Here is a recent interview of The Quietus interviewing Joe Cardamone via email. In it, Joe talks about the perils of being a musician in the contemporary music industry, and the pitfalls and hardships that a typical musician has to endure.
Joe Cardamone: No one knows how fucking heartbreaking it is to see my best friend sit there with a guitar in her hands looking at me with ‘What’s the point?’ on her face. This was my day today, trying to motivate the singer of a band people actually care about, but she can’t afford to buy food. Like, anything to eat…
It’s fucked. We are starving our art into extinction, not because we don’t care but because what the fuck are we supposed to do? We carry on, sure, but the integrity and ideal that made us who we are today are the same things that are slowly rendering us a non-product…
When we (musicians) speak out on this kind of life we are made out to be spoiled brats. Nothing could be further from the truth. I came from nothing, made every opportunity myself and continue to. These last couple years have been a test of will and survival skills. The thing is, I would rather die trying than give up. I don’t know how many others feel that way, but without this, what do I have? 15 years of my life have gone in one direction. I have no high school diploma and nothing to fall back on, so when people kick back to enjoy the free shit it can get you down. I don’t know how it is where you are, but, in Los Angeles, not only are you supposed to give the music away but then people want you to play for free.
It’s an honest, and somewhat heartbreaking account of a man who, it seems, is finding it increasingly difficult to follow his dreams.
Read it, and spread the word.