UM Industry Profile : : Nicole and Brittany Ginyard (Blasthouse)
This week on UMusicians, we are bringing you various interviews from people working in the music industry. Through these interviews we hope to bring you insight from those working in the field that you are interested in venturing into, or helping you just learn some new facts.
Blasthouse is a music venue run by Brittany (UMusicians co-founder) and Nicole Ginyard (On My Honor, Light The Avenue, Of Fortune & Fame publicist). As the girls stated, music has always been a part of their life and to see the drive and determination they have it makes Blasthouse truly special! Check out our interview with them below!
Johanna Martinez: What was the inspiration for creating BlastHouse? Brittany Ginyard: My sister Nicole and I always knew we wanted to be in the music scene but we weren’t sure exactly what it was we wanted to do. We started a band with a few friends which didn’t work out very well, haha. We decided to call the band quits because we realized that being in a band just wasn’t for us. A few years later we had a house show on March 5th of 2011 with former bassist Nate Flynn of Sing it Loud. We had such a blast putting on the show and planning it. We fell in love with that side of the music business. After that first show show we knew we wanted to own/run our own venue. Nicole Ginyard: When I was 15ish one of my favorite bands was a band called Sing It Loud from Minneapolis. When I was 17, they broke up. I’m really emotional when a favorite band of mine calls it quits, and this time was no different. About 7 months later, their bassist, Nate Flynn, announced he was doing an acoustic solo house tour. As soon as my sister and I found out about it, we immediately hit his tour manager (Lindsey) up and made arrangements for us to host an Atlanta show. It was our first time hosting a house show but we put it together with lots of thought. We booked a local band to open up and even put tickets online for purchase and mailed them out. Nate played a bunch of SIL songs and I remember just being so happy. I never thought I’d hear some of those songs live again…yet alone in my own living room with my friends. After the show, Brittany and I were just on a happy high. I remember us talking about it for a couple of days and then we were finally like, “Let’s do this. Full time. Let’s freaking do this.”
JM: How did the name BlastHouse come about? Brittany: If I can remember my mom was the one that came up with the name. When we had our first show she we didn’t want to just say “house show.” So, we decided to come up with a name. We all sat around for about two hours coming up with names and that’s when my mom came up with BlastHouse! Nicole: My mom came up with it. Haha Or maybe it was my dad, I don’t really remember which one actually. I just recall like sitting at the dinner table and one of them saying, “You guys need a name. Something cool and youthful…BLASTHOUSE.” It was Brittany’s idea to keep the words together. People ask us why don’t we change it since we aren’t in a house anymore, but there is more to it than being in a house, it’s how we run our shows. Our shows are just as intimate as they were in our living room now that we’re in a building. We always said we’d keep the name..as a self- reminder of where we came from and how we started.
JM: What is the goal you’re trying to accomplish through it? Brittany: We’re just trying to create a fun safe environment for people of all ages to come enjoy good music and have a great time! Also, doing whatever we can to help out local and touring bands. Keeping the local music scene alive! Nicole: Our goal is to be more than a venue , but a home. We go to a lot of shows and are heavily involved in the scene. Our parents own a management/booking company and so shows are a way of life for our family. We know what it’s like to go to a venue and have to deal with douchey staff or promoters. We just want to bring a positive twist to the local scene. A safe haven for kids..a venue that parents know their kids will be safe at and not have to drive all the way downtown to get to. We’re all ages, non/alcoholic and drug free. We have a back room that we allow the parents to sit in if it’s too loud and our mom will pass out ear plugs/bottled waters. Our interns and staff are all our friends. They don’t work for us, we work together. People can see how down to earth we are and If there is a problem, they know where to find us and tell us personally. Our goal is to make kids feel like they’re at their friends house. Everything is personable and it’s a goal to stay that way forever. We make sure that everyone who attends a show or plays at BlastHouse feels loved.
We want to have multiple locations down the east coast. So if a band is doing a tour we host more than just their GA date…we want to help them out in Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina. That’s an ultimate goal for sure.
It’s also a personal goal of mine to be known for the cleanest venue bathrooms in America. I consider the amount of people who come up to me during a show to say, “Dang, those bathrooms are clean” a great accomplishment.
JM: It appears to be that young adults started this revolution. How difficult was it to put your inspiration together and make it happen? Brittany: It appears to be that young adults started this revolution, how difficult was it to put your inspiration together and make it happen. At sometimes the inspiration comes easy at other times it doesn’t. It just all depends! Nicole: We’re both pretty sure of what we want and knew exactly how we wanted to run our venue, so when I look back, it all seems pretty easy. We were underage (16 & 17) when we had our first show, so we did have to get our parents’ permission, but fortunately they were pretty chill with it. There would be nights where we literally had 30 people we didn’t know in our living room, and my mom would be walking around telling them to come back and drive safe. Having our parents on board as much as they are helped/helps out a butt load. It was difficult at first when we would get invited to hang out with our friends or miss a birthday because we had a show booked, but we’ve grown to adjust and adapt while balancing our social and BlastHouse life equally.
Then there are the people who think that just because we aren’t old enough to buy alcohol we aren’t old enough to run a venue. And the countless issues or judgemental situations that are based on our race or sex- but we’re pretty good at ignoring that type of stuff.
JM: What can you tell others looking to follow the same path back in their residing place? Brittany: Have fun, don’t ever take no for an answer and always be kind. Nicole: Just because it’s a house show/house venue doesn’t make it any less professional or serious. Have a plan, rules and outline. Let your neighbors know what you’re doing and find out time for noise limits in your area so the cops aren’t shutting down your show. Make sure people know where to park and where they are allowed to roam in your house.
Stock up on patience, a lot of faith and more patience. You have to be able to overlook a lot of things- things people say and things people do. Everyone won’t support you, but believe in yourself always and forever.
Most importantly, have fun. The moment you forget to enjoy yourself you’ll start hating it all.
JM: Is there anything that you learned about the music industry and would have never guessed before creating BlastHouse? Brittany: It’s a dog eat dog world. It’s hard to find people who you can truly trust. When you find those few people you can trust, hold on to them tight and treat them right. Nicole: I always had this kinda back thought when we were first starting out that all our peers/aunts/uncles would be happy and support us. It was unbelievably difficult to learn that not all my friends or even family would support me. There are certain people I’ve known for years who pretend like BlastHouse doesn’t even exist. They don’t even acknowledge or want to talk about it. I never realized how difficult it would be to not have people believe in you, but it’s definitely the hardest lesson I’ve learned: not everyone will be happy for you, so be happy for yourself.
I never would have guessed how rare of a find genuinely grateful people would be in this industry. You have to do what you do for others because you want to & not because you’re expecting something in return, because a lot of people won’t say thank you or appreciate your hard work.
JM: How much effort does it take to get a show together? Brittany: I can’t even explain how much it takes to put on a show! We’re constantly having shows and events so we’re always working. But it’s worth it! I love my job! :) Nicole: I takes little to nothing for someone to book a show. But to book /host a successful show it takes a lot.
A lot of our shows are booked with touring bands and so we take the duty of finding local support. Depending on how many shows we are working on at the moment this can be extremely difficult. We usually try to get 2-4 good locals per show depending on the number of touring bands playing. It can take up to two weeks to confirm local support and this is the most frustrating part to me just because it seems like an ever-going chain of emails. We have reminders set on our phones reminding us to tweet/post about shows that are coming up. We personally print flyers/pass them out at the local malls and physically call up people, inviting them out to shows. We put a butt load of effort into our shows. One thing we are really big on is communicating with the locals leading up to the show, so we talk with the bands several times leading up to the show- just making sure that everyone is promoting properly and working towards a great show success. So there is definitely a lot of behind the scenes efforts and work that get out into a show that a lot of people may not know of.
JM: What has been the greatest learning experience through the development of BlastHouse? Brittany: There’s not a day that goes by that I’m not learning something. Everyday is a day for me to learn something new. Nicole: Learning myself has been one of the greatest experiences I’ve gained from BlastHouse. I’ve learned just how strong + dedicated I am.
Patience (remaining peaceful). I’m definitely learning to be patient. I freak out very easily and BlastHouse has definitely taught me that worrying does nothing for your situation. If your PA went out, screaming about it won’t bring it back. If a local drops off fifteen minutes before the show, ranting about it won’t change their attitudes.
Brittany and I both are perfectionists and so the hours leading up to a show we’re mostly spazzing over everything that doesn’t go 100 percent correct. It’s extremely difficult to say “this isn’t going right but I can’t freak out,” although it’s something that we’re learning to do with every show.
Greatest lesson of all? Hard work does pay off.
JM: What is one valuable tip you will give to upcoming artist? Brittany: Stay humble & shine bright like a diamond!
JM: Where do you see BlastHouse in five years? Brittany: Still putting on shows. I’d really like to see our local music scene come alive again. We’re slowly but surely getting there! Also, being able to help out touring & local bands all over the country in an even bigger and better way! Nicole: In five years I’d like to see BlastHouse with our multiple locations established. Hosting mainstream as well as celebrity artists and thriving brighter than ever.
Check out Blasthouse on the following websites: https://www.facebook.com/BlastHouse https://twitter.com/BlastHouseGA http://blasthousega.tumblr.com/ http://instagram.com/blasthousega