Article written by Lauren Johnston.
This week I was lucky enough to grab an interview with a very talented local musician. Ty Williams is a 21 year old drummer from two bands, one being ‘Tim Sparks Fire’ and the other is a new up and coming band ‘Alaina’. Ty has been a part of the music scene since his early teens, he started going to shows at the early age of 14 back in 2011 and has done a lot since that time, not only is he in two bands, he is also a part of a management group for the local Brisbane music scene, which is called BTM Enterprises.
Everybody has had someone or something inspire them, it’s then our choice to do something with that inspiration and that is exactly what Ty did. So what inspired Ty to play the drums was and Andy Hurley from fallout boy, his Dad had gotten him in to Fall Out Boy and when Ty was 10 years old, he had seen that Fall Out Boy had released ‘Infinity On High’ and couldn’t resist buying it, not only that he brought the deluxe edition as it included a specials feature DVD. Ty went on to say after listening to the whole album that he had watched the DVD and witnessed Andy Hurley play the drums and was intoxicated by the whole thing and wanted to be able to play the drums just like him and be able to make a career or something from it.
Speaking of careers, I asked Ty, “What made you realize that music is the career pathway for you?” In which he replied with “I wouldn’t say that it is a career path to start off with but it’s more of a risky business endeavor to begin with. It’s something that always changes and stays fresh and new and always has ups and downs and shit.” After hearing Ty say this it made me think of how true that is, music is always changing around us and is never the same. Everything in life is always ‘keeping up with the times’ and so is music, its changing, its growing, there is so much more to music these days then there was 5, 10, 15 years ago and so on. There is constantly new up and coming artists and bands every day, venues are changing and so is the music, but one thing that is staying the same is the love and support that Brisbane gives to these local shows, bands and artists.
Have you ever heard some song or band on the radio and looked them up when you got home and fell in love with that band and the genre of music they produce? Well that’s what happened with Ty, he explained how he doesn’t really stick to one genre, but going with the genre based off his bands genres he would say ‘Fallout Boy’, ‘Stateside’, ‘Alter Bridge’, ‘Rise Against’ and ‘Motorhead’, basically a bunch of different bands like that, that never really always sound the same. That made me think, how different from each other is ‘Tim Sparks Fire’ and ‘Alaina’.
I asked Ty, “What is the difference between Tim Sparks Fire and Alaina?” I was thinking that maybe one was more Hardcore then the other, but as we chatted it came to my knowledge, that was not the case, “Tim Sparks Fire is a lot more pop rock than anything else I’ve ever been in, Including Alaina, very ‘Imagine Dragons’, ‘One Republic’ stuff. Alaina is a lot more over the board and basically a collective of influences of myself and Ryan, who is the vocalist of Alaina.”
Alaina is a 4 piece rock band from outer Brisbane and have played at venues like East Brisbane Bowls Club and Room 90, I asked Ty what his favourite show he played and why was it so good? “Triffid” was the first venue he said and a split moment later he continued “I’m actually torn between two venues, the Triffid and Beatle Bar, which is now known as the Flaming Gala, but, I would go mainly with the Triffid because of the show we were on, it had nice lighting, sound and all that sweet good stuff” I mean if you have ever been to a show in your life, it really does make all the difference when you have good lighting, good sound quality and a good stage to perform on. I also asked Ty “What has been your favorite show you performed at?” Without even questioning it he answered with “This show we did at the Beatle Bar with Pyromance, their last show, had free entry, and a give back to fans, it was a very diverse lineup which was cool because I had a lot of friends in the bands that were performing, it was essentially a sold out show upper and lower levels were packed (over 250 capacity) so that was really cool. We were also lucky enough that we got a captain Morgan sponsorship which was pretty cool.
It also helps if you have a good management team behind you and these 4 boys sure have just the team for that, especially considering Ty is also a part of that management team, which is BTM enterprises which I briefly mentioned earlier in the article. You are probably wandering how a local boy in a small band, managed to become a part of such a big enterprise, such as BTM, and this is how Ty explained it to myself on Wednesday, “It was the end of November 2015, where I was going to Tafe with a guy who was working at BTM and the guys had put out an ad for a new team member, so I spoke to him and went in for a quick interview with ol’ Ben and that was it. Had me in a small position doing some small Sunday shows and have been around since. Now I do bigger shows such as Moshfest and other festivals, as well as small Sunday shows I started doing.”
I have heard a lot about BTM, but never really understood or basically knew what they did behind the curtains, I just knew they managed things to do with bands and how the show runs. Little did I know that there was a lot more than that to it and that I had no idea what actually goes into a show or performance. “BTM does a lot of things. They are essentially a booking agency/promoters. We get jobs from venues and book bands to play those dates. We also do PA/ back line hire and supplying staff for shows and events as well as social media management, we also run bookings and a management roster where bands can sign up for a monthly fee and get first preference for the upcoming dates and shows. As well as a bit of artist developments, press kits, bios, all that sort of stuff.” When Ty had finished telling me all that information, my head exploded, I had no idea that BTM did so much for the Brisbane music scene and it made me happy knowing that the music scene is long from dead.
So now that I know what BTM does for the Bands and Venues, it got me thinking what do they do for the Music Scene as a whole community? Artist development is hard but with the booking and management roster it’s easier for them to be able to show up and play at gigs through BTM and it doesn’t limit a band, so we’re not the booking agent, so they can work with other promoters and stuff. We help to send out applications for support spots with larger artists. We have a lot of contacts with anything with PR, printing shirts, CD’s all that sort of stuff. Websites and that stuff too.” So in a nutshell BTM is the back bone to mostly everything that goes on behind the scenes and helps promote bands so hopefully they will bring a bigger crowd to venues, which then helps them build a bigger fan base.
Lastly I wanted to know what BTM has done for the promotion of Alaina, A band that has one of their own involved with the band. Ty was happy to inform me that BTM has in fact helped with the struggles of being a new band that is only just starting out, " BTM has helped Alaina by getting us the shows we already have, it was cool to have our first show supporting ‘Skies Collide’ and ‘Shorelines’ and ‘Days Like These’ and ‘Last til Dawn’ for their double launch show. We haven’t done much yet to be completely honest, but, BTM has helped us get the free entry show at Ric’s on the 3rd of May and on the 29th of June at Tomcat.” I plan on attending the show at Ric’s Bar and will be more than happy to write a review on their performance and the whole show in general. If you haven’t seen a show or band like this I highly recommend that you come along and check it out, support our local music scene and let us show you how fun and inviting it can be.
Comments