IamA musician who went from nothing to opening up for famous people in 12 months, literally thanks to Reddit. AMA!

What was it like hearing a large crowd react to your music live for the first time?

I did a gig opening up for Wales' top Pink Floyd tribute act around 9 months ago, there were around 400 people there, which for me is a large crowd. I'd been on the bill for a while, so a lot of people had listened in advance. Hearing a massive round of applause to one of my songs is one of the greatest feelings I can fathom!

That's the dream right there, I'm so happy you got to experience that as 99% of artists never get to that level.

It's early days, I just really really lucky at the moment, well aware that it could all, and likely might go south!

Ride it out and enjoy it man. Im currently at the nothing stage and have been for a while, even though Im only young. I've composed... Easily over a thousand riffs or melodies on the guitar but I keep them to myself because Im paralysed by fear. I haven't lost hope though, I still maintain that I'll get all the energy I've put into it on my own back someday. The universe is cool like that.

Fear? Fear is what drives us my friend. I'm terrified every single time I go busking, or show a new song to my friends, or play a gig. Fear keeps me grounded and the adrenaline that comes with positive feedback after being terrified makes it all worth it.

Do something for me, get yourself out there. Write, record, play, share :)

You hit the terrified nail on the head, feel the fear and do it anyway is a philosophy I incorporate into my life on a daily basis but when it comes to my music it feels so personal that I think that its not worth being heard by anyone else. "Scrap it and move onto the next one" There's definitely development there but god knows where leading... We'll see.... We'll all see! (Evil Laugh)

I can relate, some of my songs are like diary entries, or secrets that I need to get off my chest, and some of them won't ever be heard by anyone - but if you're proud of them, then wear them like badges man! I have a song called Never Tell You and it's one of the most personal songs I've ever written, and I nearly didn't put it out there. It's ended up being one of my proudest songs, and the fact that so many people have said they like it is just mind blowing.

5, 10, 50, 100, 400 who gives a fuck man, you entertained a crowd, you reached it. Right on man. Keep on rocking.

Sometimes when I get lonely I entertain a crowd of one :-|

Fuck, man... I would probably cry out of joy if a crowd that big liked a song of mine.

I felt like it! Epic feeling.

Having been an entertainer myself (on a much smaller nightclub-level scale) I think the biggest part of that feeling that people don't realize is that it's not all (or even mostly) about getting personal adulation or attention. It's about realizing that every single person who's clapping, yelling, dancing, etc. is having a fucking blast and you did that. You made all these people happy. You, using your own talent, have made the lives of everyone in this room a little better, even if only for short period of time. That, to me, was the biggest thrill of all.

It's when people start losing that perspective and it becomes all about feeding the ego that shit starts to crash and burn. Because the heart fills up easily and even offers a nice return on the investment to share with others. But the ego, man...that fucker is a hungry goddamn ghost that can never be satisfied no matter how much it gets. It's like dropping gold ingots down a bottomless well.

You're absolutely spot on my friend. When I go out busking, it's awesome as fuck because there's literally thousands of people walking past for hours, but to the few who stop, smile, nod and sometimes chuck some pennies in the hat, I've made their day a little better, and that means more to me than anything.

Thanks for the comment my friend.

Do you still maintain a 'day job', or has playing music become your primary income source?

I actually run a one-man PC repair business in my town. I decided to go self employed for the reason that working for someone else gives me limited flexibility for taking time off to travel to gigs etc, so working for myself is great, and I get a regular income to cover my equipment, maintenance and petrol costs.

Im sure it sucks when you're boss forces a handjob from you

I got the joke, don't worry :)

teehee, petrol :)

You guys call a liquid gas!!! ;)

Gas is short for gasoline!

Just like "Petrol" is short for "Petroleum!"

It's all good! we all know what we're talking about.

If you say so ;)

Are you considering quitting your day job at this stage?

Not at this point, I'm gunna see how things pan out and hope for the best. I think it would be naive to think I could just quit, at the moment there's a really happy medium between the two, and I'm sure when the time's right I'll know :)

Have you banged a groupie backstage yet?

Ask my missus ;)

EDIT: You guys...

What bands/ people are your biggest inspirations?

As a kid and teenager, Metallica and the early thrash giants were what actually turned me onto music. As I'm a little older, as much as I still love them, I found a love of Acoustic music, Andy McKee is one of my all time favourites.

People give me a lot of shit for liking Metallica, but they have some really great music. To me, the best part is how dramatic the music is. It really tells a story.

A lot of bands and music today lack those elements.

Metallica for me is a band who can do heavy as hell thrash metal, and cool acoustic/country stuff. People give them a bad rap for Load/Reload... but one of my favourite bands can do the two styles of music I love?! Hell yeah!

The Black Album is what started my love for Metallica, but it was Load/Reload that cemented my love for them. That stuff is all heavy, just not the heavy that metal fans want. Until it Sleeps will be my favorite Metallica track for the rest of my life.

The Black Album has my favourite production on an album in the whole world ever and ever! I wish I was old enough to have heard it for the first time when it first came out... I bet that was something incredible for the fans.

I saw McKee on tour with Antoine Dufour a couple years ago and as a metal head, its still the best concert i've ever seen. I recently got in touch with Candy Rat about signing their first ever metal band.. (Their label)

McKee is a metalhead himself! A phenomenal artist and from what people who've met him have told me, extremely humble.

Do you ever get fans who come into your PC shop just to say hi and not buy anything? If this happens, is it annoying? Or are you okay with it??

Locally, I've had quite a lot of press coverage since all this kicked off, newpaper articles and the likes. So from time to time I'll tell people my name and they'll be like "Hey, I've heard of you? Music right?". We'll chat, I'll give them a card/CD (whichever I can currently afford) and hopefully make a NEW fan, so yeah, it's all good :)

Your song 50/50 is about /r/FiftyFifty right?

That was a blue link until today... thanks.

Who's the singer that inspires you the most ? :D

There's a few. James LaBrie of Dream Theatre has one of the most "moving" voices I've ever heard. Dave Grohl for his ability to do almost anything vocally almost without tiring. Peter Gabriel. Lana Del Rey for her almost "lazy" sound really does something for me. As I'm typing this I realise there's actually loads!

Since you mentioned both Dream Theater and Peter Gabriel in one post, I'm ready to declare you as having the best music taste on Reddit.

Ha, I doubt that! I'm a big fan of Djent music (Tesseract, Monuments, Skyharbor) and bands like Infected Mushroom too, so it's kinda all over the place!

No Meshuggah?

I've tried. I really have. Just doesn't do anything for me!

Fantastic story and congratulations on the success thus far, it's great to see genuinely great music getting listened to.

Question: Do you plan on doing a "pay your own price" self-distribution method or something similar for releases in the future? I ask because people tend to be pretty generous with their money if they know it is going to the artist directly, and I'm sure you have a lot of fans from both Reddit and your shows that would like to actually exchange you money for your tunes.

I honestly don't know, and I feel it would be too presumptuous of me to even begin thinking in that kind of mindset. When the time is right, it'll all work out I think. I'm just happy playing. Nothing beats the feeling of playing live to people.

YOUR HUMBLE ANSWER DISPLEASES ME, ALLOW US TO GIVE YOU MONEY PLEASE

Shutup and take my... no wait.

EDIT: SHUTUP AND HAVE MY MUSIC

As a musician who has made it the hard way, how do you feel about streaming services such as Spotify and also the availability of artist music in general without having to pay for it?

To be honest, and this may be controversial, I think the "sale" of music is something that we have to start thinking about breaking away from. Streaming music is something which is inevitable. Services have tried combating the legality with cheap subscription based services, and I fully support the notion of supporting the musicians, it's just a shame such a huge cut of these sales goes to record companies. I think music should be live more. Touring and working hard, grafting, should be the way to make money in the industry. Saying that, I know literally nothing. :)

Selling music and streaming it aren't mutually exclusive, though. There'll always be a market for people who actually want to own their music, and not just stream it. The subscription model doesn't mesh well with music ownership.

Totally agree. I think one day, someone will come up with the solution to the modern day music ownership/sale conundrum. Until then, we must all make an effort to go to those little gigs locally, to support your local musicians and music scene. Live is quite literally where it all starts, and if we lose that because people become disenfranchised with the industry, we'll face some very dark days indeed. EDIT: Like I said I know literally nothing! :)

I appreciate you being up front about this. I advocate the donationware model, myself, along with making alternative and lossless formats available whenever possible. You're fooling very few people when you get up and say "You need to pay me for the convenience of listening to digital copies of my music." But as soon as you say, "Hey, I hope you enjoy my music. Here's an easy way to donate if you like it and want to support me, and if not just enjoy it and spread the word" ... I think that's the way to reach your fans and treat them like the massive boon that they are to you as an artist, at least in this day and age.

I've gotten flak over this ideal though.

By the way, I love your music dude. Rock on.

Thank you for your very kind words. Without fans and critical ears, I'd have nobody to play to. At the moment I just think it'd be silly of me to start asking for money, it would almost feel a little cheeky. As long as people can click on my SoundCloud or YouTube channel and listen for free, I'm getting heard. As long as I'm getting heard, I can play to people and hopefully move further in my career :)

when did you realize that you are not dreaming and what was the first thing you indulged in from the first big paycheck you got?

No big paychecks here, I get a cut of ticket sales at the big gigs, and my album is available for free online. I play music because I love playing music - my day job is what I do for money.

While it's nice to see someone "doing it for the cause", the people you will end up working with are typically in it for profit. While it's great to be able to do things on your own, sometimes a professional with experience in the industry to help guide you through some deals or contracts can ensure you won't be taken advantage of.

Good luck, all the best and continued success!

Thank you for your words, I'll be sure to keep my head about me. I try and be critical of everything, look at it logically and tread carefully. I'm well aware that a massaged enough ego can change people, I don't want to be that person.

Do you have any cool friends in america, maybe a red head who you snapchat with?

JENI!

What is the largest bit of advice you could give to an aspiring musician?

Do what you do, believe in what you do, and most importantly, do it for you.

/u/issarajabi asked the same thing, that was my reply :)

Were you activity trying to promote yourself before the Reddit post came up, or did you just do it as a hobby? Regardless congratulations on where you are now!

A bit of both. I've got music on the BBC Introducing website, I must have emailed 500 managers/promoters/publishers. It's funny because once "The Voice" got in touch (which I turned down) and the album listens went through the roof, similar companies to that are now contacting me! Music has always been more than a hobby though, it's a love. If I'm feeling shitty I'll just go and busk, even on a quiet street corner. I'm very lucky to be able to play my music live to people like I can now.

Why would you turn down "The Voice"? I can't think of any reason to do that.

Restrictive contracts, sob story questionnaire and I got the feeling they wanted a token rock singer.

Where can we buy the album?

All the songs are downloadable for free on the SoundCloud page.

What has been your biggest starstruck moment since making it big?

Meeting Nick Oliveri before the gig for sure! I was just off soundcheck when he came in, I've been a big fan of QOTSA for many many years, and after saying hello, shaking his hand, I started to get all "fanboy", repeating the same stuff, it wasn't good. Luckily, my girlfriend is more objective than me, saw what was happening and interrupted by looking at Nick and saying "Hi, sorry, we've got to go and get some food, see you later." and we left. He was a sweet guy and we talked for a while after the gig. We exchanged CD's and he said he really enjoyed my set. Sweet guy.

I can imagine it's hard not to fanboy being such a fan!

Thanks for the reply an congrats in all your success!

Thank you for being part of Reddit, who collectively have been kind enough to bestow me with this!

As a fellow QotSA fan, would you like to see Nick rejoin the band? What do think about their current direction? Have you seen them live?

I honestly don't know on Nick rejoining. I think it'd be great, but would he fit in with the new stuff? I love Like Clockwork, I think it's a masterpiece in it's own right.

Fk... I've never been on time to any of these AMAs before... Gotta ask a question... Any questions...

Err...

Fuck. Penis?

Vaginaboob.

Did you already call /u/youreallscumbags up for a beer?

I don't know who he/she is. The post has gone now too. Basically they had a massive rant about the state of /r/Music at the time, and posted links to my music along with 6 or 7 other bands/musicians they'd heard of on Reddit. Paging /u/Youreallscumbags for a beer if you're there though!!

Holy crap dude. I remember seeing the sleep sessions when it was first released and being amazed. I was a huge fan and you're actually the only person I'm following on Soundcloud. I haven't used Soundcloud for a while but when I saw this I got really excited. Whats it like knowing that in a year you went from dozens of fans to hundreds or thousands? Best of Luck to you.

It blows my mind. Every single time I login to SoundCloud and see like 220k listens I'm dumbstruck. I feel incredibly lucky.

Who did you sign your contract with, and how "nice" are they with signing you as a new musician?

No contract here, I've been approached by a couple of management agencies but so far found their terms to be a little restrictive/not worth what they can do. So far I've managed to do almost everything on my own - I'm sure that'll change once I get busier but for now I'm really happy where I am, doing my own thing on my own terms.

You don't need them, you have us. Do you need us to beat anyone up? BTW- you're a tenor? That's cool, although jealous.

I think I'm baritone, I don't really know. All my guitars are tuned to D G C f a d, because I can't sing very high.

Where in North Wales are you from? Nice to see local people gaining success

Denbighshire chapter reporting in!

What helps you find inspiration for your music?

Story time. I have an old song called "This Year's Rain", which I refer to as "Gwylim's song".

Gwylim was the caretaker at a school I used to work for, and when I was going through a hard time there, he was a rock. His advice was amazing, he was humble, grounded and wise.

One day I lost it, started balling, workload issues, bullying issues (from staff!) and and likes just got on top of me. Gwylim sat with me and we talked it through, as we did, it threw it down with rain, I mean properly threw it down.

He looked at me and said "Hey, it looks like this year's rain has already fallen", and instantly I knew what he meant. It was a synonym to tell me look, the worst is over, onward and upward. That line, over the coming weeks became that song I linked to just now.

Gwylim passed away sadly last year, but to me, I have immortalised him in a way I know would make him proud. That's the kind of inspiration I love, it's not always like that, but whenever I feel shitty, I just listen back to This Year's Rain, and it's like Gwylim is sat right there, offering me his words of wisdom.

RIP Mate.

What's one thing most people don't realise about your industry?

That metal bands can contain some of the biggest judgemental premadonna's going. I've had some heavier bands really slate me for the way I do things on my own, it's been a real eye opener sometimes. When I go up on stage, I wear jeans and a tshirt. I give CD's away for free when I can, and I wont bitch and complain if a gig isn't as well paid as I'd like it to be. I'm not huge into selling merch, I just believe in music, yanno? I've had pop, soul, rap artists etc all congratulate me and be totally cool, and yet members of heavier bands really getting kinda nasty. That surprised me a lot I guess. It's by no means everywhere though, this is still only a select few people in a select few bands, and mostly online... keyboard warriors ;) (Maybe I should start a metal band called Keyboard Warriors!)

How did your life change?

I mean - your music went from virtually unknown to pretty sucessful. How much did your everyday life change?

Honestly it hasn't really, except that now I get to play bigger gigs regularly to some great audiences and receive amazing feedback daily on my album. I guess it's changed in the sense that every week something new and positive happens musically, I can actually see things progressing forward at a steady but amazing pace.

Firstly congrats, it's nice to hear people do well with music. With my previous band we played a lot of support slots for some quite large artists (done through building relationships with promoters and venues and being nice people, we hope anyway).

My question is we always had a "pay to play" cloud hanging over our head. It was more, here are 25 tickets at £5 a go, sell what you can. The promoters were always good to us because they knew we worked hard even if sometimes we only sold 5 tickets.

How do you deal with this model being a solo artist? Even though Reddit has helped people hear your music, you sound like you are in a similar place to me and my group with getting quite good gigs but having to work to keep it there. Does it get hard to fulfil the ticket quotas?

And finally what have you found has helped get you a following "locally" and not just online (apart from having an ounce of talent).

Good luck in the future.

Good question. Ticket quota's is a really funny way to do things I think, but I totally understand why it's done. I just try and sell what I can, if it's not much then I'll maybe buy a couple my self. At the end of the day the promoter/venue is doing a job too, without them I'd have nowhere to play. I guess it's just one of those things that will "even out" in time. Thanks for your kind words.

Isaac, wyt ti'n siarad Cymraeg?

I don't. Biggest regret as an adult is not learning the language of my country when I was younger. It's never too late though, and I intend on it soon.

I would urge you to, not only because of the beauty of the language but because of the amount of welsh music listeners that you would gain! There's some great welsh speaking artist releasing things at the moment and the welsh music scene would be a great place to gain new fans.

Totally agree with you. I just didn't try in school. Once I find some spare!

What is your advice so far to people who want to make it where you are now?

Do what you do, believe in what you do, and most importantly, do it for you.

Haha. Way to go, man. I didn't know all of this back story about Reddit helping you get more attention. It'd been cool chatting with you recently. I have to ask a question or this gets deleted so "have you ever met Terry Pratchett?" and "which Beatle is your favorite?"

Hey again man! Good stuff eh? Never met Terry and my favourite is a Volkswagen.

What do your friends / family think of your success?

My family are phenomenally supporting, my SO is my absolute rock, she's kept me going and given me strength even when I played gigs to an empty pub, or the endless rejection notes when trying to submit music to companies over the years. Friends, as friends so often do, simply use it as an opportunity to take the piss when they can, and I love them very much :)

Great that people are so supportive!

Well done and good luck in the future! :)

Thank you so much!

Of it wasn't for reddit do you think that you would still be playing in pubs or would you have given up?

I'd still be playing them. As disheartening as it can be sometimes, I'm a firm believer that opportunities only really exist if you put yourself in a position for them to present themselves. You never know who might be coming in for a drink. It's why I go busking as much as I can, I love playing music.

How naked did Nick get?

Haha, I was waiting for this question. He didn't! Kinda disappointing in a weird way...

Awww man :(

I'm sure at one point I turned to my SO and said "He's still fully clothed". She gave me a weird look.

Rant against /r/Music? I'm all for it!

If you could collaborate with any (living) artist, who would it be?

Glen Hansard for sure. That man has a power and melancholy all of his own that's moved me since the first day I heard of him. The way he can play solo acoustic with so much energy and capture his audience is something I aspire to.

That's a new one for me - I'll have to check him out!

Unrelated question, I sold my last acoustic a few years ago and have been regretting it ever since. What are your recommendations for the lower price bracket (<$500)? Cutaways and solid tops a plus, built-in electronics unnecessary.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6wRT1MzmH4 Glen Hansard. Leave. The very first song of his I ever heard. It's amazing.

As far as recommendations for a guitar go; go to a store or two and try a load, find one that fits you, that feels great and you "connect" with. If it feels like it could become another limb, then it's right for you. I'm not into elitism with musical instruments, if it works for you, then it's right for you.

Congratulations on your success. How much internet money do you have now?

All I have is sweet karma ;)

I missed the post a year ago that initially got people interested in your music. I just opened the sound cloud link you posted and am now listening to your music at work, and I must say that you are very good!

As someone who lives in Canada and who will never get to see you play live, are you going to release an album for purchase sometime that I could get? Congrats on the success!

Thank you so much! The music is free for the time being, I don't think I have any right to suddenly start charging. As long as there's people listening, it's all good! :)

Could you dedicate a song to my youtube channel when you're famous so I can get some recognition? Come on, man, pay it forward........

Shameless my friend, shameless!

Do you consider yourself a professional? Meaning, do you think you know your instrument inside out or are you just wining it?

Totally winging it man. I'm sloppy as a guitarist, I just bash it and hope for the best, and as a vocalist I just shout. What I do know, is that I play with passion, so I guess that counts for something!

Holy crap your music is amazing. You're an inspiration for me now.

What tips do you have for a young aspiring musician (username is purely coincidental) who'd really like his music heard? What can I do within the next four or five years before I leave school to make a name for myself?

Do what you love because you love doing it, and most importantly, do it for yourself. I've learnt that if you constantly try to reinvent yourself, you just become background noise, but if you do your own thing, people will recognise you for it, even if it's just friends and family, it all means something man :)

Congratulations! Where do you go from here? Dream big!

I'll go where the wind takes me I guess, hopefully onwards and upwards. I have no big designs on anything in particular, I guess my ultimate goal would be to be able to support myself doing what I love on my own terms, the reason I turned down The Voice was because of their contracts, I don't want to be told what I can and can't do just for a "chance" at making it big. If I never make it, I really don't mind, I'll keep on playing music whenever I can, busking, you name it.

What motivated you to keep going in the beginning? I was studying music, but as I got to the end of my course, the more I could see that this was a luck game etc..

Luck is a funny thing. I think we make our own luck. Some of the most unlucky people I know simply don't put themselves in situations where opportunities can present themselves. Of course it'd be naive to think that's ALL luck is about, but my motivation was to just keep doing what I'm doing, because at the end of the day I enjoy it. I'm an artist, and I love to create, if other people like what I create then that's amazing. For every song I've ever created and recorded, there's 10 I've written and never released. The motivation is to keep me sane, keep getting these songs down.

Do you think you would have made it, eventually, without Reddit? I know you say it "all happened thanks to Reddit" so I'm curious as to whether you think it is up to these lucky instances when it comes to getting into the music industry?

In all honest, I don't know. It'd be nice to think so, maybe things would've been different, maybe not at all. Success or not, I make music because I love music, I always will.