All grown up
What does it take to make it as a band in 2023 (aside from Kickstarter)?

For this week’s “Between the Beats,” I sat down with Sam Kelly – saxophone wunderkind and the unofficial funk mayor of Durango. He’s the unassuming horn player melting your face in groups like J-Calvin, The Afrobeatniks and Funk Express. Kelly also plays in the popular local group Elder Grown, ripping saxophone and blasting synth for audiences all over the state and beyond. Kelly and Elder Grown have launched a Kickstarter to boldly go where they’ve never gone before musically in their decade plus as a band.

You’re a FLC graduate who successfully transitioned to full-time musician. How did you come to study music?

I had no clue that was a thing until I was sitting in my student advising appointment at FLC in 2009. I told them I didn’t really know what I wanted to study, maybe business. He asked me what classes I enjoyed in high school. I said, ‘I really only enjoyed playing my saxophone in band.’ And he was like, ‘Well, do you want to major in music? I’ll do you one better. We have a music business program.’ And, I said, ‘Sign me up!’

Fast forward a decade or so, and you’ve just finished a Master’s program with the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Valencia, Spain. What takeaways have you brought back home?

Living in Southwest Colorado, it can be hard to network. Durango is kind of the biggest thing within a few hundred miles. From a music scene perspective, it can be very limiting. Going to this program, people were from all around the world: India, China, all over Europe, Australia. Everything was so collaborative. As far as our scene here, I think that it maybe gave me a perspective on how we can collaborate as musicians here.

Let’s talk about Elder Grown – a Durango favorite. You’re launching a Kickstarter. Tell us all about it.

We want to be a band that’s touring and playing high-end shows around the country. And this is the opportunity to raise the funds to put together an album and work with the professionals to get on the radar of some important people in the industry. It’s a 30-day make-or-break fundraiser, so at the end of February, if we haven’t met our goal, we have to give all of the money back.

When you finish that recording, what then? As musicians, do we still release albums, or are we now in a time where we just release single after single?

We live in a day and age where there’s lots of things vying for people’s attention. How can we capture an audience’s attention but in a longer span of time? We might release singles over the course of a few months and then drop a full album. We’re hoping that if we’re working with a record label, they’re handling getting our music out into people’s hands through radio stations, Spotify playlists, etc.

So much of that is ‘gatekeeped.’ To get into playlists on Spotify, you’ve gotta know somebody who knows somebody. It’s the same thing with radio, too. I think it’s always best, especially in today’s age, to release fewer songs but ones that are more impactful. If it takes 12 songs and they’re all bangers – by all means. That’s why Elder Grown has chosen eight. We want to represent all of the songwriters in the group, and it’s simply going to take eight to do that. It’s all about consistency these days. Decades ago, bands could release a big album and tour the world for years off of it. To stay relevant today, you have to release music on a consistent basis.

What does merch look like in 2023? Are we still making CDs? Strictly tapes? Edison canisters?

Most recently, it was the digital download, but now that’s even obsolete. There’s the whole reprise of vinyl, but the major downside is now you have to plan a year in advance, because the demand is so high, and there’s such limited production. People still want to walk away from a concert and hold something. So, it depends on the band. Elder Grown will do CDs. At this point, all of the songs are written, and we are hoping to finish the project by early summer. Now it’s playing the game of getting them into people’s ears.

Which takes us back into the realm of marketing and digital marketing.

Which brings me back to the music business degree I got at FLC all those years ago.

Find the fundraiser at https://bit.ly/3jMfPx4 ?