Hungry Lucy

Reposted from christabelle.com

As most of you know, for those of you who visit my personal site, I am in the band Hungry Lucy. Yes, we’re still around! The band, as it were, consists of myself and my husband, War-N. When we do work together, we work very well together. But, as is the problem with a lot of musicians, we don’t always get to work when we want to. Or, the even more dreaded problem, we’re not inspired to work! But, lately, we have been so inspired to work on music. This all came about by stopping our bi-weekly podcast, Tea with Hungry Lucy, for a spell just to see what came about. Well, something clicked and we’ve been very productive just in the last couple of weeks! This was also due to a computer switch and, in turn, a music software switch as well. We now have our music on a Mac (about bloody time!!) and it’s so much more intuitive. War-N is loving it! So, the lapse in “tea” and a new system has really helped draw out the music. It’s lovely getting to work side by side with War-N again and make the music that we so love!

This has all made me think a lot about dedication to the Muse. I was watching an interview with the great Tori Amos this morning and she said a key statement roughly saying that if you were constantly waiting for the Muse to show up, maybe they didn’t want to perform when you needed them. You have to have the dedication and devotion to THEM. Sometimes one needs to summon the Muse rather than waiting for the Muse to summon them. For more inspiration from the Great Red Goddess, click here and here for the interviews I watched. I’m glad I took the time to sit and listen to her chat about this and that. I always find inspiration in her whether it’s an album or watching one of her live shows.

Another thing that has been bothering me lately is the amount of years that we’ve had between releases. This is the longest amount of time that HL hasn’t put something out to the world. Do people really forget an artist if they don’t put something out for a few years? What is the right amount of time between releases? Do the fans really care about quantity? Quality? These are the thoughts that have stopped us dead in our tracks at times. We’d think “Are we too late? Should we give up?” and the answer always came back “No!”. I was guilty of using a bit of reverse-psychology on War-N time or two. But, it made him realize he didn’t want to stop making music. We just needed some time to gather our thoughts, take some time for our own inner selves and time to re-group.

In taking this time, we discovered that “tea” wasn’t what it was originally intended to be. It became the “War-N and Christa” show and the music fell by the wayside. Tea with Hungry Lucy was becoming a huge chore and felt so forced and empty. The love for the fans is always there. But, when a podcast about music turns to gardening and cooking for topics of the day, it’s time to stop, take a breather and come back with some more, um, what’s the word… MUSIC!! We also discovered that we have no more mystery left in the world of Hungry Lucy. Everyone knows everything about us now and therefore it feels like they have no more drive to want to know more. Ya know? So, we’ll be a bit more absent for a while in order to do what we need to do as musicians.

These thoughts have made me see that without the perspiration of hard work, nothing will get done. It’s ok to think that “if it’s not fun anymore, it’s not worth doing.” But, where will that get you? I can speak about this from personal experience. If you give up because you’re waiting for something, or someone, else to make it happen, it just won’t happen! Without your own devotion to whatever it is, it will sit silent in the corner collecting dust. I, personally, have a lot of projects on my list that I want to do. I am doing half of them and trying to figure out how to go about the other half. I am stubborn, willful and moody. Therefore, I’m best when working on my own. But, there is one exception to this rule and that is with music. Without War-N, Hungry Lucy would not be the great thing that it often can be. I think he is my Muse and I am his. Since neither of us were sending out our summoning waves, neither of us felt inspired. But, now we’ve woken the sleeping Muses and they are singing once again. It’s soft at the moment. But, I feel them starting to find their voices more rapidly now. They are strong, different and amazing. Now, we just need the dedication to make it all happen! We have a plan, we have the music and, best of all, we have each other.

So, if you don’t hear from us for a while, think of it as a good thing. When we do come back, and we will, we’ll have so many new, interesting stories to tell. Plus, we’ll have new music!

Until next time, summon the Muse within you and see what happens!

Much Love,

Christa Belle

Over the past few months I have been wrestling a bit with my creative flow (with regards to music). This is nothing unusual for me. My musical output (and desire) always seems to ebb and flow. It has for many, many years. My usual method of dealing with this is to do something else for a while… to ignore the muse… make her beg for it! Without fail, that musical craving comes back with a vengeance in time. Since I don’t make my living solely from music, I have that luxury. For the first time in my life, I’m grateful for not having music as my sole source of income.

The past few months, this cycle feels very different to me. I have fallen prey to the FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) that the brain of a creative person likes to dish out from time to time. “Am I all dried up?” “Is it all over now?” Of course, I know this is not the case. It never is. In muddling through all this, however, I think I have finally put my finger on my problem. Yes, it is MY problem… no one else’s. As Hungry Lucy, we have been podcasting now for a couple of years. We talk about what we’re doing creatively, what we’re working on, what to expect next. We’re being transparent and inviting people into our process. It’s been great for us personally, and for Hungry Lucy, at least while the music is flowing. I think it’s back firing on me at the moment though. These days, each week (or lately, each fortnight) I get a little panic in my gut before we record the podcast. “What have I done this week?” “What can I tell people I’m working on?” The podcast, for me, has become a constant reminder that my musical flow is more of a trickle at the moment. I never get to that point of focusing on something else until “the muse” revisits. I equate this (in my warped mind) to a sleep disorder (which I also have) that prevents one from ever getting into the required stage of sleep to fully get what they need from the process. The podcast has become my “creative apnea”. As much as we want to share with you all, it cannot come at the expense of the music. I hope you’ll agree with me on this. So, as a remedy, we won’t be producing Tea with Hungry Lucy for a while. Know that when we do come back, we’ll have lots to share. I hope you’re still here when we do. Thanks for being here for us as we aim to be for you.

Much love,

War-N
Hungry Lucy