Kendall Newby plays drums and sings with The Comfort Revue, The T**s and Moreland & Arbuckle. Here, he discusses the power of becoming a paid musician and the importance of being versatile.
“The first time that you get paid, I think, is like a glimmer of hope. ‘Oh, man. This thing that I love, it’s all that I want to do with my life, but I know that it’s so impractical and I gotta have a backup plan and this is probably just gonna be my passion, I’m gonna love it forever but it’s probably gonna be just a hobby.’
Then you play a gig and they’re like, ‘Hey, we’ve got a little bit of a budget for this. We know that you guys have some friends that will come out. How’s about we throw you 200 dollars?’
You say, ‘Oh, man! Maybe there is hope. Maybe I can do this for a living.’
Any musician who wants to make a living playing music should, obviously, rehearse as much as possible, be as versatile as possible and get yourself out there as much as possible. Never turn down a show because you never know where that might land you.
Playing as many gigs as possible you’re putting as many raffle tickets in the hat as you can, hoping that at some point someone will actually notice who can actually further your career.”
