JT ROACH
We’re all pretty familiar with the philosophical thought: “You are your own worst enemy.” And it’s likely that each and every one of us can relate to it so profoundly, to the point of openly recollecting on various memories, experiences, and situations in which we encountered the trueness of these words. The question then is, at what point did this thought provoking statement become so deeply ingrained within us, to the point that we animated it within our personal lives. The even bigger question, is how do we move beyond it; bursting through its isolating and claustrophic-like walls.
In all truthfulness, the fact is that there are no right answers for either of these questions. To each their own, right? But if life ever extends a hand, it does so through allowing lessons to be learned vicariously via other’s experiences and their insightful, wise stories. And that is where we find the one and only, bona fide JT Roach (whom many of you may know through his collaboration with Slander and Said The Sky on the inspiring and soul-touching song, Potions).
JT Roach was born and raised in Madison, Wisconsin. As I’m sure many of us can guess, his origins include dabbling in music at an early age, learning to play guitar, and later in college, expanding his skillset to songwriting. What you might not be able to guess, is that upon graduating college, Roach made his way to Chicago, and found himself working as an assistant editor at The Onion.
As I think we can all assume, Roach enjoyed his time there, and did quite well. But despite the enjoyment and growth he was experiencing, he could not deny that daily he felt the inner calling of something more. Something with music. Something with songwriting. But as we all do, it was repeatedly pushed aside, hushed down under the fantastical words + understanding that it was just a dream. That is, until he read the ever inspiring book, The War of Art, by Steven Pressfield; and suddenly, the world he knew was no longer the world he could comfortably live within.
“The book calls you out on your own BS, classifying everything that holds you back from chasing your dreams as “resistance”. So the book ends up being a manual on how to handle that “resistance”, so that you can fearlessly chase your dreams".
With complete awareness, Roach faced his world; suddenly confronted with the revelation that his day to day life was a facade he had simply settled into. But with awareness comes transformation + action. Once we have reached certain levels of enlightenment within ourselves, we often find that the uncomfortable tickle we were once able to hush down, begins to expand and grow, pushing us outwards, away from that safe place. If you’ve been through it, you can relate on how disconcerting of an experience it is; and yet, how exciting + thrilling it is all at once.
“I thought to myself: I’m in the wrong career. I want to be songwriting. I might as well take the risk, save the money and move to LA to pursue my dream. We’re all going to die someday so I might as well go for it. “
With his world methodically + slowly breaking down piece by piece, urging him to push his own boundaries, Roach wasted no time and quit his job that same week. Six months later, he was staring at the busy streets of LA without a single plan. Naturally, it didn’t take long for money to run low, and the couch surfing to ensue.
And like all stories of the greats, the lowest point is often the most critical and beneficial. He happened to find himself crashing on a couch in a Musician Commune House, located in Silverlake (CA). As I said, this experience was most pivotal, and this is due to the fact that Roach’s new roommates were all active musicians. Not a second went by when they weren’t encouraging and pushing each-other to make music and be the best they absolutely could. Daily they would listen to each other’s work, and would provide honest, but critical feedback. Recognizing gold when he had it, Roach ensured he utilized the feedback effectively, improving in all the ways he possibly could.
If you’ve heard any of Roach’s material, with his effortless ability to create such impactful, transcendent, and ethereal sounds, packed gently within poetic lyricism, then it’ll be no surprise that shortly after this experience in this house, he was signing his first publishing deal, beginning his new journey as a professional songwriter.
Since then, JT has managed to work with countless notable artists, has been featured on dozens of massive hits, and even took first place on NBC’s Songland.
If JT Roach’s story teaches us anything, it teaches us the realistic understanding that pushing beyond the comfort zone is never easy, and often times it begins with what looks life failure and complete lows; but if persistent and diligent, it can end in the most beautiful, successful, and fulfilling experiences.
