Rising Stars: Meet Bobby Littrell of Porter Ranch

Today we’d like to introduce you to Bobby Littrell.

Hi Bobby, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
It all started in the summer of 2022. The Shed was a metal hangar my Dad used as his woodshop. Growing up, I would play music in the shed and the metal structure would create this amazing reverb that would just send shivers down your spine. There was always this little idea in the back of my mind that this space was special for music; the frequencies just hit different.

Unfortunately, in 2020 he was diagnosed with leukemia. When he passed, his woodshop just started collecting dust, filled with trash, just becoming a bit of a hoarding situation. It sorta hurt seeing his the space that he loved and used to what he loved to make in this state. So I started cleaning and clearing it out.

I would still play music and have a few friends over to play. But it wasn’t anything as complex as it is today. The idea that was in the back of my mind started moving to the front. I wanted to share The Shed with artists and give them a space to experiment, practice and dial in to the sound that they wanted to create.

I invited my friend Britt Hughes over and explained the idea and she loved it! And The Shed was born. Our career background fell in line with the goal. Her working for Hopeless Records and me working for Epitaph Records and MDDN management it connected us with our favorite bands and it started snowballing from there.

When we hosted our first shows. The gear we had was incredibly bad. We just had two monitor speakers and a mixer that only had 6 inputs. Minus the terrible sound, the first shows were still so special! It all just clicked, it felt so right. For so long, the valley was missing a space that local artists could use to play all ages shows and it felt like we were the missing piece that could fill the hole that had been missing in the valley for so many years.

But the most important part of The Shed has always been accessibility. All Ages/Anti-Pay to Play/ No One Turned Away Due to Lack of Funds. Currently, most of the Los Angeles venues, require 18-21+ entry and would force the artists to pay to play at their venue. Pay-to-Play is when a venue books a band, gives them 60 tickets to sell for like $20 and whatever the band didn’t sell they had to pay the difference in order to perform. We had always found the practice to be predatory toward upcoming artists and we weren’t going to do that. All Ages / Anti pay to play venue that supports the artists we believe are incredible and on their way to making a full time living with their art.

After our 4th show, we found more people coming back to our shows but we still hadn’t figured out the sound yet and that’s when a sound engineer, Shaye Wolf, introduced himself after the show and offered to run the sound for us. Looking back this is one of the key moments that elevated our space into one of, if not the best sounding venue in the valley.

After meeting Shaye, The Shed kept getting bigger. We were booking our favorite bands and seeing them grow more and more; signing record deals, signing to agents and hitting the road on tours. Photographers loved our unique space and captured amazing moments that the bands were able to use for promotion. It’s always been a organic synergetic project and we are so happy, proud and a little lucky to still have this place where upcoming artists, photographers, industry professionals and fans all come together and enjoy the art we love and believe in.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The biggest hurdle has always been- How do we keep doing this.

We are located in a neighborhood, so we’ve made a lot of rules to make sure we are complying with noise ordinances and keeping our neighbors happy. Our thoughts are “we can’t give anyone an excuse to shut us down.” Having a hard cut off at 10:00 pm and booking great bands. I think the latter, is what has kept us going. The sound and music is so good, it’s really hard to not like it or at least tolerate it from 7 pm – 10 pm.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m so lucky and grateful that I have a team that all specialize in different positions. Shaye knows everything about sound. Patrick knows everything about lighting. Kaela knows exactly how she wants The Shed to look.
This gives us the time and energy focus on making an amazing show. My job is really making sure everything goes right. From building the bills, outreach and marketing.

What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
I believe the tables are turning on Livenation. people are fed up over having to pay high prices, hidden fees, in a venue that lacks originality.

I want to see more Mom and Pop venues that open their doors to upcoming bands. Sid the Cat auditorium is doing a great job leading the pack for more independent music venues.

Pricing:

• $10 online
• $15 at the door
• NOTAFLOF – No One Turned Away Due to Lack of Funds

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Linktr.ee/theshedla
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shredattheshed
• Other: https://www.tickpick.com/organizer/o/the-shed-/