We’re looking forward to introducing you to Bill Pomerleau. Check out our conversation below.
Bill, so good to connect and we’re excited to share your story and insights with our audience. There’s a ton to learn from your story, but let’s start with a warm up before we get into the heart of the interview. Have any recent moments made you laugh or feel proud?
Yes! I do a lot of shows in Quebec, Canada and we just recently played a 10 day festival called the Festival Western de St. Tite. It was 8 shows in 9 days—4-5 hours per show (crazy) with only one day off. It was wild, extreme, in some ways hilarious, and a really big mountain of work that I’m very proud of doing.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Bill Pomerleau. I’m a freelance musician working full-time here out of San Diego. I perform, I produce and I engineer music in a variety of capacities. I’m a singer, pianist, and guitarist (and some other instruments)—so I do sideman work, session work, solo work and also performing in dueling piano shows. I also produce, write and engineer original music with several artists—been writing and producing since I was a child. And been very lucky to get a bunch of work as a recording and mixing engineer for the last 10 years.
Okay, so here’s a deep one: Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
Ironically, it was the other way around for me. I feel like “the world” told me to get a real job so I went to school to be a teacher originally, a history teacher. When I moved to San Diego at 23 years old, I got a job as a full-time entertainer at the Shout! House piano bar in the Gaslamp Quarter and I realized music could be full-time. So I suppose the world told me to get a square job before I told “the world” I wanted to just do music.
What fear has held you back the most in your life?
The very common and prevalent fear that I’m not good enough, don’t know what I’m doing, and that I should quit. The famous “imposter syndrome.” There’s a lot of competition in the music world and social media drastically amplifies that. I’ve definitely learned that everyone is on their own path and to have grace with yourself and your own path. And quite honestly, if we’re being objective, no one really knows what the hell they’re doing anyway. We’re all just living on this floating ball orbiting the sun doing the best we can to enjoy life and appreciate the good things.
Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. What are the biggest lies your industry tells itself?
That social media is just like real life. Which creates a whole paradigm where transactional content-making replaces physical interaction with human beings, where playing a bunch of music scales at 100mph is classified as music, and where some people can really be quite vicious compared to their real life persona. Social media is really only an accoutrement to what should be a person-to-person life experience. Go meet someone. Look them in the eyes. Actively listen. Have an exchange of energy in person. I swear that is the answer to so much success in life, especially for younger generations who grew up in social media world.
Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. What will you regret not doing?
I will regret not living deliberately. I’m a big believer that many people let life happen to them instead of actively pursuing and creating their life. Complacency is so easy and attainable. That’s why people stop going after their dreams. They don’t make the move to get to the next level. And I get it—change is hard, doing the thing…can be very challenging. I strongly believe and apply change as an inevitable mindset. I do think that’s why I’m still doing what I love for a living. That’s why I live in San Diego. I’m from a small town in Maine. Being a full-time musician in SoCal was not supposed to be on my lifetime bingo card.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.billpomerleau.com
- Instagram: @deci_bill
- Linkedin: http://linkedin.com/in/williampomerleau
Image Credits
Marc-André Talbot
Patrick Samokhvalof
Greg Wonder
