When Making Music Starts Feeling Like a Job — Nick DiSalvo of Elder on Creative Drift

Nick DiSalvo of Elder on something every working musician in 2026 will recognize immediately — the point where creating music starts feeling less like the thing you love and more like a computer job. Nick talks candidly about how the modern reality of being in a band has become increasingly tied to screen time — digital production, social media, label administration, emails, and all of the surrounding infrastructure that now comes with making and releasing music. He works for a European record label in addition to playing in two active bands, and despite having none of the usual adult responsibilities that eat up most people's time, he still barely finds room in his daily life to sit down and just play guitar. The distance between the pure act of playing music and the reality of what sustaining a music career actually requires in 2026 is something Nick identifies clearly — including a song on Through Zero that addresses exactly this feeling, when making music starts to feel very far removed from the reasons he started in the first place. It's a conversation that will resonate with any musician, creator, or artist trying to protect the thing they love from the demands that build up around it. Through Zero is out now via Blues Funeral Recordings in North America, Stickman Records in Europe, and Bird's Robe in Australia. Pre-order variants available through Blues Funeral Recordings, Stickman Records, and Levitation Records. 🎵 ORDER THROUGH ZERO: Blues Funeral → bluesfuneral.com Stickman Records → stickmanrecords.com Levitation → levitation-records.com 🔔 SUBSCRIBE to The Sonic Road Podcast: thesonicroad.com | linktr.ee/thesonicroad 📲 FOLLOW THE SONIC ROAD PODCAST: @thesonicroad 📲 FOLLOW ELDER: beholdtheelder.com | @elderofficial ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ #Elder #NickDiSalvo #ThroughZero #TheSonicRoadPodcast #BluesFuneralRecordings