Find the complete show notes and a documentary about Nick Zammuto at redefinedlife.com/6

Nick Zammuto is a sound artist/musician/homesteader/benevolent dictator of the band Zammuto.   A cancer diagnosis during his college years forced him to reconsider his choice to pursue chemistry and initiated a transition toward a life of music.  Nick now makes music for a living and leads a homesteader's life in rural Vermont with his wife and three sons.  

Nick's creativity and perpetual experimentation have led to an ever-changing sound which is impossible to categorize.  It doesn't really "sound like" anything but Zammuto.   Stay tuned after the interview to hear his song "Need Some Sun" from his most recent album, Anchor.

In this episode Nick shares:

• How he didn't choose music, music chose him. 
• A realization about the nature of chemistry rocked his perception of what he thought to be true. 
• Lessons from experiencing cancer.
• How he broke away from the work-a-day world and hiked the Appalachian Trail.
• The value of disconnecting from our cultural addiction to noise and inputs. 
• The value of touring for a musician.
• How struggle, or at least not doing what is easiest, can lead to greater satisfaction.
• His views on balance.
• How he gets past self-doubt.

Nick Zammuto Quotes

"I want to use tools without becoming a tool."

"I don't see how anybody could be satisfied doing what's easiest."

"The guiding principles are don't do drugs and don't let fear shut you down."

"Nowadays we confuse writing e-mails with doing work."

"What I want to do is cover as much ground as possible while I'm on this planet and try everything."

"It took me a while to figure out that it wasn't going to be someone else who was going to push me in the right direction.  It was going to be a personal choice and it was going to take some creative destruction to get there."

"I'm not going to give people the same experience twice."

More about Nick Zammuto

Zammuto Website

Zammuto on iTunes

All music from this episode is provided by Zammuto.

Intro and outro song: Don't Be a Tool

End Song: Need Some Sun

Both songs are from the album Anchor.