Write It Before the Feeling Disappears (Eric Colville of The Low Stakes Band)
Eric Colville of The Low Stakes Band talks about writing songs that feel true instead of chasing what sounds commercial. We also discuss their single “Upon the Wall”, revisiting old ideas, and building a regional following.
Key Takeaways
Writing something honest is usually stronger than trying to guess what people want.
The songs that feel too personal or revealing can often be the ones that connect the most.
Old ideas are worth revisiting, especially when life or current events suddenly give them new meaning.
Touring only makes sense when you’re honest about the goal, whether that’s money, growth, travel, or experience.
Building regionally can be a smarter path than jumping into a full tour before there’s demand.
Follow Low Stakes Band:
Also Available On:
Want more honest conversations about creativity, songwriting, and building something that connects?
Sign up for The Monthly Scramble for featured episodes, collaboration ideas, creator insights, and more stories from artists figuring it out.
Presented by Omelette Prevail, where we help brands and creators turn ideas, relationships, and collaborations into something meaningful.
Why This Matters
One of the best parts of this conversation is how simple Eric’s advice sounds, but how hard it can be to actually follow. “Be true to yourself” gets thrown around a lot, but when you’re staring at a song, a release plan, a tour route, or even a creative business decision, it’s easy to start asking what everyone else will think before you even know what you think.
That’s the tension most creators run into eventually. You want the work to connect, but you also don’t want to sand off the part that made it worth making in the first place. Whether it’s songwriting, touring, podcasting, or building a brand, the work usually gets stronger when the intention is clear. Not perfect. Not overly calculated. Just honest enough that someone else can feel it too.
Related Episodes
Make It Your Own, Then Pass It On
Guest: Ute Lemper
This connects through the idea of honoring artistic truth while bringing personal interpretation and emotional weight into the work.
How to Keep Releasing Music Without Burning Out
Guest: Leah Nawy
This connects through the honest artist-growth side of the conversation, especially balancing consistency, creative energy, and staying true to the music without letting the process wear you down.
Transcript:
Mike: Hey, Eric. How’s it going?
Eric: Good. How are you?
Mike: Doing good, thanks. Thank you so much for being on the show. I really do appreciate it.
Eric: It’s my pleasure.
Mike: I wanted to ask you this question to start things off, because I noticed that you really put a lot of attention into your songwriting and the music that you want to release. It feels like it’s really about having a specific message, all kinds of issues that are going on, and things that you’re feeling.
I feel like sometimes artists are conflicted between the music or the art they want to create in comparison to making something that is going to appeal to an audience. Is there a difference between them, or are they one and the same, and you just have to find the audience? What are your thoughts on that?
Eric: Well, first of all, thank you for noticing. I do appreciate the fact that you’re aware that I am putting some time into it.
I have often found myself throwing songs away because I realize I got caught up in the trap of whether people are going to like this, or if it’s commercial enough. I think very succinctly, I believe that if you’re writing a song that is true to you and has true meaning to you, other people will find it having some meaning.
In other words, I don’t have to think for people. I can’t think of what they’re going to want, because I don’t know that they know. I sure as hell don’t know.
So I think it’s better just to be yourself, really say your piece outright. Then if it resonates with me, there’s a chance it’s going to resonate with someone else because, more or less, we’re all probably more the same than we’re different.
Mike: I like that a lot. You’re 100% correct. One of the sayings I like is, people don’t know what they want until you create it for them, right?
Eric: True.
Mike: But I also appreciate how you mentioned that we’re more similar than we are different. I 100% agree with you. Our core feelings, whether it’s about the world, love, or whatever the case is, there’s a similarity across all of us.
If you’re writing something that is true to yourself, chances are it’s going to resonate with others as well. If it’s very specific, it might be a core select group of people, but there are so many of us out there. You’re eventually going to find somebody who has the same thoughts and feelings as you do.
Eric: Yeah, I do believe that’s absolutely true, and it seems that my experience in performing has borne that out. When I’m really into a song and I’m singing it like I really mean it, and it’s a song that was very close and personal to me, some that I’ve actually been afraid to perform because I felt they were almost too self-revelatory, are the ones that really hit.
You just have to basically say, “It’s not about me, even though it is about me. I’m writing about myself, but just let it out and let it happen, and not try to pre-plan whether it’s going to affect people or not.” I think that’s a trap.
Mike: Now you mentioned there are a number of songs that you completely scrap to find the ones that you like. I hate using the word ratio, but is there a ratio? Like every 10 songs, I find the one that’s really good? Or is it a mishmash of things, where maybe you’re on a roll and there are a whole bunch you really like, and then there’s a slump where there’s none of them that you like?
Eric: Well, I’ve definitely been in slumps and rolls all along. I don’t know if there’s a ratio.
The idea we talked about originally, about whether it’s commercial or artistic, I’ve kind of gotten over that. I don’t even think about that anymore. I haven’t thrown any of those away because I know not to go down that road.
Generally speaking, I feel like the more I’m interacting with the world, talking, being talked to, and just having my brain work, the more songs sort of come along. Often they’re things that someone said, overheard someone saying, or something I say myself under my breath, because I think in some ways they’re the unguarded moments when things pop out.
So I never know what I’m looking for, but luckily I do catch them once in a while.
Mike: Do you revisit songs? For example, let’s say this song did not work and you’re putting it to the side in a drawer somewhere. Do you then go, “You know what? I really like this. It didn’t work out, but I wish this song did, so maybe I’m going to revisit it and work on it some more”? Or do you go, “Yeah, it doesn’t work. I’m moving on to the next one”?
Eric: I probably revisit a lot of them. I have them hidden away.
Back in the cassette days, I had a bits tape, and I’d just sing a bunch of stuff. I’d do dishes and put it on and go, “What was that? I like that.”
There are ones that I really like, and I don’t know what the hell I’m writing about, and they seem to come out anyway. So I do revisit them.
Once in a while, and I’m not trying to segue yet if you’re not ready to segue, but the song “Upon the Wall” was exactly that. It was a song I really liked, and I kind of couldn’t be happy with it. Then news events brought it to life again. That’s a prime example of what you’re talking about.
Mike: So your latest single, “Up on the Wall,” which is great by the way.
Eric: Thank you.
Mike: Do you remember when you originally wrote that song?
Eric: Not exactly. It could have been 20 years ago.
I was at the Vietnam War Memorial, which, as you know, is a wall, black shiny granite with names in it. Most people know this. At the time, I’ll be honest, I thought it was sort of a cop-out. Gee, you put everyone’s name on a wall?
But when I stood there and saw my own reflection, the immensity of realizing, “There’s my reflection. That reflection is my life. That’s me,” going across a whole lot of names that are people just like me who had all the same desires, fears, wants, and loves that I do. Maybe not the same ones, but similar ideas. And they’re no longer here.
That struck me hard. I thought, “Well gosh, the person that did this is a genius, actually. I’m wrong, completely wrong about my original view.”
So the first verse, I see my reflection and I make the connection, that came out right there. I had it laying around for years and I tried to add to it. All the rhyme schemes sort of felt forced and dumb, and I just thought, don’t force it. Its time will come.
Mike: I think that’s really interesting that you mentioned how you truly didn’t appreciate what it was until you were actually there and experienced it yourself.
I feel like that also reflects on art as well, where some people, whether it’s through other people talking about a particular artist, go, “Ah, that’s probably not for me.” But then when you actually go into the person’s art and realize what they’re talking about, you have a whole new sense of appreciation or revelation about what that artist or piece of art stands for.
Eric: Yeah. Sometimes it’s hard to be open. You have to really let yourself be immersed in something. If you can just be quiet mentally, or even verbally, and just see how you feel. Check in with your own feelings. I don’t mean to get all new agey with you. But actually know how you feel about something. That’s often very didactic.
Mike: I do want to go back to your songwriting process for a second. Are you the type of artist that sets a schedule where you block a day off or a couple hours in a day to focus on writing? Or are you the type of artist that is in the moment, where inspiration hits and now you’re going to dedicate some time to write songs?
Eric: Yes, certainly the latter.
I admire those people who can set time apart and say, “I’m writing now.” But to me it’s always been akin to setting time aside for lovemaking. It’s like, “We’ll convene at 5:00.” I think some people do that too, but it never worked for me.
It just hits me, and then when it does, I make sure I give it the time. I think John Lennon once said something along the lines of, “If you have an idea and a song comes along, try to write the entire song right then, even if you have substitute words, because you may not have that feeling again.”
I think that’s what I try to do. I rarely succeed. Once in a while I get lucky, but for the most part I try to get as much of it out as I can. But I love those people who just say, “Okay, I’m going to sit down and write.” I can’t even begin. I wish I could.
Mike: It’s interesting. I’m a little bit of a blend of the two, where I try to set myself on a certain schedule. A lot of times it’s just what I’m feeling in that particular moment and how I want to be productive.
Especially as a creative person, this is the time where, okay, yeah, I feel like I’m going to record something, write something, or do those things. But if the moment’s not right, if I’m not feeling it, it’s hard to just force it sometimes.
Eric: Exactly. My feeling exactly.
Mike: I do want to talk about The Low Stakes Band real quick. Can you talk a little bit about that project and overall what it’s about?
Eric: Yeah. I moved, and I didn’t really have a band anymore. I’m sure you and many other people know how hard it is to get a band together.
I’m one who likes vocal harmony, and I feel like vocal harmony for me represents the core of a band. I think for a lot of people, if you’re doing the kind of music I’m doing, it’s the bass and drums. That whole lockup and the beat. I get that.
But I thought, let’s just keep it simple, stupid. Find a good harmony singer, play acoustic guitar, do an acoustic duo, and realize it would be an intimate performance or an “evening with” kind of thing. Set up for a while and see how that goes.
The Low Stakes is basically that. My singing partner, Anne Holbrook [verify spelling], who I work with, I found her on Craigslist, very much by accident. I think her husband saw my ad and said, “This sounds just like you.” So God bless him.
We’ve been doing that. But as of now, since you didn’t ask, I’m starting to miss the full rock. As a songwriter, you’ve got ballads, you’ve got rock songs. I’ve got all kinds of different songs. I miss the more full band thing, so now we’re going to be able to do both.
I have a bass player and drummer. We’re building that piece now again, so I can do whether it’s just an acoustic duo in a coffee house, or a full-on band with electric guitars and the whole bit. I’m building that as well. So The Low Stakes is now getting another whole facet to itself.
Mike: Oh, that’s fantastic. It’s one thing when you are performing by yourself, or even with just one other person, but when you have a full group with you, it’s an entirely different experience, both for yourself and for the audience.
Eric: Right. So many of my songs just don’t really work as me on a guitar. I’ve heard people say, “Well, I saw Jon Bon Jovi do [unclear song reference] on an acoustic guitar.” I understand that, but you already know the song in its full glory. It’s different when you’ve never heard it before. It just doesn’t translate unless you’ve heard it in your head before.
I feel like you’ve got one chance at the original music. If it needs to be the full band thing, I need to present it that way.
Mike: Absolutely. So we were talking a little bit earlier about the latest single, “Up on the Wall,” but what else is going on with the band moving forward?
Eric: We’re just trying to get all the other songs that were rock songs together. I have some that I’ve written that I’m still playing around with the different arrangements. How do I want to present this?
It’s basically just figuring out who’s playing what. I could use another guitar player, but I’m trying to get all that together. Step on effects box, get off effects box while singing. All the fun stuff that entails.
Then just trying to get gigs and build a regional following. I think you mentioned touring earlier. One can go on tour, but unless you really have people waiting for you, I’d rather build it regionally as much as I possibly can. Then if some kind of tour makes sense, I would do that. Otherwise, you need an awful lot of money to let people know you’re coming to the nation, driving around everywhere.
Mike: Absolutely. And it’s different now. Not too long ago, that was one of the main ways you were marketing your band, by going on tour, opening for larger acts, and acquiring their audiences. Obviously, it’s a very different world now.
You don’t necessarily have to do that. It still can be impactful. I know many artists that tour extensively, and that’s how they build their fan base. But as you mentioned, there’s a greater expense involved now in doing that process. It’s smart to focus regionally, not only for the expense, but also because it’s more likely that you’re going to return to that area more often than clear across the country or in another country.
It makes a lot of sense to strategize. Start with what we like to say, weekend warrior runs. If you can hit these cities in a weekend, those are the ones you can continuously go back to and start building a fan base from there.
Eric: I kind of call it a spoke tour. You go out and back.
Mike: Yes.
Eric: And back again. An overnight, go places and stay overnight and come back. That kind of thing.
I’m open to that and willing to do it, but it does get a little much if you don’t have the audience. If you’re going somewhere to play for three people, it just doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense. Maybe it does. Maybe I’m looking at it wrong. I don’t know.
Mike: I don’t think so. I think you have to be honest with your goals.
I talk to artists about this all the time. They’ll mention, “Oh yeah, I want to go on tour,” and I go, “Okay, do you want to go on tour because you want to make money, or do you want to go on tour because you want to travel?”
Sometimes I get it out of them that they just want to travel, and they’re using the band as an excuse to travel, which is fine. If that’s your reason for traveling and you love it, good for you.
But you also want to make sure that you’re honest with what your goals are for the tour. If you lose money and come back discouraged because you didn’t set it up for financial success, that’s a little bit on you.
If you’re going out on the road because you want to experience touring, travel, playing in different venues, or you want this as an excuse to practice, then even if you come back and still took a hit, you knew this was not necessarily about making money. Even though it would be nice to make money from it, you also knew there were other benefits to it as well.
Eric: Yeah. You probably build up yourself a lot by doing that, having to play at a different place. You know how it is. Every show, there’s always some kind of problem. You’ve seen every problem known to man, and you’ve fixed them all, and it all becomes old hat to you.
So I recognize there’s a value there, even if you don’t actually make money.
Mike: Do you find that the best practice comes from playing shows live? Some people are like, “The only way to really get better is to do it live.”
Eric: I’m always like, “Let’s get it out and get it.” Because you have to do it then. There’s no place to turn. There’s nowhere to hide. You have to do it. So I try to jump on it.
Mike: Do you still do open mics and things like that to practice songs, or not too much?
Eric: No. You’ve got to sit on the sign-up sheet and listen to a whole lot of people who play really, really, really long songs. I suppose I just don’t have the patience.
Maybe I should do it. I think I know when a song’s good. Maybe I’m wrong. I could be wrong about this whole damn thing. I think my songs are good, otherwise I wouldn’t do it. But maybe I’m just crazy. What do you do?
Mike: I don’t think there’s ever a right or wrong way. It’s always curious because for some, open mics are great. It gives them the opportunity to practice their songs and also helps them with networking and building relationships with other people.
For others, like you said, the time it takes to go through that whole process is time away from them practicing, writing, or doing other aspects of things.
What I love about being creative is that there are so many avenues for you to practice your craft that it really comes down to the individual and what ultimately works for you.
I feel like you should take the opportunity to try everything. For example, if you’ve never toured before, do a quick little tour. See if you like it or not. You might find out, “I will never, ever tour again because I hated the experience.” Or you find out, “I love touring.”
Same thing is true with open mics. If you’ve never done it before, try it out. If you find that you love the experience, then great, do it again. If you find out, “No, I really don’t enjoy doing this at all,” then you don’t have to do it ever again. But I feel like any of those things out there you should try at least once.
Eric: Oh, yeah. It’s not to say I haven’t done a lot of open mics before. I’ve done so many of them.
I haven’t toured really. We took a drive once from Miami to New Orleans to play something, but I can’t really call that touring.
Basically, I can’t disagree with you. Anything you haven’t done, you should probably try it once if for nothing more than the experience. As a creative person, you learn something somewhere every day. At least I hope so.
Mike: Absolutely.
All right, so we’ll go ahead and wrap things up here. I do have a couple of wrap-up questions for you.
First question I have for you is, what was the very first concert you ever went to?
Eric: Boy, you’re making me think here.
I’m so sorry to give you dead air here.
Mike: No, it’s okay.
Eric: I think I might have seen, again, it’s a little shaky, but Crosby, Stills & Nash.
Mike: Wow, that’s a good one.
Eric: Yeah. I like harmony, and they were obviously a great harmony band.
I recall being there and some yahoo up in the balcony kept screaming, and one of them said, “Would you please stop that? We need to hear.” So I think that might have been it.
Mike: Do you have an artist right now that you’re really enjoying listening to?
Eric: I can’t say. It’s a really odd thing to say, but I don’t even listen to music. I never listen to music.
I know you think, “Well, how?” I mean, on the radio, I suppose, I hear certain things. But a lot of them are oldies stations. I’m hearing Fleetwood Mac and all these bands from yesteryear.
It’s hard to listen to music. I’m a little technologically challenged. I’m on Spotify, but I don’t listen to Spotify. There’s probably something I could do to find out some more things about musicians. I don’t listen to anybody, sadly.
Mike: That’s okay. Sometimes you get so focused on something. For example, it’s funny, I hardly ever listen to my own podcast. I do listen to other podcasts, but for myself, I hardly do. I go, “Okay, it’s done. I know what the conversation is because I was a part of it.”
There are a lot of famous talk show hosts, interviewers, and podcasters who feel the same way. It just goes, “It’s done. Off it goes. I’m moving on to the next thing.” So there’s something to be said about the focus on something along those lines too.
Eric: I’m always afraid if I watch my podcast I’ll be cringing, so I’m the same as you. I just don’t want to know what I said.
Mike: Maybe that too.
Eric: And I’ll be looking at what dumb expression I made.
Mike: That’s very true. I get that.
All right, last question for you is, if you were only able to give one piece of advice, what would that one piece of advice be?
Eric: To whom? To whom are we giving this advice?
Mike: I would say to a fellow musician. Let’s start with a fellow musician.
Eric: I overcomplicate everything. I’m thinking about all the possibilities, but I guess I would say, and it almost sounds like a cop-out, be true to yourself.
Do your music. Don’t worry about whether the world’s ready for it or not. That recipe may deliver me or that person to nowhere, but my sense is that if you do what you really wanted to do and you fail, at least you know you did what you really wanted to do.
Versus if you didn’t do what you wanted to do and you still fail, then you’re left with, “Gosh, if only I had done what I wanted to do, it would’ve worked out.”
So I think you have to stick it out, do exactly what you want, and don’t worry about it.
Mike: Couldn’t agree more.
Well, thank you so much for your time. I really do appreciate it. We’ll definitely make sure in the show notes that we mention your latest single. Congratulations on the latest single, and I wish you the best of luck moving ahead. Thank you very much for taking the time to have this podcast with me. I appreciate it.
Eric: My absolute pleasure.
Mike: Okay. Take care.