Meet Alice Austin

We recently connected with Alice Austin and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Alice, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
I am from Vermont, where winters are brutal and summers are about a week long. I spent a lot of years in survival mode; staying warm, shoveling cars out of snow banks, working on a farm in sub-zero temperatures. Being uncomfortable was a way of life that I accepted in the physical realm. Growing up, creative time felt like such a luxury and a reward to me. The process was already the whole reason for me. It was entertainment and self-expression, and that was enough for a long time. When I began to share my music with people, I didn’t really expect anyone to like it. It just felt good to me to make it. As most artists experience being criticized, unseen and unheard at one point or another, I had a period of time in my 20s that put my resilience to the test. Being dropped from a major label felt like the end of my life, which now just seems like such a great experience to me. I always came back to the creative process as being my reward. It could be easy for me to slide into a rabbit hole of self-pity as an artist in the modern world, and the only way out is to write another song.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
My focus for the past few years has been many musical projects. I have been releasing 2 albums a year of original material, which occupies a large part of my imagination. This year I released a retro synth pop album in July and have an acoustic album coming out December 1st. Writing for an album is my absolute favorite place to exist, so I just decided to always be working on one. I like to shift from soft rock to synth pop to folk and back to hard rock, because I find it stimulating and challenging to create something inconsistent with the last recording. I’ve also recently discovered my love for doing music videos with a small crew and inspired ideas. It’s really such a blast.

In addition, have been touring internationally as lead singer and keyboard player for Black Sabbitch, the all-female Black Sabbath, and touring with All Souls as a guitar player. Playing music with great friends is just how I’ve always wanted to see the world and I feel so lucky to get to go to some new countries this year and next.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Three qualities that were most impactful in my journey to career musician are being of service, vulnerability, and dedication. I’m still working on these after 20 years, but the advice I have to people early in their journey to develop these is not to ever approach your art as proving yourself, just provide the service of entertaining people in an authentic way, being courageous to share your truth, and be steady with it.

Alright so to wrap up, who deserves credit for helping you overcome challenges or build some of the essential skills you’ve needed?
Sometimes when someone you are inspired by believes in you consistently it can really elevate you. My friend and producer, David Drouin, really helped me value what I have to offer as a songwriter, singer, and recording artist. Having a mentor and collaborator is essential to keep you accountable.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Catherine Asanov Photography (personal photo)

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