We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jason Damico. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jason below.
Jason, so many exciting things to discuss, we can’t wait. Thanks for joining us and we appreciate you sharing your wisdom with our readers. So, maybe we can start by discussing optimism and where your optimism comes from?
I think this is a great question especially because throughout my life, I’ve always been more of a “realist” so to speak.
Don’t get me wrong – I’m a dreamer. However, throughout the years I’ve noticed I would mainly default to a proactive, problem-solving nature—which ultimately can sway over towards pessimism if not kept in check.
Like many others, during the pandemic I found myself partaking in a lot of soul searching. Through much self-reflection and contemplation, I began to take an audit on my life and honestly assess from a bird’s eye view what I could have done differently in the past. Because of all the uncertainty, the pandemic had a way of drawing out this more finalistic viewpoint on life for me.
During this soul-searching period, I began spending hours a day in meditational practices and prayer. I’ve always been an avid reader, but things kicked up a notch when the world essentially shutdown.
I discovered a condensed pamphlet version of Norman Vincent Peale’s “The Power of Positive Thinking.” It was as if the universe opened and showed me a whole other side to my spirituality that I hadn’t fully grasped or embodied before.
It was pretty much at that moment that I fully embraced and embodied the art of practicing optimism by using visualization, law of assumption & attraction, affirmations, etc.
I’ve always been very spiritual, but this showed just how much power you have in your words, thoughts, and ultimately how much you can co-create with the Creator when your intentions are properly focused.
My Dad always had this saying that he told me when I was younger “your attitude determines your altitude.” Every day I live, and the more experiences life throws at me, I come to realize another layer to exist within such a simple yet profound universal truth. You attract what you are. And like Earl Nightingale said, “we become what we think about most of the time.”
So all in all, I believe optimism is a choice—a choice that is constantly reset and dependent upon what you are facing in the “now”—and how you choose to react to it.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I’m a proud Raleigh, NC native and grew up in an art-appreciative household. My mom played classical piano from an early age and my dad played guitar in various bands throughout high school. They both pursued careers outside of the arts but always encouraged and supported me in my creative proclivities and endeavors.
There were always instruments laying around the house. I began tinkering around with the piano as a toddler. But ultimately, I showed an innate love for percussion and drumming—so my parents started taking me to drum lessons at around four years old.
My first professional acting job was, of all things, as a baby model at 18 months old. Someone approached my mom and said they needed a mother/infant pair for a magazine shoot. So that was my first official paid gig! I still find that funny to this day.
Mom had gotten me into some reputable agencies in NC. I continued to build credits as a childhood actor for both regional and national TV commercials and films. I enjoyed taking classes and performing in Raleigh’s own productions at Theatre in the Park, Raleigh Little Theatre, North Carolina Theatre, etc. They played a tremendous part in my training and development as a performer.
A big music “a-ha” moment for me happened when I was 12 and my dad introduced me to Deep Purple. We were going on a road trip and stopped at a Barnes & Noble to pick up some music for the drive (this was at a time when they still had many CDs for sale). I remember him just scanning an album with five dreary and out-of-focus figures on it. He put the headphones on me as Highway Star faded in and my mind immediately exploded. I was like, “whatever this is, I have to do it.”
In high school, I started to play guitar more and became obsessed with Stevie Ray Vaughan. I wanted to be him. Looking back on it now it was kind of hilarious. But I was the kid literally up until the wee hours of the morning on school nights playing along to his records. I’d watch videos of him on YouTube set at half-speed with the screen flipped upside down—this way I could study every subtlety of his hands from his POV. I was hooked.
After high school, I took a gap year to just record and play music. I had formed The Jason Damico Trio when I was 16. Eventually, it would become Jason Damico & The New Blue—the name that still stands to this day. We were playing anywhere and everywhere in the Triangle just trying to gain traction and experience. Around that time, I also won my first Carolina Music Award for Youth Male Artist of the Year in 2011.
At 19, I self-produced/performed and released my first record Blood, Sweat & Blues. This would eventually land me a management deal in NYC as well as help me acquire contacts within the Triangle Blues Society. I won The Triangle Blues Society Solo Challenge in 2014 and advanced to compete at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, TN.
Towards the end of my gap year, my pro-education parents lovingly coaxed me into obtaining a college degree. They always told me, “we don’t care what you get it in, but you’re getting something—you’ll always have it in your back pocket.” And with folks that are literal part-shareholders of your business, I figured it wouldn’t be wise to ignore such an admonition.
I had toured Berklee College of Music in Boston, Julliard, and PACE in NYC, but the atmospheres just didn’t feel quite right for me. I was a homeschooled kid throughout most of my life, so I wanted something much more flexible than I could do on my time while pursuing my career and building credits. Hence, William Peace University’s School of Professional Studies Program in Raleigh came into the picture.
In 2013, I enrolled in WPU’s SPS program, which essentially allowed me to obtain a Bachelor’s in Business with a Focus in Leadership entirely online. This would allow me to travel freely back and forth from NYC during production pilot seasons as well as tour with the band.
It took me nearly six years to finish my degree while continuing my career pursuits—but I was able to graduate Summa Cum Laude while also maintaining enough music industry presence to take home another Carolina Music Award for Rock Male Artist of the Year in 2015.
After graduating from WPU in 2019, I was ready to take on the world. With classwork and exams finally behind me, I was in the process of fully relocating to NYC as well as looking forward to touring the US blues-rock circuit with undivided attention and commitment.
And then the pandemic hit.
While the world was shut down, I tried the best I could to stay positive and productive. I had already started The Jason Damico Show in 2019—but in 2020, I saw a tremendous opportunity to keep the momentum moving via Zoom.
The show became a lifesaver. Not only was it a way to document stories of incredible artists and creative entrepreneurs in NC, but it also built relationships internationally. Over 130+ episodes in, I have learned so much from a diverse pool of talented people—from all walks of life. It has single-handedly been one of the biggest blessings for me personally and professionally.
Throughout the pandemic, I also wrote/recorded new music and produced other artists remotely. I landed some great UGC commercial contract work for companies like TikTok, 1-800 Flowers, Wolf & Shepherd, Adobe, and many other great brands.
As things began to slowly open up again, I was fortunate enough to work with legendary blues-rock icons such as Eric Gales, Gary Hoey, Kenny Aronoff, etc. on some recent single releases—one of which would garner a new career milestone with four GRAMMY® Considerations.
I’m constantly juggling a multitude of opportunities spanning different sectors within the industry. I’ll be honest, sometimes I wish I wasn’t as spread out as I am. It’s a lot to manage even with multiple managers and agents working alongside me. But I always knew from a young age that I would never work a traditional 9-5 and the only desk you’d find me behind is one with a recording console on it.
The bottom line is I love what I do—even if I don’t know exactly what it is that I do at times. But that’s precisely the magic of the arts and entrepreneurship. And all of my fellow artists reading will know exactly what I mean when I say that “you don’t choose this path—it chooses you.”
Regarding the business and brand specifically, the three main career passions in my life at this point are music, acting, and production. My umbrella company New Blue Entertainment, LLC handles my intellectual property as a recording artist/creative while also operating and managing a multi-room recording studio and production house located in the Triangle near Jordan Lake. It also serves as a label and oversees coordination for all live music events and touring for Jason Damico & The New Blue.
I started dabbling in music production after having a few negative experiences early on with outside producers. At around 15, I began building my own recording studio. I did everything I could to push myself more and more in learning the process.
I told myself that I would always be “the artist’s producer” and proudly adopted that mantra because I wanted to treat every artist with empathy and respect.
I’d further learn how to do this at Manifold Recording Studios in Pittsboro, NC—which I was blessed to intern at for a little over a year while in college. Working in a world-class
environment like that helped me develop and refine proper studio etiquette, problem-solving skills, and overall understanding of the music production process.
As a songwriter and recording artist, I resonate most with organic music—specifically rock and blues. But I love all genres. I just try to take a little bit of everything that I like and create something with a touch of originality. A great song is a great song—especially when it can effectively communicate and inspire others in some way, shape, or form that is relatable.
Growing up as an actor, I always felt comfortable in front of a camera and on set. I’ve also spent a significant amount of time behind the camera directing various projects as well as editing in post-production. Wearing so many different hats generates an experiential advantage.
There’s so much that goes into the medium of film and on-screen storytelling. The more you know, the more value you can provide us as a creative asset, and the more respect/awareness you can have for everyone else involved in a project.
As a content creator, I have a huge passion for documenting people’s unique stories and experiences. The Jason Damico Show is a platform that focuses on the artistic and entrepreneurial community of the Triangle—conducting interviews in an informal yet educational and entertaining manner.
Guests have often praised the atmosphere of the show to be “healing and therapeutic”—propelling positivity into the often-negative saturated space of social media. I take great pride in effectively creating a safe space for talented people to express themselves so freely.
Ultimately, I’ve been fortunate enough to build and continue to shape a career that is dynamic with complementary passions. There’s music ubiquitously in films and TV. There are infinite performance aspects required in music. And both art forms rely heavily on production savviness, conscientiousness, and core competencies within various content creation skillsets.
Comfortably interweaving and combining those skillsets and experience banks is probably what differentiates me (and my team) the most within the arts & entertainment industry.
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?
At this point in my journey, I’d have to say the top three most impactful skill/knowledge qualities would be the following: Sales/Interpersonal Skills, Perseverance/Self-Determination, & Faith.
First—Sales/Interpersonal Skills. No matter what field you are in, it’s vital that you know how to sell yourself and to do so with deftness, dexterity, flexibility, sincerity, and empathy. I firmly believe that +90% of people fail to achieve the greatness that they are capable of because they are unable to close deals or make their own opportunities when push comes to shove. A lot of this is due to lack of skillset, but also generally just frankly not having the interpersonal and social skills to do so.
Looking back at my life and career so far, I can say that whenever I lacked even slightly in this area it limited me from certain pools of potential opportunities. Granted, your skillset and abilities must match whatever it is that you are selling—you have to be able to deliver—but in order to deliver you must be able to correctly obtain the lead and then take the order (or even better yet, sell a prospect a product or service that they didn’t even know that they emphatically needed and ultimately change their life for the better). Knowing what I know now, I would have put a little more time and effort into studying and regularly practicing sales skills earlier on. As Zig Ziglar says, “You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” Being competent in sales and interpersonal skills greatly helps make this possible.
Second—Perseverance/Self-Determination. The next step in knowing how to present yourself and sell you and/or yourself is dogged perseverance. Let me be clear: YOU WILL BE REJECTED IN ANY WORTH WHILE AND CREATIVE ENDEAVOR OR PURSUIT. What matters is what you do with it—how you handle it—especially on the thousandth time of missing the target.
As Thomas Edison brilliantly put it when reflecting on inventing the lightbulb, “I didn’t fail one thousand times, I discovered one thousand times how NOT to make the lightbulb.”
And as much as you must persevere against the world, you must also grow comfortable and content in the ability to persevere against your own self. Because that is the true definition in my opinion of shear perseverance and being self-determined—doing what needs to be done and taking initiative to do so—especially when no one is there forcing you to do it or even more importantly when you don’t necessarily “feel” like it.
Three—Faith. Above all, you must believe in what you are doing. Everything manifests first from the mind. If you can see it, and you can “feel” what you see before it is in the 3-D, then you already have it. You will waver, you will stumble—it’s inevitable—we are human. But that’s where the combination of perseverance + faith comes in. When they are combined, then you will successfully be able to keep moving forward without throwing in the towel—no matter how bad it looks or gets. Never give up.
Regarding how folks early on can best develop or improve on these skills, I think first and foremost fostering and developing a high level of self-awareness is paramount. Author and speaker Kevin Trudeau talks about the consciousness/competence matrix which I think directly applies.
In summary, Quadrant 1 represents unconscious incompetence, which essentially means someone not knowing what they don’t know. Quadrant 2 comes next, which is conscience incompetence, translating to someone knowing what they don’t know. Then there is Quadrant 3—conscious competence—which equals to possessing the ability to do something but having to think about it while doing so. Then finally there is Quadrant 4—unconscious competence—which means the ability to do something automatically.
Quadrant 1 is a dangerous place since it is somewhat of a self-fulfilling blackout. Thankfully, life itself through trial & error, parents, friends, family, and especially good mentors and system blueprints can help get us out of this space. Quadrant 2 can be equally as dangerous if no action is taken to eventually learn the steps or systems rise to Quadrant 3 and then through repetition eventually reach and enjoy the benefits of Quadrant 4.
Masters of a skillset, subject, craft etc. reach and stay at Quadrant 4. What most people don’t realize is that it takes more than just your focal skillset in entrepreneurship, the creative, etc. to excel. The more positive life skills you can garner, nurture, and eventually master at a Quadrant 4 level will directly increase your chances of success in whatever you do. With that said, I’ve found that for me personally, beyond the obvious acts of creating, performing, and/or producing—the more that I’ve focused on applying Quadrant 4 abilities to the three main areas mentioned above (being Sales & Soft Skills, Perseverance/Self-Determination, Faith), the much more success I’ve experienced when attempting to reach my innermost dreams & desires.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
Of course! Always looking to collaborate with brilliant talents and minds. If what I’ve discussed in this interview has resonated with you, then I would venture to say that we would be a suitable match to work together.
MUSIC PRODUCTION—If you are an artist (or manage an artist) who is looking to bring your sound to the next level that is both industry competitive yet uniquely “you,” feel free to reach out to the studio email [email protected] or call direct at (919)-714-9024. As a gift to you, be sure to mention in your email or on our call promo code “NBE-BOLDJOURNEY” for a limited time special discount on your next project for finding out about us through this Bold Journey interview!
To learn more about New Blue Entertainment and the music production services we provide, please visit newblueentertainment.com.
FILM—If you are filmmaker, screenwriter, or serious content creator, feel free to reach out via email at [email protected] to discuss the possibilities of your next project!
LIVE ENTERTAINMENT—If you are a talent buyer/live event promoter/venue owner who is in need of a 2x Carolina Music Award winning/8x GRAMMY® Considered blues/rock artist for your next event or festival, feel free to reach out vie email at [email protected] to discuss booking!
Contact Info:
- Website: MAIN: https://www.jasondamico.com / PRODUCTION COMPANY & STUDIO: https://www.newblueentertainment.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jdamicoofficial/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jdamicoofficial
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-damico-96831262/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/i/flow/login?redirect_after_login=%2Fjdamicoofficial
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/jasondamico
Image Credits
New Blue Entertainment, LLC / Jessica Lynn / Anita Stinson / Zach Jenson / Carolina Perez Haddad / North Carolina Theatre / Carolina Music Awards
