Writers Block

Practiced a Kung-Fu kick called "Butterfly". I later realized it looked more like an attempt to stage dive in the park.

Hi there,

I've been trying to come up with a good interesting subject to write about for a week now. I've been at home in a heavy flu, which should be a good mode for blog writing. I thought the subject would just naturally pop up in my head sooner or later. Well it still hasn't, so I guess I'll have to write about writers-block.

It happens to me every once in a while, especially when I'm dealing with "office stuff" and tricky contracts. Business stuff and song writing simply don't go hand in hand.
Since I've released everything myself It basically makes me my own record label. Which also makes me responsible of everything else besides the actual singing. It's good and bad to be your own boss. You need more than a lot of discipline to make it work, which can be exhausting sometimes. But on the other hand you have all the control and can choose which direction you want to go. It was scary in the beginning since I'm so new (3 years) to the business side of music.
 I've made a lot of mistakes on the way but that's the way to learn, and I don't think I would learn the same things on a school bench.

You often hear people talking about artists as "products". It's really sad, but it's also the raw truth.
It felt like a slap in the face when my consultant told me 3 years ago that I better start seeing it that way and get used to the thought.

That's where it gets weird. I'm responsible of selling a product which happens to be myself. That's quite mind twisting sometimes. So, I've come to the conclusion that it's better to just "be", keep your feet on the ground and do what feels right and keep focused.
If I'll think too much about that stuff I will most likely get a writers block. ;)

Rock on!

Jessica Wolff

Hi everyone,

Sunday, two weeks ago I got a message from a guy asking if I wanted to do a promo gig the following Wednesday. The gig would be 4 hours away from Helsinki at a big rally event with a lot of people and they wanted me to be the main act.
I've never been asked to do a gig only 2,5 days before and I told the guy it might not be possible to get the band together with such a short notice.
After calling around it turned out that half of my band members were abroad. However, I was dealing with a very stubborn guy who insisted that I make it work.
If someone's working hard to give me a gig I don't want to be the one giving up.
The following Monday became one hectic day. I made about a million phone calls and by the end of the night I finally found a keyboard guy who was ready to learn the songs in one day. I also got a base player who ended up taking an 8h train ride from the north of Finland just to do the gig.

Unfortunately we didn't have any time to rehears. Normally this would have made me a bit nervous but somehow everything came so fast I couldn't afford, and didn't have time to stress about it.

After a 4 hour drive we arrived to the place and started to get ready for soundcheck. Their schedule was late and someone told me we would have to skip the whole soundcheck.
I thought it couldn't get worse: New guys, no rehearsal and no soundcheck, great.  Luckily one of the organizers realized it wasn't such a brilliant idea to let the band play without having any idea about the sound, so he managed to arranged some more time for us.

 It turned out that this guy who got me the gig had recommended me and some other bands to the arrangers. He had asked them to pick their top 3 but instead they had put my name 3 times. He tried to explain they need at least one back up but they insisted that I was the only option.
 No wonder why the guy had been so stubborn, at some point I even thought it was a bit weird that he tried so hard. Anyhow, I can't complain, it was a big compliment that made my day.

After the soundcheck I still didn't feel any sort of nervosity and it almost started to worry me. Of the times I've been nervous before a gig this should have been the worst.
 I thought maybe it would hit me like a rock in the stomach right before I go on stage like a couple of times before.
However,  stressing about not stressing is probably the most stupid reason to stress, so I decided to keep my calm vibe and if the nervosity hits, it hits.
Well, for some reason it never happened and it actually turned out to be one of my best gigs. At least I had a lot of fun on stage and think I was a bit all over the place. The keyboard guy and base player were both fantastic and the audience like it.
Sometimes it's good to just throw yourself out there without being prepared and just trust the situation.

After the gig we got a really good response and after a long night I got home at about 5 am in the morning.

The next gig will be the 8th of September in Tampere in Särkänniemi. I will have two gigs the same day. If you're around that area I hope to see you in the audience!

Rock on!

Jessica