Meet Graffick | Musician / Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Graffick and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Graffick, have you ever found yourself in a spot where you had to decide whether to give up or keep going? How did you make the choice?
I think about this question a lot. Over the years I have faced personal doubt on a near daily basis and honestly, I’ve probably come to the decision to quit making music more times than I’d like to admit, but here I am today more active than ever on this musical journey. As an active practitioner of attempting to see both sides of a situation, I realize that sometimes something is worth the continual effort and struggle and sometimes it’s better to walk away, put your energy elsewhere, and figure out how to take what you learned and apply it to the next endeavor. Knowing whether to give up or not depends on a lot of factors, but the most important factor, in my opinion, is intuition. Being able to feel good about trusting your own intuition comes from having strong personal clarity – you have to be honest with yourself about why you’re doing what you’re doing. The better you understand yourself, what you want, why you want it, etc… the better you can make a decision on if it’s worth continuing or not. If you do decide to keep going on whatever it is you’re working on, another very important question to ask yourself is “How do I keep going?” Figure out what works, what doesn’t work, what needs to change, and what can stay the same. If all these questions spark excitement in you then it’s probably a sign to keep going. If not, walk away and see how that feels. You can always come back.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
When I was a kid I spent a lot time drawing. I would draw these stick figures, each color was a different character, I would make up stories as drew and I would say the story out loud as the marker skipped across the page. Kind of like an instant comic book. This was my entertainment – a completely improvised colorful sketch that I performed on paper. It was a play for the imagination. These days my art is mostly in sound, but the technique is relatively similar: I have a blank page and I start sketching and creating worlds, but instead of the characters being jittery little colorful stick people, they are sounds, and instead of speaking the story out loud, never to be heard again, the stories are allowed to live in a digital realm that I can willfully share with anyone.

I try to apply this sense of improvisation to everything I create and into my live shows. I like the idea of having a structure that can be bent, but still stands strong. I have found that having an aspect of fluidity is important and necessary to the way that I like to work. Not everything needs to be so carefully planned or executed – I like to give myself room to explore, especially in a live setting. When it comes to creating records, I have learned to trust how I feel more that what I think. This one shift in perspective has changed how I approach my art and has been hugely inspiring. I find myself connecting to my work more and aiming to push that sense of connection toward my audience.

Getting to this point of creative clarity didn’t happen overnight. I spent many years in creative doubt and began to feel insecure about my work and my passion for it. I decided to take a year to figure out what it was that I felt I needed – I wanted to shine light on all of the areas I left in the dark. During this year I went to a ton of concerts and festivals, more than I can really recall (including some over seas), I decided to get formal music production training from a private academy, I rekindled my love for reading, and I found myself wanting to explore and reconnect with spirituality. After a year and some change the light that I sought began to shine and I felt that I finally saw what it was that I needed – I needed clarity. I realized the pandemic had really fogged up my goals and I had been lost. This realization helped guide me toward a path of discipline, goal setting, understanding, and a full commitment to my craft. Things have continued to improve and the fog has mostly lifted, but there is always another storm on the horizon. I welcome these storms as they give me another opportunity and challenge to explore.

Graffick is here to stay. I’m not sure where it will lead, but I’m enjoying the journey. I have many stories to tell, many goals to meet, and I plan on ticking as many boxes as I can. The next few projects will be both a departure and a return – a sort of ever expanding closed loop. I’d like to tell you what to expect, but I think it’s best to let the art speak for itself and to just let the music play.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If I had visitors coming for a week the first place I would take them is Draft South Mission at Belmont Park – I love having a beer by the beach and people watching during a warm sunset. We’d have to check out the Thursday night jazz jam at Blind Lady Alehouse and get some of their amazing pizza. For some daytime activities we’d go to either Cholla Lake, Lake Murray, or Torrey Pines. If I wanted to go for a chill beach vibe I’d take my guest to South Mission beach. For some great coffee and snacks we’d go to Portal Coffee, Black Market Bakery, Maya Moon, and Communal Coffee. Some of my favorite places to bring people for good eats are City Tacos, Taco Stand, Fortunate Son, Camino Rivera, and Buona Forchetta. For drinks it would have to be North Park Beer Co, Rip Current, Second Chance Brewery, Polite Provisions, and Original 40. I also have to mention Part Time Lover for some night time fun – it’s such a vibe in there! 

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’d like to shoutout Portal Coffee. I have a strong connection with that place both in their products and the community they’ve built. Shoutout to Maya Moon Modern Medicin – they are doing some very special things in their space and also have a wonderful community that is growing. Big shoutout to Radio Axiom who had me on their show back in February. They are providing a fantastic platform for indie artists in San Diego and the surrounding areas and they deserve all the love. Shoutout to the team running Open Oscillator. They put on open mic nights for electronic musicians and it’s one of the coolest things around for indie electronic music. Finally shoutout to my Mother and Sister for joining every one of my livestreams and their continued support and encouragement of my music career, my Father for his wisdom and knowledge of art, creativity, and philosophy,  and to my wonderful friends who are continually inspiring me to better myself (whether they realize it or not).

Website: www.graffickmusic.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/graffick/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/graffick

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/graffickmusic

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/graffick

Other: Soundcloud https://soundcloud.com/graffick Spotify https://open.spotify.com/artist/5JuAIcfrgvSHor1N4MwYGr?si=d8U6laEYQ-WN11qu9cruTQ