Have you ever held in your mind a dream, one in which you played a festival like FKA? Surely at some point, gentle reader, you have. Accepting this, there’s something we here at Music Feeds must ask. And it’s this: Why is it that you’re telling yourself you can’t?
What if we informed you that you could?
Okay. So let’s just go out on a limb here and guess that if you’ve read this far, you’re willing to do what it takes to succeed at becoming famous. Right. Well, we believe in you, but listen up. The first thing that you have to realise is that everybody starts somewhere and it’s usually anywhere but close to the top.
Take Eves Karydas for example. She’s been in the music game longer than you might think. After starting to write songs at around age 11 she made an early bid for fame in a two-bit singing competition, Cairns Got Talent. She didn’t win but still, she was determined. To get to where she is now, she didn’t stay tethered to one place. She’s moved around and we’re not just talking stylistically here. London, Brisbane, and Sydney are places she’s called home before she was 25.
What was she doing hopping around like this? Searching for opportunities and inspiration. And when one approach to music failed to make an impact, she simply tried another. In doing so she worked under several names. Before she was Eves Karydas she was Eves The Behaviour and Hannah Karydas before that. It took years and more than a few changes of tack to get to where she is now, but these days she’s streaming in the millions and landing songs just shy of the Hottest 100.
Speaking of triple j’s Hottest 100, The Rubens topped it in 2016. The song was ‘Hoops’ and while the band may now be festival headliners they’ve more than paid their dues. As a key member of the band, Elliot Margin’s path to the top was no cakewalk. While he and boys from the band we’re travelling the country in a beat-up van, Elliot was also working in pizza joints, scrubbing dishes at restaurants and even selling fine china. Each job he hated but along with his brothers and bandmates he never let up on that dream.
Did you know The Rubens came from Menangle, a rural town 70 kilometres south-west of Sydney? The town’s location leads to another important point. You don’t have to come from a musical metropolis or capital city to make it.
Take The Chats. Before they’d even considered setting the word ‘smoko’ to song, Eamon Sandwith, and his co-conspirators were living in a little town just north of Noosa, Queensland. They weren’t the product of a scurrilous showbiz Svengali, instead, they came about mucking around together in high school music class. If they had any greater musical ambitions, the reality of their situation dictated that The Chats were never going to play anywhere larger than their local venue The Peregian Beach Hotel. One viral single later and they’re touring with Queens of The Stone Age and hanging out with folks like Alex Turner and Iggy Pop. The Chats may not have worked at it as long and hard as Elliot or Eves but when they saw their chance, they took it.
Don’t be put off by failure. When it comes to Tomas Henry Gaynor, music wasn’t even his initial choice. Before realising that making hip hop as Allday was his true and only calling, Tom had already taken a stab at painting, YouTube stardom, and stand-up comedy. The jobs he’d taken to support himself along the way have been no less varied than Elliot’s. He once worked at Nando’s, at another time a pizza joint and even did time in a pie shop in his hometown of Blackwood, Adelaide Hills.
What we are saying is that as accomplished as these artists now may be, they are still people just like you. For all of the successes they’ve striven for, they have their follies and foibles. Allday has watched Love Actually over 50 times, Eamon once ate 17 meat pies on a single Australian tour, Eves has an irrational fear of leeches and Elliot? Well, when asked to share some embarrassing facts he revealed that his mom regularly referred to him as ‘Smelly’ and also that at least once in his life, he’s peed his pants.
“But wasn’t this supposed to be about me?” you ask. Well yes and now is the part where we get to that. FKA Festival has announced a competition. The basic rundown is that you sign up, pronounce your intention to conquer the world and then share a unique Facebook link. The artist with the most supporters will be crowned the victor. And, if it’s you who takes out the winning place, you’ll be opening the festival on its main stage.
So here is your opportunity. Here is your moment. Are you going to take it? Success might not come readily from this first foray but why not let it be a start? If you strive for it with every fibre of your being who knows? It just might work.
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FKA Festival will tear up the Hunter Valley on Saturday, 19th October. Head here for lineup details and tickets. And again, head here, for your chance to play FKA Festival 2019.
