Announcing: The Helentropia Tour!

June 25th - tomorrow is my 5 year wedding anniversary (but I got divorced this year so we won't be celebrating that....awkward turtle)....instead I'm going on a band tour (new chapter of life)! Vinny and I have been reflecting on how no matter how big and famous you become, you still just feel like you. It's not really your lifestyle that changes, it's just how many people are following you. Whether we have an audience of zero or an audience of three million, we are still just us, writing song everyday, excited to go on roadtrips, excited to play music for people. Right now we play for passersby and friends. One day we play for giant crowds. The whole time, it's just us doing our favorite thing. So....rather than waiting around for some lifestyle change to take place we realized we just get to start today. We have been itching to hit the road and explore new things and share our music. So this weekend, we're going on our first band tour; starting in Bellevue, WA (where we live) and going down and around the Pudget Sound to Hood Canal (where I have a photo shoot scheduled). Stopping along the way to play and camp and reflect on the meaning of the universe. Perfection - the lifestyle we've been dreaming of. 

I got a little high, ate a lot of peanut butter and spent a couple hours playing around to make our tour poster. This is the kind of thing I did when I was a kid...giving hours to creative design that would be considered "a waste of time" as an adult. It was beautiful. I had music playing and I was daydreaming and being creative with no pressure on my time or need for perfection. This whole thing is like playing dressup with the best imaginations on the playground and I love it! 
:) Chamonix

Follow us on our tour:
Instagram: @chamonixmusic & #helentropia
Facebook: Chamonix Music

Be the Exception - What Does it Mean to You?

"Be the exception."
What does that mean to you? 
We were sitting in Starbucks in downtown Woodinville and I flipped open my Desire Map Planner. At the bottom of each page is an inspiration quote. Whatever quote we landed on we were going to spark a conversation about it and dive down a rabbit hole. 

My answer was obvious. "Be the exception" means that somebody has to become a famous singer, why not me? Vinny's answer on the other hand was genius. "Everybody always ________. Except Vinny. He always ______. Fill in the blank with whatever you want to be in this life. 

For example... "Everybody is always so grumpy when it rains. Except Vinny. He always finds a way to be positive." OR "Every singer we've worked with had been such a diva. Except Chamonix. She is always so kind and easy to work with."  
 


I love it so much I went home and started writing a song about being an exception. A song about how when you look around the world you see whatever body else is doing and then you decide for yourself whether you want to join or do your own thing. Don't be afraid to do your own thing because it will give other people permission to also break free and do their own thing. Freedom is contagious. 

:)
Chamonix

Understand - New Song in Progress

I'm always the middle man. My mom and I spent all day together yesterday (lunch at Molbaks & wine tasting at DeLille Cellars). We talk about my photography business and how everything in life can be compared to a herd of horses, and inevitably we talked about her relationship with my brother. 

My mom and my brother rub each other like sand paper. Both of them have good intentions but they aren't able to communicate effectively and their interactions always end upside down on the floor like a broken egg. :( 

I'm Miss Congeniality, seeing both sides, understanding everyone's perspective. I mediate and offer insight to everybody but I always have to step back and bow out of the boxing ring. As much as I'd like to help bring them back into harmony, it's their relationship, not mine. The best I can do is listen and let them know they are seen (at least by me).

For the past 12 hours, I've felt their burden on my shoulders - I love them both and I don't like seeing their tension and pain. And of course, in this kind of situation, there's only one solution...write a song about it.

So I ate my eggs & Parmesan cheese for breakfast, closed my open Internet tabs, grabbed my out-of-tune guitar, locked myself in my office, plopped my tushy down on my pretty green silk meditation cushion, and I took an hour to write this song for them... a his and her's duet calling back and forth to one another.

:) Chamonix

First Concert on the Rocks for the Paddle Boarders of Lake Washington

'Do Not Walk on the Rocks'
Stupid sign. I told Vinny to follow me and we walked to the end of the rock jetty - out into the water of Lake Washington with a guitar and the sunset. We listened to the waves crashing in and reflecting once again on how everything in this entire universe is just waves. We laid upside down and tried to visualize ourselves on the bottom of planet Earth, about to fall off the ceiling and drop into empty space...if only it weren't for gravity. Back on the shore, there was a couple rolling around half-naked on a blanket, a couple sitting on the bench (the girl was so made-up she clearly gave lots of fucks) and then an old woman spinning around in circles on the grass with her arms outstretched (she clearly gave no fucks). ha.

We practiced playing 'Technicolor Beat' by Oh Wonder (sooo good) which fit perfectly with our view of the sunset "as the heavens set fire". I said to Vinny, "Wouldn't it be so cool to have a following of fans so huge that we could just post a message on Twitter that said {We'll be performing on the Medina Jetty at 5pm tonight! Paddle out to join us!}. And then at 5pm we'd walk out onto the rocks, just like we did, but this time hundred of people would be paddle boarding, kayaking or anchoring their boats in the bay all around us to hear our spontaneous outdoor concert. It's like busking with epic scenery and spectators who came by on purpose. Amazing.

And then as if the universe heard my little dream, a lone paddle boarder came closer and closer. I sang a little louder for him and he paddled all the way into shore serenaded by our music. I didn't know if he could hear us over the waves and the wind but I let myself soak in this moment as our first concert on the rocks...audience of 1....baby steps.

On our walk back to the car, Jason (the paddleboarder) hopped off the back of his truck, giant burrito in hand, and thanked us for the music that escorted him home. We had a beautiful little awesome-human-to-awesome-human moment, talked about the gorgeous bird feathers we'd picked up and said goodbye with aloha. Music is a gift and when we share it, it connects us. I think I'll always remember this first little concert and I'd like to think he'll always remember it too (I mean, that's not much to ask really - how many sing-songwriters are performing out on jetty's in Lake Washington on Tuesday nights? lol).

:)
Chamonix

Stressed About the Direction My Life is Heading

What do I want to do with my life? I'm getting so caught up in this dilemma right now. I see two lifestyles ahead of me. I can stay in one relationship, in our house, running my business, maybe getting married, maybe having kids. I can try a new relationship, I can leave everything behind and go after a crazy big dream of being a traveling musician, seeking adventure. Could I find a compromise between both? Do I want that? Would I be half-assing both? Would I be lukewarm for two things instead of a raging fire for one thing?

I feel I'm approaching a fork in the road and I'm scared and I don't know what to do. I have dreams and I'm doubting whether it's the actual dream I want or just the feeling I'd get from that dream. Maybe I can get that feeling from many different paths? 

:) Chamonix

Press Play (Song in Progress)

You know that feeling when life suddenly feels like you're in a movie. For me, it usually happens when I'm listening to music, walking down a city street, people watching and reflecting on how short and bitter sweet human life is.

I've started having so much fun living in my own movie - truly enjoying my own life and constantly playing music so it feels like my own soundtrack - that I have zero desire to watch actual movies or TV. I haven't wanted to watch Netflix in almost a full year and when someone asks me to watch a movie I feel this "nooo!" feeling in my gut. It's like a sadness...I don't want to watch a movie because it feels like I have to put my own life on pause for a couple hours and I don't want to do that.  

This week I was in the shower thinking about this...isn't it interesting how so many people wish their own lives were more like the movies. But all a movie is, is following someone's life. If you can see your own life through this lens...imagine you're in a movie, look for the comedic moments, get sucked into the romances, laugh at the things that go wrong.

So many of us experience a taste of vibrant life and exclaim "hey, this feels just like a movie!"
but what if we were always living this way? Then maybe we'd go to the cinema and the screen would start playing and we would exclaim, "hey, this feels just like life!". 

I hopped out of the shower, grabbed my boyfriends guitar and my notebook, jumped onto the bed wrapped in my towel and wrote this song... 

xoxo
Chamonix

"Even a Queen" Jam Session in Different Music Genres

"Let's hear these basic bitch chords you have for your song and let's do something more interesting." - My Musically Talented & Very Opinionated Brother

Let me paint you a picture...
A basement with lots of windows. 15 guitars hanging on the walls. A dirty plate with half eaten birthday cake sitting on top of a stacks of our dad's old LPs. Recording equipment rollin' and my brother converting my sweet acoustic song into a juicy blues tune. 

Ian's fingers were flying across the guitar. Vinny was over on the drums. I was struggling to hear the rhythm, my mouth making out with that fabric thing that covers the mic, and trying to sound like the lead singer of 'Alabama Shakes'. My brother wanted me to try singing 'like a big black woman' to really get my voice projecting out with more soul. Crazy challenging.

After trying blues, he challenged me to country, John Mayer style, Christian worship music, Enya and Status Quo rock and roll. My vocal chords were so confused, my brain was glitching and I was loving every second. What an incredible way to learn the limits and possibilities of this vocal instrument I'm training. So cool. 

My homework, is to start listening to new types of music and figuring out how to sing along to them. Maybe the new music will influence what I'm producing myself. 

xx
Chamonix

So this video is a total mess to listen to but I LOVE how my voice sounds. The mic was falling off the stand, my brother was monopolizing the room with his crazy awesome guitar riffs, Vinny was doing his best to play with everyone and Molly was chillin' in the back - probably board as fuck as she listened to the cacophony rebounding off the walls. haha Whatever, we were all doing our own thing and I still kinda love it. Happy listening...I hope it doesn't ruin your eardrums.

The song I'm singing is a new one..."Even a Queen". 
xx
Chamonix

Dressing Up as Emos at Pike Place Market - I'm Singing (Live in the Park)

"I get a little bit Genghis Khan
I don't want you to get it on
With nobody else but me
With nobody else but me"
(Genhis Kan Lyrics by Miike Snow)

My boyfriend was howling these lyrics at the top of his lungs as we walked around the streets of Belltown (Seattle) last time. It was 10pm and I bet people were flocking to their windows to see what kind of crazy opera was happening on the streets down below. 

We were dressed up as 'emos' and carrying a guitar. We were living out our own musical. We started the night pretending to 'not feel anything' and be all emotional destraught. As the night went on, from street corner to street corner we roamed, narrating our entire adventure through improvised song - dancing and acting out our dramatic lyrics. By the end we were laughing about everything.

We sat on the hill by Pike Place market. We sat on the benches outside Local 360. We stared with big eyes into 'Tune: Hi-Fi for Humans'. Outside Local 360 we had a few moments where we were flowing so beautifully with the music waves (like surfers on the ocean), the lyics and melodies and chords were just coming together perfectly.

There was no forethought. It just poured out and I watched it magically come together. This 'zone' just can't be forced. It feels like I plug into the musical layer of the universe and the music just transfer through me out into the world. I can't responsibility for the music, only for the ability to make myself present and open so the music can flow through. I get to just be a vessel, an observer to something FULLY AWESOME.


So yes, playing in public has become my favorite way to play music. I used to hide in my room. Now that I've broken through the barrier and I'm not longer afraid to blast out my voice as I walk down the street, the world has become my oyster. Anytime I feel nervous, I just remind myself...I would LOVE LOVE LOVE it if someone (like me) walked by me on the street signing. That person would be adding character to the city, brighting my day and making the world a more interesting, beautiful, interactive, fun place. When I remember that, it's way easier to take risks and 'make a fool of myself'. 

xoxo
Chamonix

If It's Not a HELL YES, It's a No - Pondering My Destiny Naked

'Fuck." I watched this word literally slip out of my mouth, my chin dropped, staring down at my phone.

It's 100 degrees outside, my boyfriend and I are lying naked on the couch downstairs trying to stay cool. We're listening to metal music (because I'm on a mission to learn how to appreciate music that I've always hated). I grab my phone and open Instagram to post a picture that I took earlier today of us at the beach. BUT the first picture that pops up is a post by @alevidal and for some reason I decide to click on her name and explore her Instagram feed. That led me to her blog and as I watched the most recent blog post load on my Samsung Galaxy 7S screen (yay for new phones with pretty screens) my mouth opened and I literally watched the word "fuck" slip off my tongue. 

That was it. This amazingly talented photographer/videographer specializes in creating promotional photos and videos for other creative businesses and brands. Her job is to create photos/videos that make other businesses (her clients) look AMAZING. It's 'dope as fuck' as the kids say these days. So what's my problem?



Well, I do the same thing. I recently launched my own business called "Chamonix Films" that does the same thing. I know I have the technical skills and creative potential to produce work at the same tier as her BUT it hit me that I just don't have the drive or calling for it. I see my work as totally elementary compared to hers and I just don't feel the motivation to put in the hours and sweat it would take to get to where she is. Ever since joining the photography/videography industry I've felt like I didn't quite fit in, like I've been striving to be like these superstar artists that lead the way and everyone worships them (and I hate that I fall into that category too...the worshipers), and I feel discouraged that I could never compare or I won't get that necessary stroke of luck or opportunity that's required for me to accomplish what they've done. I look at her work and I feel captivated and envious. I love it and I want it for myself. I want to have my name on it, I want the credit for creating something as beautiful as that. It makes me feel underwhelmed by my own work - it's not that great in comparison. I lose appreciation for what I created - now it's just mediocre. 

So lying here naked, I ponder...do I want to be a phenomenal photographer/filmmaker like her? Do I want to dedicate my time and energy to that visual art form, networking with that group of people, working for those artists? Do I want to grow my new business to be more like hers or take try and discover my own powerful style or should I just stop. Just stop all together and focus all my energy on what's flowing naturally. And by naturally I mean, where am I shining and excelling without having to force something? Where is greatest flowing without resistance? Where am I being set free by myself...i.e. my gut instinct is NOT holding me back?
 


I read a quote once... "If it's not a HELL YES, then it's a no."
I use this as my measuring stick for all sorts of decisions. It's so obvious when I put two things side by side and ask this questions.

For example... 
"Do you want to be an incredible promotional video filmmaker?" - Yah...that'd be awesome." "Are you willing to put in the work required?" - 'Meh. Maybe.'

VS

"Do you want to be an incredible musician?" - "Hell yes."
"Are you willing to put in the work required?" - "Hell yes!'

Now what do you think I should do with my one short precious life?
I think I'll start by getting off this couch and going to grab my guitar. Time to practice scales. Do Re Mi

xoxo
Chamonix

How Do You Do You - Song in Progress #4

here's recording # 3 billion of this song in progress
'how do you do you'

this time i'm practicing with vinny #4 on guitar.
practicing with my brother #3
practicing by myself #2
practicing by myself #1

this time we're playing around with song structure and i seriously need to figure out how to get enough air in my lungs to make it all the way through the song without sounding like im on helium. i can't wait to 'wrap up' this song and get a gorgeous audio finally published!

for now though...here's to many more rehearsals. ;)
xx chamonix

Dirty Paws by Of Monsters & Men (Acoustic Cover) w/ Chamonix & Vinny

Hanging out at Vinny's house learning new songs is now my nightly ritual after work. I love seeing the process we're making on the covers we've been learning. We've been working on 'Dirty Paws' casually for about a week now and it's exciting to see it coming together. Of course, the first time I went to record this video I totally forgot the lyrics and had to grab my phone LOL but once I had them on my phone we had smooth sailin'. I love the 'ou ou ou's' at the end of this song when Vinny and I harmonize together. So pretty! Oh, and don't you love our 'stage lights' from the kitchen behind us. hehe ;)
xx
Chamonix