From: Eric Lumiere
Subject: Your blog about my song, "Anthem"
Date: March 20, 2009 3:58:17 PM PDT
To: bob@lefsetz.com

Bob,

My friend and college classmate Evan Moore (NYU Clive Davis Dept. of Recorded Music ’07)/collaborator sent me your article on my song, "Anthem", which was remixed by Filo and Peri (Bo Pericic, another classmate at the time) and made into a top 40 UK hit.  I love the randomness by which you heard it, that it caught your attention, and that you wrote such a nice blog about it.   Thank you for your honesty and reflection.

I’m not sure if you’d care to hear more about "Anthem" from my point of view, but here ya go…

One of the interesting things about the song is that it’s not just about the "girl that got away", but about many different life experiences that make us who we are.  In the chorus I tried to incorporate experiences that we all go through in our lives: relationships, wars (inner and outer), rebelliousness, and loving, which is for me, the key to all experience, the common factor.  It is a special blessing when listeners either don’t hear the lyrics correctly or I don’t sing them clearly, as many quoted "world of yesterday" instead of "war of yesterday", which is the lyric I wrote and tried to sing (haha)…..but they both are valid and meaningful.  That is why a song can have as many different meanings as there are # of listeners…just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so is musical interpretation.  I’m happy if listeners enjoy my music for other reasons than I intended…if it works for them (uplifts, inspires, gives meaning to, etc), great.

As for the history of the song, I wrote it in my dorm room sophomore year of college (2 years before it was remixed by Filo and Peri), in response to a songwriting homework assignment to write an ‘Anthem’.  I was walking around the city and heard the chorus melody and when I got home and picked up my guitar, the words came easily.  

I had left my girlfriend in high school when I went to college, and then realized even more how much I appreciated and loved her.  It was hard, but experience is experience, and after I could see it clearly and the emotions had been expressed, I was grateful for it, grateful for the risk I took and the risk she took.  

But "the risk of loving you" isn’t just about relationships.  In my experience, it’s a day to day process; loving the people I come into contact with, loving myself, my experience, my faults and insecurities, and theirs too…..in whatever form of loving that may look like.  The word loving, it seems, has been popularly/socially restricted to use when talking about relationships, and yet, I tend to think most of our experiences, maybe even all, come down to that word, and whatever infinite idea it may attempt to define.

The difference between ‘love’ and ‘loving’ is that ‘loving’ is the action, and so I chose the action to express a choice that is ongoing in my life, an everyday, even every moment choice.  

I have been seeing someone for over a year now, off and on for different reasons due to life situations/circumstances rather than how much we love each other (as we do very much), and we have so far kept coming back because the loving is still present.    It’s not so much what has happened (such as breakups, mistakes, sadness, etc) that’s important, but rather, what is present.  Have we learned or not?  Do we still love each other for who we are (unconditional) rather than what we do (conditional)?  Do we love ourselves when we’re with each other?  Do we support each other in learning and growing?  

To truly love someone is to allow them to live their life, give them the freedom to choose, love and support them as best I can.  That is the true "risk of loving…"  In their freedom lies my freedom and that one of the greatest gifts I can give to them and myself.  It may be ironic that not trying to control someone else can be a gift, but until it’s commonplace in this world, I think it is.

So that’s basically what the song is about…deep deep down, beneath the lyrics and the melody…that is where I came from.

You can here the original demo version (from which the vocal was taken) played on acoustic guitar (my main instrument) at:   www.purevolume.com/ericlumiere

Thanks again Bob for reminding me how much music can make a difference and affect people and why I do it in the first place.

FYI, I’m not even a huge dance music fan, but I love writing with Filo and Peri and how it can be so ethereal and epic….it’s quite an experience being in a dance club enveloped by light and sound hearing my song’s chorus of just acoustic guitar and vocals over the loudspeakers, even without the drugs (I haven’t done any, but to each his own).

Filo and Peri and I are currently writing new tracks for their upcoming album.  I am also working on my next solo release and co-writing/producing with other artists.

-Eric Lumiere
www.purevolume.com/ericlumiere
www.myspace.com/ericlumiere
ericlumieremusic@gmail.com
Filo and Peri: www.myspace.com/filoandperi

Note, for those not purevolume savvy, and that includes me, it turns out the player scrolls.  If you want to hear the original demo of "Anthem", hit the tiny triangle at the bottom of the purevolume player on Eric’s page and scroll down until you find "Anthem w strings 2".

I think it’s great that these sites are being developed that allow musicians to share their songs with their world, but I wish the developers were more interested in utility than making money.  You succeed by creating an interface/software that is intuitive and easily used.  AOL broke cyberspace open wide because it was easily used.  CompuServe and Genie and others preceded it, but they weren’t quite easy enough for the average person to use.  But once there’s a breakthrough, everybody flocks to the result.  There were MP3 players before the iPod, it’s just that the iPod was easier to use.  You may not remember, but fast synch via FireWire was a veritable revolution, positively stunning if you’d employed a Rio prior to this.

I’m not sure why kids go to music colleges.  I’m not familiar with the curriculum at the Clive Davis school at NYU, but I don’t know a single successful person in the music business who was trained for it at an educational institution.  I think most of these colleges are stealing their students’ money.  Music is a passion, that one follows.  Maybe you can learn how to play classical music in the academy, but great pop music is not about craft, but inspiration.  No one can teach inspiration.  And most people at institutions don’t recognize breakthroughs because they’re too wedded to the past. You’re better off getting a liberal arts degree, broadening your horizons, allowing you to express yourself fully and on many topics.  If you’re a business person, you’re better off dropping out and going to work at the lowest level at a studio or a company.

Didn’t Steve Jobs drop out of college?  Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg too?  Not to mention Shawn Fanning.  But these people decided to play without a net.  They decided to go all in, to risk everything.  And you can’t make it unless you have dedication and desire and a willingness to sacrifice everything, a nice car, a good house, even having a spouse and children.

Every day I get e-mail from students looking to get jobs in the industry.  In this time of revolution, you’d be better off starting your own endeavor, you’re hipper, more in touch with cyberspace than most people running the industry.  And you must be willing to work for free, that’s the only way in.  And you get the job by being willing to work 24/7, and coming through not only by showing up on time, but executing tasks in a reasonable fashion, quickly.

We’re looking for people we can count on.

It’s scary.  But when you get it right, and it could take decades, there’s incredible satisfaction, just like listening to Eric Lumiere’s "Anthem".

Then again, there are doers and listeners.  Decide which one you are.

As for Mr. Lumiere himself, you can see what a Top Forty track did for him…  He’s still struggling.  And he wrote the song years before it was picked up and made a hit.  The old paradigm of instant fame is passe.  As for riches?  That’s tough too.  You’ve got to be doing it for the satisfaction, the thrill, the vibe.  You might get paid better looking at spreadsheets, but that will not warm your heart, and those of others.

We need artists.  We need midwives who shepherd them through the business gauntlet.  Just like we need plumbers and electricians and other basic infrastructure of our society.  We need some traders, but those who graduate from school and work in the finance industry, in search of riches…I feel sorry for you.  Life’s too short to waste your time.  If you can’t pursue your dreams, why live?

But you’re not entitled to success.  It’s a rough and tumble arts world.  But if you need to be in it, you’ll find a way.