Medicine

The Medicine EP follows an arc of self-discovery - from inner reckoning, to embodying truth, to outward impact. Each of the six song titles represents an archetype, a waypoint of awareness, and a guiding mantra. While the stories that create these songs are drawn from intimate turning points of my own spiritual discoveries, I offer them only as mirrors. My hope is that listeners feel invited to connect with the transmissions of these archetypes and mantras, using them as tools to support their own quest of becoming.

Upcoming Shows

I want to hold your hand, make you uncomfortable, and inspire you.

“I will continue to create from a desire to connect to myself and my listeners, not from a desire to achieve the industry’s standard of success.”

Most days, this mantra is as easy as breathing. But occasionally, it feels like I’m sacrificing oxygen to stay true.

When my self expression contradicts following viral formulas, I face joining the “whatever happened to them?” club. Answer: I’m living my best life! Still creating art from a place of truth, thanks to my fans’ participation on Patreon, Bandcamp, Undertow Touring, and an art-forward UK indie label called VERO Music.

Like many of us, the relationship to ourselves and our supporters is and always will be our true north when creating. But as long as I am lucky enough to have fans on DSPs, and any level of industry support, I create by checking in not only on what is meaningful to me and my fans, but also to the music industry.

My spiritual work has taught me that if I can hold these three elements as equal parts, contradictions and all, then my vision for what's possible will expand. And it does, and I’m reminded of what is sacred which ignites innovation. “I’ve seen what’s behind the curtain, and I’m going to let it fuel my creativity, not water it down, or make me a cynic” - a declaration I scribbled in my journal nine months ago.

Thanks to truth-tellers like Kate Nash, who spoke up about the reality that even as an established artist who sells out every show, she loses about $10-50k per tour due to unfair artist earnings in the growing ticketing economy, and Jack White, who called on mega labels to build their own vinyl plants to reduce inflation and long wait times for indie folks.. I don’t have to be the one to break the news that these last reliable ways for artists to live off their art (ie, touring and merch) have approached their untimely deaths.

Or have they? Maybe it’s not death, but evolution.

As credited above, Undertow, a company led by just a few folks, help fans host shows for their favorite artists by fielding submissions of unconventional spaces, and yes, I would FUCKING LOVE to play in your living room / yoga studio / garden - please submit here!  It’s these donated spaces that shape the tour’s geographic route. Fair ticketing is done by charging fans only the ticket’s base price ($15-$25) plus a $0.70 processing fee - *this part* is very important to me. After Undertow takes a small percentage, akin to a booking agents, the rest goes directly to the artist - and *this part* is the shift that is needed for the non-top-40’s musicians to carry on carrying on. Math, these intimate 40-60 person shows in rural towns, can earn a touring artist (like me) 2 - 3 times more than what a traditional 200-400 capacity venue can offer right now. It didn’t used to be like this, but here we are! So back to the fun stuff.. As an avid show goer myself, I go to see artists i want to support, so naturally, I would love it if more than only 15% of what I’m paying to see said artist to.. ya know, go to that artist. But unfortunately, most of what you’re paying goes to the folks who invented “services fees”. And as an artist, I will never agree that I should quit just because my fanbase isn’t in the zillions, so that I have the leverage to negotiate how much my ticket’s services fees are, and how much I get to keep - like Taylor, 85%, get it sis.

“How much will my fans pay in service fees?” - a question that the kind folks on the venue side of my emails usually can’t answer. It’s treated as non-negotiable, a moot point. So I confirm the show, then click on my own ticket to check out, only to see a service fee that's often equal to, or even more than, the price of the ticket itself. Thank you, Live Nation, for stepping in to save these small local clubs during the pandemic... I just didn’t read the fine print on what that would actually mean.

Powerful alternatives like Undertow wouldn’t exist, or need to, without asking questions and acknowledging the uncomfortable. Truth leads innovation, uncomfortable truth, becomes the seed for reinvention. So in discomfort and curiosity, I sat with the music industry’s limitations, and my own. My spiritual teacher, Diana Zaheer, calls me a “truth warrior.” A term drapes on me like a cape of acceptance every time I hear it. Herein lies my tie-in. My contributions to this body of work, my song meanings, lyrics, melodies, co-production, handmade offerings, this tour, and all the ways I intend to distribute these transmissions, started from seeing as much truth as possible, and using it as the sacred tool it is. A tool that if sought, never fails to roast the shit out of me, then lovingly carry me to my next chapter. I’ve named this calling back to self ritual “time to take my medicine”. So naturally, I named this album and tour, Medicine.

Song titles, mantras, and other powerful ways I’m cultivating a sustainable life as an artist, through community and alternative paths, below. Thank you for reading! Now take your medicine :

The Medicine EP follows an arc of self-discovery - from inner reckoning, to embodying truth, to outward impact. Each of the six song titles represents an archetype, a waypoint of awareness, and a guiding mantra. While the stories that create these songs are drawn from intimate turning points of my own spiritual discoveries, I offer them only as mirrors. My hope is that listeners feel invited to connect with the transmissions of these archetypes and mantras, using them as tools to support their own quest of becoming.