And things keep getting stranger...

The more I learn about the music industry, the more I kind of like it. Not the major leagues; I know only what I've been told by friends who are "making it" or are working for the bigger companies. It sounds ridiculous to me; the fact that most of the big labels spend more money on lawyers than they do on albums is astonishing in my head. I suppose when you are dealing with billions of dollars a year, and marketing a clothing line or a chiseled face instead of music, and your number one concern is your profit margin, it makes a certain amount of sense. Or at least, as much sense as any coporation can make. But I wonder where the fun is, and where the art is.

For example, as I write this I am sitting on my porch in north east Portland on a beautiful sunny day, feeling the wind blow through my hair and watching a rather unfortunate gnat who has climbed into the keyboard of my laptop, unaware when it entered just how quickly I can type. I have about three more hours of work to do, not counting editing and posting issue 2 of this zine. And I can't stop smiling.

You see, I love what I do. I love working with bands, I love sitting in the studio, joking around with the engineers and the band members while the tape is winding, I love holding a release in my hands and knowing I had some small role to play in its creation. And I love that everyone on this level of the industry is friendly, and even those that are more profit minded still want the same things you do: to get a band's music into the hands of someone who might enjoy it, and to see all of us keep going. There's no room for negativity or rudeness, and quite frankly I don't think anybody who acted that way would last very long below the corporate level. We do it because we love it, and we want to see each other succeed.

That's what music is, and always has been, for me: love. From the first time I picked up a mic when I was 15 to front a local punk band to the 1 year anniversary of Greyday's first release, which will be this August, I have had the opportunity to work and play with not only some of the most dedicated and talented musicians, engineers, distributers and promoters I've ever seen, but also some of the warmest and best people I've ever met. And all that work, time, and effort, even when reminiscent of the office jobs I have worked in the past (and it really is like that a lot of the time), is worth so much more than the larger paychecks I used to receive, because at the end of the day I'm doing something I love for people that I love.

I can't imagine why else anybody would do this.

-todd