Geo Slam, a rock-n-roll-looking music producer from Los Angeles, who has worked on songs with artists like Lady Gaga, One Direction and Backstreet Boys, and who recently took Maltese singer Chrystabelle under his wing, believes that nowadays, anyone can make it big, no matter your geographical location.
"It's easy to get your talent out there nowadays," he says as he sits in the shade of an umbrella, overlooking Balluta Bay. "When I was younger, there weren't really any music schools; it was all learning by doing. Today is different."
The Power of Social Media
"Nowadays, you have all these YouTube videos, and social media is a strong thing. It's easy to get your talent shown out there. When you put your talent on YouTube, it's not left unnoticed," he said.
"You never know what will happen if you make yourselves available. You can never underestimate social media nowadays; you never know who is watching, so you have to make sure that you give it your best."
The producer expressed his surprise at Maltese people who approached him, giving him a live demo of their talent, and asking him questions about chasing their dreams. "I love that!" he exclaimed, "it's taking advantage of the opportunity, I tell them I don't really listen to demos online and they jump back and say ok then listen to me now."
Turning back to the topic of social media, he said, "There are people putting up absolutely anything to get attention. I think, whatever you put up there, you always need to give it your best. Sometimes, people like me will come across a demo and listen to it for a few seconds. Imagine those seconds weren't your best, it's like a lost chance! You should show everything that you can give! If you could only show one thing, what would it be?" he asks.
Geo Slam then gave a word of advice, "If you think you are ready, practice for one more month, and then put it out. I think you create your own luck, then when luck strikes, you need to be prepared."
Asking Geo Slam whether it is necessary to move country in order to make it big, he shakes his head 'no'. "It is not necessary to move, but it is important to be accessible to wherever your talent takes you," he said.
From Bangladesh to Stockholm to Los Angeles
As the 41-year-old LA producer narrates his story of how he pushed through to be where he is today, one may realize that he personifies the idea of 'a self-made man', and the notion of gaining success by working hard for it.
Geo Slam was originally from Bangladesh, and moved to a small town outside Stockholm, Sweden with his adoptive parents when he was young.
"In Sweden, you saw all these stars on MTV, which at that time was based much more on music," he said, recalling how his dream was ignited, "I wanted to be one of them." This dream drove to eight-hour daily, self-taught guitar practice sessions. "If you do something that frantically, you become good," he said.
He moved to Los Angeles when he was 16 years old.
"After ninth grade I wanted to pursue my dream. Even if it didn't work out, I wanted to at least try. I went to Hollywood and played with local bands, and started off by renting a room in an old woman's apartment."
"Eventually it became bigger bands, and more touring."
Geo Slam said that when you have dreams, almost everyone starts off with day-jobs in a struggle to make it. "They say many times that Hollywood is a city of dreams. Yes it is, but it is also the city of broken dreams, because only a small percentage actually makes it."
"I think people take it a bit easy for what it actually entails. I think people should be prepared mentally, knowing that they have to work hard for it. I know people who have three jobs, and between those jobs they fit in auditions."
"After a while, you can see that the ambition dies in their eyes. Then there are those people who don't seem to care who don't seem to care about the struggle with day jobs because in the meantime they are getting to do what they love. And that's the thing, if you don't have the passion, you won't have the power to go through this. If you have the passion, you won't feel the work."
Chyrstabelle
The first noticeable aspect of local artist Chrystabelle's venture with Geo Slam, is that the 'i' in her name changed to a 'y'. "In the US names like Kirstin, Kristen, Christina, is very common, so we didn't want it to be lost in all that, stands out a little bit better."
Chyrstabelle's music was brought to Geo Slam's attention through his assistant, Gary. The latter has a number of contacts who forward him songs and one of them was Chrystabelles. Gary said how he kept running after Geo Slam to hear the song, until he eventually played it for him himself in London.
Asked what stands out about Chrystabelle, the producer said that she has a unique personality in her voice. "A personality, an identity in her voice, and that is important," he said. "There are many artists who have that, so then what needs to be done is it needs to be combined in a package, with the right songs, the right talent and the right people, so it will go in the right direction."
"But it has to start with talent," he concluded.