My thoughts on imperfect music. Just as soon as your back is turned, they'll be tryin' to cut you down. But just bear this in mind, a true friend is hard to find.

Before the events of the May Day Saga were set into motion, a very distraught Brick went on to write an open letter to fans, critics and people who "accidentally" reached this blog and "accidentally" decided to read a bunch of entries because, well, it's on the internet and that's a public space and open to everyone.

To whom it may concern, 
  
You may know me as Brick but really I'm just a man with a guitar. I'm not special. I never set out to be special. Let the special people be special. I just know that I'm not one of them. And I'm fine with that.

I've been playing music on and off for half a decade at this point. Sure, in the early days I was only playing scattered notes and bar chords but my goal was to make music and I went ahead and did it, regardless of the outcome. I just wanted to play and I've been fortunate to get some support over the years for some of my work and I'm grateful to everyone who gave my music and honest chance and didn't just dismiss it outright.



For the record, I know that I'm a terrible musician. I never tune my guitar, I forget lyrics most of the time and I don't always hit the right notes. But none of that's important, at least not to me. I'm flawed, my music is flawed, simple as that. Some people only want perfection. Perfect = boring.


A computer can make anyone sound great and the rhythm will be the same throughout the song. Where's the fun in that? I'm more interested in the struggle of getting through a song. Finding new ways to expand or simplify it. It's not going to be pretty but it's what makes it interesting for me. Sadly some people only care about following strict rules and not about being in the moment or seeing music as a gradual process of discovery and improvement.


Suddenly it's a crime to document that process of musical discovery? If you don't want to watch, you don't have to watch. It's simple.


Music is such an open-ended form of expression. It can mean Opera. It can mean Experimental jazz. It can mean Noise rock. Hell, even a metronome is musical. It's got a beat, right? Sure some music gains wider favor amongst people. Of course people tend to gravitate towards highly polished, well trained musicians or highly processed but good-looking pop stars. Not many are interested in the ramblings of a third-rate punk rocker and his thoughts on music. I understand that.


I'm lucky to have the freedom to share my music with people using the web. Sure, sometimes I post songs that aren't of the highest quality, but it's me playing, me singing and it's my channel so I can use it as I see fit. Sure I could strive to achieve more polish to my sound but then it wouldn't be my sound. Even if I tune my guitar, and practice till the cows come home from work, I'll never sing beautifully, my playing will always be full of mistakes due to my own limitations. That doesn't mean I'll stop playing. Some of the old blues musicians played cheap out-of-tune guitars and sang out of key but I still find them much more compelling than today's auto-tuned stars.



Struggle is beautiful, it's inspiring. I don't want to sound pretentious. My music has always been about struggle. Me struggling to overcome obstacles whether they were in my life or within the song itself. Sometimes I succeed and sometimes I fall flat on my face, but it's my right to share that struggle and not be suppressed because it isn't perfect.








If you want to hear someone play a perfect cover of some classic rock song, you're in the wrong place. I'm not going to give you perfection. My music is honest in its raw, unadorned ugliness and that's the way I like it.




If you support me in my effort to get better, thank you. If you're only interested in being fashionable or fellating the egos of the perfect mannequins posing as music's biggest stars, then don't let me keep you from it.  

Peace.

Sincerely,

A man and his guitar