Lindsey's Passion (biteback interview)

Lindsey Stirling's music passions

24/08/2013

Lindsey Stirling uses her violin and self-taught dance skills to produce awesome big beat modern performances.  She's on YouTube with over 2.5 million subscribers. Annette, BITE BACK's newest team member, asked Lindsey if she would mind taking some time out to tell us all about her passions.

1) Hey Lindsey, let me say I’m a massive fan & I can’t wait to see you at the Metro in Sydney this Wednesday. It’s absolutely awesome you've come all the way down under so early on in your touring career! I've actually been linking the rest of the BITE BACK team your videos the last few weeks so they’re a bit more clued up now on what you’re all about, but for those in the BITE BACK community that don’t yet know can you tell us about your music in your own words?

Thank you Annette; I’m really excited to be here as this is my first trip to Australia! I consider myself a crossover artist; in other words, I play a classical instrument but I play popular music, and I dance and play at the same time. My career really took off because of Youtube, so creating something visually entertaining as well as musically fulfilling was my goal. Electronic music is my “bread and butter” so to speak, but I have also done a lot of covers (game music, Broadway favourites, movie soundtracks, pop music, etc.).

2) This month on BITE BACK we're talking all about people's passions, so I just had to get your input while you’re in town – What makes writing/playing music and performing important to you? Why did you turn to YouTube to publish music videos?

Growing up I never saw myself becoming a professional musician. I spent a lot of my “free time” in high school making music videos with my friends:

I LOVED being creative, and so I started my college career as a film major. But I felt like something was missing. What I really wanted was to work with and help people, make a difference. So I changed my major to “Youth Recreational Management” because I decided that I wanted to help troubled teens and assist them in bettering their lives. When I was 21 I served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for 18 months. When I got back, I was contacted by America’s Got Talent because they saw this video that I uploaded before my mission:

They said they wanted me to audition for the show. Long story short, I made it to the quarter finals but was voted out. I was devastated at the time, but the experience gave me a taste of what real performing was like, and I wanted more of it! So I started pursuing my goal to be a professional musician full-time. I created my first three singles. But despite all my efforts, nothing was really going anywhere, no one seemed very interested in me, and I was just about ready to give up when I was contacted by YouTuber devinsupertramp, who had seen my performance on AGT and offered to make a music video for me free of charge if I would let him upload it to his channel. Of course I was all for it! And this was the result:

Devin’s followers became some of my first fans. My music started selling. Devin helped me create my own channel. I started getting my own followers. And everything has really snowballed since then!

3) I know in the past video games have brought inspiration to your music, do you have other passions outside music and performing?

Yes! I love to sew, scrapbook, eat cereal, play games with my family, watch movies….

 4) Do you have goals for the future, what did you have to overcome to get to this point? How does it feel to be literally living your passions, touring the world, performing your music?

I have to say, sometimes I look at where I am at and I can’t believe it. I feel so blessed; so very very blessed. Of course I still have a long way to go and a lot of things I still want to accomplish. I'm excited to be releasing my second album this coming March and I can't wait to get back on tour again! I absolutely love what I am doing and am happy that I can share what I love with the world. I want to show others that the most value and happiness comes from living high moral standards and from loving yourself the way you are. Ultimately, I hope that my life and my music can make this world a better place.

5) It looks like you’ve made a brilliant start to achieving your dreams at the age of 26, finally, we're running a competition here on BITE BACK at the moment asking everyone to think about their passions and how they're going to start turning them into a reality. Could you tell us from a high-school Lindsey perspective:

What your passion is?

I love spending time with my family; I love music, dancing, and violin; I love creating new things; I love people.

What is holding you back from achieving the most out of it?

Sometimes fear gets in the way. “Fear is the opposite of love,” and I have to keep reminding myself of that every day.

How you're practically going to live your passion?

Move forward. One. Step. At. A. Time. Fail. Try again. Repeat as necessary.