Dave "Himbo Le Boeuf" Thompson

When I first joined NOWTHEN, I have to admit, I wasn't too concerned about the message they we're attempting to convey too the world. The guys talked to be a lot about spiritual enlightenment, freeing yourself from slavery, creating your own reality, and the evolution of consciousness. At the time all I was interested in was one thing, the music.

I'm not saying that the desire to create music was fallen, or being distracted in any way. My main motivation in life is still the play guitar as best as I possibly can, with the band/musical project that most interests me the most at that particular moment. Although I also feel that besides the music, other aspects of NOWTHEN, their message and philosophy have interested me greatly. In order to understand why this is the case, you have to understand a little bit about my background.

I hated school, full stop. I think school is simply indoctrination camp for children. To be honest, this distain for the education was only amplified when I tried myself to become an educator by doing a PGCE in secondary school music, after achieving all the things I felt I needed to pass onto the next generation of musicians. What I was disappointed to find instead was a school music teaching system that was obsessed far too much with testing, analysis of pupils' results, and not nearly obsessed enough with actually teaching children to play music. The results of children's development in music are appalling in the U.K. The number of young people who go onto study music at university, or to become successful professional musicians is simply pathetic. Never mind the actual number of children who actually succeed at university while studying music. The problem is purely and simply the amount of musical opportunities available to an average pupil at secondary school (actually in my experience of Primary schools, music education is actually quite well thought out, and well executed, but most pupils who show an interest in music in primary school are not playing music by the end of secondary school. The reason is simple. The secondary school music teaching system is shit) are not adequate for a musician to develop to the level that a student of that age should be developing too. If you go to the "average" village in Africa, then all the children, without question, will be able to sing, and the best singers will sing to a much higher level than the equivalent pupil in the U.K.

Why? You may ask. It's a simple question, with a very simple answer. PRACTICE! The average pupil in secondary school will have their interest in music destroyed by the fact that they simply aren't doing it enough. Only one hour a week is dedicated to music in the average timetable. Now, having had some experience in music teaching, out of this hour a week, a GOOD pupil will actually spend about 25 minutes of this time actually practicing their instrument. So, over the three years that they are practicing playing music (usually on some shit keyboard) the average (GOOD!) pupil has around 50 hours of musical practice. Let's compare this to the guideline that "Outliers" (by Malcolm Galdwell) suggests for an "Outlier" (i.e. somebody who has seemingly exceptional or world class ability in a certain field) to practice. Galdwell suggests that any outlier should practice for 10,000 hours in order to get to the kind of skill level/ability those outliers such as John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Bill Gates, or Bill Jobs, had managed to achieve. Between 50 and 10,000 hours there appears to be a discrepancy. There is, it's massive, and it is also deliberate. SCHOOLS DON'T WANT YOU TO BECOME A MUSICIAN FOR A CAREER!

The school system is designed around regular routine, and is much more focused on preparing pupils for slavery within the confines of their "chosen" career. Pupils are moulded, not to be educated, but to be effective workers, effective slaves. If this sounds cynical, then think about it for a moment. What do children do when they go to school? They turn up first to tutorial, where their tutor checks that they are on time, check that they are wearing the correct uniform, check how well they have been behaving within school. All of which are perfect training for working in a shit burger flipping job! Now, don't get me wrong, most teachers aim to teach pupils their subject effectively and are passionate about teaching their subject. My issue is not with teachers, quite the opposite. Teachers are really important for the development and education of society. One of my main problems with the education system, which distracts teachers from actually teaching, is the obsession of the government with testing and grading with systems such as national curriculum levels. Having taught music in schools, I used nation curriculum levels on a daily basis, mainly because it was the status quo, and it's now part of a teacher's job to use them. The only benefit to the national curriculum levels is that you can display in relation to the levels how you can further develop as a musician in order to achieve a higher level. Apart from that, pupils who achieve a low national curriculum level are put off playing music, despite the fact that this level is completely irrelevant to personal development. It's the amount of practice that matters, it doesn't even matter what you are choosing to focus on at the time, you really don't need learning objectives within your life to learn to play and instrument! I know this because when I first went to college, I didn't turn up to any of my lessons and sat in the common room for about 6 hours a day practicing guitar. I would get home then practice more. I skived all lessons which I had no interest in. Guess what happened? I ended up in NOWTHEN! The solution for any prospective guitar player's, musicians, or anyone who desires to develop in any particular field is simple. Practice it. Ignore anything you're not interested in and focus on your own educational goals, and fuck everyone else.

"If you want to get laid, go to college, if you want an education, go to the library." - Frank Zappa

It was only when I removed myself from England, the U.K. education system, my job, and pretty much all of my personal possessions that I realised that becoming a professional musician wasn't an easy task. Thankfully, I love playing music so much that I simply don't care about money or personal possessions. I now believe that in order to achieve your own goals you really do have to ignore everything else in your life, ignore money, ignore any schooling which you think is bollocks, focus on what you what to learn, what you want to achieve, and fuck everything else. Because everything else that doesn't interest you simply doesn't matter. Embrace what you love, be it art, music, science, maths, literature, anything and most of all self evaluate and always be critical of yourself, without becoming obsessed with ego. Don't forget that most of the distractions in life are simply there to distract you from what you actually wish to do with your life. Don't be afraid to say;

"It's a piece of shit, walk away!" -Bill Hicks

Much love, good luck with your life, and enjoy being thoroughly not assed.

It's called freedom, welcome!

Dave