Artist Relations Corner Livestream
In 2009, during “The Great Recession,” I found myself at a crossroads. I’d been at Orange for two years and was, for the first time, worried about my job. We were experiencing the worst downturn in the economy my generation had ever witnessed. Job safety was a huge concern. Orange had been absolutely crushing it until that point yet I found myself unsure about the future.
In response, I created Orange’s Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. It was my way of saying “I won’t go silently into the night.” In fact, I essentially created a new position for myself: Social Media Manager. More than a decade later and we have an entire team serving this role. I’m incredibly proud of what we have accomplished.
Enter 2020: the worst year ever. If this year was a fart it would be the kind that only happens on a blind date and you’re sitting on a white chair and it seeps through your pants and you can’t decide if you should get up and go to the bathroom because if you do you won’t be able to come back because the chair will be shit-stained and your date will post about it to their TikTok and no one will ever love you again.
2020 is garbage. So how do we make the best of it? Some of us have taken up a new hobby. Others have focused on making their big “pivot” to another line of work. But a small number of people, certainly the ones who are rife with self-absorption, have gone the way of livestreaming interviews. I count myself among this group.
Here’s a sampling of my favorite “Artist Relations Corner” interviews thus far. Yes, that’s the name I chose. It was a mistake but now the SEO has gone too far for me to change it. Now I get to live this shame forever. Enjoy, and for all of the Artist Relations Corners click here!
Episode #1: An introduction to who I am, what an AR Manager does, and commentary about the original “funny” Orange video, which featured Troy Sanders of Mastodon starring opposite a dog.
Episode #5: An interview with VMAN of Slipknot featuring his tech, Darren Sanders (yep, the brother of Troy from Mastodon and Kyle from HELL YEAH)
Episode #6: Thomas Jager of Monolord. There’s nothing better than talking stoner doom with a sarcastic Swede!
Episode #7: Rekti Yoewono of THE SIGIT and Mooner. This episode helped me discover a whole world of psychedelic rock from Indonesia that I never knew existed. Also, it features live jams!
Episode #9: Kellindo Parker is the guitarist for Janelle Monae and an accomplished solo artist. That’s not all though. He also has rad stories about Prince.
Episode #15: I interviewed legendary producer and engineer, the man who is considered “the 5th Ramone,” Mr. Eddie Stasium. His stories are incredible.
Episode #16: Brian Diaz is a mildly famous guitar tech…and one of my favorite people in the industry. He’s worked with Fall Out Boy, Primus, and Guns N Roses (to name a few). This episode is dear to me mainly because of how much we make each other laugh while being total buttholes to each other.
