Meet Geoff Mueck | Musician, Visual Artist & Public Speaker

We had the good fortune of connecting with Geoff Mueck and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Geoff, do you have some perspective or insight you can share with us on the question of when someone should give up versus when they should keep going?
For me, there is no other choice but to keep going. Adversity has reared it’s ugly head many, many times during my artistic career but giving up was never an option; and I’ll tell you why. It’s because I’ve engrained creativity into my daily routine. It’s become part of my daily ritual. It’s almost no different than scratching a mosquito bite or yawning. And because I have, over time, been blessed with the resources, I can manifest these ideas into the physical space and set them loose into the world ie. I get to make racket in front of my community and have fun. Who would want to quit that?

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I don’t really think anything sets me apart from my peers. We are driven in our own ways and all unique. What I can say is my journey has been wild and anything but easy. Having been a touring musician for the better part of my life, I’ve encountered many strange situations. In 2016, my band Zolopht was robbed in the middle of the night. Our van, trailer, instruments…everything was stolen. We were stranded and had no idea what to do or how to get home. Luckily we recovered the van and trailer but everything else was a total loss. When we got home we found out several benefits and concerts had already been organized in our name to help us recover and get back on the road. I cannot express my gratitude enough for that gift. But, how do you reciprocate that? We started playing benefit concerts of our own to bring awareness to local causes like suicide prevention and teen homelessness but it just never felt like it was enough. For me anyway. What I learned from that experience was to keep doing what I can to inspire folks to believe in their own self worth and capabilities.

My proudest achievement so far was this live music experiment I came up with pre-covid. I called it “ONO” or “One Night Only”. The idea was to gather a group of musicians whom never performed in a band together and challenge them to write a full night of music in 3 weeks; never to be performed again. Similar to a sand mandala, we wrote 2 hours of music, performed it live and walked away. It was incredibly fulfilling! Also kind of a shame because 4 or 5 of those songs were really good! I mean, there was a lot of improvisation but we REALLY tried to write the best songs we could. The week after, quarantine happened and we all know how that treated the live music business. Now that things are calming down I hope to try it again with a new group of people.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I am luckily to live in Grand Junction, Colorado. The Western Slope offers so many beautiful views and chances for outdoor recreation that it’s hard to pinpoint just a few activities. There is mountain biking in Fruita, wine tasting in Palisade or river activities in GJ proper. Plus I am an just an hour or so away from world-class skiing and fishing. Myself though, I would be more interested in the art/music scene which are abundant as well.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My community. Family, friends, strangers, fellow artists, local philanthropists, significant others; they deserve all of the praise possible.

Instagram: geothrobass@instagram.com, zolophtmusic@instagram.com, highspeeddub@instagram.com

Facebook: facebook.com/zolopht, facebook.com/highspeeddubmusic

Youtube:       youtube.com/zolophtmusic

Image Credits
Scotty Kenton Photography, Maddy Trinity Photography, Aaron Acker