We were lucky to catch up with Sam Walsh recently and have shared our conversation below.
Sam, appreciate you making time for us and sharing your wisdom with the community. So many of us go through similar pain points throughout our journeys and so hearing about how others overcame obstacles can be helpful. One of those struggles is keeping creativity alive despite all the stresses, challenges and problems we might be dealing with. How do you keep your creativity alive?
Keeping your creative “alive” is such a funny question. Creativity really never dies. It may lay dormant for months or years, but everyone has the potential to tap into the deep well of creativity that lies within us all. I have found several ways to keep my creativity alive. One of the simplest things to do when feeling drained from working on something creative is to just take a break (the break can be months or years, too, depending on the task at hand). I think the goal or result of taking a break is a change in mindset. Changing your mindset to tackle a creative task forces you to approach it differently, and often yields different results that you would not have thought of prior. For example, when I am working on a song, sometimes I view it from the lens of a painter. The drums take on a color, deep red or purple, the bass is a flowing blue, and the vocals are a glossy bright red like an old Mustang. How do these colors interact with each other? Does a cohesive pallet form? Is it a soft impressionist painting something Monet would do, or emotional and intense like a Goya? Thinking this way, or rather changing the form of your thoughts to something drastic has helped me out of many creatively difficult situations. So next time you are struggling with something creatively, think about how a mechanic would draw, or how an accountant would design that plate, or even how an airline pilot would mix the drums!
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?
My name is Sam Walsh and I am the drummer/songwriter/recording engineer/mixing/booking agent for the band Pretty Pretty Please. I have been in bands ever since I went to school in the big city (Minneapolis), and was in concert band and orchestra during my youth. In college, I worked at RadioK interviewing bands from the local scene and around the world, and have continued to be an avid music lover and creative in every aspect of my life that I have time for outside of my professional job.
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 believe the three things that have made me semi-successful have been my diligent planning skills, deadline setting and completion, and willingness to practice and strive to continuously get better at everything I do. I never stop learning, constantly seek out new sources of inspiration, and take my creativity very seriously, for without it, I would be lost.
What was the most impactful thing your parents did for you?
For reasons I still do not understand, my parents bought me a drumset when I was in third grade. Of all the instruments to buy an 8-year-old, I cannot think of a more risky, loud, behemoth of an implement to buy a child. It was a gamble for sure. Looking back, 20 years later, I can’t imagine who I would be today without that gift. It has shaped me to my core. Because of the drums, I now play piano, write music, play live shows, talk to amazing people, and have forged some insanely amazing memories. The songs I write now will live on forever, and who knows, 100 years from now they still might be relevant to my great-great-grandchildren.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://open.spotify.com/album/74EiFWIF0S1pPzTBSmD4Xj?si=evwwbCSlQzCF8ujbBqR_qA
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prettyprettyplsss/
