Meet Jordan Esker: Songwriter & Producer and Technical Writer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jordan Esker and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jordan, how has your perspective on work-life balance evolved over time?
While I’m unsure of what to refer to as my work, I will say that I’ve always maintained a healthy balance between my day job and spending time on making music. Over time, I’ve figured out how. to accomplish making more music in a lesser amount of time by just knowing how to produce the sounds that are happening in my head. I also don’t waste time in mulling over what to work on. I just start on something that I know needs to be done to work towards finishing a certain project. I also keep a lot of notes on what I’m trying to achieve, so that when I have the time to work towards it I can start from these notes and know what my intention was. Not only does that save time, it saves me from burning out during my creative time and makes a more honest output. But it’s still hard to fit the time in when you work 9ish-5ish, then make food, then do something for your health (walk, run, workout, meditate, absorb other art). I mean as I type this, I’ve just finished about an hours worth of work after a day of doing the other things, and while I was able to record a keyboard part, add an ambient sound to another track, and make another edit to smooth a song transition on this EP we are working on, I have a list of things I wanted to get to tonight.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
If you have a crazy idea that is slightly more challenging to pull off than if you didn’t do it, then do it. If I have a sound in my head I won’t stop until I’ve achieved it. I’ve rallied a group of brass players to record a rhythm track for a song live with us at a middle school theater in the hours of something like 10 pm – 3 am, just because I wanted to mimic the 60s walll of sound style. Then I had a similar group play that song live at our release show as well. I love collecting other musicians to make the band sound a little different, even just for one show or one song. It’s the ambition to not be genre bound, at least project to project, that drives me to do this stuff. The lesson I’m still trying to learn is the one that has gotten me the furthest when I’ve listened to it: put yourself out there. Don’t settle for just creating and sending it out to the void. Figure out what aspect of what you do you’re super interested in, and wonder why no one else is talking about it like you do in your head, and talk about it somewhere.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
This is super hard to say any more. I just moved to Tampa from St. Pete, though I’ve always known both areas well. I don’t go out at night and really just do takeout for food. But I’d go to Pickford’s Counter in the morning and New World Brewery at Night. In between, I’d probably take them to a park.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I rely heavily on encouragement from other people. While I will always continue making music for myself, and to impress namely myself, there are a few people, mainly musicians, who are always giving me positive yet specific feedback about the music I make, and it absolutely revitalizes my self-worth. Those people are Daniel Caballero, Jaron Jammer, Nick Shurtz, Tyler Reinholt, Joey Morris, and of course all of my bandmates: Vincent Montemarano, Emmit Dobbyn, and Matt Raspo.

Website: jordanesker.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jordanesker/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JordanEsker/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/jordanesker

Image Credits
Donna Gren