The Most important thing I ever learned
By Morten Fausboll (lead singer and guitarist)
My name is Morten Fausboll and I’m the main creative force of the band Levee. I’m the singing and guitar playing front man and write all music and lyrics. The band started in 2016 in China and moved to London just before Covid where we have become a stable of the underground metal / hard rock scene.
I believe the most important thing for any creative project is to remember that being in this game takes a lot of skills that are very different from each other.
The skill of writing amazing music is naturally very important but it doesn’t make you a successful musician alone. Be aware that performing live is a completely different skill to playing your instrument, so is creating content on social media, writing an engaging email to a promotor, networking with other musicians at gigs, selling merch etc. etc.
Be humble about what you are not good at and focus on developing those skills. Remember that doing things you’re not good at makes you better at them at a MUCH faster pace that you spending time practicing what you’re already good at. The learning curve is much steeper.
I’ve seen many bands thinking that being good at writing music is enough, and they often disappear after their first album because they feel disillusioned that their music hasn’t been “picked up!” and they haven’t gained a solid following.
So, know that you need a lot of different skills and that it is ok to suck them first. We all did. Oh man I sucked at some things.
Let me end this with a quote from one of the best frontmen in metal (and friend of mine) Andreas Bjulver from the band CABAL: “If you think being in a successful band is about writing music, practicing your songs and playing concerts, you’re gonna have a bad time”.
However, if you recognise that driving your band forward takes a variety of skills and that sucking at some of those is completely fine as long as you constantly work on become better at then, then you have a real shot at staying in a band that creates, performs, networks and develops creatively for 10 years and then you might just have a change.
How so? Well, another quote that lives rent free in my head is this:
“It takes 10 years to become famous overnight”
About LEVEE
LEVEE is a London based two piece hard rock assault by Dane Morten Fausboll (guitar/vocals) and Norwegian Fredrick Lindal (Drums). These two Scandinavians deliver head nodding grooves, stage presence and musical curveballs enough to leave you wondering where the last 45 minutes went.
