others. Of course, there is a level of talent and social skills that plays into the equation, so just make sure you’re being the best you can possibly be. What if you’re not? Keep honing the blade. Craft yourself into the best version of yourself and keep your head held high. Do not delve too long on your mistakes and focus on what you can do better moving forward. It’s the only real way to attain your goals as a musician.
About the Author:
I'm Xzen.
I started Divine Dragon Cannon with our bassist, Penor Braccus, back in 2015 while we were going to school for music. We only began taking the project more seriously when we recruited the amazing skills of our beloved drummer and mixing/production cetacean, Dolphinboy and our incredibly handsome and charming keyboard-singing dragon, Zae.
I mainly oversee the marketing and post-production aspects of the band on top of general managing, booking, and budgeting. It's hard and intensive work along with balancing a full time job atop everything else. The joy, fulfillment, and passion we all take in making the music is just the icing on a massive three-tier cake.
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This article is the first on our new program at Aural to give a voice to the musicians of our community who want to share their experiences, advice, observations and more to help others in the music scene grow.
Thank you to Xzen for providing such a meaningful piece for this format’s debut.
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