Powercat Makes The Shift from Side Hustle to a Music Career

About a year ago I left my full-time career in the computer and high-tech industry, to begin producing and composing music full-time. I have to say this is one of that mentally emotionally and spiritually healthy decisions I’ve made in my life and I am extremely blessed and grateful for the chance to do it. I worked for an evil corporation for 21 years and gave much of my life blood sweat and tears to them with very little to show for it. Pursuing music full-time is a great blessing and very healthy for me at this time in my life.

Listen to the live interview
Episode #539: A.V.A Live Radio Behind The Music with Jacqueline Jax : http://www.blogtalkradio.com/avaliveradio/2017/11/26/episode-539-ava-live-radio-behind-the-music-with-jacqueline-jax

Interview by Jacqueline Jax
host of A.V.A Live Radio

Band: Powercat
Person Interviewing: Pete Weaver

How do you stay focused an keep your life balance..
I’ve spent most of my life having to hold down a day job just like most musicians that I know. About a year ago I left my full-time career in the computer and high-tech industry, to begin producing and composing music full-time. I have to say this is one of that mentally emotionally and spiritually healthy decisions I’ve made in my life and I am extremely blessed and grateful for the chance to do it. I worked for an evil corporation for 21 years and gave much of my life blood sweat and tears to them with very little to show for it. Pursuing music full-time is a great blessing and very healthy for me at this time in my life.

What piece of music advice forever changed your way of thinking
We’ve all heard it many times but it’s probably the statement to never give up never stop striving towards your dreams and goals. I’ve been told over and over to give it a rest, give it up etc. but I never have. I continue working towards it relentlessly.

Creating your own environment..
I have a studio at my house that I’ve slowly built up over time. I’m very blessed to have a comfortable inspiring composing environment to produce music in. As a member of The hard rock goth band Vindicata I have the opportunity to collaborate with the guys in the band all the time and that’s a wonderful vehicle for rock ideas. As far as producing beats for rap and hip-hop artists, and producing remixes and EDM songs I would to do more collaborations and I’m definitely open to doing collaborations so producers out there feel free to contact me and hit me up with any collaboration ideas or projects you might want to discuss.

How do you stay focused and keep your life balance..

I’ve spent most of my life having to hold down a day job just like most musicians that I know. About a year ago I left my full-time career in the computer and high-tech industry, to begin producing and composing music full-time. I have to say this is one of that mentally emotionally and spiritually healthy decisions I’ve made in my life and I am extremely blessed and grateful for the chance to do it. I worked for an evil corporation for 21 years and gave much of my life blood sweat and tears to them with very little to show for it. Pursuing music full-time is a great blessing and very healthy for me at this time in my life.

Now that you have changed your career direction, is there ever a doubt in your mind that you wasted time up until now working in other jobs?

Oh definitely, I feel like years were spent working for a corporation and an evil corporation at that, which I can’t get back the time is gone and so much music could’ve been created and accomplished during that time, and there is a feeling in me that I wish it didn’t have to be that way at the time

Looking back, what would you have done differently in your choices or path and why?

I probably would have just bitten the bullet and gone for it sooner taking the risk and striving to make it in music as a full-time career much sooner. But it’s a very scary move for a person to make, you basically have to put your stuff in storage and then either live with family members or friends and getting the van and go on the road for long periods of time if you’re pursuing it from a band standpoint which I was – but I do still play in the band and the band is very active from the writing and recording standpoint.

How did you eventually get to the place where you could switch careers and start to make music a career.

In my case the job that I have been out for years was becoming so stressful and unpleasant in that environment that it was affecting my health, my blood pressure went up I wasn’t sleeping well, lots of nightmares at night, and it was all attributable to the job and when I was working on music I was so much more in my Element and happy that it was clear to my very sweet and supportive wife, who is also a musician and myself, it was very clear to us that I need to make some big changes for my health mentally emotionally spiritually and physically. This was the big catalyst that caused us to make the change. It’s just a shame that it had to get to that point before I finally would let go of fear and pursue music full-time.

Has it been a struggle making money though your music?

It’s absolutely a struggle and as a newly marketed Producer and composer who is just starting to put my name out there, it is a struggle of love and hope and faith and believe in myself and the abilities and skills that I’ve developed, and a constant work in progress. I can’t honestly say that the big change financially has occurred yet because it’s very much going to be a situation that grows over time.

What was the most financially productive path that has enabled you to produce music full time?

Ironically and unfortunately the years spent at the corporate job, coupled with saving and having a decent savings account stash is what has enabled us to move forward with this career path and the money is minimal at this time because The fact that I am unknown and just starting to put my name out there as a producer and composer. I have a body of work I’ve created with our band and independently and EDM and hybrids of EDM and rock and EDM and pop and EDM with R&B and these hybrids have formed a nice body of work that I can showcase my talents with at this point. And now the marketing phase is underway! Though I never stop writing it’s constant daily focus for me.

Song name: Deadmau5 “Let Go” ft. Grabbitz – Powercat Remix
Genre:: Rock & EDM
The song is about not wanting to let go of a relationship that might be ending. I compose rock, EDM, and a hybrid of rock/EDM blended together. I also write rap and hip-hop beats, orchestral Music and film scores.

I think of this song in a way as my flagship song at the moment, I really love how it came together blending elements of pop, hard rock and full on EDM drop in the middle break. This represents a lot of what I’m doing musically right now. I tend to blend rock into all the styles composing many pure electronic dance songs, infused with rap and hip-hop beats. Letting my creativity flow freely can take the songs in a really cool direction that feels fresh to me. It’s inspiring to me to be blending the styles.

Link to play:: https://soundcloud.com/powercatmusic/let-go

I live in…
Boise Idaho in the US. The music scene here is small but thriving.

Website & social media links:
Soundcloud.com/powercatmusic
https://www.facebook.com/powercat117/
Twitter.com/powercat1176
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-y0LmCaVAY