We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Mr. Houze a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Mr. , appreciate you joining us today. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?
That is a great question! Every company should have a back story relevant to the name and logo being presented to the world. As long as I can remember I have always known movers and shakers in the music and entertainment industry. There are very little contacts in my phone that have absolutely nothing to do with the industry. Plus, I’ve worked in the industry in many different ways because the way I figured was if I wanted to work in the industry and not for the industry then it would be in my best interest to know as much as I could mentally handle. As time progressed I started to notice the lack of togetherness within the indie scene and that troubled me extremely so I would produce and direct shows for the creative arts community to subliminally bridge the gap. Also, to please my own feelings and comfort of course…..lol. Through those events and shows I began to network with more people and I asked myself how can this work on a bigger scale? At the time I didn’t know how to answer that question nor did I know when I was going to have an answer for that question. Only thing I knew was that I wanted to find a solution. So I wrote and recorded a song called “Animal Houze” that featured a couple of locals from the city I was raised in which had a melodic spinoff of the hit song “Welcome To The Jungle” by Guns N’ Roses. Now the song was composed around the same time of what I am about to say next.
During all this I had a friend who also doubled as my business partner….May he continue to rest peacefully….We wrote and produced records together and had done so for many years. One night while I was on Christmas Break from school, I arrived at his home for one of our scheduled creative sessions which is where the studio was. See, he always had more dogs in his home than I was ever used to seeing in one setting but I was okay with it because I had known his dogs just about as long I had known him. Any who, every time someone would arrive at his home, his dogs would react in typical K-9 fashion to announce there was someone on the property or at the door. The thing is once they got going it was hard to get them to stop even when the visitor had been revealed. So needless to say they would hype each other up and it would become this 10 minute cycle of pure energy burst as if they were quenching their thirst with some sort energy booster. Mind you this would happen EVERY single time. That particular evening we were well into our creative session and decided to take an impromptu break for a moment and began to crack jokes and casually converse with one another. Within that conversation we got on the subject of his dogs…..Oh I forgot to mention he had a cat as well….Okay, moving on! So during that conversation we started to talk about the amount of animals he had in his home and immediately it clicked for me. Animal Houze!!! We were looking to come up with a business name anyway to attach to what we were doing. The song had already been written so why not. We paused, looked at each other for a moment, shook hands and said that’s the one. We had already been a fan of the movie but we also liked movies like “Project X”, “Van Wilder” “Old School”, “School Daze”, etc. Movies like that encompassed the atmosphere and culture we were attracted to.
He was already a college graduate and I was just finishing up my degree however neither one of us were in a fraternity. I had always been approached for recruitment but did not have the proper credentials at the time but was highly attracted to the environment and representation of the organizations. Once we agreed upon the name, I told him that we needed to have a deeper meaning than just the name because of the movie of course. I sat on the name for a bit because if we were going to use it we had to show a uniqueness with it. As I began to brainstorm I changed the “s” to a “z” in house. Then I told my business partner that we would make all the letters Greek to give it that fraternity/sorority look. Now the next step was to bring it all together to describe the presentation of the logo.
Previously, I stated that I notice a lack of togetherness when it came to the creative community in the city I grew up in and I wanted be able to have an answer to how to change that. I looked at Animal Houze as being a conduit that would be comprised of creatives that could not only solicit services but to also feed off each other to create opportunities for each other. It really has an X-Men feel to it….lol. The way I saw it, everyone in “The Houze” would be consider a beast at their craft. Each creative would have a “room” and a “key” to “The Houze” and individuals rather they were directly or indirectly involved they could always come to Animal Houze and get any type of musical or entertainment help, wants, or needs they desired. That culture has always been the culture here at Animal Houze and we are continuing to evolve for the betterment of the music and entertainment community.
Mr. , 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?
Well, I really got started in the fashion industry. I modeled tuxedos, worked in high end retail, designed clothing. I was obsessed with that. I ultimately wanted open my own clothing store. While all that was happening I stumble upon this attraction for the music and entertainment industry. Now we all know the fashion, music, and entertainment go hand and hand so I did just that. Put them all together and began to work for myself and others in those industries.
Having knowledge of those industries has allowed for my company to provide services related to those industries on many different levels. Our main goal is to educate our clients on their wants and needs so they can maximize their required results and minimize the stress of the “how to” process. There are many different avenues out there that can provide information for these industries but there are not a lot of avenues out there that provide information in real time with a real person because that “who you know” concept has gotten out of hand. Not everyone has the skill to network appropriately due to not being taught certain life skills hence the words introvert and extrovert. However, that person may be extremely talented and may need help with advancing. Here at Animal Houze, we pride ourselves on a “open door” policy. There has been a certain essence that has been lost in these industries that has been infected and influenced by capital gain. I’m not saying that you should not solicit services because they are beneficial but what I am saying is that I know what it is and has been like to not be able to get answers or services in the time of need from someone that I know has the information but does not want to provide it because I don’t have enough money, I don’t have enough followers/likes/comments, or I didn’t know the right people at the time. My thing was, if I was speaking with a certain person that new more than me then obviously I was trying to broaden my horizons but if that person on the receiving end labels me without research or the willingness to get to know me then how am I suppose to get ahead. That alone can create a sense of frustration and aggravation which could ultimately destroy a persons passion. It is an unspoken rule here at Animal Houze that our clients are to get the most valuable goods and services that we can provide no matter status of any kind. Whether it be admin works, music production and engineering, event planning, marketing, DJ’s, artist management, etc. The list goes on. I like to be our clients solution to find their solution.
Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?
Wow! That is a huge question! I really go off the a self prescribed philosophy….”I will never ask my team to do something that I wouldn’t do for myself or to myself” The reason is because I never want my team to feel alone in their responsibilities. It also makes it easier for them to communicate if they have not met or are not going to meet a deadline. At the very least, I can jump in and take on the burden as a team player so we can still make it happen. Ultimately, I am responsible for them and they are responsible for me. With that being said it creates an environment of respect, honesty, loyalty.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
Well in this industry you have to practice resilience on an everyday basis. This industry is constantly changing and with that comes being able to have the ability to recover quickly from difficult situations. You can plan for something all day long and it not go as planned and you may have to pull what we call here at Animal Houze an “audible”. There has been times where we have missed project release dates but we never prematurely release promises to the public without being sure of the release. When we do miss dates we just go back to the drawing board revamp some things and then move forward. The good part is that we try to come up with a Plan A, B, and/or C just in case. If we reach Plan D and beyond then we are over thinking the creative process and 9 times out of 10 it may not work for us specifically, lol.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: official_animal_houze / mister_houze
Image Credits
The first 3 photos plus cover photo were taken by: Instagram: @clarke_productionz