Today's guest is Brian Quinn, a professional musician (the creator of this podcast's theme song!), and, yes, he's my brother. He graduated from Berklee College of Music in Boston, one of the preeminent music schools in the USA. Since then, he has worked as a professional musician, calling Chicago, IL his base.

In this conversation we talk about everything from what it's like to be a professional, performing musician during this time of Covid-19, to discussing whether or not it's a good ideal to go to music school if you want to be a musician.

The debut album of his band, bq, is releasing worldwide this Friday, September 4! The album is called "The Inner Solar system," and it's instrumental funk music that is sure to get your feet tapping and hips swinging.

(He's also playing an album release show -- FREE and OUTDOORS -- this Saturday, September 5 from 5:30p-8:00pat Chicago's Navy Pier, at Miller Lite Beer Garden.)

He gives us some sneak peeks of his songs, and talks us through elements of the music to listen for. It’s my favorite thing to listen to music with Brian; he points out things that my ear would never hear otherwise. He also describes the origin of certain musical techniques (attention, music history nerds!); it's super cool to get a peek into this artist’s mind with all that, and to hear how it evolved.

I'm a proud sister. He's got a lot of experiences to share with you -- for other musicians, aspiring musicians, or anyone curious about what that creative process and reality of the industry looks like now.

BRIAN QUINN

Instagram: @qkatie

Website: www.bqfunk.com

The Inner Solar System, debut album by bq

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