Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Mutt Carlockster. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Mutt thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear from you about what you think Corporate America gets wrong in your industry and why it matters.
In the Art of creating Corporate America goes through periods of famine and renaissance. Through periods of said famine, there is no thought or question to pull back budgeting from anything that has to do with taking creative risks or even risks of going all out and making products to be 110% of what they can be. Many companies put only a safe 60% answer of what their product can be. Periods of renaissance would be the muscle car era of the 60’s and 70’s where there was extra incentive to go all out and make products that carved a moment in time and truly celebrated life for everything it could be at the time. There were never any options of mentality to playing it safe. I truly believe we’re about to step back into that era, more certainly after the pandemic, that people will take more risks and the world will see more culture and statements in time through its products, creative idealisms and ideas and many more things will be done for the sake of pushing art as far as it can go. You’ll see a lot more cutting edge entities that start up that push the limits. Whether it be in Magazines, Music, Car companies, Podcasts, Clothing Brands, Artists, and even Advertising.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I’m Mutt Carlockster, I’m a creative enthusiast. What drives that is; I get inspired by nostalgia and see trends as nothing more that moment in time where the underdogs had something to say or a statement to make and do their best work. What started this passion was building and restoring cars and old motorcycles. My Grandpa was an old hot rodder back in the 60’s and made a name for himself in that industry. I truly believe a multifaceted life is art. I never pigeon hole myself into only one way to express myself or my talent creatively. This life opened up to me from that and that’s how I got into this industry. I work for myself and get contracted out to make things the best they can be, make them more beautiful and to make a statement. You really can’t be a One-Trick-Pony. Although I still do have clients with muscle cars and vintage iron and make them better, preserve them or keep them alive, I’ve also stepped into the world of painting and making works of art that are my own expressions and having been doing a lot of commissioned paintings in my own raw style. I’ve also been hired by CEO’s to come fix their businesses or have stepped in to A&R roles for other creatives. A lot of that stems from life is art and it’s so multifaceted. The thing I’m really most proud of now would have to be my paintings. Although my shadow banned Instagram limits my capabilities in the algorithm, my old school diy word of mouth is really what pushes that business and it really works for itself at this point, it’s almost everyday I run into someone and they mention my art and their appreciation for it. I really just express the world and they way I see it or as it inspires me through whatever I am creating and kind of just see it as a snapshot in time. There are bigger projects I’m currently working on that I can’t really mention, but a lot of those endeavors will really shake things up and stir up some creativity in whole industries that you wouldn’t of guessed I could of even impacted from my quote unquote outsider role.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Funny Story: I tattooed RESILIENCE on my middle finger at Suede Silver’s private studio one day when life was just too overwhelming. A lot of people associate that word with me. I come from the south and my grandfather was a WWII hero. Sometimes life gets pretty fucking tough and most days it’s pretty much a hard taste of reality. It’s in my blood, hell we just found out my 8 Greats Grandfather was Hanchrist Carlock and was personal friends with and fought alongside George Washington and remained good friends til the both left this world to go spend eternity up in God’s tavern. It’s in my blood. There’s really no such thing in this life as being out for the count or being down bad. Life can be absolutely impossible some days, all you gotta do is keep fighting your way through it and keep pursuing the things that put a fire in your soul. Yeah sure, when you quit there’s always a coffee and a donut waiting for you, but there ain’t ever an option to get that coffee and donut for me, there is no quit. I signed up for this life of pursuing creativity, rain or shine.
What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?
Word of mouth is everything. In 2011 in Tulsa, I was at a small venue that I always hung out at after Highschool and saw a band touring through and no one showed up. The two man band set up a piano and a drum set, they played to me, my friend, their sound guy, their tour manager, and the door guy, they gave it everything they had and played to the gods as if it was their last day on earth and they had nothing else they wanted to do than be the best at what they did. What I thought was going to be a train wreck or a thrown show, was all of the sudden a band I had to tell 50 of my friends about. They came out wearing masks and skeleton costumes. That band was Twentyone Pilots. Algorithms help sometimes, but old school word of mouth is what put them playing my hometowns Arena 3 years later to a sold out crowd.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @carlockster
- Youtube: Carlock
Image Credits
@thechrisgraves Chris Graves