Daily Inspiration: Meet Lucian Smith

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lucian Smith.

Hi Lucian, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I grew up in a musical family, we had a beat-up upright grand with minimal ivories on the keys — I remember I knew the notes by their distinct rivets in each wooden piece. I have a core memory of being at church inside the pipe room while the organist was playing. This moment really defined my interest in tonal production, eventually leading to a love for synthesis. I now perform with a jazz, hip-hop duo crossing the divide between electronic and acoustic, old and new, piano and synth. We are called Left Unsaid and have performance dates in May ahead of our forthcoming album entitled, TOO MUCH.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Well, I always knew I wanted to be in a music city, so when the production team from my contract with Sea World San Antonio contacted me to book my return flight in 2011 after graduating college, I told them to get me to NYC! I had only been able to set aside about a small amount during that contract, so I moved to NYC with a couch to crash on, no job prospects and $450 dollars in my pocket. Another defining moment was recently when I ran out of money for rent because I quit my job to pursue music… Well, I saved the important stuff including an upright piano and 7 keyboards, haha, and I’m still here and performing more than ever.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am a fusion artist, and not in the sense of what jazz fusion is but more in the idea of taking at least 2 genres and fusing them together. I also offer lessons in-studio, online or in home. My specialties are songwriting and song structure with transcriptions, creating melodies and alternate melodies, keyboards, synthesis and vocal pedagogy. I’ve also been playing drums for several years and have started teaching myself guitar and bass to stay well rounded and inspired. I would love to score a video game project and have dreams of starting my own radio station.

Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
I consider myself an activist before all else and that really becomes the voice for many of my projects. I believe food to be a human right with 120 million pounds of food waste in America alone and about 670 million hungry people in the world. I believe in caring for the earth and am actively involved in Replant The Forrest Festival as a production team member leading reforestation projects amidst music festival. I believe love to be an actionable way to combat the destructive nature of our systems. The complacency of the Hippie era and the assassination of John Lennon led to it’s demise. Now entering the age of Aquarius, a 2,000-year planetary cycle, we have the power and knowledge to say “I love you and I will do whatever it takes to stop you from committing anymore harm to nature and its inhabitants”. I believe music to be the universal communicator and agree with Stevie Wonder when he state’s “Music will save the world.”

Pricing:

• Private Vocal Lesson – $80/hr
• Private Piano Lesson – $80/hr
• Private Songwriting Lesson – $80/hr
• Private Music Production Lesson – $80/hr
• Original Song / Custom Beat – $220

Contact Info:

• Website: https://luciansmith.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lucian_smith/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/luciansmithmusic/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@lucian_smith
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/lucian-smith
• Other: https://luciansmith.com/left-unsaid-band

Image Credits
@mitchell_multimedia
@explorewithsooz