Well I’m glad you asked. As I sit here quarantining through my second Covid-19 infection, I have had nothing but time to ponder this. The short answer is, a lot. The long answer is as follows…
Most of my day-to-day is focused on being both a musician and a business owner. Since the start of virus season in March of 2020, I have had over 100 gigs canceled (that’s actually a low estimate). As a result, I’ve had to take a step back and figure out what to do in the wake of such a huge cluster fuck. I decided to turn my attention first to Kona Town Recording. I have been renting this space for over a decade now, and when I first started there, it was a shared unnamed rehearsal spot that I utilized right out of college. It wasn’t until the band Pepper moved in circa 2015 that it little-by-little turned itself into a recording studio.
Kona Town Recording
By 2020 we were fairly busy, but it was mostly band rehearsals, and we would use it to record here and there. Outside of that, it wasn’t really utilized to its full potential, mainly just because we were always so busy touring. For lack of better word, “thanks” to Covid-19 I finally had the time to turn our little jam studio into a legitimate business. From website building, to accounting, to internet presence, to social media, marketing, booking… I decided to take it head on and see what happens.
Fortunately what happened was we got so beyond busy by the start of 2021, that it actually became a problem. At one point we had a month’s worth of sessions booked solid, and also had 65 tracks in our mixing/mastering queue. Good problem to have, but still a problem, and I am eternally grateful to our house engineer and master-of-sound, Jeff Bates, for working around the clock to get us all caught up. Our schedule hasn’t let up, but I have at least learned how to manage our work flow and client expectations a little bit better. Our clients now range from Little Tikes, to Fox Sports, to any style band you can imagine. You name it, we do it.
2021 also let me play some gigs again which was pretty surreal… especially considering that 6 of the gigs were massive sold out shows with Pepper. I guess after writing and producing with them for the past 6 years they just couldn’t stand the thought of not seeing my smiling face on stage with them. A couple highlights were selling out Pacific Amphitheater in Orange County, and Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado. Check out these walkout videos below.
Finally, I started yet another business which officially opened today, Total Access Rehearsal. It’s located just a few doors down from Kona Town Recording, and it is a dedicated high-end rehearsal studio. I partnered with Steve Ornest who owns Total Access Recording, and we went all out transforming this space into something that honestly blows my mind every time I walk in the door. Check it out at www.tarehearsal.com.
As for everything else 2022, who the fuck knows right? As long as Covid and Bird Flu don’t start making out, I plan on releasing a solo album, a Cheers to Nothing EP, and it looks like we’ll see a Pepper album in the mix as well. I have a good feeling that by summertime I’ll be back out on the road with one band or another, and as always I will keep going where the music takes me.
I hope you have enjoyed this presentation.
Newly Opened Total Access Rehearsal