Flaky Creatives
Let me open by saying that creatives are some of my favorite people. They are, by definition… creative. They make the art. They bring feelings to life. I love them. They are my people.
But holy man, can they be flaky.
This was brought to mind with the band Jane’s Addiction making the news. The front man, Perry Farrell came to blows with the lead guitar layer, Dave Navarro, in the middle of a song. This resulted in ending the show prematurely and Jane’s Addiction canceling their next show.
Feuds occurring within bands are not news. They have been around… forever. The band Oasis is back on the road after feuding brothers said that would never happen again. The Black Crows – brothers in the band also have fought each other on stage. Mick Jagger, Keith Richards didn’t always get along, Eddie Van Halen was against… seemingly everyone except his brother at times. And then some creatives go hard core, with the example of the members of Fleetwood Mac famously cheating on each other and having each other collaborate on each other’s breakup songs but holding it together to make millions.
Big names. Big breakups. Big news.
But in my experience, creatives can be flaky a little closer to home too. I’ve often struggled to understand it.
Have you ever seen the movie, The Commitments[1]? It is my favorite music related movie. The movie follows an Irish band that goes from nothing, to finding success, to having it all fall apart when they are seemingly poised for a breakthrough. Then it all collapses. The scene is striking – in one moment the band is hitting on all cylinders and then they go for a break, and fisticuffs ensue.
I’ve never had a band situation come to fisticuffs. But I have had that experience where, in one moment, everyone is vibing. We are immersed in the music and feeding off each other. Then the music ends and what… someone is crabbing for some reason.
Weren’t you just here with us experiencing the vibe?
Apparently not.
The situation is different with engineering types. I see this when I wear my other hat, working through technical challenges with an engineering community. I’ve never felt, “the vibe” that you get when working with creatives. But you also usually don’t have to deal with people all up in their feelings. People work logically and methodically through a problem.
In music people will get all up I their feelings. It is the nature of the beast. And when the music stops, sometimes it can be hard to predict how people will respond. For me, music is the thing. I compartmentalize – I set everything aside from the process of being immersed in the music. Outside of music, I mostly don’t care what sort of things you have going on.
Let’s just make the music.
“But Jake”, you might say, “You can be a big flaky jerk yourself”.
Gosh, I hope not. In all my decades of playing I have yet to miss a gig. I have never berated a fellow musician. I have never quit a band because I couldn't get along with another member. I have always tried to be respectful, supportive, and flexible.
However, I am certain that I have on occasion said an unkind word without thinking. But, has anyone ever said anything to me about it?
Not once.
But when I’m suddenly persona non grata, I assume that I have given offense. For those folks, I would obviously apologize. If they ever come right out and say, "Jake you're a jerk - you made me mad/sad when you did/said x". Otherwise I'm just sitting over here guessing.
To anyone that thinks “I” am the flaky jerk – you are probably right. I will try to do better.
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