I could hunker down by myself and listen closely to mixes, but then to be able to have a sounding board of peers to get advice and feedback.

Performing alone - it's a very solitary experience. When you're in a band, when something amazing happens on stage you can look at each other, "Yeah! we're so locked in." Or if something goes wrong, you can look at each other and shrug and say, "Oops." If you're doing it by yourself, you reflect on it in a completely different way.

You might not be riding high on a great show for as long because you didn't have people to share the joy with.

Maybe when I die and I'm thrown overboard, I'll turn into a mermaid.

Same if you had a bad show, it just rolls off you more easily.

I've always wanted to be thrown into the ocean when I die - to be rowed out to sea and thrown overboard into the Atlantic.

I could hunker down by myself and listen closely to mixes, but then to be able to have a sounding board of peers to get advice and feedback.