Hey y’all,
It’s already been one week since I launched my new record, Two Cities, and I wanted to share some really inspiring and awesome feedback since its release.
This post is about community. Incidentally, one of my close friends and collaborators, Ross McHenry, presented a TEDx talk on the idea of musical community, which is a really interesting read (rossmchenrymusic.tumblr.com). This post differs a little from what Ross speaks about but is another reminder of why the sense of community is so important, not just to artists but to all of us.
So, as mentioned, I launched a new record last week (which you can check out at brentonfoster.bandcamp.com). I’m incredibly proud of the album and I’m excited about the possibilities ahead. The album was a long-time in the making, which has made its release even sweeter.
In the liner notes for Two Cities, I mention how important the notion of ‘home’ is, writing that it “shapes us but doesn’t impose its limitations.”
This last week I’ve been back in my hometown of Adelaide – the city that I grew up in, studied in and worked in my entire life. It’s also the city in which I’ve made amazing friendships, musical and otherwise, that have supported me throughout my career. But I had underestimated how supportive these relationships continue to be. In putting out a “Hey Adelaide, who wants a copy of my record” post on Facebook, I was inundated with people asking for copies, or people letting me know they’d already bought it online, or friends simply offering me words of encouragement and support. It really has been an awesome week. In delivering albums door-to-door, it’s been a good chance for me to catch up with some friends that I haven’t seen for years since moving interstate.
Beyond talking about my new album and the processes behind it, we’ve been able to talk about their projects, what they’re working on outside of it, and how they’re finding the Adelaide music scene. It’s really brought home to me how important it is to have that sense of community – it’s probably particularly evident in the ‘hometown’ setting too.
We often get caught up in numbers (well, I do anyway) related to our projects – how many people have listened to the album, how many likes on Facebook, how many people at the gig, etc. But when we take time to share with each other about what we’ve been working on, we find out that there is so much support between us all – we all want each other to do well and be proud of our work. We all want to sincerely offer any advice we can in relation to hurdles faced along the way. We want to be part of each other’s journey and follow what is going on in our amazing, creative world.
So, after the buzz of a new record settles, I want to remember this feeling of community. I want it to continue to inspire me to work hard and release more music. I want my output to inspire others to work hard and release stuff. I want to keep catching up with friends, new and old, and hear of the wonderful things that we’re all striving towards.
That creates a feedback loop that benefits us all as individuals and as a community.
Once again, if you’d like to keep up with what’s happening, please join me at brentonfoster.com/mailing-list/.
Thanks for being a part of this.
Brenton
