This is one of my all time favorite quotes:

“Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it.”
C. S. Lewis

I like quotes like that because they feel practical to me. Something I can cling to while I work through the so many roadblocks from concept to completed song. Which I will add feels like a frustratingly long time to me. I also heard someone else recently describe that working on a song is like one minute they have the best song they’ve ever heard and the next minute it’s the most embarrassing garbage they’ve ever heard. He continued to say that “neither of those is ever true”. I love it when someone relates something perfectly for me.

Serious writing (for me) is a constant struggle between what I genuinely want to hear (which almost always are my best tracks) and feeling like it’s been done before (which usually just sabotages the whole thing). I’ve got the concept that it’s better to come at a song without outside prejudice and pressure.

Got it. Really. But.

The reality is that I’m just as broken as the next guy, so I tend to fall into the trap of “what will they think”. My saving graces are that I am hard to please and very stubborn. So I will work at something until I find what I’m looking for. My health be damned

Practically there are things I can do to help this process come easier: rest, listening to some good music, coffee, Guitar/Piano practice, good instruments to work with, knowledge and so on. Great songs happen when happy accidents meet a skilled hand.

So I always try to work in the idea that my goal should not be originality or having the hottest track around but to honestly and skillfully interpret the songbird that is constantly singing in my head. ~josh

Three things that personally inspire me:

The more and more we get out and play shows the more and more I’m appreciating showmanship.

The dictionary says… “the skill of dramatic or entertaining presentation, performance, or publicity” What I’m finding is it’s FUN and kind of addicting. I want to keep pressing to get better at every aspect of it. Whether it’s energy, skill or just better composition, I’m paying attention now.

I’ve spent much more time in my “music career” writing music than performing it. Now that we’re trying to get a show on the road, I’m really learning to appreciate a good performance for what it is. I’m even finding myself getting live DVD’s where I used to be a studio album hermit. I’m also finding that some of the best showmen were before my time (surprise, surprise).

In the clip below Gene Krupa is playing music I would probably never play in my car but man if I witnessed this I’d be having a good time. Enjoy. ~josh

First of all we hope you’re enjoying the changes to SeventhEpic.com. The new format is already making updates easier on us and we’re hoping to use it to connect better with you. Something I’ve learned from traveling and performing is that this WHOLE thing boils down to people trying to communicate with each other.
We just tend to communicate through huge amplifiers

Anyone who knows us at all knows we carry a video camera around with us whenever we’re out at a show. Honestly it was kind of odd at first being the only band at these shows filming each other… we get some perplexed looks… but we promptly got over it.  I’m quite happy we did because if anyone enjoys watching these vlogs,  I do. ~Josh

Watch more of Seventh Epic Vlogs here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/seventhepic