Where Are All My Friends | Discovering Creative Careers with Inspiring Entrepreneurs

Tai Verdes joins us this week to tell the story of his current single “Stuck in the Middle” blowing up in real time right now! Tai has an amazing story having tried many different creative lanes and now finally finding his true calling as an artist. In addition he’s just an incredibly down to earth dude who has a great way of telling stories. He breaks everything down in such a relatable and inspirational way. This is one of my favorites, I hope you enjoy! 

Timestamps: 

0:00 - Intro

3:23 - Being on MTV and having a podcast

4:44 - Who you are and what you do

5:28 - Life changing from one song (Stuck In The Middle)

7:04 - Where it all started (Playing Basketball then dropping out of college)

9:52 - Being on MTV’s “Are You The One?”

13:34 - Winning $50k on the show then moving to Downtown Los Angeles

17:06 - Working as an actor

20:30 - Starting to make music

24:22 - Trying out for America’s Got Talent, American Idol, and The Voice

28:02 - Deciding to do a solo project

32:44 - The importance of being honest with yourself as a creative

38:05 - Recording “Stuck in the Middle” and how he got the name Tai Verdes

43:00 - How “Stuck in the Middle” blew up

47:36 - How to properly use TikTok to promote a song

50:13 - How life has changed since “Stuck in the Middle” blowing up

55:11 - The importance of actually TAKING ACTION to make something happen

58:20 - Believing in yourself even when you don’t know the final outcome

1:04:00 - Track your personal growth, not likes or other peoples opinions

1:07:36 - Where can people find you?

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I’m @andrew_ftw and he’s @taiverdes. If you liked this episode, do us a massive favor and share it with a friend!

Patrick CC is a Hip-Hop YouTuber who has had an incredible amount of success growing his channel and brand. Prior to YouTube he's worked in all sorts of other lanes in music which led to him having a great mind for marketing and content creation. This is his story of perfecting his craft until all of his skill sets aligned and the Patrick CC channel was created!

If you like this episode, share it with a friend! I’m @andrew_ftw and he’s @patrickcctv

Timestamps:

2:35 - Who you are and what you do

3:57 - Your early days

5:00 - Being a promoter for EDM shows

7:19 - Starting to make EDM music of his own

12:42 - Making early YouTube videos

19:47 - Finding new creative ideas and endeavors

24:27 - How to decide if chasing a project or idea is worth it or not

28:15 - Starting the Patrick CC YouTube channel

31:35 - How do you find inspiration to keep going?

34:00 - Becoming close friends with Convolk

38:35 - Success from consistently uploading videos and only focusing on music

44:00 - Making new friends in the music scene and everyone coming up together

49:44 - Get a job or do YouTube full time

51:44 - Touring with guardin and a new wave of growth

58:00 - Touring with Convolk, Savage Ga$p and Keshore

58:54 - Getting off tour and moving to Oklahoma

1:02:07 - Finding ways to make a living on YouTube

1:09:12 - Evolving the Patrick CC channel

1:13:26 - What qualifies someone as an “expert” in their field

1:17:22 - The moment of going viral (DM’ing 100 Rappers Video) (Possible timestamp about it blowing up)

1:25:10 - Do you feel a constant pressure to outdo yourself?

1:29:44 - The future of Patrick CC’s channel

1:32:50 - Where can people find you?

Regular Marcus has produced for blackbear, Felix Snow, Tinashe, Wintertime and many others. In addition he has an incredible artist project of his own.

In this episode we cover his come up story, moving all around the country, the initial spark of getting noticed on Soundcloud, that leading to producing for other artists, into this turning into a full time career. At the end of the episode he gives incredible advice to anyone chasing a similar path.

I’m genuinely impressed by Marcus and his story. I hope this episode inspires you the same way it did for me. If it did, let us know. He’s @recklessg4b and I’m @andrew_ftw

TIMESTAMPS:

0:00 - Intro

1:36 - Having an artist name & producer name (Regular Marcus / RecklessG4B)

6:00 - How we met

7:10 - Growing up skateboarding

9:22 - Finding music for the first time

14:15 - How did you start producing?

18:26 - What was it like moving around the country a lot as a kid?

19:53 - Putting out his first song and getting noticed on SoundCloud

21:50 - Performing with Keith Canvas and making music together

25:00 - Producing for Blackbear

28:58 - Working with Felix Snow

32:22 - Working with wintertime

34:10 - Producing for Tinashe

37:37 - Putting out more of his own music (American Reject)

38:00 - Being an artist and a producer at the same time. How do you balance it?

39:39 - Was there a moment where you realized you could do this full time instead of working a 9-5 job?

42:30 - What inspires you currently and what’s next?

48:08 - Advice to those chasing a similar path as an artist / producer (Timestamp)

51:30 - The importance of not stressing or overthinking things

53:00 - Where can everybody find you?

Christian or Colliding With Mars is a solo artist with a very cool story. He got into music at an extremely early age growing up in a musical family. When his band didn't work out, he learned how to produce and decided to go solo.

Since then he's had quite a lot of success.  He's toured with love-sadKID, Hobo Johnson and Oliver Tree. He's also worked on several projects with artists and friends like Savage Ga$p, polearm, 93feetofsmoke and many others. 

As if being an artist wasn't enough he's pushed himself to learn the business side of the industry by working at United Common Records.  

This is his story.  Enjoy.

Timestamps:

01:42 - Who you are and what you do

5:24 - Growing up in a musical family

11:03 - Playing in bands at an early age

15:31 - Starting the Colliding With Mars project

21:52 - Meeting polearm and love-sadKID, then going on tour with Hobo Johnson and Oliver Tree

24:30 - Moving to Los Angeles and making more friends

27:25 - The story of Heirloom Remix and meeting Savage Ga$p

34:40 - Racism in America and what we can do about it

44:10 - What’s in store for the future of Colliding With Mars

46:43 - Working at United Common Records, learning marketing and promotion then applying it to his project.

53:28 - Marketing music in a new age. How to properly release singles.

1:00:00 - Where can people find you?

1:03:08 - Quality vs. quantity: releasing music videos with singles

1:04:12 - Why he doesn’t release music on SoundCloud anymore

1:09:43 - How to promote music in 2020

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If you liked this episode do us a huge favor and share it! I'm @andrew_ftw and he's @collidingwithmars

Tim McTague plays guitar in Underoath and is a co-founder of King State Coffee. He joins us this week for an extremely special episode. We get into life before music, the rise of Underoath during the ‘They’re Only Chasing Safety’ era, and how the band has stayed successful for so long. Then we get into a much bigger discussion on life, hard work, and how to succeed in general.

SPECIAL NOTE!  I’m giving away a $100 King State gift card for this episode! All you need to do to win is rate, review, and subscribe to the podcast then share this episode on social media anywhere and tag @andrew_ftw and @timmctague. I’ll make a list of everyone who does, then I'll pick a random winner on Friday (5/29/20)

TIMESTAMPS: 

6:00 - What was life like before music

8:34 - Growing up in a sheltered bubble then finding music and going to shows

13:06 - Pros and cons of being a self taught musician

19:16 - The early days of writing music in Underoath

22:48 - What was it like experiencing “They’re Only Chasing Safety” becoming massive in real time?

24:00 - What moment did it really hit you?

32:00 - What was the Tampa music scene like at the time of Underoath blowing up?

36:05 - How did you continue the momentum and sustain success past the massive early success of the band?

39:33 - Where does your insane work ethic and hard work come from?

43:00 - Work twice as hard as anyone else (What Tim loves about the music industry)

44:12 - The power of thinking bigger than anyone else (Edge Theory)

47:39 - The importance of building an amazing team around you and trusting them

50:29 - The difference between ideas and working hard to achieve goals with a team

52:34 - The early success of King State Coffee (8th best coffee shop in the country on Food & Wine for 2019)

53:00 - Why are successful people drawn to each other? Is there something more than luck involved?

55:58 - The importance and value of your time and relationships in life

57:40 - Where does your ability to treat people well and with respect come from?

1:00:00 - Don’t dance around things. Say what you mean

1:01:15 - Important lessons learned from Tim’s father

1:06:12 - Be the real authentic version of yourself

1:07:50 - The evolution and growth of King State

1:09:17 - How King State pivoted and adapted to the times especially during the pandemic

1:17:27 - Where can people find you?

Tim McTague:

IG: https://www.instagram.com/timmctague/

King State:

Website: https://king-state.com/

IG: https://www.instagram.com/k1ngst8/

Underoath:

Website: https://www.underoath777.com/

IG: https://www.instagram.com/underoathband/

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3GzWhE2xadJiW8MqRKIVSK?si=P1wDom3QTVW3gX7gjPlWtw

Me:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andrew_ftw/

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/andrew_ftw/ 

Where Are All My Friends Podcast:

Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2_TuYF3dJ0rF0L51_0DVaQ?sub_confirmation=1

Ryan Soroka is a well accomplished booking agent at UTA and dear friend of mine. He started his own booking agency (The Soroka Agency) at a very early age and grew it to be a huge success. From there he went on to work at UTA (United Talent Agency). His roster includes - flor, The Aces, slenderbodies, ONE OK ROCK, David Garibaldi, and many more. The common theme in his story has always been booking artists that he’s passionate about.

In this episode he tells his entire come up story and gives great advice to anyone looking to grow their professional career. Especially those chasing a path as a booking agent.

We also cover how to get the attention of a booking agent as an artist, how get better tours, and how to grow your own touring fanbase.

Stick around until the end to hear us get into some shenanigans and talk about his brand new podcast Reali-Tea which cuts to the core of the most important topics of reality television with his co-host and fiancée Tori Bachan.

Timestamps

2:00 Who you are and what you do?

2:30 The early days.

4:28 - Figuring out where he fits into the music industry (finding his lane as a booking agent)

6:39 - Working with his first signed artist

7:30 - Working for Bamboozle Music Festival

9:20 - When Ryan and I first met

11:11 - Starting the Soroka Agency with Brad Wiseman & Equal Vision Records in 2010

13:15 - Early “holy shit” moments // the difficulty of living in the moment

15:10 - The first moment of financial success

16:30 - Signing his first non-music artist (David Garibaldi)

17:40 - Hitting a critical point with The Soroka Agency

19:40 - The end of Soroka Agency and starting a new chapter

25:02 - Joining UTA

26:04 - Are there unexpected benefits to being with a larger company?

28:02 - Booking music he’s passionate about

28:48 - Ryan’s current roster

30:40 - What are the challenges of working in different genres of music?

34:00 - Advice to anyone in the music industry on how to properly network

37:04 - How to properly send an email

39:10 - Not forcing friendships or relationships in music

40:38 - How does an artist get a booking agent?

43:46 - How to grow your audience and touring fanbase

46:35 - Ryan & Tori’s new podcast - Reali-Tea

47:55 - Not taking life and work so seriously

51:15 - How COVID-19 is affecting live music and touring

54:00 - Where can people find you?

If you like this one, do us a huge favor and share it! I’m @andrew_ftw and he’s @ryansoroka

Deanna Chapman is the host and creator of two podcasts (Welcome to Geekdom & Chat Sematary) and and the producer & editor of The Punk Rock MBA + several others. In this episode we break down podcast best practices, tips and tricks for anyone starting a podcast, the future of where the industry is going, and Deanna’s come up story!

If you liked this one, you know what to do! Tell a friend and share it. I’m @andrew_ftw and she’s @deanna_chapman

Christian Villacres went from working retail, into touring, then becoming a marketing manager at Zumiez. He's got an extremely relatable story that I think will inspire many to make the career pivots needed and keep chasing dreams!

Here are a few topics we cover:

- Early days of growing up in NYC

- Working some whack jobs

- Working at Glamour Kills

- How important networking is 

- Touring on Vans Warped Tour

- Starting at Zumiez and working his way up

- What he's currently up to at Zumiez (booking huge music and skate events with ASAP Ferg, Adidas Skateboarding, & many others)

- Advice to those on their current grind 

If you liked this one, please let us know and share it! I'm @andrew_ftw and he's @chrisvillacres

This week we cover how to promote your music and get playlisting in 2020! Josh Epple & Ben Farber join me to do so. Both of them work in the sales and streaming at two different record labels and are truly incredible at their jobs.

Here’s a breakdown of what we cover:

1:52 - Basic practices | What should every artist be doing right now

5:10 - Putting out new music right now vs. waiting until things come back to normal

7:58 - Pros & Cons of putting out singles or an album

8:58 - How to draw attention to the music you’re putting out

11:55 - How to use TikTok to promote music

17:54 - How to get playlisting

22:14 - How to properly use the Spotify pitch tool

24:50 - What’s the proper frequency to be releasing music

27:50 - Building a relationship with streaming

30:45 - What do once your music gets playlisting

33:40 - Other powerful playlists and tools

36:00 - How to properly network in the music industry

43:02 - How to get in touch with Josh & Ben

Josh Epple:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eppelogue/

Daniella’s (Wood Fired) Pizza in North Hollywood: https://daniellespizza.com/

Ben Farber:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blfarber/

Ben’s Podcast: goo.gl/VNMT14

Me:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andrew_ftw/

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/andrew_ftw/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2_TuYF3dJ0rF0L51_0DVaQ?sub_confirmation=1