We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Seth and China Kent a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Seth and China, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’ve love to hear an interesting investment story – what was one of the best or worst investments you’ve made? (Note, these responses are only intended as entertainment and shouldn’t be construed as investment advice)
This is funny, best and worst investments as a band are probably both tour vans. Sometimes the van is great and worth every penny and other times you are lucky to get any money out of it at all. We have driven everything from converted school/shuttle buses to mini vans for tour and the reality is that comfort and reliability rule all other factors. Outside of that the investment of building our own studio has been extremely valuable in making it possible for us to have a creative space to produce quality music, for both us and others, and to be able to walk out our back door. Especially in light of having two teen age kids, and a busy family live, the flexibility and ability to just walk out and start working and trust that we will get sounds we like and that it will still sound good at the end is very valuable.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
Well, China grew up playing classical piano, all the way from about 4 years old and into college. Meanwhile Seth was learning to play guitar in a very informal way, copying friends as they played chords. He was not, at first, very good so he also ended up learning to run sound. We actually met at a gig where China was playing and Seth was the sound guy. We eventually started playing together, after we had started dating, and had quite a few growing pains while making the bridge between the “formally trained classical pianist” and the “guy who learned to play guitar on a beach in Hawaii” work together. We started playing music as our “full time gig” about 7 years ago. During the pandemic, we released our sophomore album, Crucible, and subsequently had our studio just sorta sitting there. A friend asked if he could use it and if we would produce and EP for him and that sorta got the ball rolling. We have learned that we really enjoy producing other artists together
I would say we are very proud of a couple things here: that we can do so much with our little space, (it’s only about 650 sq ft.), and that we are able to get some very good sounds out of it. This, in particular, is a point of pride for Seth for sure. It helps to work with musicians who are excellent at their craft and can play and sing well. We are also very proud of China’s string arrangements and the sounds we are able to get from our acoustic string quartet, fondly referred to as the Denver String Machine, in our little studio. We just have a lot of fun with them too.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
I think the whole system around how we in the West currently interact with art and compensate artists is a bit of a challenge. Especially when it comes to understanding social media, streaming, and the complicated world of artists’ presentation. I think a lot of people might assume a couple of things. Firstly, that we want to just put everything up on TikTok or IG or what-have-you and just let people into our lives, but the truth is that the more China and I do that, the more exhausted we can become and the more we find ourselves having trouble being creative. It has, at least for us, been a sort of trap that has drained a lot of us out in a way we did not actually realize. Seth has actually just switched away from a smart phone to try to claw back some of that time and space.
Secondly, a lot of people ask us regarding streaming, “How much money do you make streaming?” or something similar. The short answer is, not much. Streaming is, honestly, not a great format for supporting an artist. It’s great for listening, and as consumers we get it because we use streaming services all the time. But the truth is that the roughly .006 cents a stream that artists are paid, means that most people can’t make a real living that way. We can sell shirts, and records, and play shows and those do pay better. But I think perhaps just understanding better is a way for society to support creatives better. We pour our time, hearts and souls into the product, we should find a way to honor that more completely.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
I mean, the obvious one is when the CoVid lock downs came. We had a show booked to open for Gaelen Lea, who is a wonderful artist and disability advocate and we were very much looking forward to the show. She is wheelchair-bound and has a large audience of people who are immuneocompromised and she just said, “I don’t think I can do this, not just for myself but for my audience” and we ended up being one of the first shows to cancel due to Covid in Denver. Then for a long time it was on line shows and livestreams and we were trying to figure out a whole new world. Buying the best web cams we could and the works! Fortunately, for us, the big pivot into production came along. We’re not thriving in the live stream realm and we needed a different way to move forward. In the end, that is the pivot that stuck. In fact we are, in general, reducing our live show presence still, as we are trying to find more meaningful opportunities to connect with our audiences. We are trying to find more targeted shows rather than a broad, “take every opportunity” approach.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.alrightx2.com/
- Instagram: @alrightalright
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alrightx2/
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@Alrightx2Music
Image Credits
The Made Shop (photos 1-4) Michael Wilson (photo 5) Matthew Greenlee (photo 6)