Periphery’s Spencer Sotelo Warns “You Aren’t Going to Make Any Money From Being in a Metal Band”

The members of Periphery continue to be some of the most honest about the ins and outs of the modern metal business. Guitarist Misha Mansoor has been notoriously insistent that wise musicians “don’t rely on your band for income.” Now singer Spencer Sotelo has echoed those sentiments in a new interview.

Asked by Metal Hammer about “the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given,” the vocalist responds:

“That you’d better be in it for the music, because you sure as hell aren’t going to make any money from being in a metal band, certainly in this day and age.”

Although this dashing of aspiring musicians’ rockstar dreams may seem like a bummer — if a band as successful as Periphery can’t make a living from their music, who can? — I choose to see the silver lining by focusing on the first thing Sotelo says: “You’d better be in it for the music.” This is one of the best things about metal, IMO… 99.9% of the bands doing it are doing it because they earnestly love it and feel a need to do it, not because it’s paying their bills. That’s a far cry from a lot of the garbage that’s currently popular in the mainstream. Looking at you, Sheeran. You putz.