Talking about Creativity with Chris Ballew AKA Caspar Babypants

Ex front man for rock band The Presidents of The United States of America talks creativity and how songwriting is like woodworking.

In this interview with the former front man of 90s band The Presidents of the United States of America, we get away from all the pressures of work and this crazy world to enjoy a free ranging discussion about creativity (in both woodworking and songwriting) and how to be true to yourself in your work.

If you are a creative person but often feel your creativity is constrained by the demands of making it pay - I am pretty sure your spirits will be lifted as you listen to Chris’s take on life .

If you are a woodworker who is also a musician I am CERTAIN you will find this chat interesting.

We discuss:

- Parallels between song writing and woodworking.
- What it was like to be in a successful rock band and why he left to do something more fulfilling.
- The long process of finding your own creative voice.
- Connecting with yourself in order to better connect with others.
- It’s ok to imitate for a while.
- Virtuosity - what does it really mean?
- Simplicity - finding it on the far side of complexity
- Finding peace of mind in a crazy world.
- Putting your ego to one side.
- Why John Lennon got together with Yoko Ono
- ... and much more!

See Chris’s current musical project (Caspar Babypants) here:

https://babypantsmusic.com/home

You can find out more about Alastair from Freebird and support his work to inform and inspire the woodworking community here:

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/freebird

I'm Alastair Johnson from Freebird Interiors on Youtube and in this podcast series due to start in February 2020 I'll be chatting with a wide range of other woodworkers, focusing mainly on fitted furniture manufacture and installation. I want to understand how and why they build things the way they do, including their choice of materials, tools and techniques. I also want to get under the skin of what motivates and inspires them, what led them to do this kind of work in the first place, what they love about it, what they hate about it, and what motivates them to keep doing it as a career.

• No. of episodes: 13
• Latest episode: 2021-12-21
• Education

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