We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful John Martinez. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with John below.

John, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?

We have found our success comes from within. We’re a fully independent band that’s put ourselves on the road from coast to coast, recorded produced and released all our music ourselves and played well over 100 shows all well only being together for the last two years. We know we have what it takes to play and put on a show and we’re trying to elevate and push ourselves to make it our day jobs.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

LEGS. The band started as a project called the Bible Belt with John Mark(Guitar) , Marcus Macabre(Vocals), and Nick Workman(Guitar). They changed the name to LEGS. The Band once they began recording their first record In The Flesh with producer Tra$h Dog(Drummer). After a great time working together and realizing in order to perform these songs they needed a drummer Tra$h Dog stepped in so the band could start gigging. In The Flesh didn’t showcase the band the way the sounded live so they wrote and recorded a new album Real Bad Things that encapsulated their raw in your face sound. After a year of playing music and touring across the country they added Skylar Blue to bass and Nick Workman moved to lead guitar. From that moment we knew we found our sound. We recorded an ep The Black Monarch Recordings Volume 1 in a ghost town with inside a haunted hotel of the same name and went on a tour to promote it. As of now we are booking our next year, working on a new album, and planning on trying to elevate our presence in the world.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Unfortunately, as a DIY gigging band we’ve found there isn’t a ton of support for artists in our city to allow for growth and development. We never wanted to be a “local band” though so we always had aspirations of playing all over, however we’re harder pressed to play a paying gig in our home state than it is to play 1,000 miles away. However, there is a respect you get when you’re on the road and it’s a fantastic feeling to have the opportunity to travel for music. Money is a tool and it makes the machine go and without at least visibility and support no artists can thrive. We try to be supportive to those around us and bolster the bands we’ve been fortunate to work with but sometimes it feels like we need our venues to give some back. Without the music there is no show and no show means no people here and the answer isn’t vetting out local bands to play on weekdays so the big artists with no local support can play the small venues on a weekend.

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

The ability to put on a show for people, for anyone really. We pride ourselves on our performance and try our best to craft an experience that is memorable and engaging. To sound cliche, regardless of if there is no one in the room or hundreds we will play our hearts out and leave it all on stage. LEGS. The band is a team and includes a few other very close people and being able to take this show on the road and have our team come back better than ever, ready for the next endeavour.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.legstheband.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/legstheband
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LEGStheMusic
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJRoCYnlt7ya4v_qCNudaRg
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/album/0GVTg1iilUGHSpvuCEnDFc?si=ekdG4djqRo-gFtBfdJHi4Q

Image Credits
Photo 1 Corey Anderson Photography Photo 2 John Baird Photography