Rising Stars: Meet Raymond Flanagan

Today we’d like to introduce you to Raymond Flanagan. 

Hi Raymond, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
I was born in Parma Hospital on November 17, 1992, to Raymond J. and April Flanagan. I grew up in Medina, OH. I’ve always been drawn to art and music, probably because my mom draws and paints and sings along to the radio. I used to imitate Tim McGraw and Bruce Springsteen before I was in kindergarten. Later, I would try to become Spider-Man, which led me to being beaten by a gang of kids with a bunch of wiffle bats. My brother Russ (May 23, 1994) and I have always bonded over music, and he plays drums and keys in my band, The Mean Machines. I begged for a guitar and got a half size classical when I was 8, but for some reason the local music store in Medina, OH (no Woodsy’s, they’re great, this one is gone now) wouldn’t take me on for lessons, saying they weren’t taking students that young at the moment unless they were serious. This sent me spiraling down a rabbithole of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater for a few years until I once again begged my parents for a guitar and got a First Act Strat when I was 11. I taught myself because I didn’t trust anyone to give me lessons due to my prior encounter. 

When I started playing guitar, I was into Ozzy Osbourne (most specifically with Randy Rhoads), Black Sabbath, and AC/DC. I learned how to play initially on classic metal and rock like a lot of kids, and I was still in an era where I used to tape songs onto cassette tapes from the radio. A lot of bad music on the radio, but I was just trying to soak up whatever I could. I pirated a lot of music too, which, with all its moral quandaries, helped me discover a lot of music I otherwise wouldn’t have. Into my teens, I was basically a prog-rock nerd, the most notable influences being Yes, King Crimson, and Genesis. I still love Genesis, especially the Peter Gabriel years. 

In high school, I played in a handful of different bands, but would always be writing and not showing anyone what I was doing. I used to record myself on a karaoke machine with two tape decks and some terrible karaoke microphones. I played in the Tri-C High School Rock Off all 4 years I was in high school and met a lot of other musicians from other schools in the area, including David Alan Shaw, who is a local producer/engineer and amazing musician, who also plays with me in my band The Mean Machines, and is one of my closest friends. 

Out of high school, I didn’t know what to do. I was working at McDonald’s and felt like shit all the time. I started going to open mics and jam nights, largely drawing me towards the Cleveland area, but living in Medina, I would go wherever and I also found communities in Akron and Kent. Michael Bay & The Bad Boys of Blues had their jams at Parkview on Wednesday night and Brother’s Lounge on Thursday night. Brent Kirby’s 10×3 was on Wednesday night at Brother’s. These weekly events became training grounds for me to develop myself and learn from older, more experienced professional musicians. I didn’t know you could just make a living as a working musician. This changed my life. 

I worked in a warehouse in Middleburg Hts that was a middleman for O-rings and oil seals for 3 1/2 years and was taking gigs on the side when they would pop up. There were nights I would be out at a jam late at night and end up sleeping in the parking lot because there was no point to drive all the way back to Medina and get an hour of sleep. Gigs started popping up enough that they were interfering with the warehouse, so I just took the plunge and quit. I’ve been a full-time self-employed musician since spring of 2016. I play in bars, restaurants, markets, private parties, as well as venues around town. I work largely solo but have also been a guitar player with a myriad of musicians around the Northeast Ohio area. I love working on records, both my own and helping other artists and songwriters bring their visions to reality. 

Through all of this, the thing that I’ve always been drawn to is songs. I love melodies and words. I am writing and looking for ideas 24/7. Inspiration can come from anywhere. The pandemic drove me to start self-producing my own music in late 2020. I’ve been releasing 2 songs on the first Friday of every month since January 2021. I have continued to do this for over a year and plan on doing it for the foreseeable future. 

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The biggest struggle is trying to monetize art. The two things are typically antithetical. I am able to work as a gigging musician, and I pretty much just do my own stuff, and that affords me a lot of free time to focus on creativity as I typically only work 2-3 hours a night (though summertime sometimes brings 2-3 gigs a day). My biggest challenge is trying to find an audience. The only thing I really think about is making art. I don’t have any managerial skills or big career ambitions; all of my aspirations have to do with the creation of artwork. I would like to travel a lot more, and figuring out how to combine seeing and learning about different places and cultures with playing music is perplexing to me. I don’t like being told what to do and I am very protective of my creativity. 

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m a musician. An artist and a songwriter. I love to play the guitar. 

I do several different types of work. A lot of it is just gigging. Bars and restaurants, farmer’s markets, artisan markets, local events, and the occasional venue shows. 

There are also some community-oriented ways I am able to use music for work. I frequently work with Roots of American Music, and local non-profit that puts music in schools, old folks’ homes, places for adults with developmental disabilities, stuff like that. Some programs I’ve done a handful of times include Stop the Hate, where we go into classrooms in the Cleveland area and write songs with kids about anti-discrimination, Blues is the Backbone, where I get to teach kids about some classic blues artists, and my monthly gigs with ViaQuest, where I play for adults with developmental disabilities. 

I’ve also been working with Project DREW in Avon Lake since 2017, which pairs local songwriters with local veterans, and we write songs about their lives. It has provided some of the most deeply satisfying experiences of my life getting to use my creativity to help tell stories that might otherwise not get told. 

I believe in internalizing the history and heritage of whatever you’re passionate about and then throwing it out the window. Whatever you like, figure out what it’s made up of and follow it. You have to balance technical skill and knowledge with pure intuition and personal experience. You can learn everything from others, but there’s no sense in copying their works of experience. You have to find your own and fight for them. 

What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
Keeps all your senses open. Maintain a steady battle of trying to murder your ego while letting it run rampant at the same time, or you won’t get anything done. Realize there is always more to learn, and that the parameters of the realm of the possible are always wider and deeper than your current imagination can conceive. Combine when to stay rooted and when to dive into the unknown and the uncomfortable. 

Pricing:

• My singles are up on Bandcamp for $1.99 or pay what you want.

Contact Info:

• Email: rayflanaganmusic@gmail.com
• Website: www.rayflanagan.net
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rayaflanagan/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rayaflanagan
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/RayAFlanagan
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQwaukwcLfsCNMspgEtKPXg
• Other: rayflanagan.bandcamp.com

Image Credits
Clint Holley
Roger Hoover