GUEST BLOG: Dovetail – The Secret To Success In Music: Part II

When my band Dovetail went into the studio to begin recording a new album in 2010, none of us knew what we were getting into together. We’d been working on a handful of songs and were planning to spend two weeks recording live versions of the tunes. I wanted to do something original and fresh with our band. I fought against the suggested influences people put on me about what kind of music might be the most successful for my voice and our band. We worked and reworked the album for two years, and, finally, independently released Mount Karma in March 2012. It was later re-released by Ok! Good Records in October 2013.

 I’d often get frustrated with the length of time it was taking to finish our record, but we set our sonic standard high and had to learn how to reach it together with our producer, Beau Patrick Bedford. Quickly shedding some misconceptions about the kind of super high-end gear you should have to make an industry standard recording, we went to work in a one-room cabin in the woods. It was a romantic endeavor. We slaved over the recordings and went through some painful (and some not-so-painful) personnel changes in the process.

 As I reflect on that time, the thing I take from it is that we made the record we believed in from the beginning. We sacrificed, stuck it out, and grew until it was what we wanted. The album, Mount Karma, is the result of people giving a lot of time to love their art, and key people giving time and money to get the album out to an audience. Without every person involved, it wouldn’t have turned out the way it did. The title was kind of a prophesy in and of itself. If you’re going to find your way as an artist, you’re going to have to learn to dream bigger and then hold yourself to the dream. You have to do it. Continue to honor your vision, fight for it, sacrifice for it, and you can create what you see in your imagination and infinitely more.

 

You can purchase Dovetail’s amazing album, Mount Karma, HERE.