Here at Scummy Water Tower, we’re always looking to share interesting, thought-provoking, and diverse stories from musicians and entertainers from all walks of life. Whether it’s a veteran in the scene or an emerging act, we enjoy reading and sharing stories that explore the artist’s craft. We and our audience enjoy the authenticity, honesty, vulnerability, and further glimpse into a creatives’ mindset within their writing style. We want content that people are passionate about writing. When someone is that passionate, it’s always a good read, regardless of the topic, even if you weren’t very interested in the subject matter before reading.
Essays should be a minimum of 300 words but can be 1000 words or longer. Please also include a photo of yourself for the byline or author box. If you feel that the essay doesn’t fully cover what you’d like to say, we can give your voice an additional small series or column on the site. If you want to contribute an essay to accompany a session in our Water Tower Sessions series, you can find those guidelines here.
Please email Josh and Alex for consideration of your artist essay.
Below are some ideas of things that could be explored in an artist essay for a musician/artist:
- Stories from the road
- The inspiration for songs, lyrics, album and/or song titles, etc.
- The songwriting and/or recording process, etc. If not music, what creative process did you use?
- Artists that have influenced and inspired you (including but not limited to The Replacements, Bonus points if The Replacements.)
Below are some ideas of things that could be explored in an artist essay for a filmmaker:
- The inspiration for the film, scenes, etc.
- The creative process of creating the film (writing, filming, editing, etc.)
- Filmmaker influences and stories of people who influenced you
You can pitch your essay ideas and submissions to Josh and Alex. In addition to the essay, please include the following:
- A title for the essay. Our format is [Essay title] by [Artist Name]
- A photo we should use as the main header image
- A photo for the writer’s byline/author box
- 1-3 photos that relate to the essay
- Social media and other links you’d like us to post directly following the essay as well as socials and links to be included in your author box
- (Optional) A short bio for the author box can be anywhere from a sentence to a paragraph in length
Any other questions, please reach out to Josh and Alex!
