Comments on: Staff Blog: Brandon Jones January 30th

By: Brandon

Brandon — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 18:54:29 +0000

Thanks Eric!

By: eric mattson

eric mattson — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 03:43:38 +0000

awesome history and personal bio of life in the christian music industry!!!! very detailed and i even wrote down some of the bands u mentioned so i can see if they have any classic tunes on myspace or something! excellent!

-eric mattson
makeshift3.com

By: Brandon

Brandon — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 21:58:03 +0000

Thanks Brad for the kind words. To my friend Phil……SLEEPING GIANT 2009!

By: Phil Recognition

Phil Recognition — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 06:03:31 +0000

i have one thing to say…

Sleeping Giant!

By: Brad and Water

Brad and Water — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 21:49:20 +0000

this was an epic read (in a very good way)! dude, tasty snax was so legit. i’m surprised that anyone else on this planet remembers them. do you remember when they changed their name to The Snaxx? lol

anyway dude, i can really relate to your story and have A TON of respect for what you’re doing here. keep fighting the good fight. God has and is blessing your ministry in ways you can’t even see.

rock the jams, friend.

By: Brandon

Brandon — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 19:24:49 +0000

Oh I have such vivid memories of all the shows over the years especially the period of94-97. I went to like two every weekend for a long time. The first Tooth and Nail Rest in Azuza, CA. stands out to me. It was the first big fest with all Tooth and Nail bands and it was huge. I remember the show getting cancelled right as The OC Supertones were finishing their set. Apparently someone got hurt real bad and the cops were called to usher us all off the premises. It was definitely a unique night. Tooth and Nail Fest the next year was even bigger and it got moved to Irvine. I remember all the band merch tables and the amount of people. good times. The biggest fest I went to was Zoom 95′ in San Juan Capistrano. Grock was there and a bunch of Tooth and Nail bands played it. When Mxpx went on, it was pure panic. The crowd erupted into two circle pits and the massive wall of people just “moved”. It was insane. I’d never been to an outside punk show that was as huge as this one was. You see at the time there was this management/booking company called “Davdon” which as you might have guess was tied directly into Tooth and Nail. It was their Booking arm of the label and handled all the big tours of the 90s. Well they put on some of the biggest shows I’d ever been to, some so big that they put these little Chain Reaction shows to shame. Another highlight was seeing Mxpx, Stavesacre, and The OC Supertones at Walker Hall in Orange in 96′ I believe. It was a Lutheran Church that had this huge “Hall” that was easily three times the size of Chain Reaction (300-400 capacity). There was a line around the building out on to the main street just to get in. We had gotten there early so we had no trouble finding our way in through the building. All those people standing outside weren’t so lucky. They let in more than the capacity held and still there were people left standing outside in the cold. It was surreal. The fire department finally came and had to clear a bunch of people out of the building. Still, seeing Mxpx, Stavesacre, and The OC Supertones in that setting was just awesome. Pure adrenaline was rushing through my veins just watching those guys play. There is definitely no doubt that Mxpx were the biggest they’d ever been in mid 90’s. I’m not sure they still attract that many fans. Watching Project 86 at their debut show was a highlight too. You see, they were somewhat of a “supergroup” from their very inception. They had members of Innermeans, Bloodshed, Pax, etc. So when they played their first show in their hometown of Mission Viejo, the crowd went insane. People were hungry for a group that sounded like Rage Against the Machine except were Christians. Ethan Luck was in the band at the time I saw them. There was something menacing and engaging about their singer Andrew during that time. Total Rage Against the Machine vibe and it was awesome because they were all good musicians. They slowly changed their sound over time, especially after Ethan Luck quit (He went to the Dingees). It’s amazing today to see how far they’ve come as a band (Project 86). Anyway, there are a ton more stories saved for another time. I also noticed that I left off the whole segment about bringing the label back to life and signing Quick and the Dead. Lol. I guess that kind of came and went so there’s no need mentioning it. ha.

By: linds4lif

linds4lif — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 14:20:55 +0000

*That

By: linds4lif

linds4lif — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 14:19:21 +0000

Wow…very nice and very interesting. They took me forever to read ;) but it was worth it.

By: Dan

Dan — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 07:51:15 +0000

awesome man. much love from germany.
dan

By: sam30

sam30 — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 07:19:27 +0000

Good post. You’ve put a lot of hard work in, Brandon.
Just wanting to say thankyou for creating a site/community that has been so important to me over the last year or two.

By: Keith Mohr

Keith Mohr — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 06:26:45 +0000

Brandon, nice post. We’ve all been through a lot in our missions!
Our members of Indieheaven can sell CDs (we ship for them) as well as digital downloads and they get all 100% of the sale of their music. We’re seeing many orders and our members are real happy with the service.
Keep up the excellent faith-work, I love what you are doing here!
Keith Mohr
President
http://www.indieheaven.com
http://www.ciasummit.com
Indie music Conference

By: Kyle

Kyle — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 03:13:43 +0000

Awesome Brandon. Good to know where people have come from and what they’ve been through. Yikes! You have had some experiences.

By: Brandon

Brandon — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 00:54:32 +0000

Thanks everyone for your comments. I was really nervous typing all this stuff out for the internet and revealing myself in public but I feel some stuff needs to be said. I love you guys like brothers, thanks for your support :)

By: David M

David M — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 00:45:57 +0000

Same here. I hardly knew any of that. But it was a good read, and I’m glad to see you kept your faith in the Lord strong all the way through. That’s crazy about the show deal, though. I never dealt with any bands that size, but I had an issue with a show I booked at a coffee shop that ended up drawing 300 or so kids so it got shut down and moved and all these other complications that made my head hurt. Plus, it was my band’s last show and we didn’t even get to play. haha. Oh well. But like I said. Good read. You’ve really done so much good with this site, and I can’t wait to see what the future has in store for IVM.

By: JoshIVM

JoshIVM — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 23:47:56 +0000

Good read. There was even stuff in there I didn’t know.

By: fusse

fusse — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 23:04:59 +0000

yea the site is down every now and then… nothing we can do about it atm.

By: David M

David M — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 22:55:10 +0000

I tried commenting earlier, but for some reason, the website was down for me? It’s weird. I’m going to read scripture for a bit, but when I’m done, I’ll give this a read.

Oh and hey, Brandon: what’s your blog link? I’m going to make one outside of here, just so I can post about random stuff without taking up IVM space. Especially with the video game department, haha.

By: fusse

fusse — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 22:46:50 +0000

Dude, that’s the longest thing I’ve read on the Great Internet in a while. Good read though, thanks bro for sharing your heart! More power to ya!

‘And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.’

By: Jess T

Jess T — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 22:28:55 +0000

What a novel! haha Man did a lot of stuff happen in the last 15 years!

By: Tyler.H

Tyler.H — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 22:21:22 +0000

that was a long read haha. no mention of me, so the story kind of falls short hahaha jk

By: Chris L

Chris L — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 22:20:53 +0000

Cool blog Brandon! You and everyone else should read “Simplicity” by Mark Salomon from Stavesacre.
http://www.amazon.com/Simplicity-Mark-Salomon/dp/0976035766/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233353951&sr=8-1

By: Brandon

Brandon — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 22:13:07 +0000

I’d like to mention that entire section I wrote about my experiences going to “Christian Shows” throughout the 90’s was cut. That’ll probably be saved for a future blog or a blog on my blogspot page. I was there when the scene exploded and there was such a thing as a “Sold Out” Christian Show. Long story, another time.

By: Brandon

Brandon — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 21:44:21 +0000

I’d also like to add that the original name I had for this site/store/company was “Indie Empire” , a friend later came up with “Indie Vision” that site was taken so we added “Music” to the name and I bought the domain immediately after………..