This is a post which I contributed to the old intermusic forum back in July 2007. It appeared on my projects myspace page for some time as well, although whilst I’m trying to tidy up all my work (pictures, websites, articles, music etc) which is online, I’ve been moving some things around and establishing how I can most efficiently use all the things which I have in place to share my work and ideas online.

The following was in response to a post by a young guy calling himself "I will be a rock star". What came next was really supportive of his plans to get a band together and ‘make it’, but with the introduction of a suggestion that people have a plan B, this was where I joined in and got slightly carried away. I felt that it was actually worth sharing this on the forum, and sharing it with a wider audience on the myspace page, and now it’s made it here. This is the actual post (with the spelling and grammar corrected because I was typing quite fast at the time and made some mistakes):

 For contextual purposes, the following is in my opinion, and not presented here as a "way people should live their lives as musicians seeking stardom, as prescribed by Nik Harrison". Please read in this spirit:

I think Plan B is a good idea. However, I've got mixed feelings about it as a direct result of my own experience with the whole concept of a plan B. Plan B can introduce some interesting although sometimes counterproductive aspects to your life. I just think you should probably work quite hard (in as much as, you should do what you want to do with your life because it's once) on pursuing plan A. Plan B, by it's mere existence, can become the life you live as an inevitability unless you look upon it as something that you don't want, and actually actively avoid! I don't know anybody who would suggest that you spend your life doing something that you don't want to do. I committed a lot of my life to becoming a good guitarist, and worked very hard practising and teaching. Now I'm re-focusing my efforts to work towards becoming a more "successful" guitarist, but I have a clear idea of what "successful" will mean to me so that my life doesn't become an unrealistic pursuit of something that will never happen. This is important so that your life doesn't become a disappointment leading to depression...etc (Seen it all before, young guitarists and the failed pursuit of stardom. It can go very badly. I've taught/ worked with these people). This is how I look upon my own pursuit of success as an example of perhaps what not to do, because everyone's dreams are their own, but more importantly, how to realistically look upon what you have to offer the world, and work towards why and how the world should accept it:

1, The music I compose is very varied and in multiple genres which have limited appeal, and across my 3 main creative projects, there are almost 3 small, and identifiable markets. They are where I should focus my attention. I'm never going to play in the "big league" (MEN arena level gigs where Paul Simon and Madonna do their gigs) because of the nature of what I actually do. Without a lot of luck, that isn't something I should focus my attention on because that would be unrealistic.

2, The timescale in which you want things to happen needs to be considered (in terms of what can realistically be achieved). This is where a lot of bands become disillusioned within short spaces of time because they aren't getting where they want to go fast enough. When I feel this way about my own progress I remember an old expression, "Gods delays are not gods denials". The time-scale I am working within at the moment is limited to "the rest of my life" subject to finding myself in the position where I don't want to do this anymore, and will at that point establish new goals and strategies in order to score them!

3, "What I do, isn't 'shit', no matter how many people feel so inclined to express their true feelings (which is that what I do is not necessarily to their taste) by inappropriately using this word." This expression will help keep perspective the inevitability of being faced with this situation rears it's ugly head. It will happen at some point because of the fact that you can't please everyone.

4, Do not try to please everyone (see point 3)

5, There are plenty more things I'm doing, but this is getting a bit silly now and it's a post on a forum, and I think I've written enough.

I've done all kinds of things in my life whilst trying to become a good player, but at that time, I remained focused on my goal, and to a large extent "succeeded"! Fame, money, and all the classic "rock star lifestyle" shite didn't interest me at all, I was more interested in finding out how far I could take my instrument (past where I found it) by thoroughly exploring as many options as I could conceive of, and this is still how I approach the guitar. This has significantly contributed to the way in which I play it. This used to be my 'Plan A' and brings me to the point "Know what plan A is (in realistic detail)". Then you can work on achieving it. There is no such thing as "failure", only the results of our actions. Failure is a label we give the results of our actions when we haven't got the result what we wanted. What we actually have are "results". What we should do next is look at what we have actually done to achieve that result, and change the way we go about it to work towards what we actually do want because the way we had tried didn't work! I will, at this point say "I will become a successful guitarist in accordance with what I have defined "success" to mean for me, in realistic terms, taking into consideration the circumstances I am in" because I will change my approach in accordance with what seems to be working, and what doesn't, and adapt and re-focus my efforts towards what I want to achieve.

Cheap plug (but a good example of one way I'm getting people to listen to my music) and If anyone is interested in what I'm currently working on musically, examples of my work can be found here:

www.myspace.com/theaudiodesignworkshop
www.myspace.com/turquoisenoise
www.myspace.com/ensemblecraft
www.myspace.com/nikharrisonmusic

any and all honest criticism sincerely appreciated.

PS:

I still think plan B is a good idea. You never know what is going to happen, but then again, you never know what is going to happen next even if you do become a major league "rock-star". Ask any of them, and some will tell you it isn't what they thought it was going to be...