We recently connected with Ezra Henderson and have shared our conversation below.
Ezra, thank you so much for taking the time to share your lessons learned with us and we’re sure your wisdom will help many. So, one question that comes up often and that we’re hoping you can shed some light on is keeping creativity alive over long stretches – how do you keep your creativity alive?
Creativity comes in waves for me. Sometimes entire songs will flow effortlessly out of me in 30 minutes, other times it seems nearly impossible to come up with an idea I don’t hate. I think the most important part is to stay consistent but not force it. Set aside time each day to allow yourself to be creative, without being tied to a result. This keeps the opportunities for those golden moments, without suffocating your art under the stress of the result. If you only create when you feel like it, you won’t make time for it as often as if you dedicate SOME of every day to it. I also keep my creativity alive by not being bound to genres, ideas, etc. Some days I’ll be inspired by acoustic singing stuff, another day I might be listening to heavy dubstep. Don’t set boundaries for your inspiration, and don’t force a result.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
The central coast is my home (San Luis Obispo, specifically) and I’m aiming to keep growing locally in this area until it makes sense to expand with farther bookings. I’m focused on getting some new music out this year, and keeping the live band shows happening at least every few months. I’m really excited about the collaborations I have in the works, and the production value of our live show. I have been very “into” lighting programming cues for our concerts, and really bringing my vision/album to life for the live show. Stay tuned to my Instagram (@ezrahenderson) for all the latest music & concert announcements.
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 of the most important qualities in my opinion would be courage, patience, and consistency. Courage to continually put you and your art out there and embrace the opinions and critiques of people who don’t like it. Courage to stand on a stage and perform your music, especially to thin or uninterested crowds. Patience to keep at it, year after year, follower by follower, show by show, when everybody wants to be at the top immediately. Consistency to stay relevant and in people’s timelines. To be able to consistently work the extra job that is content creation and marketing tactics. Those are super important to any amount of success, in my book.
What would you advise – going all in on your strengths or investing on areas where you aren’t as strong to be more well-rounded?
It helps to be well-rounded and I believe it’s important to “pick a lane”, but not be unhappily tied to a brand. I have so many musical interests and influences, I struggled for a long time with how my music should sound or how it was allowed to sound / evolve. I didn’t want to be confusing by not sticking to a genre, but ultimately I think it’s a bigger waste of time to stick to something you’re unhappy with. Allow yourself to explore different sounds, but still keep it under one package as a consistent artist. As long as it’s what you want to be doing, I believe it will come across as the most authentic and not too much of a curveball
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/ezrahenderson
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/ezrahenderson
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/ezrahenderson
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