Meet Lew Morris

We recently connected with Lew Morris and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Lew, so happy you were able to devote some time to sharing your thoughts and wisdom with our community. So, we’ve always admired how you have seemingly never let nay-sayers or haters keep you down. Can you talk to us about how to persist despite the negative energy that so often is thrown at folks trying to do something special with their lives?

It can be difficult at times. Even the best of us sometimes feel like maybe all the haters have a point. The key is that you believe in what you do. You don’t want to surround yourself by sycophants because there’s no growth there and it only caters to your ego. Unfortunately there are a lot of artists around here that prefer that and fool themselves into believing the “yes men” are real support. You have to hang on to the good parts that you get from those who are doing better than you or that you respect. Rarely will you get hate from those more successful, it’s almost always those who are doing worse trying to drag you down to their level.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

Well, I have quite a wide range of things that I do. I am most known as a musician and songwriter. I am the lead vocalist and rhythm guitar for the Dallas, Texas, based band, Coilback. I also perform guitar and backing vocals with the rock band, Love Sick Drug. I have performed and worked with a variety of musicians and bands in the past and tend to pop up here and there with new music projects. I also work in the film and stage production industry. I have worked as a professional pyrotechnician for independent companies as well as the Disney Parks and done special fx and directing with many movie and TV productions. I also work on the side as a graphic designer and consult with other creatives to help them succeed with their endeavors. I am in the process of launching a few different things soon that will be expanding upon all that. I can’t go into the details yet until it’s all finalized but there will be some announcements soon.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

I think the qualities that helped me the most were: the ability to learn new things quickly, creativity and resourcefulness. I’ve always been decent at picking up skills on my own. I don’t think it’s anything that special other than I am willing to be humble and not come into a situation acting like I know everything. I’m willing to learn from those who know more than me and not afraid to ask questions. I have always tried to take a creative approach to things as well. I like to challenge myself to approach something from a different angle, rather than just do it the same way everyone else does. As someone who didn’t grow up in a “well off,” family, I was forced to be resourceful to accomplish the things I wanted to do. I did not have the luxury of just throwing money at things to get them done.

For people getting started into a creative career, the biggest issue I constantly see is that they don’t think about the business end of their career. You need to spend as much time learning about the logistics as you do learning how to create. The difference in doing something creative as a hobby versus as job is taking care of the business end. Don’t throw away money on things that don’t give you value in return. There will be tons of people promising you all sorts of things, but take the time to see what they have done for others. Many times, you’ll find what they are promising are things you can easily do yourself. Talk and network with others who are also doing what you do or want to do. Never be afraid to learn new things and definitely don’t enter into a new field coming in arrogant. It’s beyond me when something like a new band comes in and immediately makes enemies with a lot of other bands. It’s hard enough as it is out there and to just start off trying to burn bridges only limits your growth potential.

Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?

Right now, it’s two main things. First, is overcoming the shortcomings in this area for creatives, especially original musicians. This area has a lot of issues in the entertainment scene in general. There are predatory promoters that take advantage of new bands or those that don’t know any better, organizations and other bands that would rather try and take down other people to try and elevate themselves rather than improve themselves, and many of the venues and talent bookers that do procure the bands aren’t paying attention to the bands who actually are bringing in the crowds. These places either depend on the predatory promoters mentioned above, or don’t realize those bands who are buying social media followers which doesn’t translate into real audiences when they do appear live. Second, it’s trying to stand out in the crowd online. The Internet is a blessing and a curse. It has leveled the playing field for creatives. It no longer requires you to have to go thru the old gatekeepers to be able to stand out to the public, but it also has made everything saturated. It takes more work to grab anyone’s attention anymore. I see so many “try hards” trying to act like dancing monkeys to try and go viral rather than show their actual talents off. Now, my bands are also theatrical since many of us have a background in movie making so we aren’t above being silly in a promo, but we don’t just take any little thing we do and try to show everyone “how goofy,” we are. The idea is to get people to want to pay attention to your work, not just you.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @lewmorris
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/coilbacklew

Image Credits

Cindy Keith
Thomas E Moore
Tim Hamilton
Todd Jenkins