DNA-DUO: The HVTS @ Hotel Cafe

We hear about sibling teams in mainstream culture dominating many walks of life – in sports, in the film industry, and in music. However, they seem to elude us most of the time, so when we find a golden duo, they become very hard to ignore. I stumbled across this brother-sister duo, The HVTS and was hooked immediately. Take a look at them performing their original instrumental jazz track called “Jazz” at The Hotel Cafe.

It may take a special ear to groove along to their sound, but it shouldn’t take much to get wrapped up in their original beats. The chemistry between the two of them is obvious – the sibling connection is evident in the chords and melody lines. You can feel the chemistry vibrating through each note as they rock along to their smooth rhythms.

GunZ is a self-taught guitarist with an obvious natural affinity for the instrument. He practically becomes the instrument while he’s playing, and is always riding along, keeping tempo with his constant yet iconic chords. NVNDI always brings along her melodic lines that can be sulky yet sweet in their moodiness. She also pulls out her flute some of the time to jam along, woodwind-style. Though an unlikely match-up, it works. Her brother calls and she responds, and the two have natural chemistry that is simply hard to ignore. Watch this clip of them performing their original song “Dynamite” for the Tiny Desk Competition 2017.

The two are continuing to explore their music agenda – bouncing between funk, rock, jazz, and a combination of genres. None of their songs fully gravitate in a single primary direction – even in their jazziest songs they have a funky, rock-type guitar line that comes in and causes a unique fusion that’s hard to describe. The two are working on an EP, New Day, which they plan to release in the near future. They frequent many popular Los Angeles venues and are looking to share their talent all over. Check their page to see when they’re performing next so you can get a glimpse of this powerful dynamic DNA duo rocking out live! Check out their promo video for a few more clips of them performing!

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Wendy Parr: I am a coach – it’s who I am.

It’s not every day when we meet a person who really can say that they’ve traversed every aspect of the music world. Nor is it every day that we meet a person who can say that in addition to their multiple accomplishments all over the music-production spectrum, they have devoted a lot of their life to helping other people. However, I had the privilege of chatting with one such person, by the name of Wendy Parr.

Wendy Parr founded an organization called The Artist’s Circle in order to bring community, networking and multiple modes of support to artists who are otherwise lonely or unsupported in the music world. The Circle hosts many events in which members have the opportunity to connect and learn about each other, make friends, and make connections that give them a leg up in the industry. I wanted to get to know the mind behind the magic:

I was wondering if you could give me a general summary of what it is that you do as a coach and a mentor in the Artist’s Circle? 

I’ve been coaching for 27 years, and eventually I just saw – well, for me as a person, I think we’re all here to grow and evolve as human beings, and working with all of the artists, I find everybody going through the same thing alone, and not knowing that there’s other people going through similar things. I tend to be a resource for a lot of people, and I just kind of put it all together that I don’t need to be the only resource and that people can be there for one another, and there is power in community and connection. So, I really started the circle and it took a while to evolve into the format that it is now, that normally works and people are responding to well. Essentially it’s mindfulness work, it’s true networking and it’s a combination of working on the inner work – sometimes we have meditation classes and play improv games. We also do business work, like I have marketing people as special guests, we’ve had an event at rolling stone magazine…So I’m bringing the people that I work with and that I know and the resources that I have, to give people an opportunity to connect with people that they otherwise wouldn’t have been given the chance to connect with. Also, they are really connecting with one another, so there is a strong community where our artists can really be there for one another. Historically, successful artists have had friendships and connections with other artists; it’s how you grow. You encouragement from one another and feedback. People are so often doing their thing and saying, “well where’s my team?” because they don’t have a team yet. And if they have a team, their team is only there to move their career forward. They’re not other artists who can just connect with them and understand them on an artistic level. So this is a three step place for vulnerability and connections and friendship and collaboration as well.

I know you’re a professional coach, but how did you start out in the music world?

I started performing and working when I was eight years old. I was acting, I was doing TV, I did a lot of musicals. By 15 I was performing about 3-4 nights a week in clubs, singing in a jazz trio, things like that. So I started as a performer, and I started studying with my vocal coach. I went to NYU for a minute, but when I came back to LA, my famous vocal coach invited me to be a coach. I said, “I don’t know how to teach!” And he said, “Sure you do. You know how we helped your voice and how you’ve worked your voice to help other people. Help other people while you’re working on your music career.” And at this point, I had already started in college, where my friends – who are all now working as comedians and stuff – they would ask me, “Hey can you show me this thing I want to sing a little bit…” and would say, “Can you help us do harmonies…” So I was already casually doing it for fun, and then I officially started teaching at 20 years old in a studio. But I discovered how much I love it, and that’s really what I am; I’m a coach. It’s not even what I am but rather who I am. If you showed me how a car works, I’d be showing someone else tomorrow.

Was there a specific moment when you realized that that was who you were? Or did it take a bit of time to realize that coaching was where you were meant to be? 

It took a little while, because I was still performing and working on my career as an artist, and I did both for a long time, and then I just realized. I love making music – I have a record, I have an EP out, I have a record that i’m still working on – but I just realized that my energy wasn’t going towards “when can I take myself on tour” but more “how can I build my coaching.” You know, when it’s a beautiful day outside you can take the day off, but when someone walks into my door, I say, “Oh my gosh I have so much to show you!” I just realized how enthusiastic I was and how much I loved doing it. And I’m a songwriter, so I write music, I write for others. I sing, I still sing, but I’m not trying to pursue being an artist. But it did take me a while to sort of let go of this dream that I’d had all of my life. I had thought that was just what I was supposed to do. but, it was sort of like a jacket I outgrew. Yeah. So I do all kinds of things with music. I still sing, I sing songs I write, do demos, but I just don’t dream of being a singer anymore.

Let’s diverge for a second. What is the best concert you’ve ever attended? 

Prince, Leonard Cohen, Stevie Wonder – those are probably some of the best shows I’ve ever seen. And of course the shows I coach. Seeing the artists I coach is different. Those shows I was talking about were mostly from when I was young and they were very influential. Prince was probably one of the best performers I’ve seen in my life. But, you know when Regina played Radio City Music Hall last year and the year before, I was in tears watching her. I’ve been coaching her for 14 years, and she made me cry with her performance. I certainly don’t take credit for her talent, but I could definitely hear it. It was the first time in my life, you know I’m an adult by this point, I’m 47. But it was the first time that I’ve acknowledged, “Oh, I’ve had an influence there!” And I could hear it; I could hear how I’ve helped her grow. It made me very proud to acknowledge.

So I got the sense that you started the Artist’s Circle because you felt that there was a lack of support within the music industry as far as emotional guidance and networking help. What is the biggest effect that you intend to have with the Artist’s Circle? 

I would like to make artists feel more fulfilled as artists, and there’s a few things I think the Artist’s Circle can help do. It can help artists in not giving up and not falling through the cracks before they start their career. We can help artists who are already in the midst of their career and give them a community so that they don’t spiral out. Being on tour is very lonely. Success can be very lonely. I’m really interested in helping people have genuine connections with people that they can really trust and talk to so that the loneliness isn’t as much there. It can also help with tools – tools to help them with the ups and downs in life and in their careers. We teach them tools to feel happier and to be more fulfilled and balanced as a creative artist. Generally speaking, the Circle is where people learn their craft, like “here’s how you do your part.” I was never schooled on that. School doesn’t really prepare you for life. It only teaches you skills, but that’s what this is about. We teach people how to deal with their fears, about why they make the choices they make and how they can make better choices, how to have more community and less competition. I want to help people have a better human foundation. In terms of networking, there have always been music seminar weekends where people would go in hopes to meet people and have luck. It was like the lottery. People would go hoping that something would happen, and they’re all B.S. Nobody actually knows you unless your music is off the charts, and at that point, if your music is off the charts, chances are everybody already does know you, and that’s not how it’s going to happen. So, this is an actual networking experience because we have intimate conversations, so you really get to know someone right away. We give people a space to really get to know one another, connect with one another, and it’s even a space of vulnerability. Real connections happen this way. One guy today told me from the one event we had in Israel – we had one event when I was there – he said, “I’m still getting so much out of that experience. That guy that I met at the circle, we’re still talking, I’m going to London and I’m going to go make music there, so many of the tools that we talked about gave me courage to do things that I’ve wanted to do but haven’t yet.” And that’s just one guy. These people say that the circle gave them courage and support to be able to do the things that they want to do.

Click here to learn more about Wendy Parr and the Artist’s Circle. ALSO, for Gigmor members, there are some special prices available. For gigmorcreative members, you get a $25 ticket ($10 off the explorer ticket) for your first event. Any Acgigmormember will get 25% off of all memberships.

music marketing promotion

Music marketing for the independent artist: a conversation with Kevin Wright of Ramsay Mulholland Events

Gigmor sat down with Kevin Wright, the man running the show in the Marketing and Artist Development department at Ramsay Mulholland Events in Los Angeles. Kevin offered some insight into how to be successful as an independent artist and how he and the rest of the team at Ramsay Mulholland Events are working to better the music marketing process for musicians today.

People generally describe music marketing as a thing of the past, but it seems like you and the team at Ramsey Mulholland have found a way around that. Tell me a little bit more about exactly what Ramsey Mulholland does.

Yes, of course! So we’re sort of set up in two different halves: accessible artist development for independent and local artists or entrepreneurs and the second is college-based touring and education.

Ok, let’s begin with that first part — what does artist development mean at Ramsay Mulholland?

What I saw when I was working at the label was that there wasn’t much we could do for people. The biggest artists are staying home anyways and doing their own thing — so what we noticed at the record label was that no matter how fast we move or how nimble we are, we can’t connect to the culture as efficiently as those who just are already in those cities and are currently experiencing that culture. Nashville, Austin, Atlanta, Chicago — they’ve all blown up, and the people who have grown from those places are choosing to stay there. Working at a record label taught me that and led me to decide that, well, maybe we should just switch the model. We started looking for artists who are just working on themselves in the space that they are from in specific areas across the United States. I wanted to take what I had learned as a label scout and give it to those independent artists and entrepreneurs throughout the United States so that they could reach a viable level of fame on their own. We are also trying to show them what they need and what they don’t.

So what does your interpretation of artists development and showcase entail?

It includes an artist meet-up and showcase. We saw that old model — where you get in front of a scout and anything could happen — and decided to flip it on its head a little bit where we act as the scouts that people get in front of but then we tell them what we think they should be working on to get noticed. We also try to get to know and work with artists before we get there and when we get there — until we leave honestly — just because the time we spend there will be so limited. We want to be able to speak of them and their act as well or as fully as possible because there is only so much we can do and say based on one specific performance. The more interaction and consumption of the artist, the better.

So the initial college tour will include thirty cities. We have invited artists, producers, DJs, managers, booking agents, and anybody that’s around the music scene in those cities to those events and we want to bring them together to connect and network. It’s 30 cities and about 10-12 artists for each.

What’s the college-based portion of your efforts entail?

It’s essentially the same thing as the artist development work we are doing — it’s a showcase and music meet-up. When I saw the guys trying to put the showcases together I remembered my time as a scout. I remembered people coming up to me when they were trying to put events together and using me as a scout at that time. They would go through the immense hassle of having to put an event together. And I remember wishing that when I was in college that there would have been an opportunity like this. I would have loved to have gotten involved — and I had the necessary skill set but no where to put it! So the idea of these showcases was sort of born out of that — they are not just for college artists, they are for the entrepreneurs and the business students as well. And the best part about it, honestly, is that it is for them and by them, with them being the college students who understand the community and music scenes around them.

From September through December of this year we are doing local showcases and then from January to May we are going to do the college showcases.

What is it behind all of this kind of work that drives you to do it?

Some of it comes from fighting for the independent artist but it’s also that the industry is changing super rapidly. It’s all changing so fast; I consider myself a student of the game and how it once was and what it will be due to the internet and the different ways by which we now as a culture consume music.

Everybody knows the artist, but what I learned when I got into the industry I learned that there are people behind the scenes — individuals like a Clive Davis or a David Geffen— that are 100 times bigger than you could ever imagine. For every one superstar that you could imagine they’ve got ten or twenty underneath their belt. Those guys are the real special ones, but the power there has been reduced over time. But that sort of power has been reduced, and now the artist almost has to create it on their own. The A&R men and women of the past were buying and then funding independent labels. I love that — they were removing the economic burden of these independent labels so that artists could have all the space to capture their work. They were funding them to have artistic freedom which is something that we hope to replicate on these college tours.

I wanted to bring that into the 21st-century music scene. All of these college kids think that they should be working towards a record label and how to suit those record labels in some way — and I’m trying to communicate to them and the entrepreneurs or business students around them that that old form is dead. The music industry is a changing game, and I want to relay those changes to these kids so that they and all their talent can react accordingly.

Everyone seems to have a negative outlook on the music industry. But you seem to have a hopeful outlook on it all, despite the criticisms of the masses. Why are you hopeful?

I remain super hopeful about the music industry, you’re dead-on. The music industry is healthier than it has ever been; there are more options for everybody and there are more ways to make money than ever before. In the transition, you had to lose some. You had to break a lot of eggs to make this omelette. But I really believe that it’s better and more inclusive than it has ever been. And it’s growing pretty rapidly. Most of us, us being the industry people, have to figure out how it is that our audiences are finding music now. It’s still pretty vague how people are consuming and looking for music, but we are getting better.

What’s even better about the current reality in the music industry is that it is a meritocracy. So if it’s great it’s going to survive and if it’s not it’s going to die quickly because that what the public decided.

What is some of the best advice you could give to artists who are trying to promote and market their music?

I think that the most important thing is take the time and do your homework. I have my own label and that’s where I’m pulling this understanding from. It always starts with the music; everything starts with the music. People always come in and ask me: how are we going to promote this? And what about PR? And to all of that I always tell them to just go and make the music and you’ll be surprised how many opportunities come your way.

So one, make the music. And then two, do your homework. There are so many good songs that go out and no one is working to make sure that you are collecting royalties. It costs $9 to put a single out on TuneCore. It’s not that hard to get your songs out on Spotify, and SoundCloud is great too; but always do your homework because there are so many good opportunities online right now that can help you be more successful.

Any other specific recommendations that you would offer to up-and-coming artists? 

I would tell individuals to learn what TuneCore is, and learn what distribution is or label promotion, too. It’s not that hard to have your songs out there and seen by the public, but do your homework so that you can guarantee that you are getting the most out of every outing or performance you do. If you have a song on YouTube that gets one million or 100,000 views and you don’t do your homework, you’re likely to not make a single dime from it.

There was one duo that I developed outside of a label were two brothers who were really active on Vine. They had 300 million and 600 million in their number of Vine views and they just weren’t putting it on YouTube. I put a bunch of their Vine videos together and used their cellphone to do a sort of intro; we put that up on YouTube and now they have a new record deal at 17 and 18 years old. From that post too they got a deal with YouTube and their multi-channel network — they were doing all of the hard work but they weren’t doing the homework.

It sounds like a lot of your tour is focusing on smaller cities in the United States that still have a vibrant music scene but aren’t necessarily that immediate go-to place that a lot of people would consider. This is intentional, I assume. Why is that?

You have to make your music palatable, and I always think that you should start small and capture the attention of that small city. If you can capture the attention on that smaller stage, you can then take it to another, more major level. Someone like a Bryson Tiller who is from Louisville, Kentucky where everyone in Kentucky knew exactly who he was. Then, when you’re entering the New York or Los Angeles scenes, you’ve got far more people consuming your music but a foundation of fans to fall back on.