MODERN FAILURE INTERVIEW #2

modern
Hey everyone, I’m modern failure, I’m an artist in my 20s from Seattle, I have over the course of the last few years seen some success in the underground rock industry, my platform is, was and always has been about trying to make those who have felt unheard for their whole lives feel heard, I focus pretty heavily on the community and around building relationships with the people I am interacting with as well as the music, because something a lot of musicians forget, is that those two things cannot exist without eachother. Solidly nothing pisses me off more than seeing those dudes who follow like 3 people and do nothing but complain about drama on their stories. People get into this thing for the wrong reasons. I’m here to create the art I would be creating if 3 people were listening or if 3 million people were listening.Birsha
hi i’m birsha, it’s birshing time, i’m going to be interviewing modern failure and yea! let’s get to it or whatever, so obviously we’ve already had a interview, we’ve dropped some merch together, we know eachother which makes these interviews easier, it’s already pretty simple to just talk to people you know, but throughout this interview i’m sure there’s certain messages that you want conveyed and you want people to fully understand, what would you say those things areModern
Absolutely, honestly in recent with my declining health I’ve been finding myself a lot shorter patience for a lot of things that I had just kind of accepted as facts of the music industry, the drama and back and forth and artists talking about eachother behind their backs, people who weren’t going to use their platforms to advocate for marginalized groups and for people who need to be advocated for, for a long time I was okay with just not partaking in the drama and accepting people were going to talk no matter what I did or said, I had accepted that most people are too afraid of damaging their self imposed images to speak out against power and to deal with nuanced takes, but man, in the last few months it has really just started to piss me off. I want to be the voice that has the power to cut through the noise, I want to speak for those who can’t, I am here and now and in this moment right along side everyone else slogging along trying to make ends meet, struggling to be seen, To find connections and to rise above and lead a life that feels worth living. People with privilege say it’s about your mindset, but it’s not, for the majority of us it is about the means we are provided with. I have realized more than anything, that I have a lot of anger in me, And that anger can be a draw back at times, But more than anything it is the tool I use to MAKE people listenBirsha
yea i’m where your at with that mentally too, if your in a position to be able to make someone else’s life better and it costs you nothing but words and you don’t take it your a coward in my opinion, there are levels to it as well and it’s right to anger you, but you can’t let it consume you, do you think that plays a major hold on why you make music let alone the subject matter of said musicModern
I think like most artists my music mirrors my mood and internal conflicts, as well as the general quality of my life, I think when I’m angry I make angry music, I think when I’m sad I make sad music. I think my anger has changed in a lot of ways over the last few years, I think it’s become a lot more externalized than it had been for a long time. I think for years I just bottled things up, and my music was the way for me to get that out, it was satisfying to scream into a microphone knowing people on the other side of it would feel my anger and my sadness and my hate and they could resonate with those things.Birsha
does it scare you that the intensity of your emotions is something people openly relate too or does it bring you hope?Modern
A little bit of both, I think on a surface level it’s nice to be seen as well and to see other people feeling seen, however given the more negative connotations of a lot of my music it makes me sad that so many people can relate and so many people feel that same suffering, like when I post things about struggling with alcoholism now a days or being physically too weak to work some days or how my mental health is constantly being dragged into a spiral; it makes me sad to see that so many people are like “yeah me too man”Birsha
do you think that some people virtue signal the understanding to fit into the scheme of what your saying, almost as if taking a mask and putting it onModern
Some of them I’m sure, I think to a certain extent that’s unavoidable, however again with the fact that I know a lot of the people who listen to me fairly well at this point because they’ve been here for like 2 years now, for a lot of them I think it’s just also their reality. You’re always gonna attract some posers, but you’re also going to find people in those same situations as youBirsha
i think that’s true, you have a fairly tight knit community, do you ever draw from the community when your creating and if so what form does that take, and to expand on the fact that’s unavoidable, do you think it’s just human nature?Modern
I do! It’s pretty common for me to send demos to a select couple of people within the community who’s musical opinions that I value, yourself being one of them, I generally speaking take all of those opinions into account, I also listen to the things people tell me about their lives and let those emotions be part of what fuels my music, As to expanding on the posers being unavoidable part, oh 100%, I don’t really fault them, Everyone wants to fit in,
There’s not really any such thing as stolen valor here, the only time I’m gonna call people out is like conservatives calling themselves “punks”Birsha
yes i 100% or conservatives saying there goth, you can’t be conservative and goth, and that makes sense with the music and “posers”Modern
Generally speaking I just think it’s funny when anyone of any alt subculture is conservativeBirsha
what’s your plans to help bridge your community to your music and to build some form of self governing within said community’s, and how and where does your music fall in that, and also same, it’s funny seeing them want to fit in so badModern
Well as far as bridging the community to my music, I think I’ve done a pretty good job of that already, not many people here are here for anything other than the fact I make music yk, engagement on social media is hard but everyone who is here like my music yk, what more could I ask for, as far as self governing, as we grow bigger I hope to be able to hire moderators 😭 I already need them. My music falls as the glue within the community, it’s why we’re all here yk? And agreedBirsha
what are some struggles with your community and how does that effect you personally, also glad we agreeModern
Being available to that many people all at once is hard, I have a lot of people who reach out to me on a daily basis and that can be extremely mentally draining, sometimes I have a hard time separating, I feel obligated in some ways to help people with their problems and to respond. I mean man, I have cancer, I’m already not sure how to deal with my own struggles, and sometimes I’m able to help or willing to, however I definitely think a lot of people forget that I’m just a dude yk? Being good at music doesn’t make me good at life or like somehow better or more equipped than the next person.Birsha
but your willing to listen, which is a step farther than most people, then to further said point your willing to share who you are personally as well by dropping music, is that ever daunting to you, and are you afraid if time being a resource due to your cancer?Modern
It can definitely be daunting, in fact most of the time it is, I view that as a personal challenge to see what I am willing to push on my own boundaries to grow better and healthier as a person. I am terrified of time, I am terrified of dying pretty genuinely, death is such a huge unknown for me, I find myself a little more every day feeling more uneasy with the hand I’ve been dealt, it’s frustrating to try to be there and to to try to create while trying to take care of myself and figure my own affairs out while simultaneously eating away at what time I have leftBirsha
is there anything you need to convey as a artist? and how will you do that, especially while fitting that into your general day to dayModern
God so much, but I think that’s the catch 22 of most artists, how to find the words to convey what needs to be conveyed. I struggle with this a lot. At that point time is such little of a factor to me, I will never feel rushed to create my art, I create when I have time and motivation to create, plus I’m fairly prolific, just dropped an album, have another on the back burner almost 100% done and a third with 3 songs so farBirsha
how do you keep your work prolific while maintaining the integrity of your work, is that difficult?Modern
It definitely can be, I just for the most part trust my ear and the opinions of my fellow peers to help guide me in the right direction, inspiration is fleeting and comes on in strong waves that send me into working on music for days straight until I feel it’s all out and I’ve said what I’ve needed to sayBirsha
who’s your piers and who do you trust to respect and uphold your visions, and how do you manage “dry” spellsModern
Yourself, a few friends, and some other talented musicians and artists, I trust pretty much only myself in that regard, however I do allow for advice opinions and things of that sort. For dry spells I really just keep other music I’ve made on the back burner and drop it periodically till my dry spell is over, I go months without touching my guitar or any of my music equipment quite frequently, most music that is released is written over the course of a few hours and then refined over the course of a few weeks.Birsha
and then on top of that question how does others opinions genuinely effect your music and how seriously do you take it,when someone gives you criticismModern
I take it pretty seriously if it’s valid criticism, sometimes I just don’t hear errors within my own music, sometimes I need outside opinions, sometimes I get good suggestions that I add, sometimes I don’t, it really varies from case to caseBirsha
that makes sense, do you have any examples of music changing based off opinionsModern
Winter was originally all acoustic but one of the people I sent it to suggested added a drop into it to provide some break from the repetition, I don’t think I’ll ever get it has both an acoustic version and a full instrumented version because of the feedback several people gave me on their feelings about both. Most of my songs have edits that have been proposed by someoneBirsha
that’s fair a lot of music has its own life
that it takes on after it leaves your head and onto a mp3 or wave file, are there any songs that are completely different on the physical embodiment than what you internally envisionedModern
Oh god so many, basically all of them, I don’t think I’ll ever get it is maybe the only one that was pretty much EXACTLY what I had plannedBirsha
is that your favorite song of do you prefer when songs create there own life?that may also feel like a broad generalization so feel free to correct meModern
I generally prefer when songs create their own life, I have ones that I like more than others, and that’s going to be personal to me just as it’s going to be personal to the listener what their favorites are ykBirsha
100%
gross is still one of my favorites, how did that album evolve and how did it mentally come together where you went “yea, this is going on the album”Modern
God man, well it actually started with heroin song, originally that was supposed to be a single for the album, but directly after that I made beautiful boy, no more lies and power knows no pain, and I just remember looking at those and being like, god these sound so much better than what I’ve been putting out, so I decided no more lies would be the albums debut single and I just kind of expanded from there, originally there were 20 songs that were gonna be on the album but after listening and revising I cut a good few out those out to where it is now, it had a lot to do with quality but also tone and mood and just how I wanted that album to really show this downward spiralBirsha
were you and are you also on a downward spiral as well?Modern
God man when am I notBirsha
tuesday? but on a real note what’s your next moves?Modern
Second album, third album, take a god damn break, lots more music this year, would be amazing to find some real traction, merch, have fun, make artBirsha
drink a lil, fuck a lil, smoke a lil, the artist life, so mr failure what’s your end goal with the music ?modern
To make a markbirsha
what does that look like exactly?Modern
Legacy. Inspiring the next generation, being remembered.Birsha
what do you want to be the mental connection to your legacy besides music and what do you want to be remembered as?Modern
Just as an artist and someone who tried his best.birsha
a noble goal, do you want to discuss anything else or do you have anything else you want saidModern
Just a message to everyone out there. Be so violently you that everyone else is scared.