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

Hi Kelly, thanks for joining us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

The biggest risk I’ve taken to date is deciding to seriously pursue All There Is. Back in December 2020, the band had made the decision to really try this project and I made the executive decision for myself to take a gap semester from college. Granted, this was in the midst of COVID, so college was anything from a normal experience, so taking a break wasn’t a radical decision. Nonetheless, it was a scary jump. All my friends were on campus and were being normal college students and I was in my parents house pursuing a band that has been a mere dream since 7th grade. In March 2021, my risk led to our drummer Grace Goodman taking the risk to come to Dallas and everything fell into place. Although that time period from December – August was easily one of the toughest parts of my life, what came out of it is beautiful. I don’t think the band would be where it is today if we didn’t take the risk to try.

Kelly, 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?

My music career first start in 7th grade, when my best friend, Sofia and I started a band. It was nothing more than a fun side project playing local shows on weekends. It fizzled out in high school, but started back up again freshman year of college. During the time the band was on hiatus, I started my booking company, No Vacancy Bookings, to set up show around DFW. No Vacancy had its first show booked, then COVID hit and shut down all live shows. I then started the “Not So Live” Series, which was a virtual music festival. Spanning from April to December, the shows had 38 bands come together to create an online music festival experience. In the fall of 2020, I attended my first year at Belmont University, in which I am currently pursuing a degree in Creative and Entertainment Industries, with a minor in Music Business.

My main projects are All There Is and No Vacancy Bookings. All There Is has two songs released, a booked and busy summer full of shows, and a plethora of things in the works. No Vacancy is planning several music festivals this year and re-vamping the business, with help from new business parter, Grace Goodman. I’d say the thing I am most proud of in my career thus far is having All There Is booked to play So What?! Music Festival on May 27th. We will be playing alongside almost every one of my favorite bands / influences and it feels like a dream.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

Belmont University has so many amazing resources for music business students and so much of my advancement in knowledge on the business has come from there. One of the first resources that impacted my mindset comes from a talk from Tara Traub from Live Nation. She spoke about how difficult it is to establish yourself as a woman in the industry and said, “If there is not room at the table for you, you make room.” This greatly shifted my mindset because growing up in Catholic education I was taught to be obedient. While it is so important to be respectful and kind, (and with no hate towards Catholic education at all) it is also important to not get walked on. In this industry, especially as a woman, if you do not make yourself known, no one will know you.

Another resource that has drastically changed my mindset is my Social and Emotional Intelligence class I’m taking with Professor Cristi Williams-Gilbert at Belmont. The class does a wonderful job of teaching about social intelligence, which I learned is one of the most important parts of being in the music business. The business is all about people and connections, and being able to understand your own emotions, as well as others, will greatly benefit you on the journey. This class has been my favorite at Belmont because it completely changed my mindset when dealing with people. I learned so much about my own emotional intelligence and how to use certain skills to understand other people. I’ve worked with people who are incredibly emotionally unintelligent and it is very difficult. Being able to understand other people emotionally has helped in a management sense because I can sense/read other people, and therefore speak with them in a way that would be the. most beneficial The class has taught me how to accommodate other people’s emotions and patterns in a way to best benefit a work environment.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect is the feeling of creating something you are genuinely proud of. It is so amazing to look at something you’ve made and be like “I did that”. Especially with the new music/direction coming from the band and all of the projects in the works with No Vacancy, there’s no better feeling than seeing something be executed that you are emotionally invested in and proud of.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.allthereisband.com/
• Instagram: instagram.com/kellycondy
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/kellycondyy
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFB42eTmsOwLXs2DmAjns3g
• Other: All There Is Linktree: https://linktr.ee/allthereis No Vacancy Bookings Linktree: https://linktr.ee/novacancybooking

Image Credits
Trey Karnes Collin Katz Matt Pearce