My passion - for music

"I am not passionate about anything other than music. I bore my friends to death with music! I often invite friends to come and stay with me, and I get drunk and I play them every one of my favourite records. At the end of the night, everybody is crawling into bed, and I’m still left saying, 'But you have to listen to this one!'

This might as well have been something I could've said - it sounds just like me! If someone asks me about music, things I like, if I can suggest something that sounds this way or that, I tend to go overboard. And when I'm drunk I usually get started without having to be asked questions at all.

Sometimes I'm baffled that I didn't go into music in some form or another; performing music, making it, editing it, music management, something, anything. I have admittedly entertained the idea a lot over the years, but always been deterred by the uncertainty of it all. What's the chance of me getting into the music business anyway? Where do you even start? Wether you work as a songwriter, am a member of a band, a manager or a roadie on some tour, there aren't any step-by-step plans to follow to become successful, even to get a shoe-in, it often seems to come down to either luck or being at the right place at the right time. "Start making the tea, and you might be in the band."

You see, I know myself well enough to admit that I never could be an artist of any kind - I love playing music, I miss playing the piano and want to get better with a guitar, but I'm just not creative enough to come up with original ideas. Nor am I diplomatic, pushy or confident enough to become a manager - sure, it's OK if you're a manager for a made band, but being a manager for a band trying to make it? Gods, no. But being a mixer/editor seems like a really interesting job, being given ideas which I can help shape into something. And I would probably give up my dog, my firstborn and my soul to be a roadie for Depeche Mode. Being a roadie for any kind of band would in any case be one hell of a way to travel around and see the world, besides: I'm a tinkerer and can definitely see myself surrounded by tons of cables, amps and electronic equipment. Oh, the dreams...

I would hazard a guess that becoming a musician means you have to be committed, good at what you do, devoted, lucky and a bit mad. I have infinite respect, and in some cases some envy, for musicians and bands, people who dared to risk a lot, in some cases everything, and devote their life to music, and made it. Me, I'm a coward, I'll admit, and will have to settle for being a music lover and periodic fanatic. But, if my attempts at becoming a nurse fails (which I sincerely hope it won't), I'm going to take a huge leap of faith and do a bachelor in music production.

Who's quote is it? Martin Gore, of course. What I wouldn't give for a day and a night with that bloke - just to see if he's the kind of guy he seems he is, or I think he is, in any case. Maybe I would discover I'm a horrible judge of character. Or maybe I'd make a cup of tea and be made a roadie.