Meet Marek Domanowski

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

Marek, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?

This is honestly a mixture. It’s hard to sit still when you have a competitive monkey in your brain. One undeniable segment of it is constantly being in awe of other people. This may include my heroes and people I look up to but more recently it’s mainly friends, peers, just regular folks you come across in everyday life. It is hard to believe how much people can cope with and not grow bitter. Seeing people overcome all kinds of personal tragedies and still choose to give to the world rather than take away is quite a profound experience. So I kind of feel as though I owe it to them to get up in the morning and deliver.

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?

I am a musician based in Bristol, UK.

My career spans across freelance musicianship and music education. I am a guitarist, vocalist, songwriter, producer and music teacher. I hold a Master’s degree in Popular Music practice.

At present, I dedicate most of my focus to fronting my blues band Dirty Weather Blues Revue, which is currently working on our debut album. The band has been performing relentlessly across the UK over the course of this year – we have been lucky enough to perform to some incredible audiences at many iconic venues and hold a monthly Bristol residency at the iconic Ill Repute in Bristol. I am very proud of the trajectory we have been able to develop.

The group also has a sister band Elegant Weather, which is a vehicle for our original, non genre-focused musical output. We have put out some music this year and there is more coming very soon.

Outside of this, I do a lot of session work for other projects, and have recently enjoyed performing, touring and recording with artists like Joe T. Johnson, Freddie Lewis, Anna Collette, Sarah Ann Ree.

I also teach guitar in a number of schools in the Bristol area.

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?

I would narrow it down to: high level of skill in your chosen subject matter, people skills, work ethic. Really, as an artist you have to throw taste and aesthetic integrity into the mix on top of these.

All of those things are essential and especially in the arts they can be counter-intuitive. With anything artistically creative, it is truly difficult to know when to push and when to take your time. Should I try to catch the bird, or sit still until it lands on my knee? It gets slightly easier with time, but there’s no shortcuts.

Reading helps. Lots of biographies of people you look up to. Robert Greene’s ‘Mastery’ and ‘Expert’ by Roger Kneebone are great studies of how to get good at what you do. Don’t, as an artist, go too crazy with the self-help stuff though. There’s a reason Bob Dylan talks brings up Homer, Herman Melville and Erich Maria Remarque in his Nobel prize speech, and not Tony Robbins and Tim Ferris.

How can folks who want to work with you connect?

Dirty Weather Blues Revue is currently working with a team of artists and graphic designers to explore men’s fashion. We are looking at the traditional bluesmen attire as the starting point (suits, hats, glasses) and want to get into how this can be brought up to date in the modern world rather than becoming a caricature of itself. We would be interested in collaborating with clothing brands who are passionate about men’s fashion and inspired by the old-school blues scene. Please get in touch with us on Instagram at @dirtyweatherblues !

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dirtyweatherblues/

Image Credits

Aron Weston
Henry Ager
Lisa Young
Will Hobley