Today we’d like to introduce you to Ethan Stafford.
Hi Ethan, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I ventured to Austin with the dream of carving my name in the music scene here. Austin’s legendary status as the home of Stevie Ray Vaughn, one of my personal guitar heroes, is what inspired me to move here. The first time I saw Gary Clark, Jr. live opening for Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins (RIP) of the Foo Fighters was the concert that solidified my passion for live rock and roll. I started playing guitar when I was fourteen. I was gifted a Fender Jaguar by my mother before she died. I still have that guitar – in fact, I have it tattooed on my right forearm even, my strumming and picking hand.
I learned guitar under the tutelage of renowned Bluegrass teacher Danny Casstevens, and competed in the Fiddler’s Convention in the piedmont region of North Carolina. Country, Rock, Blues, Classical, Pop, RnB, Heavy Metal, you name it and I was curious to play it. I was also a bass guitarist in a Jazz band during high school, where I received the Louis Armstrong Jazz Award during my senior year at Jesse Carson High.
I moved here after traveling through the United Kingdom and Ireland playing music and recently came from Asheville, North Carolina, where I attended Western Carolina University for four years before graduating cum laude with a Bachelor’s in Film. A good friend once told me, “there’s nothin’ more dangerous than a travelin’ man with a guitar.” and that stuck with me for good. My heroes growing up were exactly that – Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Eddie Van Halen, Gary Clark Jr., Kurt Cobain and Robert Smith from the Cure, just to name a few.
In 2021, my directorial debut short horror film “In the Woods Somewhere” was accepted into the Dickens Horror Film Festival in Longmont, CO, as well as playing at my college’s film festival, Controlled Chaos Film Festival. It was my proudest achievement yet.
Right after that, I just released my music video directorial debut with AEON RINGS’ new single “FULLY OPERATIONAL” from their new album “ENEMY” which was just released on October 7th. This inspired me to create my own brand, Elektro*Haus Studio. I’m a director, screenwriter, musician and singer-songwriter who loves the artistic craft of creating things to share with the rest of the world, whether it be a guitar solo or a dramatic scene of a film.
I just moved to Austin, and I’m currently the Singer/Songwriter and Guitarist of this new project we’re starting called “Doden”. It’s got a lot of influences, Doom Metal, Post-Punk, Gothic Rock, and some Electronica. We love combining the sounds of the organ with electric guitar and dark vocals.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
There have definitely been many struggles along the way. Show business is crazy. The saying goes, “keep your friends close and your enemies closer”. It’s about not revealing your deck at hand while playing the game. You’ve got to save your ace till the show goes on. If not, break a leg, and if you can’t do that — bust a move. The same goes for other areas in my life. I’ve had people I really trusted try to turn their back on me or break me down. Of course, those people are not worth your time.
I have by no means had it easy. I’m an orphan, although I like to joke that I was raised by a “pack of wolves”, that is my scout troop I was in for years. They took me in like family, taught me survival things, how to fix stuff myself and the like. I’ve often been told I am “wise beyond my years” which I wear as a badge of honor, because I’m not gonna lie, putting myself through school, working myself as hard as I did, the friends and enemies I’ve made along the way, some twice my age on both sides of that fence – at twenty-two I feel like I’ve already lived an entire life itself, and I’ve only just started!
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m a guitarist, singer-songwriter, film director, music video director, VFX editor, and screenwriter. My specialty is mainly in guitar, songwriting, and directing film and video.
What sets me apart from others is the ability to stay industrious and focused even if things get hard along the way. It’s the support I’ve had from the rest of my family and friends that has helped me bring this focus into something I’m proud to make or be a part of. So far, the Austin community has been very receptive towards me.
My Studio is set up in my home office, where I edit music videos. I also use it as a recording studio, where band members and I exchange our recordings before we go into a larger studio and get the recordings down super tight.
My two biggest productions so far have been “In the Woods Somewhere” (2021), and the newest AEON RINGS music video release, “FULLY OPERATIONAL” (2022), which you can now view on Negative Gain’s label YouTube page.
How do you define success?
There are a common phrase people repeat called “fake it ’til you make it” and I think it’s probably the worst advice ever given in the history of ever. Success comes from being genuine and passionate about what you do, otherwise, it won’t last, because you won’t be inspired to pick yourself up when you fail. And I have learned that you will fail many, many times. There will be songs that just aren’t going to make it on the album. Some scenes won’t make the cut. Some guitar notes will be off-key, out of tune or just plain wrong. You’ve got to learn how to shake it off, and get back on the horse. The cowboys that get back on their horses are the ones who ride into the sunset, in my book.
Success also comes from adaptability, especially in the industry I am in. In order for me to grow as an artist, I had to learn how to collaborate with others, which meant accepting that my ideas weren’t entirely perfect. Synergy is part of energy, and energy is part of synergy. The two go hand-in-hand.
And the last point I define as success is knowing that you are good enough to do the things you want to do. Believing in yourself sounds cliche, but it is real, and more real than faking it to try to make it.
Pricing:
- Music Video Directing: $150 per day
- Editing: $50 per day
- Editing + VFX/CGI: $100 per day
Contact Info:
- Website: https://ethanstafford.squarespace.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sinclairnoire/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCT5IZrKa7khAtxjsNEO2ZNQ
Image Credits
Geltman Enterprises
Chance Snowden
Dancing in the Dark Photography
Bryan Thomason
