For a long time in my music career, I struggled with posting videos. I've always wanted to keep everything professional. If I don't play well in a video, or I don't like the sound, or the image doesn't just go out. I used to get angry when the audience would record me during a concert and post it on the internet. I kept imagining that someone just like me was watching me. I want every performance to be professional. My role model has always been Andrei Tarkovsky, for example. His films are like prayers. He used to write a diary and explain very little of his work. Getting a glimpse into his life has helped us all delve more into his work. To find the truth in it. He connected his life to his work. I consider it an artist's mission.
I have also been very lucky in my life. I can call musicians like Pat Mastelotto, Erik Truffaz, Fennesz, Arve Henriksen, Rick Cox, Paolo Raineri, Gergo Borlai, ... my friends. Thanks to them, my life has become absolutely intertwined with my music.
There are so many things I want to understand in music and so many things I want to say. My work is in a constant process. Thanks to them and thanks to our endless musical dialogues. I am surrounded by the best.
I recently watched Rick Beat's interview with Steven Wilson on youtube. You all probably know that I work with Steven on a regular basis. Among other things, they were discussing the times that musicians live in today, but they were also discussing artist presentation. Steven mentioned that the days of releasing a single in March and leaving the listener hungry for an album to come out at the end of September are over. There is just an awful lot of content on the internet. Every day. Rick Beato very often encourages musicians to upload videos of their environment. Making an album, a normal day, that sort of thing. Eventually, Steven did that at Covid.
I realised that the conversations with Tarkovsky that I watch very often are actually triggered by him. Toni Guerra asks him questions on camera and Tarkovsky answers. It's basically something similar to how I would put questions to Peter Cinderella and answer them on camera. They would be questions that I ask myself every day or questions that my fans, that is, listeners, often ask me. I think Tarkovsky would make more videos like that nowadays.
Robert Fripp of King Crimson came into this with his videos in Covide. He didn't bother with it at all. He was recording his "Sunday Lunch" and making fun of himself. He showed us all that he's only human. We are well aware that in the past he has found it bitterly difficult to sign an album or give an interview to anyone. An introvert immersed in practicing his guitar. And suddenly he's on YouTube and we see that he's actually a funny and ordinary person.
Same with Anthony Hopkins or Jack Nicholson.
That's why I decided to give it a try myself. Of course not with this dose of humor. I will show you the space I create and the space I live in.
I do so also in my desire to express myself, even in a different way than with written text. The written text comes from deep within me. Through video I want to show physically my creative process, but also my life in a nutshell. The people and the environment around me.
This concept inspired my My Day videos.
It's also a necessity as none of the opinion forming media have interviewed me for several years. I get paid for every press release. I am a subscriber to two opinion dailies. Try clicking on the culture section. You won't find anything there. Articles translated from abroad, but little about our active artists, their achievements and activities. It may look all sorts of things, but they are there (we are there) for all of us. It will remain for all of us. It's hard to get a sponsor when none of the media knows you. It's typical provincial behaviour. We should be aware of that. That's why I decided to leave Slovakia musically years ago. All my collaborations have been directed over time from Budapest to Los Angeles. But I don't want to sound pathetic. It's beautiful here and I know a lot of great people here.
But there is this big BUT.
So I started uploading videos of my life and surroundings to my YouTube channel. Called it a series. They are in English, of course, but with Slovak subtitles.
MY DAY will include short (up to 5 min) videos of my days during the year.
MUSIC DIARY In these videos I will occasionally show how I work in a recording program.
These two parts are the main ones.
Occasionally I'll upload a video explaining the creation of a song, either mine or a favourite of mine. I'll see where it all takes me. Maybe you'll be able to look at my music from a different point of view or I can inspire you to do something. At the very least, you'll get a glimpse into my world and be informed.
Have a nice day,
David