I play in a band… and we suck. Yeah, I’m serious. We play clubs, record music, and have even played at festivals out of state and we still suck.

That doesn’t mean us or any musician for that matter isn’t talented. It simply means there is a major issue in our music scene, culture, and industry.

Nowadays, the high school and college crowds have become littered with aspiring musicians. Everything from a classic singer-songwriter looking to score the next big hit on the radio, to full bands that devote all their time and effort to their craft. Obviously with this large amount of supply, there is a lack of demand and that’s mirrored in record sales of this generation.

With the spread of social media, and the quick ability to access it, bands get to see images of huge stars, playing to even bigger crowds at any given moment in the day. That kind of stuff is inspiring (take it from someone who’s done it), but it creates a sense of false reality; that a star can come from nowhere.

Please don’t misunderstand me, I’m not looking on the music scene with a glint of gloom in my eyes, or even saying that musicians who want to start bands aren’t well deserving. I’m merely trying to point out a major disconnect that myself and others are experiencing in this day.

I think the problem lies within the idea of “professionalism”. The idea that bands, artists, and even people in some cases need to carry themselves as a professional at all hours of the day; to their co-workers, to their friends, and even to their family.

This kind of behavior takes the heart and soul out of what we do as musicians. What is music meant for? It’s meant to heal; throughout history music has been used to heal and there shouldn’t be a corporate vision on that.

I’m not saying that a band shouldn’t take their music seriously, because they should with that sort of “healing” power, I’m just saying bands don’t need to take themselves so seriously. If a band cannot tell themselves, “we suck,” then how can bands even progress?

Being able to tear yourself apart and build yourself back up is a process that is needed to progress. Most of time, bands (and people in general) will fail, but that’s okay. Failure to succeed does not mean failure to progress.

I play in a band, and we suck, but that’s okay.