Story & Lesson Highlights with Amber Schmidt

We recently had the chance to connect with Amber Schmidt and have shared our conversation below.

Amber, a huge thanks to you for investing the time to share your wisdom with those who are seeking it. We think it’s so important for us to share stories with our neighbors, friends and community because knowledge multiples when we share with each other. Let’s jump in: What are you being called to do now, that you may have been afraid of before?
Singing ugly. God, that’s a terrible sentence, isn’t it? I used to be so focused on sounding pretty, or trying to sing loudly like the powerhouse singers I’ve known and have heard, but the fact of the matter is that I’m just not a powerhouse singer.

Lately, especially with composing and recording at home, I’ve been able to experiment with weird notes, off-beat harmonies, etc. It doesn’t always land, but I’ve found that if I can sing something weird and ugly, I can fine tune where the beauty needs to be. (Note: A lot of the stuff just turns out BAD, which is really fun/funny to go back and listen to).

My music has definitely improved, and it’s been a big motivator for me to continue. I want to create things I ordinarily wouldn’t, make music and play guitar chords that shouldn’t be played, and have it somehow work. I’m getting there. Above all else, though, it’s just been incredibly fulfilling, creatively, to be making my own music, crafting something only I could.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Name’s Amber. Been playing music my whole life, writing and composing. Never going to be famous, but just want to play in cool places, mix cool shit, and have authentic conversations with friends I meet at gigs. Life is short, as am I, so I figure, why not give it a go?

Currently working on a shoe-gaze home-mixed album with my partner, Dan, and am really just hoping to craft and mix and create something beautifully odd.

Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
I was free. Then I wasn’t– for a very long time… but I’m finally coming back to myself in a way I couldn’t have imagined, and in a way that never could have been were it not for the tragedies and burdens of my past. Shoveling manure taught me how to see the rosebuds.

Is there something you miss that no one else knows about?
If I told you, it wouldn’t be something no one else knows about. 😉

Alright, so if you are open to it, let’s explore some philosophical questions that touch on your values and worldview. What’s a cultural value you protect at all costs?
Personal freedoms and rights.

That’s not just a slogan—it’s the line in the sand.

What we’re seeing now isn’t Republican or Democrat; it’s a group of people trying to cosplay as politicians while running plays straight out of the dictator’s handbook. And the only antidote to that kind of erosion is participation. Vote, speak, create—do something. Silence is complicity.

Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: If immortality were real, what would you build?
A death machine. Nobody should exist for ever.

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