Editor’s note: Chris Sanchez, lead singer and trumpeter for the enduring Lake Tahoe rock band Lavish Green, penned his thoughts the day after iconic superstar Prince, 57, died at his Minnesota home on April 21, 2016. In this backstage column, Sanchez reflects on how Prince’s innovation and his stand for artistic freedom changed the world of music.
With the passing of Prince on my mind, I woke up today with the realization of the countless musicians that hold on with strong grip to their artistic freedom.
Prince changed the entire globe with his genius abilities combined with his desire to make his creations solely in his control. He shed light on the fact that the industry does not have to have a stronghold on what we put out to the listeners of the world. As he will be missed forever, Prince represents all of us in our quest to change the world little or big musically the way we choose to.
Lavish Green, I’m proud to say, has taken great pride in our 20 years to do whatever we want with our music and be the unique band that we are. With many suggestions from the outside, we have held our songs close and created from our hearts and souls and put them to what you know and love.
Bands such as Fishbone and so many others do the same without letting anyone else change their drive to create freely. I love making music from bare necessity and from scratch and after all these years I don’t see that ever changing.
Hopefully, through Prince’s passing, the industry will recognize that organic music needs to resurface. The artistic freedom and bands’ DNA need to be reborn to the music industry because its value to life on earth is priceless and not yet lost. We will always make the music we want and I speak for more than my band — I speak for the real, free creative artists of the planet. I, too, love that no one has been able to categorize our band of sound.
— Chris Sanchez
photo credit www.theguardian.com
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