12/08/2026
The music business is business. 🎤💼
Something a little different today: rapid-fire questions with two working artists — R&B/soul original artist Chris and pop singer-songwriter JaZZella — digging into what the gigging life is actually like, beyond the three hours you see on stage.
They get into:
🎯 The thing every musician gets wrong — thinking talent gets you the gig. Likeability, branding, and even sending a professional email that makes a venue trust you count for more than most players realise.
📋 The biggest myth about gigging — it's not hard to get gigs; most people just skip the groundwork. Set lists, branding, following up leads — get your ducks in a row and you'll be booked.
🔥 Longevity — 15 years in and still in love with it: constant reinvention, vocal care, practice, answering emails on time, and protecting your enjoyment so burnout never wins. (And a word for the naysayers who said the job becomes a drag — it hasn't.)
💡 The best advice ever received — "don't give up" sounds cliché until life actually tests it, and staying creative becomes a choice.
✨ The "I can do this" moments — a 14-year-old busker finding hundred-dollar tips in the guitar case, and trading full-time juice-blending for weekend gigs that snowballed into a career.
🎶 The song that always works — Valerie. The ultimate ice-breaker; everyone mouths along.
🏆 Best gig memories — Island Vibe festival on Stradbroke Island with the full band, playing with the Australian Idol band, and turning up to "just another gig" that turned out to be headlining an R&B soul festival at a winery in front of 5,000 people.
🌪️ Weirdest audience request — Darude's Sandstorm… on an acoustic. (Yes, bridge-percussion was attempted.)
⏰ And the big one the audience never sees — a three-hour gig is a nine-hour workday: years of craft, gear, booking, liaising, and babysitters organised before a note is played.
Whether you're eyeing your first open mic or deep into the circuit, there's gold in here. Let us know in the comments what you'd ask a full-time musician — and come say hi at Mooloolaba Music on the Sunshine Coast, where the gigging community hangs out. 🌞
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