Hello friends

Hey! Thanks for checking out the blog section of my website. I’m psyched that you are interested in what I think about things and are curious about how I view music, life, etc. I thought I would just start out by talking about what I have been up to for the past year and a half being that there has been a lot of change in my life. After being in the pandemic lockdown for about a year, it felt really grim to think about playing shows. Honestly, it seemed like a fantasy. The occasional livestreams were nice because it felt like I got a chance to play sets of music as if they were live, but it never felt the same. I missed the adrenaline that I would feel while playing live, seeing how people interact with the band really helps keep that fiery feeling alive inside me, keeps me focused, and makes me perform better. Now that more and more venues in the PNW are opening up (knock on wood that the delta variant doesn't disrupt this too much) I have been lucky enough to play more live shows. It’s pretty amazing what doing that does to my mental state. What used to feel like a far-cry from reality, now feels normal again, and I truly love it.

Recently, I left my job at Whole Foods Market, which I originally got because all the gigs were gone at the beginning of the pandemic. I needed to find a way to keep making money, seeing as one of my main sources of income disappeared. Working at Whole Foods was totally fine, but it was definitely not what I wanted to do, and I found myself constantly day dreaming about the things I would rather be doing, all of which involved music. My musical friends would send me videos of them working out grooves or making beats on DAW’s, and all it made me want to do was leave the grocery store right then and there and get started with my professional career in music. After much debate about walking out of the store on a random day, I ultimately decided to put in my two weeks, and bow out gracefully. That leads me to here. I am now a professional musician and intend on making my income solely based in music from here on out. I understand that the path of the musician can be a very difficult one, but I am ready for the challenge and couldn’t be more excited to see how far I can take it. Right now I am trying to have gigs on the books for every week and consistently put out content, whether it be recordings, performances, videos, presentations or blogs. The first step in this direction was creating NIKBARBERDRUMS.COM. So thank you for clicking on my website and finding what I am all about! Much more to come in the future!

Thanks,

Nik