Meet Asa and Eric Makowski

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Asa and Eric Makowski. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Asa and Eric, 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.
Asa- I try to keep my creativity alive by listening to different types of music. I’m always looking for things I’ve never heard before and stuff that pushes musical boundaries to keep that creative spark alive.

Eric – I am inspired by all types of art too. There are so many creative and original voices out there who express themselves through music, painting, poetry, etc. that inspiration can be found through these other voices or even just being in nature.

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?
We are Mak Daddy Revue a rock and soul band from Louisville KY. Asa and Eric have always enjoyed playing music together, but the band started from pretty humble beginnings. At 16, Asa was slated to tour and record with the School of Rock where he took instruction from the wonderful team in Louisville. All the gigs were booked, but the onset of COVID interrupted everything. As a way to make for this loss, Eric, who has been playing in bands for years, booked studio time with a friend from Colorado. The father and son flew to Colorado in 2022 and records 4 songs over 3 days with Asa playing all guitars. They then performed overdubs and released the songs to the streaming sites in 2023. Local reaction was strong to early gigs with a multi generational lin-up of crack musicians (Brett Holsclaw, Jack Barton and Jake Groves) but things really took off when WOA International picked up one of the songs, “I’m Leavin'” during the holiday season podcast, Within weeks the song was trending online, especially in The UK and Canada where the song briefly made the top spot in iTunes downloads. Since then the song continues to trend well enough for industry booking agents, labels and online magazines have reached out for more information. A string of live shows in the US this spring and summer will culminate in a UK tour in August of 2024. New music is in the works for later this year as well.

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?
Asa – As our simple story expresses, sometimes you have to look for opportunity in the face of every bit of adversity one may face. So being persistent and dedicated to your dream often comes with hidden surprises and success.

Eric – I never would have imagined that I would have the opportunity to be touring and playing music with my son because just writing the songs together and recording them was accomplishment and satisfaction enough for me.

Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played in important role in your development?
The Creative Act by award-winning music producer Rick Rubin has been highly influential to us. He explains that each person is capable of creativity, not just a chosen few who uniquely talented, True creativity can be found in the meals we cook our families, in the expression of nature and in conversations with loved ones. “To see past the ordinary and mundane and to get to what otherwise be invisible.” It helps to try to experience things as if you were seeing them for the first time. The other thing Rick Rubin mentions is to not compare ourselves to other artists or expect too much from one piece of work. Art is a continuous process and we should be open to the fact that the piece of artwork we create might well resonate with a broader audience than just within ourselves.

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Image Credits
Shannon Barton

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