I think if you don't expect anything from the world, you'll have a lovely time.
I never thought I'd get to the point where I'd be able to release a proper album, and I absolutely never thought that when I did, I would give it a name as stupid I have, but here we are.
If you take yourself too seriously, something like a bad review could put you off your stride.
I think you just have to be yourself instead of catering your sound to a specific audience, make the music you want to make, and the audience will find you.
Everyone always tells you about how amazing recording their first album was and how they'll always look back on the 'process' with fond memories. I will look back on it as an extremely stressful time that somehow also managed to be extremely boring.
When I was, like, 17 or 18 and didn't really have anything I needed to buy, we would do these pub gigs for some cash and would usually just spend our wage back in the pub immediately after.
I think the first thing you release should come from you. If you want your first piece to be exactly how you want it to be, and how you see it, you should release it yourself.
Having lots of human interaction online and during shows is very important to me.