Quick question. Have you ever wanted to start your own podcast? Have you ever thought about starting one? Well because like when I was trying to get this podcast project freelance off the ground, I had a lot of questions. Like how do I record an episode? How do I get the show on Apple podcast Spotify and all the other places that people listen to podcasts on? How do I make money from my podcast was like, obviously one of the biggest questions I had because I knew that I was going to be doing it weekly. Well the answer to every single one of these questions.Is really simple that's anchor anchor is a One-Stop shop for recording hosting and distributing your podcast and best of all, it's a hundred percent free super easy to use and right now anchor will also match you with sponsors so you can get paid even more to podcast. So I use I use anchor for sponsors. I use anchor for distribution on platforms that are not Apple podcasts because I host through SoundCloud so I drag everything. A over to Anchor and I upload it here separately and it allows me to then distribute the podcasts and more apps as well as get sponsors for the podcast. So if you've ever wanted to start a podcast and make money doing it go to Anchor dot f m / start to join me and the diverse community of podcasters already using anchor that's anchored on FM / start. Can't wait to hear your podcast. Send me a link. Oh, yeah season 6 project freelancer is happening guys. We are well under way and by well underway. I mean, this is the second episode of season 6 of project Freeman. Welcome back. If you're new to the podcast, my name is Kay and go Neo and I am your host here on Project freelance. If you are a veteran listener, hey, what's up? How you doing? How's the family? How's your kids? How's your wife? Good? Good. I'm glad happy to hear it. Thank you guys for listening to project freelance this week on the podcast. I'm joined by Andy Civic. He is a vocalist and he does vocals full-time. That's his job. He's a freakin vocalist man. He's in several music projects He also does YouTube he also does vocal lessons. He also does session work and features. He does a lot of things and it's amazing. I don't know how the guy juggles it but we're going to unpack it in this episode of project freelance, but first things first, I'm the realest. Okay. Sorry, that song is stuck in my head now, but no, okay first things first. Are a bunch of affiliate links down in the description that I think might help you out. If you are a freelancer of any sort, if you drive your own car, you know the mileage that you drive you can write that shit off on taxes guys. You can get some money back. It's an expense your cars and expense y'all. So if you want to start tracking your mileage, there's an app called my like you there's a link down in the description for you to download that use it on your smartphone and automatically runs in the background. And when you drive your car somewhere you can log if it was for And all I was going to say pleasure, but for personal or for business purposes, so yeah, check out my like you there's also mint mint will help you keep track of your monthly expenses. You can set goals. You can do all kinds of stuff with the Mint app. So check those out there's also a bunch of gear down in the description a bunch of Amazon affiliate links try and do the Amazon affiliate thing. So, yeah, if you guys like some of those links let me know and and we'll keep doing the Amazon thing cool. Let's get into this episode with Andy Andy, please introduce yourself and what it is that you do to the audience. My name is Andy Civic and I am a vocalist in a few bands. Let's talk about how you got into music in the first place. Take me back to the beginning when you were a kid. What kind of music did you listen to a growing up? Um, I think I started out with a lot of like classic rock because my dad was really into that stuff. So he was always playing like rush and led. Zeppelin and shit like that and it was cool for a while, but then I got I started getting into my own stuff like green day. And you all the basics My Chemical Romance and those types of bands Breaking Benjamin was one that I was really into just all the like Punk and hard rock typical radio bands that you'd probably expect and then yeah, I don't know. I just I wanted to do it, but I was never Were brave enough until I guess my I think my like my mid-teens years probably when I was like 15, I finally started experimenting with singing and everything. And once I played my first show I was like, this is what I want to do with my life. So yeah, that's pretty much, you know, not not a very unique story, but that's how I got into it when you got into your first band tell me about that. What was the project and what did you guys do? Don't like how many shows did you play? Did you tour? What was the story man? It was terrible. Like my first band was just it was just me and some friends from high school and we didn't really know what we were doing. We just wanted to like play our school talent show. So we we learned a bunch of covers. I think it was like like Incubus and Thirty Seconds to Mars and stuff like that. And then yeah, we played are like high school talent show and we were both like well, this is the shit, you know where we've made it and from there. I was like, let's play some real shows. I think, you know, we started to write some actual songs and they're all shitty. We were very new at it. But you know, we thought we were cool at the time. We were having fun. I think we played some shows at like a local VFW Hall. We did a bunch of Stuff like that nothing major and then I don't know I guess I that band fizzled out and I joined another band and kind of just kept doing that through the years until until I made something that was actually proud of which took quite a long time. And what was that project that you were proud of I think wander is the first band that that I've been in that I can actually say this is you know, I'm still Proud of it today. I think it's good music everything else before it was like okay, I guess but they were just stepping stones. Yeah. So tell me about your first time ever in a in a vocal booth like recording something. I love hearing about vocalist different experiences. So tell me about yours. Try to remember the very first time I think okay. I know what it is. It was so it was that one of the first bands that I was in high school band. We knew this dude who lived, you know in the same town and he was into recording and just kind of an amateur audio engineer and we all thought he was the shit, you know, we thought he was amazing and like a An elaborate mean he was good for age, but we went over to his house and we did a like a Blink 182 cover. I think it was Anthem Part 2 I want to say but yeah, he just like stuck in mic in front of me and I didn't really know what I was doing and I absolutely sucked the that cover was so bad. It's I swear. It's like still Somewhere Out There. Are in the depths of the internet, but yeah, it was terrible and I was like really embarrassed just to hear my own voice back. It was super nerve-wracking but I don't know eventually we did it again and again more times and I became more comfortable and it wasn't so cringe-worthy. But yeah, definitely that first time it was just awful. Yeah as a fellow vocalist I somebody on Twitter asked me if I could do like a A cover of one of my first band songs. Oh, it's so I would never want to do that. I like I like hit up the guitar player. I was like, you don't have not that I want to do it because cringe but like I was like you don't have these and he was like, oh my God, I would like I don't even know what to say to that. Yeah, that would have been really Brave of you to do. I tried to pretend like it never happened. But yeah. Yeah. No, I think just hearing your own voice for the first time recorded is awful for anyone and I was just fearful of hearing my own voice for the longest time after that. So definitely took some getting used to so tell me about your first time going on tour. I want to hear that experience because everyone's first time on tour is a quite the experience. Yeah, I was 18 and I was in this like easy core band, which is basically we're just trying to sound like for your strong and a day to remember and yeah, they had had some touring experience. I joined that band after they had already done some stuff and we did this like two-week terribly booked tour like the promoter was just not on the ball. I mean typical story, but dude, we played like We played out like a picnic table one time. It was horrible in like somewhere in Tennessee and no one was there. It was just two weeks of really shot shows and we weren't getting along at all. Another band took us out of band called handguns actually. Okay, I know handguns. I know Jake. Yeah. Yeah, so that was that was like my first tour and I don't know. I mean it was rough and dirty and we slept in Like some really gross places, but it was still cool to experience and I think it toughened me up for the future because that was still the hardest tour I've ever done probably and it was just not good. But if I hadn't done that if I hadn't taken that step and I probably wouldn't be doing it now, so You know, I'm still grateful for the experience even though it was terrible. So tell me about some of your next projects that you were in after after you got into wander. And yeah, I want to know what the other projects are that you're in currently and like what how you can how your brain can mentally split into three different music projects. Sure. So wander was just doing our thing. We went on a tour with his band comic. Sorry, and I guess we just got along with those guys really. Well, it was a good experience and then they lost their singer and hit me up after that and I was like, I'm not really sure I've got wander and I'm pretty busy but I really like their style and so I just went for it we did a single and I was like, this is a really good fit. I gotta learn to juggle these two responsibilities and I don't know like music's pretty much all I do I've dedicated like my whole life ever since I started doing it and nowadays I get to do music for a living. I don't have to have like a 9 to 5, so that helps me petition the time that I need. So I've been with macari for a while and wander doesn't really tore. We're more of a studio project. So that's not super. Sing on my wife. It doesn't take up, you know too much time or I don't have time for my other stuff. But I don't know. I just have a lot that I want to do artistically and I think my voice allows for it since I have the you know, these different skills like singing and screaming and all these different interests genre wise. You know you only live once so you might as well go for as much as you can and create as much as possible. That's the way I see it. So yeah monuments hit me up a few like several months back because they needed to fill in vocalist for a tour macari wasn't doing anything at the time and I always wanted to do the whole metal thing. So I was like, yeah sure whatever. Let's do it not expecting that much of it, but it just went so well and the chemistry was so good that I couldn't say. No to joining. It was a really great opportunity and like the mcard guys understand I have to do what's best for me and and you know join joining the band was part of it, but my dedication for macari is still the same as ever and I'm still stoked on all them. We're making we just have to schedule stuff in advance a lot. It's kind of tricky. But yeah, those guys have 9 to 5s and stuff. They have other lives besides the band. So everyone has other obligations that we need to account for so it's not the worst thing ever that I have this other job. Basically that I need to do because everyone has another job mine just happens to be music and doing other bands and you know, the session were Work that I do with artists. Sometimes it's a challenge to juggle it all but I don't know I would regret it. If I didn't go for this stuff if I didn't take these opportunities. I'm really lucky to have them in the first place. So yeah, I just do the best I can so you touched on it a little bit. So some of your project store and some of them are just Studio Projects. So we're like, how did you how do you decide like You don't want to tour with this band. You just want to do Studio work. How did that idea come into play in your world. Um wander was not a heavily touring band, but we always we did some tours but usually I would have to get fill-ins for the tour's because a couple members just weren't into touring and that was their choice and it's totally like, you know, that's fine. Not everybody wants to do that. So I didn't really have to make that decision for wander at A certain point it was just like let's keep making music. But let's keep the the shows at a minimum and turing's not really a goal or responsibility for the project and I was like, you know, that's fine. I have macari now and those guys want to tour all the time. So I'm always down at or if I can make the time for it and it makes sense. Whatever project that I'm in. I'm totally down to tour. This new thing that I have with Nick nocturnal called termina isn't a touring project simply because we only it's only two members and we're just writing all this stuff ourselves. So that's also you know, I don't have to make that decision. It's just kind of like well, we're we're a two-man Studio project. We're not really going to be doing any touring at least not anytime soon. So yeah Monument stores and macari tours, and that's just because everybody involved is down for it. And it works out that way. And then how long did it take for doing vocals to become your career? Like how long did it take for it to start making making money for you and paying your bills like 10 years pretty much exactly 10 years. I guess I've dumped so much money into it growing up as every musician does just as a teen not really caring about making money. Just trying to build something and I think YouTube really helped a lot once I started putting myself out there it started some you know, I started to gain gain some fans, which is great. And and that was helping with the subscriber count. And in the monetization like I was making a little bit of money. You know, how YouTube is like you don't make a lot. Yes. I know it's a little bit and it was like extra income. Yeah. So from there, it's just been a slow build. Putting music out on Spotify and stuff and all that is cumulative. So the more the more content that I put out, you know how it goes eventually it starts to build on it on itself. And yeah, and then also just having a name for myself from doing these different projects in the YouTube stuff has given me opportunities to do session work. I get hired for stuff like that and teaching voice lessons. That's a good source of income for me. But yeah, it all style all of it had to start somewhere. I was not making anything. I was losing money and then eventually it turned around now. I don't make a shitload of money or anything like that, but I can pay the bills and feed myself and that's cool, you know rent is covered and I'm grateful that I can do music to support myself. So yeah took a long ass time, but it's still building slowly. So back to YouTube talk about, you know, social media and how it has impacted your life as a vocalist and as somebody who you know is now making making a living off of this. Oh, yeah, social media and the internet has been huge for me. Of course. It's how macari found out about us and me and how monuments found me the Sumerian audition. I did on YouTube was was really helpful for me getting myself out there. If I didn't have these platforms than I just be singing by myself in my room and no one would be listening. I mean The whole climate of the music industry has changed where it's it's absolutely necessary to have a presence online, you know, you can't just go out there and tour anymore, but it worked for me and I was able to adapt to that and I owe I owe my whole career to to the internet basically because I was able to put myself out there and use those too. Also Market myself. And you know, I just got I think a lot of it was just I got lucky and someone saw my video and shared it to a friend and they showed it to a friend. Yeah internet is powerful. It's done so much for me. It is a crazy place man. And it's awesome what it's done for you. Definitely so talking about session work. How did you start doing session work? How did it feel when you were first approached to do like a future spot on a song? I don't actually remember what my first one was but I do know I was super flattered and I was like you really want me to feature on your song and I think I probably did it for free. It was just like a good experience and a cool opportunity and I just wanted to be a part of it. So yeah, it was it started out as like a fun thing and then slowly I would get more offers for it. And I was like, yeah hell yeah, let's do it. I would charge next to nothing. You know how it goes like you slowly build up your value and your able to ask for more. But yeah, I mean the first time I just did it for fun and it was it was I was just honored to be asked basically and then how did you come up with your rate? You can discuss it or you don't have to discuss it on here what it is specifically but how do you how did you find your worth your value? Um, I don't really know it was like a trial and error thing. It was kind of an experiment like I started out super low. Like I think I was asking for like 50 bucks to do a whole song and that was just because I didn't think I had a lot of worth yet. You know, I hadn't really made a name for myself and built up a following in those days. So I was happy to get whatever I could but after a while it started, you know, I started getting enough offers to the point where I could Use which ones to do and which ones not to do and that's when I was like, okay, I can I can set my price and sort of figure this out in a way that makes sense. And a lot of it was advice from Friends. Nick has helped me out a lot Nick nocturnal because he does the same sort of shit. And yeah just asking for advice from other people and a trial and error thing of how much people are willing to pay and how much I think is okay for me to ask for, you know, not to drop specific numbers. But now I think a good rule is that I charge a specific amount per like minute of the track. So if you want me on like a 3-minute song, it's like x amount times 3 or it's just based on the level of involvement or maybe how much they want me to write versus how much writing they want to do themselves. And then there's the whole editing. Things you want me to edit? So yeah, it was just a process of trial and error and I think your value will go up over time the more work you do and the more you get hit up for jobs. So I'm just kind of playing it by ear. And then what real real Jobs quote unquote real jobs, by the way, there's quotes around that. Um, did you have to supplement your income while you were trying to get this to take off full-time? Oh man. I was working at a movie theater for a while as like a concessions guy for several years when I first started playing in bands, and then I was a video game tester for for a bit. I worked for zenimax. I worked on Skyrim. Shout out to Bethesda. It was a cool job and I was a traveling sound engineer for a while actually want to trade school for live sound and studio recording, you know, just being an audio engineer. I did that at one of those old-school Studios to learn the fundamentals of sound so that gave me a background that I was able to use to I was like an audio tech for a bit to working for a multimedia company. So eventually it was all in the vein of audio but I found myself getting so burnt out from work that I didn't have a lot of energy or time to work on my music so yeah, I've I just made a choice to go at it really really hard and I set goals for myself and I was like this time next year I'm going to be here, you know or this time next year. I'm going to be able to like fully pay my rent with with the music Etc. But yeah, I mean I have lots of jobs before then and they were interesting experiences to say the least always are yeah, I can remember some of my first my first jobs before I was full-time freelancing and you know, it's a it's just you gotta do what you gotta do to make it happen. And then once it happens, it doesn't stop, you know, it's like a snowball rolling down a hill like you just continue to get work if you keep keep going out there and finding it. Yeah. Yeah, you have to stay on. It of course, but but yeah, I totally agree tell me have you ever dealt with being screwed over on any jobs or on any tours? Do you have any experience in that? Oh sure. Yeah, of course. I mean, I think every every musician does especially today like I would never name any names but but there's plenty of like not so trustworthy promoters out there who will stiff you on your guarantees that shows horn, you know, just try to pull a fast one it's happened a lot, especially in you know in the earlier days where you're just a naive impressionable artist looking for a chance labels tend to do the same thing again not to name any names, but I've definitely had my share of Being fed feeling like I've been taken advantage of by by industry people. I mean, it sucks, of course, but it you got to really love it as I'm sure you know and just get back up and keep going and learn from it. When you do get screwed over its at least it's a lesson you can look out for these red flags and try not to let yourself get screwed over in the future, but it still happens. I mean, it's it's tough out there and if there's anything to exploit someone's going to exploit it, so you just have to develop a I guess a shield for that kind of thing. Absolutely and for Fort or stories. Do you have a favorite tour story like a favorite thing that happened on tour that you can share? Um, I always have trouble with this question because there's been a lot of cool and crazy stuff that has happened. I think just being able to tour with some of my musical Idols is like to me that's the most amazing thing when McCarthy had our first tour with Kurt Travis. I was Starstruck by that because Kurtz always been a major influence for me. That's just crazy to me. I think a general cool tours tour Story one. I first wandered tours. We didn't have any places to stay every single night. It was just like I was posting online. Does anybody have a place for like for well-behaved boys to stay like retweet and tag your friends blah blah, like like having no idea who these strangers were in just we were so poor we couldn't do hotels and this one this family got back to us or this person who lived at this house with like two kittens and I was so happy. I love cats. So when we got there saw these kittens just like playing with us and cuddling and it was super like more Al boosting and just a lot of fun. I don't know. I'll always remember that the house of kittens and conditions were rough on that torso. It really cheered us all up. And yeah, I don't know. I really enjoyed it. Have you ever done a Vans Warped Tour show? Yeah, I did one the very last Warped Tour macari did our our hometown Orlando Warped Tour and it was cool. We on our set got rained out but then the rain stopped and everyone came back out and watched us and it was a really great time. Did you like go up grow up going to Warp Tour as well? Yeah, I think my first worked or was 2008 something like that. I was totally Lee totally into like The Devil Wears Prada and in a day to remember and all the classic for me the classic worked or bands of the time and go into the signings and just being in that environment that atmosphere where everyone is into this cool alternative style of music, I mean I loved it I was so sad to see work toward go. I always had that typical dream of wanting to do the whole thing ever since I was a teen but The music industry is changing and you just have to roll with the punches. So I'm lucky to have done one. And that's cool with me. Hey, maybe in a year or two Franz will help bring it back. I mean guy is the guy won't shut up about it. I saw that. Yeah, that would be awesome. It would be it would be amazing, you know, and I think if anybody can do it, he's probably the guy uh-huh. I just hope that the kids are still down, you know, we're in a different world these days and more people. In the hip-hop and stuff growing up, which is cool. I think the alternative scene is typically a little older nowadays. So to entice people to come back to Warped or you'd have to cater to both of those factors of young people being more into hip-hop and you know, the old you got you got to work harder to get the old crowd to come out because we're all fucking tired and we don't want to be in the Sun for 14 hours. Standing. Yeah, my back hurts. Yeah, so but I think it's possible. I think it can be done. Yeah, I have faith that if it's not warped or it'll be something else, you know, but I think the community the family aspect of warped or is something that will never be duplicated. I had the fortune of being on one of the last tours the full thing and I got to see, you know behind the scenes of how it runs and I got to I know that family and it was like a very very special community that they built. Yeah, it's really amazing a special time that we were lucky enough to be a part of. Yeah, definitely. So what are your goals for 2020? What do you have on the horizon? Hmm. I don't know what my definite goals are other than just to keep going and keep the momentum and tour as much as I can. I'm really excited for all the stuff that monuments has coming up. We got a lot of overseas stuff and since joining the band I've gotten to travel a lot. I've never been able to do any sort of traveling outside the US besides like Canada couple times. But with this man, I've had that opportunity and they're happening. We looking forward to going to India and stuff and all these other countries in Europe next year. So I just want to do a good job. And so those people a fun time and you have play as much as I can create as much as I can and hopefully keep working with super super talented people. It's been a privilege so far and I think if I just keep grinding Then it all it'll keep going so I don't have like a set go like I want to be making this much money or be playing to this many people. I just want to keep pushing and moving up the ladder. Oh, yeah and talk about your voice lessons. When did you start offering those? How do you how do you go about doing that setting it up all that stuff? I started a couple years back. I think people just started asking do you teach voice lessons and I was like hmmm? Well, I don't but I could I've taken voice lessons from you know, several different talented people and then I've picked up a lot along the way and just my own personal unique experiences on tour and playing shows and how I've dealt with keeping my voice and shape. I was like, I guess I could I have I have stuff to offer basically. So yeah, I would just basically post like hit me up and he says look at gmail.com and let's do it. I don't know it was it was a learning process for me for sure. And the fact that I tore so much I can't do it all the time. But when I am home and when I feel like I've got a good chunk of time in between sessions and stuff. I'll post about it and just say hey I'm open for lessons and I think that has like what maybe word of mouth and just the internet has helped helped me like attract. Clients and stuff like that. And yeah, I mean it was the same sort of thing as the features. I would charge next to nothing at first and after getting enough business, I was like, okay I can sort of re negotiate this and yeah, it's really cool. I like to see a lot of ambitious people want to learn these alternative vocal approaches and I'm happy to pass on whatever. I know it's a cool thing being able to teach people and whenever I can I'm always happy happy to do so and do you have any dream features? Like do you have anybody that you would want to bring in on a song in the industry? Do you have anybody? You want a tour with specifically just out of curiosity. Sure. I mean, I feel like that list is endless of bands. I would be happy to tour with any any of those those metal bands that I've listened to in the past anywhere from Prada to Veil of Maya Between the Buried and Me periphery all those bands. It would be just such a Dream It's a tour with them and then and then with macari, you know, we would love to do something with dance Gavin Dance someday. Um, they've always been a big favorite of mine and probably always will feature wise. I don't know man. There's just so many talented amazing artists out there. I couldn't possibly sit here and name them all off. I think if I was like shooting for the Stars, it would be like like chino from Deftones or something. Wow Cedric from The Mars Volta or Like tilian or whatever. I think I think I could probably hit up Kurt Travis and we could negotiate something and he'd be stoked because he's a friend that would be sick. So that's kind of on the more realistic side of doing a vocal feature. Hell, yeah. Well, I hope you can make that happen. It would be really cool to hear something like that. What is something you know now that you wish you knew when you started? Oh boy, there's a lot. I think Sorry, I'm trying to think about it record labels be very very careful and weary about what you're signing and have a reliable entertainment lawyer. Look over that shit. It is worth your money and your time because it's easy to just sign a deal and not really think about it because you just want a chance but then years down the line it's going To be affecting you pretty hard. So those choices are not to be taken lightly. I wish I could tell my young self that and I don't know there's a lot of lessons. I've learned along the way but it would be hard to describe. It's something that I kind of just had to live with touring and stuff and playing and yeah the whole professionalism side to it. It's just been a a slow learning experience. So there's not one thing that I can just say. I wish I had known it's a lot of little things for sure and if people want to find you on social media if they want to reach out to you for a feature for vocal lessons for any any questions, they may have working they find you you can just email me at Andy sza kndy CI Z. EK @ gmail.com. That's the best way for me because Messaging me on like Instagram and Facebook. I just can't keep track. So please email me if you're interested in doing some worker or whatever. Thank you guys for listening to this episode of project freelancer. If you enjoyed listening to Andy Story, please give this podcast a rating leave some feedback if you liked it so that other people that are looking for podcasts might come across your feedback and give this podcast a chance. Thank you guys for listening to another week. We are into season six of project freelance. Thank you guys for keeping the show going. It's because of listeners like you that this is happening and it's because I am fortunate enough to have this network. Of people and friends of friends who I can reach out to who are down to be a part of this podcast. It is super cool to have something like this where I can connect with artists and creators and share their stories on this platform. So thank you guys for listening and if you guys are looking for a coffee table book if you're looking for a gift for somebody if you got a gift card for Christmas and you want to get a little salt and some and support your girl. I have a book out called No tracers an urban explorers diary it is Full of photographs and diary entries from the urban exploration trips that I have been on into a bunch of abandoned places all over America and a couple International places. Thank you guys for picking one of those up. If you want one you can go to just the letter k.com. No tracers all the links will be down in the description. All of Andy's links will be down in the description and I will talk to you guys next week on Project freelance hit that subscribe button if you're new so that you don't miss an episode. They come out every Monday morning at A.m. Pacific Standard time just in time for your Monday morning commute to work. Thank you guys. Stay strong keep enduring go out and go create something.
This week on Project Freelance I am joined by vocalist Andy Cizek. He's been making YouTube videos for awhile now and I wanted to pick his brain about his creative process for that, as well as his session work and live touring work. 