This weekend, we took a pile of 17 new tracks into the practice room and somehow walked out with the equivalent of a brand-new set completely locked down.
2. The Focus (Accountability)
- Trimming the Setlist: Figuring out how to narrow down those 17 tracks into a lean, mean additional setlist for this Saturday’s gig.
- Smoothing the Edges: Polishing the little transitions and arrangement tweaks we stumbled on during the jam.
- Prepping the Launch: Getting everything lined up behind the scenes for our official season kick-off on May 23rd.
3. The Insight
When you see a group pull off something massive, it’s easy to think it’s just pure, spontaneous magic. This past Sunday, The Deadbeats, got together to run through 17 songs we had not really played as a unit before. If you’ve ever been in a band, you know a normal set is usually only about 10 to 12 tracks, so trying to double that workload in a single day sounds like an absolute nightmare.
But honestly? It was one of the smoothest, most fun rehearsals I’ve had in ages.
The secret wasn’t that we walked into the room and suddenly got hit by a wave of genius. It came down to something I think applies to almost any creative project you do with other people: the real work happens when no one is watching.
Because everyone in the band did the heavy lifting at home—learning their parts, nailing the structures, and practicing on their own time—we didn’t waste a single second of our rehearsal teaching each other the basics. Instead, our time together was spent on the fun stuff: getting the parts to gel, playing with the dynamics, and tweaking the arrangements to make the songs actually sound alive.
It made me think about how often we rely on meetings, group chats, or collaborative sessions to solve problems we really should have sorted out on our own beforehand. When you show up to a collaborative space completely prepared, the vibe shifts instantly. You aren’t wasting energy on basic assembly anymore; you’re straight into high-level refinement.
Ultimately, putting in that quiet effort on your own is the best way to show respect for the people you’re working with. It’s how you fast-track big ideas, stay nimble, and build the kind of momentum that makes a new season launch feel exciting rather than exhausting.
4. The Sign-off
Get those quiet yards in on your own today, so that when it’s time to team up, you can just focus on making it great.
This post is part of an effort to commit to a daily ritual; An (almost) daily reflection designed as both a mental health exercise and a tool for general accountability. By spending a few minutes each morning carving out these pillars, I’m creating a personal record of where the energy goes and what’s actually keeping me busy. The goal is to build a reflection journal I can look back on to see which ideas grew and which ones fell away—while hopefully providing a few lessons and talking points for those of you navigating your own creative paths.
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