We recently connected with Melanie Pierce and have shared our conversation below.
Melanie , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?
Elevation Memphis is an alternative music band from Memphis TN. You can find their music on most streaming platforms.
Elevation Memphis started in 2019 right before the pandemic. It was around October that year that La-Shon Henderson and Melanie Pierce ended up being placed by each other at work and shortly after getting to know each other.
LaShon Henderson having being in a Pink Floyd Tribute band for 17 years heard Melanie on a video on Facebook with her close friend Greg Parker singing and playing the Djembe while he was playing the keys and told her she didn’t know she was a singer.
Melanie explained that she enjoys karaoke and having jam sessions with friends but never considered anything further. She then asked Melanie to audition for a band she was about to start singing back up with and from that moment it went from there.
I (Melanie) auditioned for the band and was able to make it. Shortly after practicing with that band I asked Lashon why doesn’t she start her own band and she mentioned she always wanted to but wasn’t sure how and didn’t want to do it alone.
As they sit in the office they decided to start right then and create a name for it and how they would like to establish roles.
“We didn’t know what we were doing, we just went for it”. ~ Melanie
They asked a few members of a band to join then and that’s when Elevation Memphis started. We didn’t land our 1st gig until December it was so difficult to get venues to give them a chance but they didn’t give up. Chris Pietrelgo lead singer of Fingertrick landed them their 1st gig at a venue called “The Vault” in Memphis TN.
“We will never forget getting our 1st gig and we will never forget Chris P landing that for us and believing, it motivated us to keep going and we will always be appreciative of him.” ~ LaShon Henderson & Melanie Pierce
Shortly after that show the pandemic hit and it was a very challenging time to stay relevant and many doubts hit but we preserved and came up with ways to do shows virtually and we was pretty successful. We realized as the year went on that a lot of the members in the band had a busy schedule and were already established in their other bands which we began to reinvent Elevation Memphis with newer members.
We brought in a female guitarist Natalie Shindler and keyboard player Derrin Lee and things changed in an even more positive way. Our vision changed, sound and goals changed.
Derrin Lee was a game changer as he is the arranger and musical director of the band and now he is a business partner with Melanie and La-Shon. Derrin came in and believed in the vision and never gave up during the challenging times in the world. We created a setlist and he executed.
Derrin plays such a huge role in this band at we always say it is very possible we would not be as far without him. He has been not only a musician director but has become family. We asked Derrin to provide a quote for this article and this is what he wanted to everyone to know:
“Music Strictly From The Heart Reaches the heart, for music is the universal language that is understood by all!” ~ Derrin Lee
By 2021 Covid was still in effect but venues started to open up and because there were limited bands who felt comfortable with performing
we were able to get more shows.
We would send a million emails with no response and still to the day we have the same challenges but now we are more busy than ever and we are truly grateful.
LaShon Henderson has been an outstanding leader doing the best she can along with her partner Melanie Pierce. In the beginning we had a lot of things that helped shaped us into being better owners and leaders and we can see a lot of growth since 2019.
Natalie Shindler having been with us a little over 2 years moved to Boston and we brought in Darren Little on drums which has kept us a 4 core band. The talent out of the musicians is just amazing. We don’t use bass much as Derrin Lee saves us money by playing key/bass at a lot of the smaller shows and we don’t miss a beat. Darren Little is an awesome drummer. His prior experience and leadership is welcomed and when we all get together we just create magic.
Our music should reach you in some way and just take you to a place musically that hasn’t been done in a very long time. We want to create music that reaches everyone and not tied to one genre. Our goal is to be signed to a major label or just find an amazing management team to get us where we need to be.
Just in 2022 – 2023 have shot 4 music video by Harris Beauchamp and recorded 6 original songs at Babbylon Sounds under Michael Babbs.
Mike Babbs has also been a game changer his knowledge on the industry and over studio knowledge has just awesome to learn so much. We appreciate him more than he will ever know. He believes in what we are doing and that’s always enough to keep our business.
“No matter the journey you are on, find a way to make it the most elevated experience.”
La-Shon
So far 2023 has been great to us. We have over 20k views on our music video “Groovy Little Babe” and the streams are over 40k for all of our songs. We haven’t been a year of releasing original music so we are more than on cloud 9 with how far we have come.
Melanie does all of the marketing/bookings and La-Shon does booking and makes sure the entire band is running smoothly.
Derrin Lee is completely over musicians. Darren Little is a huge with networking and keeps us connected with different business, etc.
We get a lot of feedback on the connection we have on and off stage. We are like sisters and brothers and we have each other back. We are doing all the right things to get the music on the right hands all we need is for someone to believe in our music and take us to the next level. We have what it takes.
We appreciate all of the support and venues that believe in us and has given us and others a chance.
“You never know what kind of music you will get out of us at a show, we will go from Patsy Cline to Bruno Mars. We are the people band and we play to the people. Whatever they want to hear we will play it for them.”~ LaShon Henderson
You can subscribe to our website to stay up to date www.elevationmemphis.com.
Melanie , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
We have all had a love for music but at an early age most of us started then. We are now part of a big music community of so many talented bands, musicians, and singers and the amount of support has been great.
We offer full band and acoustic band services. We will even DJ in between breaks to keep the crowd on their feet.
A lot of the challenges we have faced is stereotyping us a certain genre and not booking us because of it. We sing all genres and not set on just one particular one. There are venues who will allow others to have a chance and not us. In the beginning us was hard to understand but now that we are busier than ever that actually motivated us instead of affecting us negatively.
We are proud that a lot of the people in the community see how hard we work. We have bands such as Headband, and fast mothers who compliment us greatly on social media. We will be featured on “The Rhythm Section Podcast” which is an awesome podcast based out of Memphis TN and they are also very supportive. We were feature on “The Hum” which is like a tiny desk and they allowed us to shoot a mini video to act out a lot of challenges we faced. It was a great experience and we appreciate Station 8 productions for the opportunity.
2022 we were in our 1st year performing at a major festival in Memphis called The Cooper Young festival in Memphis TN. Also, Danny Day who is a local Memphis photographer has been more than amazing with believing in us and supporting us tremendously.
We we are also proud of being a local show called Recorded In Memphis which airs April 14th and we are just so happy to know that people enjoy the original music we are putting out and appreciate our hard work. We put a lot of money and time and work in this band. One day it will all pay off.
We’d love to hear about you met your business partner.
I spoke on this earlier but I found my business partner LaShon Henderson at a job we both worked at. I was there an entire year and we didn’t even speak much.
Once the seating arrangements changed my life changed. My life did a complete change after I met La-Shon Henderson. She is not only a business partner but an an amazing friend and sister.
We get along so well and we know each other. She is my accountability partner and I am hers. When we don’t sing together it’s weird it’s like we are just attached. It just works.
We recently brought Derrin Lee as he is also now a business partner after 3 years of commitment to this band and primarily over the musicians. It’s gives me and La-Shon time to handle other business needs. We started our LLC in 2019 and the business has just been going in a positive direction every since.
How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?
Funding the business has been a big challenge. LaShon and I have put in a ton of working late hours just to get money. When venues don’t pay much we always make sure our musicians are paid even if it means we give up our share.
I’m a firm believer that you have to invest in quality and do what is needed to keep quality people. Investing in your business is key if you want quality.
I will work 3 or 4 jobs if that is what I need to do for studio and video money. I’m always finding ways to make money for us. The laughing joke is B&B, making the money for band and bills. There’s not much room left for anything else but as long as those are funded properly I don’t need much else.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.elevationmemphis.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/elevationmemphismusic?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063547662160&mibextid=LQQJ4d
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@elevationmemphis
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5MzHc5kgSEUwyIa2DCrA4B?si=PiQnMu54S2ehRRAEEaMp_Q&dd=1
Image Credits
Shots by Danny Day, Harris Beauchamp, Jen Lee