Meet AJ Keyser

We were lucky to catch up with AJ Keyser recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have AJ with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?

I get my work ethic from my parents. My parents are the hardest working people I have ever met. When you are a full-time musician, you have to hustle hard. You have to constantly network. Constantly send booking emails. Constantly update and promote on social media. You have to work on songwriting and manage a band. Sometimes it’s hard to force yourself to be creative when writing. A lot of the time you get writer’s block. That’s why I write with a team of people (other musicians and authors of books) to overcome challenges while sparking inspiration for songs. I also work hard with a publishing rights organization called BMI where I earn royalties for my music. I have to document every performance that I play at and update the setlist from each night. I am also my own audio engineer. I learned how to do audio in 2021 and took classes from my producer and my audio tech. I am happy to say I am fully self-sufficient and independent which are essential skills that you need in the music industry. I work every day of the week, but I am content doing so because music is my passion and my dream.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

I am focused on my artistic career. I am a professional musician. It’s a special and exciting job because you get to travel, you get to make friends at gigs, you get to interact with your fans, you create a personal brand and sell merchandise. I am in a band called Montana Sand. We are national but based out of Austin, Texas. All of our tour is online at www.montanasand.com/tour. You can also follow us on Spotify to see our concerts from bands in town. Right now, we sell t-shirts, mugs, and stickers. We are expanding to different states for touring. So far, we have been to FL, MT, CO, CA, TX and NM.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Having intersectionality, collaborative skills, and scheduling skills were the most impactful in my musical journey. My band is all queer and POC so it’s very important I work on pronouns and respect in general. I think the concept of “yes and” is very important when it comes to collaboration. When you can add on to an idea that helps ignite creativity instead of using constructive criticism, positive reinforcement is better. Lastly, scheduling and being organized is essential because you are managing all your employees’ schedules and lives and their day jobs. You can improve on intersectionality by taking diversity and equity classes or trainings in the workplace or working on your own privileges compared to the society and community as a whole. You can improve on collaborating by working with people you wouldn’t normally work with or make new friends to write songs with. You can use google calendars for scheduling or group texts to confirm band mates.

Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?

I am always looking to collaborate with other musicians on show line ups. I like being an opening act! I also look for writers. Poets, authors, songwriters are all welcome on my team as long as they sign up for BMI or ASCAP so they can get royalties from a publishing rights organization.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.montanasand.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/montanasandmusic/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/montanasandmusic/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aj-keyser-659b56182/
• Twitter: https://x.com/ajkeyser88
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1PfFxjYwDjV3vFP9Nsfdpg
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/montana-sand-music-austin?osq=Montana+sand+music
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/montanasand

Image Credits

https://www.kelsileigh.com/

https://www.annahmeintzer.com/

https://www.instagram.com/gandenaenae/