Today we’d like to introduce you to Dominic Fawcett.
Dominic, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
I’ve been writing music as BRUIN with one of my best friends from high school, Nick McClure, for around eight years now. We work together pretty well because we grew up skateboarding together and both have a very similar creative process. Every time we get in a room together we both have our own vision in mind of how we want a track to develop and neither of us compromise our own individual vision until we’re both happy with the outcome. This process has made it really easy for us to work with so many other artists on so many of our tracks. Once the two of us can agree on the structure of a song, then we usually feel confident enough to show it to so many of our talented homies, and by the end of it we end up with a piece that we both can agree on and usually has some new flavor from one of our friends. It’s a really fun process for me.
I also run a zine called Khene-zine it’s mostly articles about music that a few of my friends and I put together a couple times a year. We print and scatter them around town. Usually, we throw a show for each release and in the past have made a zine for a tour that we went on with Well Well Well. The zine was titled “The Choose your own Disaster Tour” It was basically a fictional story of how all these cities on the west coast (cities that our bands we’re going to be playing) were being attacked by these monsters and that our bands were gonna rock said monsters to death. We made a thousand copies and sent them to each venue and surrounding coffee shops, record shops, and local radio stations a few weeks before we left. The tour ended up being one of the best weeks of my life. Most everyone that showed up to our shows had read the zines prior and it made it really easy to win everyone over with our jams because they were already so into the idea we had created. Plus they just liked our tunes, which at the end of the day always feels really nice.
Can you give our readers some background on your art?
I make music, and I write about music. It’s pretty much all that I’m working on or paying attention too when I’m not bartending. Music is the one thing on this planet that I feel like I need to put my full attention towards for most of my waking hours. I feel like I understand and fully grasp the avenue’s that music can be expressed and how it really can light up dead and dormant places in people’s minds. Music usually isn’t judgmental so it can be very helpful and inspiring in the duller and more confusing parts of life. When so many things don’t make sense, a song can temporarily make everything click in an instant just so you can keep pushing forward at the moment.
I hope that the message I put out there is my truest voice. Whatever that may be at the time, I always hope that it’s truth and that someone else can relate to what I’m saying. That being said I fully believe that after a song that we make or an article that I write is out there in the world it’s not as much mine as it used to be when that project was started. Once it’s out there, then everyone can take whatever they want from it. My hopes are that, in the end, what people take from it is either thought-provoking or a positive feeling… But if that’s not the case, then screw it, and it’s on to the next project.
Any advice for aspiring or new artists?
Not really sure if I’d call it, but I’m starting to realize that whatever my vision is for a particular project needs to be at forefront of my priorities when I’m working on something that I really care about. If you know exactly how you want something to be then at the end of the day, the majority of the time, that’s all that matters. If it’s just a loose idea, then yeah, be flexible and collaborate more, but when you have one of those ideas that you can see perfectly then just work as hard as you can to see it through to the end. Also, remember that if you’re gonna get anyone on your side, then you need to have a really convincing argument of why your art matters. Making things for the sake of making things isn’t enough to move people. Real vision comes from love or frustration and both need to be expressed in a way that is relatable to your fellow humans. In my experience, that’s how art thrives at its’ highest vibration.
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
I alert all my releases on Instagram, and my handle is @bruinjams. Our music is on Spotify/Apple Music as BRUIN and on Bandcamp at bruin.bandcamp.com
All of the khene zine stuff can be seen in print (usually around twice a year, scattered at bars around North Park) and our articles can be seen online at https://medium.com/khene-zine.
Contact Info:
- Website: bruin.bandcamp.com (and) https://medium.com/khene-zine
- Email: dominic.fawcett@gmail.com
- Instagram: bruinjams
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BRUINjams/
Image Credit:
John Konno and Walker McCullough
Getting in touch: SDVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
