Living in New Orleans is like living in another world in a lot of ways. It's kinda isolated down here and very european for an american city. There is a lot of love and magic here and things just "seem to happen" more than in any place I have ever seen. It also reminds me of a 3rd world country in some respects with its roads, poverty and challenged infrastructure. But like all things in life, to have all the good, there has to be some bad to balance it out. The bad is not on the surface and living here does expose things you don't see just as a tourist. But I did expect that.
Unlike a lot of musicians (mainly young) who come here to New Orleans for their break or want to be part of the scene, I had done quite a bit of work over almost 20 years as a professional musician already. We had built a big fan base on the west coast as well as in europe and done 10 records. I had done 250+ gigs a year for a 10 year stretch and worked really hard at the business of playing and keeping gigs. I saw a scene rise and fall a few times and watched LA area clubs close up and not be replaced. In europe we had to translate our music for the bigger stages and keep audiences coming back,
However, we never really toured through the USA that much because we were always pretty busy on the West coast. Really we are unknowns, which actually has been a positive. So our situation is quite different and it took some getting used to being lumped in with the newcomers. But I think its here for everyone and the fans and the people have been great. Especially the locals and native New Orleanians. My biggest concern was will the people here dig our style? So far so good.
Unlike a lot of musicians (mainly young) who come here to New Orleans for their break or want to be part of the scene, I had done quite a bit of work over almost 20 years as a professional musician already. We had built a big fan base on the west coast as well as in europe and done 10 records. I had done 250+ gigs a year for a 10 year stretch and worked really hard at the business of playing and keeping gigs. I saw a scene rise and fall a few times and watched LA area clubs close up and not be replaced. In europe we had to translate our music for the bigger stages and keep audiences coming back,
However, we never really toured through the USA that much because we were always pretty busy on the West coast. Really we are unknowns, which actually has been a positive. So our situation is quite different and it took some getting used to being lumped in with the newcomers. But I think its here for everyone and the fans and the people have been great. Especially the locals and native New Orleanians. My biggest concern was will the people here dig our style? So far so good.