We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Evan Carter a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Evan, appreciate you joining us today. Can you walk us through some of the key steps that allowed you move beyond an idea and actually launch?

After moving back to Missouri in November of 2022, I knew that I wanted to form a band with my brother. (Avery Johnson) We grew up playing music together as kids and had an incredible bond that was bigger than music. He hadn’t actively played drums in years, but he began practicing daily for months, so that we could launch the band as soon as possible.

When we decided to start this band, we were truly at ground zero and did not have a clue on how to climb the ladder. That being said, we believed in our passion for music and desired to create something that transcended what we could do on our own. The primary goal was, and is to have a platform where we can be creative and do what we love, because it is important to us. The secondary goal was that our passion and creativity may impact other folks, no matter where they are in their life.

Once we had a goal in mind, we “launched” in March of 2023. We got local shows at smaller venues and started playing cover songs while working in some original songs/ideas. We had a great friend and part time bass player who drove 5-6 hours to play a few shows with us and we made it work!

Although we enjoyed this time, we really wanted to get into playing more original music, but that goal is not always the most popular or easiest thing to do. We had to take some important steps to meet our true goal.

The obvious first step was to meet people who were actually doing what we wanted to do. We began going to some open jam nights and meeting other musicians. We would speak with them and pick their brains about venues, songwriting, and just built some strong relationships. eg. (Clay Clear Band, Keegan Honeycutt, Emmitt Rickey, and many more)

Secondly, if we were going to get the band off the ground we needed a full time bass player. After about a two month stretch with no luck, my brother and I got really lucky when we played a small duo show one evening. We were really hurting for a bass player so I literally told the audience “if you know anyone who plays the bass and would want to join the band, please contact us.” It just so happened that Mr. Lance Moore was in the audience. He reached out that evening and said he would try out if we were interested. He warned us that he lacked experience, but after learning that we had similar beliefs and that he was a U.S. Airman, I knew he’d have the work ethic to grow and evolve with the band. We hired him in mid-late May 2023.

Sometimes things line up and go according to plan, and sometimes they don’t. Generally when things don’t go to plan it’s a bad thing, but our band had something happen that wasn’t part of the plan, but was gladly welcomed. In July of 2023, my best friend from high school and college heard that we were playing a lot of shows. He decided to move back to the Midwest and be a part of what we were starting. So Daniel Royuk made the 15 hour haul from Richmond, Virginia to be our lead guitarist. When this piece fell in place, we were full steam ahead.

Once we had a core group of musicians we were able to book about 30-40 shows for the summer of 2023. We had lots of great shows and met a lot of great people. One thing we learned from these shows was that folks wanted us to release original music, so we really focused in on that and made it happen.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I started playing music at 11 years old and quickly grew to love it. I would play every evening late into the night. I took five years of guitar lessons, while also being in choir at school. I was a part of touring choirs in both high school and college and really enjoyed those years of disciplined musical training.

Songwriting was something I started around 13, but never really got serious about it until after college when I got a little more rigid in my writing practice. This is where I have found my most peace in music.

I think something that sets my band apart from others is that this group comes from different musical backgrounds. I tend to ere on the side of americana/story led music, where as Daniel is a big heavy metal fan. Lance, likes punk, pop, and anything with a catchy groove, and Avery likes country, rock, and rap. I feel like that my leadership style allows each member to have their own flavor. My job is to stay true to myself and help bring those flavors together into a delectable meal, that people want more of.

My proudest moment is releasing original music to the world. The band worked hard preparing for the studio and things came together into something we are very proud of. We called it the Salt Pond EP which is an ode to the area we grew up, so it’s a personal project for sure.

One of the most fulfilling parts was that we have over 30 folks who we now call ECB VIP’s. They bought merch packages that fully funded the record. It showed us that we have people behind us and want us to succeed. That was just a great feeling.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I am by no means an influencer, but have put a lot of time and effort into our social media and marketing. We started our socials back in March 2023 and have grown over 1,000 followers on most platforms, except TikTok, which we didn’t get serious about until about until October 2023.

Mindset
The number one insight I have on social media is switching your mindset from “I want to blow up” to “Wow! 300 people viewed my video and 50 engaged.” The moral of the story is it’s a marathon not a sprint.

I like to imagine each piece of content as if it was a live show. If I go to a venue and set up, play, tear down and go home. I can count on about six hours of work. If there is an engaged audience of 75-100 people, I’d be pretty satisfied in knowing that they actively enjoyed the music and may become fans. Now, if I compare the numbers from a live show to social media content, I find that a simple short video that gets 300 views and 50 engagements. That piece of content offers about as much good exposure as a live show and it takes about 1/10 of the work. Plus it’s repeatable and can be done daily.
If you can average 300-500 views & 50-75 engagements 5 days a week then you get in front of 2000 people and 310 of them will engage in your content every week. Not many artists are getting in front of that many people every week, but it isn’t that hard to do if you break it down and set goals.

Goals
You have to have goals. Goals can be hard to set, but just start somewhere. I wanted to reach 1000 likes on Facebook by the end of the summer so we could have a strong core audience for our album release. This pushed us to tell our friends, make content and do everything we could to attain the goal. If you have trouble finding a starting point, look to other people in your line of work and see what their goals are. Maybe they align and give you are good place to start.

Bonus Advice- If you are in a band or your business has multiple staff, allow them to play an active role in the media, they will bring in an entire different natural audience. I think this has been key for our bands growth. Each guy in the band has different friends, family, and backgrounds and that just adds to the diversity of the audience.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding aspect of being a creative is telling a story that was once just a thought. To be able to see an idea in it’s infancy bloom into a story that bears fruit for the listeners is so fulfilling. I am by no means the greatest story teller, but when there is something in my heart and brain that needs to be let loose, it usually comes out in form of word and song.

It is icing on the cake when other people relate to the story and find comfort, comradery, and contentment by listening to the story that was once an idea..

Contact Info:

• Website: evancarterband.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/evancarterband/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/evancarterband/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCM1ZI6J9EJ3Trrb1XfS3xcA
• Other: Band Spotify Page https://open.spotify.com/artist/5PByWUPIMrJeNOmMPXmHwd?si=06KaKO9BTdyGXy_BCgporg

Image Credits
Bethany Johnson, Emma Johnson, Megan Moore, Mike Dotson.