Check out The Shed’s story

Today we’d like to introduce you to The Shed.

Hi The Shed, 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?
The shed is a DIY music venue that features up-and-coming independent artists in the alternative/pop punk/rock scene. We’re located in Porter Ranch overlooking Limekiln Canyon. It’s a unique building, all things considered. It’s an aluminum building similar to a mini hanger in my backyard. We opened our gate in March 2022. Something that started off as just a backyard show with no plans of it turning into what it is today.

The Shed was built as my Dad’s woodshop. He was a cabinet maker. He constructed The Shed with the hope of creating his dream workshop and taking on bigger projects, Unfortunately, he was diagnosed with a type of leukemia in 2019; pretty close to the beginning of Covid. I was living in Burbank at the time and I was in a place where I could move back home to help with his care. Eventually, The Shed became more of a storage space full of boxes and random stuff. It became a bit of a hoarding situation. I would see the shed and how bad it was getting. It was turning into something my Dad never wanted it to be. I started clearing it out. It took a week or two to clear it out, but it was back to its old self. During this time, my Dad was in and out of the hospital but when he was home I was able to show him his space and he was just… happy. He was really sick but seeing him smiling at the space being clean and respected is something I’ll never forget. A few months later, New Year’s Day, he passed. I found myself spending more and more time in the shed; playing music and friends over to jam. In a way, I felt closer to him. The Shed was built to be a space to create, I can’t use a table saw but I knew I could create something special with something I was passionate about music.

I didn’t have a PA system or much gear but I did sell some speakers to my friend Britt Hughes, who used those speakers to throw shows in her backyard in Tujunga, it was called The Vibe. I called her to see if she still had those speakers and if I could buy them back. Luckily, she did and when she came over I told her my idea and she was into the idea and we came up with the name at the same time, The Shed. I was like “Yeah, shred at the shed” that’s how we came up with it.

Our first show was in March with Maggie Gently headlining. We had no lights, these two really old speakers, but I did have a good projector so we used that as the “lighting”. There were maybe a little under 20 people. But it was a show! We had two more shows with our very very humble set up but more people were showing up. On that third show in June, we had Honey Revenge, Hoity-Toity, Penny Bored, and In The Mourning (all of which have really blown up and having amazing careers) but it was the first time I had to deal with In-ear monitors, laptops, DI boxes, something that I had zero experience with. 100 or so people were there and I’m scrambling to make it all work but luckily the bands were able to make it work. The show was amazing and at the end of the night, a guy introduced himself to me and said he could do sound for us; that’s how Shaye Wolf came into the picture.

Shaye was an absolute game-changer. He hadn’t really done a live show before but he had all this gear and needed a place to store it and use it. So it was like a win-win situation. After that third show, I believe that’s when people started to refer to the space as a proper venue. The sound Shaye was able to create and control in The Shed gives me chills every time I think about it. The Shed has these unique rivets, where each sheet of metal meets. It creates this amazing reverb, something you can really feel. These sound baths were really healing; it was special. This “sound bath” experience that Shaye was able to control and create brought the sound quality of the music to a higher plane. Something so counterintuitive, a metal tube with rock music blasting inside of it, should sound bad. But Shaye treats it like an instrument in and of itself.

More and more, bigger bands wanted to play shows with us and we were doing about three a month but with us being in a backyard we started to get complaints which was absolutely understandable. We started becoming very selective about who we were going to feature. With Britt and I both have label experience, her at Hopeless Records and me at Epitaph. We both really trust each other’s taste and gut with independent artists and the bills we create. Now, our calendar has one to two shed shows a month and two or so shows at other satellite spaces we use for shows we can’t really do at The Shed; mostly our hardcore shows.

The Shed has grown into something bigger than anything Britt and I ever anticipated and we’re having a lot of fun with it but we’ve had to adjust and grow into learning how to play ball with agents and managers. Proper proposals, offer sheets, tech specs, managing schedules, and working out a better ticketing system. Thankfully, when industry folk see what we are building and experience a show, they are excited to work with us. The other obstacle we have is not being able to throw hardcore and ska shows at The Shed. My neighbors do not have as much appreciation for the trombone as I do.

Since opening the gate, we’ve had the pleasure of hosting many bands that have truly blown up this year that are truly homegrown acts. Honey Revenge, Cayley Spivey, Grave Secrets, SCRO, Red Leather, LAVALOVE, The Toxhards. So many bands featured at The Shed getting signed by labels, locking down agents, and going on national tours in such a short time. It’s absolutely wild to see, experience, and support.

We really love seeing our space becoming a venue that showcases artists that we think our attendees will fall in love with. It’s amazing finding out that people are showing up to our shows not knowing any of the artists but trust our taste and production.

The Shed is a place that artists get a chance to create and refine their live acts in a place that truly believes in what they are going to be. We care about how they sound, look, and express themselves just as much as they do. No matter how big we get, that will always be our goal.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
We’re lucky that we haven’t had too bumpy of a road. We have had some growing pains and have learned a lot. For one, it’s in my backyard. In the beginning, we threw three to four shows a month for the first six months and understandably really annoyed my neighbors. So we’ve had to adjust our schedule to have one, sometimes two bigger shows than four smaller shows a month.

In 2023, we also began throwing shows that we would want at The Shed at satellite spaces where we can be in control of our production and looking for a space that has a similar energy to The Shed that we can move into.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
My business partner, Britt Hughes, and I both started our music careers in 2010. We met at an internship with an artist management company. Eventually, we both moved on to independent record labels here at Hopeless Records, and I was at Epitaph Records. She went on to create her own artist development company, Common Ground Collective. I moved on to MDDN as the day-to-day manager for Benji and Joel Madden of Good Charlotte. In 2018, I spent time completing my degree, stepping away from the music world with the idea of jumping back in when I graduated, but the world had a plague. My dad needed a lot of care during his cancer treatment, and there weren’t a lot of opportunities in the music industry. Then I started creating The Shed not even realizing it was becoming a job and really proud of what it has become.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/theshedla
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/shredattheshed?igshid=MzMyNGUyNmU2YQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
• Youtube: https://youtu.be/HZrZ7tf2rUo?si=dPlsR6J-0gTXHzRV
• Other: Check out this venue on Fanimal! https://fanimalapp.page.link/y9KJjoDdEmnfqnkNA

Image Credits
Pics 1,2,5,6,7 – Lexi Arbaca @_cemeterywedding Pic 3,4 – Hannah Gini @LosDevilesca