“It’s better to be a good street cleaner than a bad musician.”
– Music Teacher
THE BEGINNING
That’s was my first feedback from a first professional musician I’ve ever met. I was 16 years old and started to play bass, at that time in Latvia it was very hard to find any music teacher or even books or video tutorials. My only option was to go to music school. And after 2 minutes of audition the examiner suggested me to become a street cleaner, because I will never be a musician.
Later I kind of understand him, first of all I was too old, most of the kids starting music school at the age of 6 or 7. Secondly my hearing was terrible, i couldn’t hear a difference between any 2 notes. It was a mystery too me, and everything sounded the same. And finally at that time I could barely even play a few notes on my bass.
Yet, I never listened to him. Instead his “quote” sparked a flame inside me. I was angry. Now I wanted to prove to him, that he is wrong. I will become professional musician!
I started to practice like there was no tomorrow. For the next 2 years I was practicing in average 8-10 hours almost every day. Most of the mornings I was going out of home together with my parents they were going to work and I supposed to go to school. But I just walked around the small forest nearby and 5 minutes after was back to home to practice. Honestly I don’t even know how I finished my school, as for the last year there I was absent almost all the time.
I began playing in bands and eventually found myself playing in five different bands simultaneously. On the rare occasions I attended school, I was often hungry because I saved my lunch money to pay for rehearsal fees. I immersed myself in learning, rehearsing, playing shows and taking lessons from several private teachers. I frequently switched bands as I evolved as a musician, while the bands remained stagnant, causing my interest to wane quickly. I would then join more professional or experienced ones. Fortunately, in Latvia, there was a constant demand for bass players, which made it easy to transition.
After finishing school, my parents insisted I attend university for higher education. There were no discussions about that. It was an ultimatum. The only course available at the time that related to music was a degree in “Art Management.” They had a music practice room with excellent equipment, so I thought I could at least skip classes to practice there. I enrolled but was deeply disappointed and shocked by the program. I expected to learn about art, music, and various creative subjects. Instead, the entire four years focused on how to sell art, not how to make it.
I was so sad that after just two weeks, I withdrew from the university. It was devastating for my parents, and my mother didn’t speak to me for a month. Our relationship was already very tense due to my obsession for bass guitar, and this was the final straw. They worried I couldn’t make a living by music. To ease the situation, I promised them that the following year I would enroll at a music university in Great Britain. However, I needed to save money, so I started working in construction with my father.
LONDON
In 2007 I made it to London. But I couldn’t pass enrollment exam, playing technique & theory was good enough, but not the hearing. I still couldn’t hear the difference between the notes. So i bought some books and audio lessons and practiced for another few months, and failed again. It took me 3 attempts to pass hearing exam. I was so bad at it. But finally I was accepted in London Thames Valley University – Popular Music Performance degree. I took a loan to pay for the studies I thought that finally my dream came true.
At the beginning to have some money to buy food and pay for accommodation I worked as kitchen porter in British restaurant. Since I wasn’t motivated cleaning plates all day, I got fired very quickly. Which made me homeless in one day, because the room I was living in was provided by that restaurant. So for few weeks I was staying at some random peoples house, some I knew, others were friends of my friends of my friends