By Kelsey Knott • Photos by Kat Flaherty-wyldcraftdesign.com
“I fill my life with moments worth the pain of loss; I love, I hurt, I feel it all, and I’ve got no regrets.” These lyrics from Glory Daze’s song, “Every Aching Memory” on his debut EP “Honey, I…,” wisely capture the value behind jumping into parts of life that are “worth the hurting.”
Originally from Los Angeles, Lea (pronounced LEE) Beiley, known on stage as Glory Daze, is an indie folk songwriter whose music reveals his introspection on personal growth through love and loss. He described receiving his first guitar at a young age as a spiritual experience and spent time in a punk rock band as a teen before bravely embarking on the solo acoustic scene.
Beiley believes that there are benefits to the size and affordability of Louisville when it comes to creative work. While LA is full of artists working toward a dream, Louisville provides a scene with a pace that doesn’t overwhelm and burn out artists, giving them more time to put their energy toward their art.
And the Monarch Music and Arts Community has been a major part of his growth. According to Beiley, the studio provides somewhat of an “office” for creatives when performances aren’t happening. He reminds us: “Mark really intended for this space to be not just a music venue and musicians community, but an artist and creative community.” In his own experience, the Monarch has progressed his career through unique opportunities. Live performances led to sharing videos that found their way to a producer, ultimately launching his success forward. But more than anything, the Monarch has shown him the immense value of community: “Everyone in the room is having an experience and is part of the experience together, and within the songs, I like to, hopefully, carry people through the experience.”
Beiley uses music to process feelings, seeing them as “journal entries of moments,” and paying attention to the feeling helps him know when it’s more than “just words in music.” His writing process often happens all at once: “Sometimes it’s an actual situation that’s unraveled that I’m recalling. Or it could be a thought, existential a lot of the time, that I’m having about life. I feel like my songs are often a realization that I’m having. But when I start writing, I’m not always sure what the realization is until I finish the song.”
He emphasized the importance of failing in his process as well: “If you’re never failing, you’re not going to get to your potential. Instead of seeing failure as this finite thing, I have sort of reframed it as a feedback system of, ‘Okay, that didn’t work, but why didn’t it work? How can I do it? How can I try again? Or maybe that’s not the route; I need to go a different route. But you’re getting information from it that you can use to keep going because you have to, to be able to do this for a living and get to that point. You have to be relentless. You just have to be."
Overall, the message that Lea wants his listeners to take away from his music is simple—it’s going to be okay: “It’s worth going through the negative and painful parts of it. Experience, all of it, you know?” The cliche that it’s better to have loved and lost applies, and not just in relationships. Listening to his music has been described as “feeling like a warm hug from a close friend.”
Catch Glory Daze, as well as Adeem the Artist and Harley Chapeau, live at the Monarch on Friday, October 11th!
Tickets can be purchased online.
Follow @heyglorydaze on TikTok and Instagram!
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