Can music be your full-time job?

In Lithuania, Tautvydas Gaudiešius [Tautvi:dəs Gaudie∫ius], Junior A, is known as “that guy who wrote some songs in his tiny flat and got crazy famous”. A year and a half ago his song Sleep Machine attracted the attention of companies such as Sony and Columbia Records as well as hit the playlist of Spotify USA Viral 50. That’s a lot for a guy who used to sell fancy eyewear in London while writing music in his tiny Vilnius flat.

HI, TAUTVYDAS. YOU ARE A MUSICIAN, YOUR SONGS ARE BEING PLAYED ALL AROUND THE WORLD. DO YOU LIVE FULLY OFF OF MUSIC?

Yeah, I've lived completely off of music since the very start when I dropped Sleep Machine in 2017.

WHAT KIND OF JOBS HAVE YOU HAD IN THE PAST?

I have only had a few jobs where I was formally employed, had a title and everything. While studying Media and Culture in London, I worked at an eyewear shop, selling very high-end glasses to very high-end people. I sometimes joke around saying that during the year and a half while I worked in that shop I learned more about people, communication and the English language than in my three years in uni. It was a really positive experience. When I came back to Vilnius, I got a job as a designer/programmer at a firm.

AND WHAT ABOUT THE ONES WHERE YOU WEREN'T FORMALLY EMPLOYED?

Oh, those were all of my summers spent on construction sites laying out tiles! While I was growing up, my dad had a construction business. He didn't want me to end up spoiled, so he'd always ask if I had a plan for the summer and I always messed up and said that I didn't. So then he'd tell me "I have a plan for you". I worked with his employees tearing down buildings, laying tiles, building drying facilities, home insulations. It taught me a lot about basic work ethics, and now it kills me every time I'm writing an album because I work so much. The jobs used to buy me instruments, now in retrospective, I see it gave me a good insight into what "working a lot" means.

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WORDS: JUSTĖ KULIKAUSKAITĖ

PHOTOS: UGNĖ HENRIKO