Balancing Acts is Metal Insider’s new column, in which artists explain the challenges within the music industry by juggling day jobs or multiple jobs while pursuing their musical careers. Ron of Milwaukee, WI rockers Hi/Jack, who released their new album, Everything You Know Is Yesterday, released earlier this year via Blue Collar Records, caught up with Metal Insider to share how he mixes his career with music and additional creative avenues.
“I don’t know how you do it.” That is a statement that I get often in all of my fields. By all of my fields, I mean being a drummer, artist, and contributing member for Faded Places, a podcast co-host and contributing member for Voices in My Head and VIMH Studios as a whole, and a drummer, artist and contributing member for Hi/Jack.
This is a side from being on two separate paintball teams, and an honorary member of a third paintball team based in Michigan. My actual career, or “day job” is a Mechanical Engineer. This includes, but not limited to, composite engineering, test engineering, forging of metals, dabbling in rocketry (Yeah, I’m literally a rocket scientist) and now, an engineer aiding in the production of valves for water softener and irrigation systems.
Hello, I’m Ron Terrell. I do all of the things listed above. So how do I do it? It has been a journey and up bringing of sorts which have prepared me for this. I’m still learning. I’m not done yet. I grew up as a nerd. This is how I became an engineer. I always liked learning how things work. I would study and learn every aspect of what interest me. Whether it be making physical things, or audible things.
I started out as a guitarist. A young kid in Highschool who thought, why not learn how to play guitar. I liked Chevelle and System of a Down, while growing up. Their music was cool. Their music videos were also cool. But, how did they do it? To answer that question, I obtained a guitar and thus started my journey into the music world. As you can see, or rather hear, I didn’t stay a guitarist. I became a ‘failed guitarist’ and became a bass player. That lasted only a little while until my current drummer left that kid band back in the day. This started my path as a drummer.
I became a drummer while attending Milwaukee School of Engineering. Among studying for some of the toughest courses, and joining my first professional paintball team. To add to things, I started dating a girl while all of this was happening. Later on, got my first internship and sequentially, my first engineering job. Constantly being busy, constantly learning, should keep me out of trouble, for the most part.
I would go to school, work my engineering job, and practice either paintballing or music. I would try my best to balance and manage all of this as a young college guy. I would write in between classes. Listen to music constantly. Read music articles, and watch music videos. I would go to concerts when I can and get further involved in the local music scene as much as I could. I would make friends in the local music scene, and then expand that to regional scenes. All the while continue to work, eventually graduate from a different college and then continuing to date with the intent of marrying the same girl as mentioned before.
The band involvement grew, the music scene involvement grew, however, my sleep time shrunk. I would ‘multitask’ as much as possible. The engineering joke is that the sign of an engineer is a half eaten plate.
I am happy of the successes that I have seen as an engineer and as a musician. I am happy of the successes that I have seen on and off the stage. Learning about wave forms of audio. Learning what it is like to be a roadie carrying a lot of gear. Being a drummer really trained me for that. Learning of how to become more organized. Did I remember all of my drum pieces? Did I remember the set lists? Did I remember my tempos? It is years of training, and not something that happens overnight. I would applied these same organizational skills to my career.
So, how do I do it? Years of training and learning how to organize all aspects of life in the search of balance. I am not an expert in this in my perspective. I am however, better than what I was as a kid picking up a guitar for the first time. I am still learning. I am still getting better. You do it by getting better. I am lucky to merge my working career, with my music career. To quote Hatebreed, “No sleep. No rest. This is what it takes to be the best”
Train, and pace yourself for your work career, and craft that into your music career.
