We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jamin Marshall. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jamin below.
Alright, Jamin thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We believe kindness is contagious and so we’d love for you to share with us and our audience about the kindest thing anyone has ever done for you?
One of the kindest things anyone has done for me in the context of business, was when Mr. Shawn Flores of ACME Print Co. convinced Dropkick Murphys to watch my band – Larry And his Flask.
We opened for Dropkick Murphys in Bend, Oregon back in 2010. Shawn Flores who owns ACME Print Co. in Massachusetts was working with DM and saw us as we were opening the show. He ran backstage and brought some of the DM guys out to see us play.
Shawn and DM were impressed by our band and subsequently asked us to open for them on their famous – month long – St. Paddy’s day tour from coast to coast and everywhere in between. The Dropkick Murphys have a large following and their music has been featured on movies and tv shows. So when they asked us to open up for them on tour we were honored and quickly accepted the offer.
At that point we were still a “baby band” as they say, so their decision to take us on such a large scale and important tour was a gigantic turning point in our career as a band.
After that everything changed for us. Shawn started managing us, he got us on the Warped Tour, helped us with merchandising, got us a business manager, a producer, a recording engineer, a booking agent and a publicist. He printed our first large scale merchandise and record sleeve runs and taught us how to sell our merchandise and manage it on tour.
That tour was our big break and we owe a lot of our success to Shawn Flores and Dropkick Murphys. That breakthrough in the early days of my band is why I stayed in the music industry and ultimately, how I was able to start Marshall Musik. Because Shawn worked so hard for us, our band Larry And His Flask is still played all over the world and our new projects – Jeshua Marshall & The Flood and Marshall Musik are successfully carving out a dedicated fanbase all over North America and Europe.
Thanks to Shawn and DM I am able to continue to pursue my lifelong dream of running my own music based company, continue to travel the world and continue to do what I love!
Shawn opened the door for me in a big way and I owe him. So if you ever have need of top-notch screen printing, stickers, banners or embroidery check out www.acmeco.com.
Thank you, Shawn.
Jamin, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Greetings Earthling,
My name is Jamin Marshall. I own and operate Marshall Musik LLC.
From a young age music caught my attention, whether it was my dad playing rock and roll records, the church choir or my aunt playing honkey tonk on my grandmothers old piano – I was hooked from the age of 4 on. Eventually my brother and I got a little fisher price record player and a couple Johnny Cash, Micheal Jackson and Ventures 45s. Soon after my little brother, Jeshua and I got a small tape recorder and I started to make up songs and sing them into the tape deck. My parents were always encouraging our artistic/musical interests.
But the true catalyst of my entry into the music world was when my friends – who had a high school punk band (Brain Child) – informed me that their drummer quit and I was now their new drummer and needed to learn 3 songs in about a week for a Battle of The Bands. Up to that point, I had only just fumbled around on my friend’s drum kit. I have a natural knack for rhythm, but at that point 3 songs seemed impossible. However, we practiced every day and somehow I didn’t choke when I got up there on stage for the first time. What’s more, we won that damn thing!
After that I was a drummer through and through. My parents bought me a drum kit and actually allowed me to practice in their house. My first band broke up so my brother, who was an aspiring bass player at the time joined me in creating a new band called Larry And His Flask. We brought in our high school friends and eventually, we started touring the US, then Canada, then Europe. We were an active, international touring act for 15 years putting out a bunch of records.
Larry And His Flask ran its natural course as a band and Jeshua Marshall (my little brother) continued on with his own act – Jeshua Marshall & The Flood. He has put out 2 full length albums and is about to drop a 3rd called ‘Baker City’ on January 16th 2025. I still play drums for him as often as I can.
I started www.marshallmusik.com in 2022 as a way to sell Jeshua and LAHF records. The web store is doing great. We work with our friends to sell their merchandise online. Marshall Musik has put out Jeshua Marshall’s second record – The Flood. We also manage and do the booking for Jeshua. Punk Rock Saves Lives is a non profit based in Denver that I work with to sell their merchandise and do their tour advancing.
Marshall Musik is in the process expanding and growing to offer more services to musicians and artists.
We are now offering band management, tour booking, merchandizing and band planing/consultation.
Our work is focused on the music community. Our main goal is to help show bands and artists starting out that there is a way to gain fans and achieve their goals through a combination of touring, content creation, partnership with friends and good ol’ fashioned hard work. They can carve out a place for themselves in a difficult industry.
The main problem that a lot of musicians have these days is overwhelm and burnout. There is just SO much you have to do. As an independent artist you have to do everything yourself: booking, album art, networking, budgeting, merchandising, scheduling, finding the musicians to play with, play-listing, getting on festivals and lets not forget the ever present – content, content, content!
The Marshall Musik Solution:
We start with a consultation, where we identify the musician’s goals and dreams and also the things involved with being an independent artist that you hate. For example, booking shows, or making content every day.
After that we can create a plan to help get you where they want to go. Our plans are broken down into al a carte items. Such as: booking, management, online store placement, consultations, tour advancing, and band development.
We will identify the things about the music industry that bum you out the most and come up with an action you take to alleviate the stress caused by them.
What sets us apart from others is our desire to create community through music. We know that getting connected with your community will help you thrive as a musician. We know what it’s like to feel like you have too much on your plate. But with a strong community and a concise plan you can take a piecemeal approach and have fun while getting your music out there!
Check out our websites for more information.
www.marshallmusik.com
www.jeshuamarshall.com
www.punkrocksaveslives.org
Feel free to drop us a line at [email protected].
Any advice for managing a team?
My advice for managing a team and maintaining high morale is working hard alongside your team.
When there is a big goal and everyone has to work hard, as the leader it is best to be there with your team working hard with them. Show them that you care for them as a team by being there for them. Be present to answer questions, solve big problems and give a shit.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
A lesson I had to unlearn in the music world was the idea that “promoters” will promote the show.
This is a lesson for the music industry but I think it applies to a lot of industries.
When I started my band, 20 years ago the music industry was a different place. It was broken up into specialized jobs:
Band
Promoter
Manager
Booker
Publicist
Merchandising
Etc.
We all knew what our job was for the band it was writing, recording and playing shows. Also, most likely getting drunk and wild. After all what are you supposed to do as a 20 something punk rock drummer? But I will save the details of that for my blog – “Larry And His Flask – The Hard Way”.
Obviously, as a DIY outfit you have to do a little bit of everything and you are your own best promoter. I know it’s hard to believe now but back when we started the band, the person that booked the show was primarily responsible for getting the word out there that the show was happening.
As time went on and the record industry fell apart and the rise of social media took over, the individual “jobs” got resorted. Basically the band has to do everything.
I can remember being so bent out of shape the first time I asked a “promoter” over the phone why the ticket sales are down and why I haven’t seen anything online about the show. He said that it is the band’s job to promote the show and we need to have more stuff on our socials about the show to get people there. I had taken a few years off the road and was basically detached from social media at that time. I thought he was a total shit-head. I mean after all what the fuck is a “PROMOTER” supposed to be doing if not PROMOTING THE SHOW? But hey, I digress.
The point is, I had to change my thinking and unlearn the old style of separation in jobs in music. That guy on the phone was right. It is the band’s job now to promote the show on socials and partner with as many local bands and companies as possible to get the word out about the show so the right people know and you gain real fans in each town you play.
There is no longer separation in the music world on the baby band scale, at least. The band must do it all. Or at least most of it. If you hire people to handle your socials, you still need to create the content yourself or it will come off insincere.
So yeah, I had so unlearn that old school mentality and become comfortable with checking in with my fans regularly on my socials. It seems funny to me now that I was so pissed about it in the first place. After all people that are drawn to show business should be naturals when it comes to being in front of the camera and interacting with fans.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.themarshallmusik.com
- Instagram: @marshall_musik_
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100090516876509
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Larryandhisflask
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-258097115-71918069
- Other: Jeshua’s Bands in Town
https://www.bandsintown.com/a/10815296-jeshua-marshall?came_from=257&utm_medium=web&utm_source=home&utm_campaign=search_barJeshua Marshall
www.jeshuamarshall.comPunk Rock Saves Lives – Non Profit
https://jeshuamarshallmusic.bandcamp.com/
Image Credits
First Photo – Jumping Jamin – Greg Nolan www.gregorynolan.com
Second Photo – Jeshua UK – Emma Gibbon @emmgibbphoto