The Year of the Green Garage
3 valuable ideas mined from the loneliest but most productive season of my life.
Looking back
I’m currently writing to you from the kitchen table of my grandfather’s house in Spokane, WA with a 30,000 foot view of the previous chapter in my life.
The past year and a half was a blur to say the least. In February 2023, I moved to Southern California with my brothers and bandmates to pursue music and take advantage of the opportunities and connections that LA offers.
It’s so funny looking back now because in actuality I ended up spending 90% of my time in my house working on my computer (not an exaggeration).
I only went to one party/event the entire time…
I went on one date,
attended one concert,
played one concert,
didn’t make a single new friend (but saw some old friends)
went to the beach less than 10 times despite living 15 minutes away, (never went in)
and got all my groceries/food delivered..
Looking back, it was probably the most lonely and secluded season of my entire life. I did attend a few other misc gatherings or activities and met some new (very nice) people but for the most part I went full hermit mode.
I don’t want to sound like I’m complaining here because I’m not (kinda am) but I do want to honestly reflect on my experience because I ended up doing the complete opposite of what I went there to do.
To be clear, I wasn’t completely miserable and I was lucky enough to have amazing roommates (mainly the golden retriever, Tilly) and made a lot of happy memories with them.
The one thing I did end up doing was really dialing in on my art and the creative side of things. I dialed in hard. I dialed in like a 911 call while losing a pint of blood per minute from a severed femoral artery. I was like an ancient sundial (still accurate). I was dialed up to eleven-and-a-half. If you’d like to reach the focus and determination department please press #1… beep. Dialed.
Over that 18 months I experienced multiple breakthroughs in focus and creativity and would go on to create multiple music videos, visual loops, promo photos, and other content that was all shot on a green screen in my garage and, in my humble opinion, my best work to-date.
The year of the green garage
It’s been the case, that for most of my creative journey, budget constraints forced me to learn how to bring my creative ideas to life all on my own.
Shortly after we settled into our house, I began writing a ton of new music and setting up my green screen in the garage to shoot the art and videos that would accompany the music and be used for album art, promo content, social media and advertising.
Here is a quick tour of *some* of the art I created…
Deambulatio Per Ignem (A Walk Through Fire)
I’m super proud of what I’ve accomplished here. While I could focus on all of the technical and nerdy things that I learned in terms of video production and VFX… I think the real value was in the principles and concepts I discovered along the way.
With the rapid advancements in A.I. most of the craft-specific skills I learned will probably become obsolete this year. (I just tried the first version of Runway’s text-to-video tool right before I sat down to write this and was blown away).
However, rather than the things I learned to do… the ways I learned to think are what will most likely remain relevant over time.
Here are the 3 main concepts that strike me to be evergreen.
It’s all about the idea
Tools come and go. Resources and mediums change and evolve. Trends and fads ebb and flow with culture BUT the ability to come up with a good idea and execute it remains valuable and sits at the core of anything you might produce or create. In a time where more and more is possible every day.. the question becomes.. WHAT will you create rather than HOW will you create it. This has been a massive shift and change in focus for me.
Focus is underrated.
The ability to sit with an idea for a prolonged period of time may be one of the single most valuable skills you can develop as a creative. We are living in a world where the richest and most powerful companies in history are on a mission to steal your attention. Attention is arguably one of the most valuable assets on earth and it’s quietly being stolen from you minute by minute. Find a way to keep it for yourself and the people/things you care about. Swiper no swiping.
We’re all running on feels
At the end of the day we are all just walking meat sacks that have feelings and are steering toward the ones we like and away from the ones we don’t. It’s like being a car but instead of a steering wheel, you have a feeling wheel. I would argue that art is a thing because it’s one of the most reliable ways to turn the wheel. For me, paying close attention to this changed everything.
Hopefully these ideas will resonate and be useful to you.
I’m about to enter an entirely new season of life. The process of moving and preparing for my upcoming journey has been super turbulent and chaotic. I find myself longing for simplicity and clarity again.
In the coming weeks and months I’ll be attenmpting to simplify my life in every way I can and avoid distractions like the plague. I’ll be sharing how I go about doing that on here but would also appreciate any advice you may have if you should choose to do the same.
Don’t be a stranger!
Dannysuede.com - Music (Spotify) - Instagram - Youtube - Tiktok - Threads - X
New From Me:
Adam Turley Interview
I’m back on my interview game! Super grateful to have been able to sit down and chat with Adam! We talked about his recent trip to Thailand, his new music, his journey as an artist, his community (the Room), finding success in music and more! Enjoy!
Uhhuh |l pseudo.organic
New remix from my band TYS that bangs hard!
Strike Tracker
Moments:
The all consuming mental storm caused by 1000+ people (mostly hostile) commenting on my thread about morality and the subsequent peace after letting it go and just enjoying my view of the beach.
The sense of wonder and pride I felt at the flight and space museum. We take rockets and satellites for granted but being able to see the engineering up close was absolutly mind boggling and made me proud to be a human. Inspired is an understatement…
Concepts:
If you feel the need to rush, you are probably doing something anyone else can do.(what can you tap into that’s unique and underserved?)
What I’m watching
The C.E.O of Perplexity on Lex Fridman’s podcast.
Perplexity has recently replaced google search for me and is a 10x more useful tool for finding information. It’s cool to hear a bit about what’s under the hood there and the challenges that go into making one of the most useful tools I’ve ever come across.
See ya next week!
Dannysuede.com - Music (Spotify) - Instagram - Youtube - Tiktok - Threads - X
Good luck on this new season Danny. Hope wherever you go and whatever you do now brings you happiness and peace