We caught up with the brilliant and insightful James Bullock a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
James , looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?
I grew up in a very low-income working-class environment growing up, everybody around me worked hard to keep the bills paid and the kids fed everyday, so I just figured this is how you’re supposed to live. Before coming to Los Angeles, I cut my teeth with several fast-paced high volume food service establishments and working with the kitchen crew for long hours really helped develop my work ethic to the point where I don’t stop until the job is done.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
My name is James, and my business partners name is Randy. He established Gravity Bookings during the spring of 2014 and I moved to California to pursue Music and met Randy through a mutual friend and began working with him from there. We mostly use Gravity Bookings as a platform for younger DIY bands as well as more established acts that want more of a grassroots type of feel when they’re performing.
As a musician, I’m more focused on artist relations as well as event managing where as Randy does most of the heavy lifting and books shows and talks to artists and venues and establishes equal and fair payment for everyone involved. Everything we do in the end is meant to benefit the artist more than us, We feel this is the most successful business model for continued success as well as what is morally best. We have some upcoming shows at Genghis Cohen which is a historic venue on the west side of Los Angeles, you can find the dates and information to those on our Instagram or website!
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
People relations: Knowing how to relate and talk to all walks of life and better understand people so that everybody is happy during the negotiating process. Being friendly and genuinely emphatic can get you a long way
Creativity: Having the artist talent and creativity necessary to troubleshoot and problem solve my way through any issues we may come across. Working in this field, you come across very different situations than you might in other fields
Management: The ability to event plan and manage a show or event is extremely important. Making sure everyone is paid and on time and deadlines are met as well as attendance and making sure everyone gets their ticket stamped and completed on the app of your choosing. Making sure the show is run on time and everyone tears down and sets up their gear as efficiently as possible to adhere to the schedule
Most of these are basic life skills you can pick up through work or being low income in an environment where everybody is just trying to survive. Being in food service for years and having been a manager from time to time there are a lot of management parallels between a show and running a kitchen. Making sure everything is done on time and we have done the proper preparation to make sure we have all the gear/items we need when it comes time to serve.
Being kind to everyone you meet will go a long way if you’re trying to navigate the world of music. Whether its fans or event security or other bands, I try to be warm and generous to everyone I meet, you never know when you might need those good relationships further on down the line.
How can folks who want to work with you connect?
We are generally always looking for musicians or add-ons to the Gravity Bookings crew! Whether you’re looking to get your own band or a band you manage booked, other musicians to jam with or you’re just interested in joining the Gravity Bookings Crew, please don’t hesitate to reach out! Sending us an email is our preferred contact method, but we will eventually see messages from other social media apps and reply to those accordingly
Being a DIY business, we really genuinely enjoy the opportunity to get to work with all different walks of life and we wouldn’t have that opportunity if nobody reaches out. Music is all-inclusive at the end of the day and if you really genuinely have a passion for music there is a spot for you.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://gravitybookingspresents.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gravitybookings/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gravitybookings
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/GravityBookings
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@gravitybookings
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/motherbound
