We recently connected with Hank Nelson and have shared our conversation below.
Hank, so excited to have you with us today. So much we can chat about, but one of the questions we are most interested in is how you have managed to keep your creativity alive.
To me, creativity isn’t something that comes in a wave of inspiration. It has to be practiced, as much as possible, every day if you can. Make a lot of bad shit and then maybe one day you’ll make some decent shit. Solve problems as much as you can and you’ll start thinking of different solutions.
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 play bass for whoever needs me, and I help artists take their song from idea to Spotify. I just finished building my new studio in El Cajon, and I’m excited to get back to work and see what new ideas the space generates.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
I’m definitely still in early the journey myself, but I always try to be the least accomplished in the room that I’m in. That doesn’t mean I’m trying to be bad, but I want to surround myself with musicians who I feel are more skilled than me. That way, if I “fail”, then i still know what I have to improve on, and in the event that I can hang, I’m gonna get better just from being around them. That’s pretty much what happened with my band, Heaping Teaspoon, they helped me improve and are still helping me improve in so many different ways, I’m very grateful for those boys. Other than that, I just try to hustle when opportunities arise, and keep practicing when the opportunities aren’t coming as easily.
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?
Hell yeah. I’m looking for dope artists and musicians of any genre that are down to make some new shit. If you play sitar please DM me @hankleenelson on instagram. Or anyone can DM me really I just love sitars lmao. But yeah I am always looking to help artists bring their songs to life, I love working with people and seeing their perspective of how they view the world.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @hankleenelson
