Today we’d like to introduce you to Kiefer Detrick.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I spent the first twenty-three years of my life near Fort Worth, Texas. When I think about what might’ve made moving to LA and making music and throwing parties sound like a great idea, it wasn’t anything close to sound logic or having a plan or anything like that. There are two things that got lodged really deep in my guts as a kid that generally overwhelm my decision-making process. A longing to hear and play music, thanks to my parents. And this sense that community is really important. My parents are both music teachers. They’ve brought music to thousands of people’s lives over their careers, and when I think about how lucky I am to have had two people so committed to sharing music with the world as parents, it’s hard for me to imagine not trying my best to doing the same. And not even in a “it’s my responsibility, it’s the family business” type of way. I really can’t imagine my life without music, and I think music plays a myriad of important roles in the world.
When it comes to the events I do, that ties directly back to that nagging desire I have for community. I’m not anymore, but I grew up religious and was heavily involved in Church from childhood. I got really hooked on the constant community of that, and when I ultimately left those spaces, it was a huge loss in terms of connection and feeling like I was a part of something. I still had this impulse to “gather”, and to gather for a “good reason”. I think I just finally found my good reason. All of that together eventually culminated into me being an artist, starting a band (Border Collie), helping my friends make music, starting an events company (Heartthrob), throwing house shows, and who knows what else is on the way.
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?
I’ve had plenty of struggles. I don’t know that any of them are particularly unique or specific to me. Building a social and professional circle in LA during the pandemic as a brand new transplant was tough but that time was tough for everybody. The process of making music and putting it out is something I’ve had to learn by trial and error, like most people who didn’t grow up around the industry. I’m still learning what to do with it once it’s distributed and I’m excited to see how some of my release strategies will go this year. My first single with my band (Border Collie) is coming out May 11th, I have a song collaboration with Liam Tully coming May 22nd and will be releasing my first solo music in three years this June. It feels good to have a lot of work ready to go, but it definitely took years of slow motion to get here. On the events side, everyone I’ve ever thrown has been DIY and I just had to roll with the punches and answer questions as they appeared. I suppose for a time I thought those were struggles, but that’s really just the job no matter what. What changes is that each time, the questions I’m asking get more fun. Instead of asking who’s going to work the door, now I’m asking who’s going to sponsor us. Instead of asking how much time setting up will take, I’m asking what more we could add to the list. Instead of asking people to do things on spec, I’m able to pay people for their work.
As you know, we’re big fans of Heartthrob LA. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Heartthrob is the name I use for all my events in LA (house shows, comedy nights, Battle of the Bands, etc.). The name Heartthrob was sort of a happy accident. The first house show I threw at my backyard space in Silverlake was the week of Valentine’s Day, and for that reason, we landed on the name Heartthrob House Show. Now that I’m doing more than just the House Shows, I decided to keep the name Heartthrob as more of a parent name for all my events. Currently, the biggest thing besides the House Shows I’m working on is a summer-long Battle of the Bands starting June 1st (submissions are live!) in DTLA. That’ll be going all through September, and we have incredible sponsors on board now like Schecter Guitars and Silverlake Recording Studios who will be rounding out our prizes with tons of gear and studio time.
Heartthrob is co-producing and hosting this with Majic Meows, another fantastic events company in LA that, like Heartthrob, is singularly focused on putting artists of all kinds on display as often as possible in ways that are affordable, build community, and make a bigger table. With the Battle of the Bands, Gryphon (Majic Meows) and I are really honing in on this growing sense that the live music scene is stagnating and this odd sense of nostalgia that comes with it. We I hear it when I talk to other artists like myself, and I hear it from people who have gone out to shows for years. Venues and bookers are becoming less and less accessible as the number of artists continues to grow. The market is just saturated, and the appeal of local live music for whatever reason seems to be directly negatively impacted by that.
And it’s not the venues or bookers fault, and certainly not the artists. But I think the main problem is there’s not enough happening. There’s not enough variety. And on top of that, artists are being driven more and more into their bedrooms with the appeal of things like live streaming, social media, etc. None of those things are bad either, in fact they’re great. It just sucks that it’s what so many of us feel we *have* to do. But I think at the end of the day live music is something that will persist, and it’s the main reason many of us became artists in the first place. And for some reason, we think a Battle of the Bands feels like the right kind of energetic response to all of this right now. A bunch of bands rocking out together in front of people all summer long. And right in the middle of downtown LA! With free parking! I’m really stoked about this thing and I think it’s going to ignite a scene and will remind people that live music is never going anywhere and that community is what will always keep the industry of art afloat.
Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
Honestly, my only advice is to do things before you’re ready. It’s all about how well you use the resources you have available to you and actively seeking the next resource if you don’t have it. If you want to throw an event, set a date. No venue? You’ll figure it out. Someone you tell about it will know a guy who knows a guy with a perfect space. No sound system? You’ll figure it out. Someone you tell about it has one you can borrow, or maybe you don’t need even need it because the space you didn’t know you had is intimate enough to make that work. No artwork? Canva. No mailing list? Text everyone you know. If you’re committed enough, you’ll find an answer to the questions that come up, and if you don’t answer every question, you’ll get it on the next one! And to follow that up – I’d honestly say that if you’re wanting to throw and event and your goal is to make a big paycheck, you should just get rid of that idea. I truly don’t think there’s a way to go about this where I make way more money *from ticket sales* than everyone else (artists, graphic designers, door people, sound engineers, bartenders, photo booth, etc.) that is ethical in any sense of the word. If you want to make money, sell something.
The second you start taking half of every ticket, you’re shooting yourself in the foot in terms of visibility, branding, etc. It’s also just my personal belief that every other person who made my event happen did more work than me, it’s just how I see it. I put the pieces in place, sure. But people don’t come for me. They come for the artists, they come because they saw the poster, they come because it was affordable, they *stay* because the sound is great, and the photo booth is cool, and once again because the *artists* are great. If you happen to have taken care of every one of those things yourself, then maybe that’s a different story. I guess my whole point is you should put money and credit where money and credit is due, always, first and foremost. If all you do is break even on what you paid for alcohol, but you got to pay all your artists fairly, that’s a huge success in my book.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/heartthrobla_
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4lGBwUJZ3gHWq8g0T0Tthi?si=vTWRj5OTT5ejeIv1chGXJA
Image Credits
Michael Allen, Gryphon Raines, Charlotte Tegen, Elon Wertman, Angela Soto
