Today we’d like to introduce you to Matt Blankenship Jr.
Matt, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
When I started The Sometimes Island, I had been in a bunch of bands and had an uncompromising vision of the kind of music I wanted to create. The problem was working with other people. I went solo.
I quickly figured out that you can’t do anything worth doing alone, and I began to put a band together behind that music, and a team together behind that band… supporters and fans followed as I built up those two things.
Now I deal with the same problems as before – but we all work with people. It took me learning three things to be able to: how to say no, how to never quit, and how to never compromise on the things that matter.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Of course not! The biggest problem I’ve encountered as a band has been the drive to just take a break or quit. It’s so hard and you don’t get encouragement most of the time. When you do get encouragement, you usually want feedback. It can be very lonely. I have spent many sleepless nights staring into the void, wondering just what in the hell I was doing, where I was going, and if I was moving at all.
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?
At this point, we’re known for our song Acapulco and for our cover of Stuck In The Middle With You. The Sometimes Island puts on a pretty spectacular live show, and that is what I’m most proud of at this moment. I’ve spent a decade and a half dialing in my musical performance and had mostly ignored the visual aspects until mid-pandemic. Now, I’m proud to say, if you come to a The Sometimes Island show – you will see things you’ve never seen before.
The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
People are always watching and listening, even when you think they’re not. If you’re doing a livestream concert for three people, you can go one of two ways – lamenting that there are only three people OR putting on the show of your life for those three people. It’s a very small percentage of fans that do most of your business and do most of the work of spreading the word about your music. If you can bring three people on board forever, I’d choose that every single time over-performing for 300,000 that won’t remember the performance in a week.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: https://www.thesometimesisland.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesometimesisland
- Youtube: https://bit.ly/thesometimesislandyoutube
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3SqtHH9uGzfm9UIc7veyuK?si=5mIK9jn1Rw6vrjaTISI1cg
Image Credits
Alisdja Nadezhda
Jordan Dudenhoeffer
