I Promised myself I wouldn't cry, and I didn't

The new Fake Problems record makes me very depressed. Not because it is bad, or sad, or even because it is so great. It makes me depressed because I know these kids are my age and younger, and this is what they are creating. The musicianship and the instrumentation in the song-writing on their new LP "It's Great To Be Alive" is so intricate, complex and dense that it makes me so sad, simply because their are so many layers on this record that I never could have thought of. The songs these guys wrote are so complex and beautifully crafted, and they are my age. I am my age, and what am I creating? What am I doing other than playing other peoples songs? I think I wrote 3 new songs last year with my bands and maybe 2 more that will never see the light of day. I thoroughly enjoyed how I spent my year, but what am I creating, other than a ringing in peoples ears in a couple cities on the east coast?

When you compare records like "It's Great To Be Alive" to what i accomplished in 2008 and I think thats where you can draw the line between artist and musician...They are artist, I am just a musician.