He joined several neighborhood bands and lived a kind of rock’n’roll life, singing and traveling. Bored with rock, he discovered electronic music, put down his drumsticks and got his hands on record players. But he doesn’t want to make music a job. Worked in radio, was CS at a production studio for 7 years and now works in advertising. Michael Nicholascopywriter v8, is not afraid of change. On the contrary, his motivation was always the fear of freezing.
“If there’s no stake, it doesn’t matter. If you’re not a little afraid, it’s not worth it. I enjoy them, I drag them into the basement with me, I depress them, I enjoy them again, I send their emotions fishing”, says Mihai.
Here you can listen a freshly recorded set by him. About music, the life lived on the roads, the searches and discoveries of the last years, Mihai tells more in the following lines.
Why did you choose advertising?
Hungry. The pandemic came, I entered technical unemployment when I was doing the matinee in Tanănana and my pride does not pay for my maintenance. Someone recommended me to go to an agency to be a copywriter because “I have a way with words, and I might be good at it”. I politely declined. After a few months of unwanted fasting, I said this is it. I applied, I got it.
Passion for music
Dad was a musician, and the house was full of CDs, tapes, vinyls. Besides, I wanted to do everything he did: music, writing, radio. The moment I realized I wanted to play drums was when I was air drumming live on Led Zeppelin’s Moby Dick from The Song Remains The Same (1976). I was around 10 years old. It was incredible how he could beat 12:47 without getting tired, and I was passed out just pretending to beat them.
What followed
I started covering all kinds of neighborhood bands with other nerds like me. Then other bands followed, singers around the country and outside, at the Exit Festival, a 3-week tour of Greece. I was living what I dreamed of. I was singing and traveling. I was living my kind of rock’n’roll life. No luxury and privileges. Life lived on the road, van, empty, abuse. Implacable wear, conflict, dirt intervene. And I said fuck it, I’m out. What is happening around no longer matches what I wanted.
Then I founded another band, The Sonic Taste, but that also died after a few years, with the pandemic. I checked what I had to check, moving on. Truth be told, I was bored of singing rock. Only flowers smell the same all my life, and my ears have different tastes. WHAT!? A family friend gave it to me for my birthday (I think I was 8) a sweater she made with the word crocheted on it RAP.
So, quite naturally, many years later I discovered electronic music. I put down the drumsticks and got my hands on the players. There are few things that make me so happy. I don’t consider myself a DJ and probably never will. For several reasons. I don’t like positions, titles. That one, two, the notion of DJ has been diluted and trivialized very much. There is way too much light at the desk, anyone can do it now and no one is different from anyone else. But the differentiation is made in the desire to always seek music, other things. The digging part. You take the rake, the shovel and dig after yourself through others.
How did you learn
No one taught me drums or players. When I was little I would beat the sofa and pillows with sticks, and when I started playing the drums I was already trained. I didn’t take any classes, it was just instinct. Or DNA. I didn’t take any courses on the buttons either. I borrowed someone’s console and when my first smooth transition came out I felt a new joy. Next is the thing that makes me the happiest.
What has this passion turned into?
It turned into even more sleepless nights. I try to assimilate as much as possible, but it’s impossible. Too little time and too much music. The scenes are different. At a concert you know what to expect, at a club night not so much. You can narrate a song, but you can’t narrate a party. And it’s wonderful that way. I got on this train late, but I don’t care. I don’t want to make it a job, I do it for me. As long as I still have drive and enjoy myself, imma gonna do it. And it’s pretty damn cool to see that you’re in charge of people’s condition.
Sure, that responsibility comes with pressure, but that’s where the satisfaction comes from. If there’s no stake, it doesn’t matter. If you’re not a little scared, it’s not worth it. I enjoy them, drag them down with me, depress them, enjoy them again, send them fishing for emotions. The goals are twofold: make them dance and make them feel. Something. Anything. I want to put a bookmark in their memory that will remind them that it was “somehow”.
Time & effort
I dedicate as much time as I have anyway. The hardest part was realizing that I can’t live on music alone. I’ve made peace with it and all I can do is enjoy the f*ck out of it whenever it happens. The best part is seeing people secretly Shazam, when someone comes up to you and says “great set”, when the OGs on the stage applaud you and when you see the audience dancing and being happy that the money they gave on all the they were given for nothing.
What it takes to follow this passion
You have to practice. The concept of bedroom DJ-ing is very different from an event. You need to master the skills. I admit that I’m the type that likes the raw, the natural and doesn’t get carried away by the rigors of a workout, but the mechanism I use when I don’t feel like turning knobs is to remember the times when I had absolutely no motivation to I do, and after 15 minutes I was in a completely changed state: throw me to the wolves and I’ll make them combine with the sheep.
Moments when you wanted to give up
I had and I did. Let’s not underestimate the joy of resigning or giving up something you no longer enjoy. I’ve never been afraid of change. I gave up drumming and started playing music. I was a CS at a production/post-production studio for 7 years, then I was a radio producer and director, now I do copywriting. Who knows what I’ll be doing in a few years, maybe I’ll become a field goal coach.
The motivation was always the fear of freezing. I understand the perspective of those who say that rather than doing 5 so-so things, better one done excellently. Right, but would we have liked peacocks as much if they had a monochrome plumage? Exciting comes from diversity. (Here I bragged that I know words, nay, copywriter) Do what you love to the best of your ability. That’s it. So now I try to be the best copywriter among drummers and the best music selector among copywriters.
Discoveries
That rockers are mostly their most retrogressive and hateful people. And that I will do everything in my power not to end up like them. They have a noisy pride, an unnatural enthusiasm for conflict, two numb ears and stiff feet in a pair of boots smelling of locker room and stubbornness. I don’t resonate with that at all anymore. I still amaze the people who know me since I was a “rocker” and see my change as something surprising. I love music, well, not rock. As for the reactions, those of those who matter have been appreciative.
Music and advertising
Incoming joke: the only similarity between a copywriter and a DJ is that they both do lines. They do not meet anywhere, nor would it be preferable.
Source: www.iqads.ro
