Behind the party scenes

One of the newest entertainment companies in Athens is Midnight Music. The company is co-founded by Nick Thompson, a senior studying media arts production, and Luke Calder, a senior studying music production and recording industry. Calder is also known by his stage name, Auburn Hill.

The company was founded in July of 2022 and grew in staff and following until its breakthrough performance.

“Our first Union show was in April of last year, which coincidentally coincided with the Music Industry Summit here and it was just crazy,” Thompson said. “The whole experience was just insane. That was the first show where we were all like, ‘Wow, this is really happening for us and this could be something to pursue continuously.’”

According to Calder, the purpose of Midnight Music is to foster a hip-hop community in Athens, which he believes was previously missing.

“I got the idea for Midnight Music because it was so difficult to get booked as an artist in Athens, and now we have this thing where artists can come and share their voice and their stories through music,” he said.

“All of our artists pretty much already have a platform in Athens, but (our mission is) to just widen that scope and get them some more shows,”-Sophia Cardone

This year, Midnight Music is responsible for six different events, including a recent album launch party thrown for Cano, a local artist and member of the organization. According to Thompson, the process of planning an event begins with setting a date and figuring out what has to happen to make that day go smoothly.

“A lot ends up happening the week of because you’re like, ‘OK, something didn’t work, how can we scrounge around and find a solution to the problem that we have in time for the event?’” Thompson said.

Calder described the process of putting on events as a “total group effort,” and this emphasis on collaboration extends outside of the individual company. Midnight Music is anticipating an upcoming partnership with Brick City Records, a student-run record label with similar motivations. Each year, the label signs four artists and releases their albums, with this year's lineup consisting of Huey Slims, Top’d Off, The HouseGuest and Young King Noah.

“All of our artists pretty much already have a platform in Athens, but (our mission is) to just widen that scope and get them some more shows,” said Sophia Cardone, a senior studying music production and the Director of Marketing for Brick City Records.

In her position, Cardone is responsible for managing the marketing campaigns for each artist and their album releases.

The collaboration between Midnight Music and Brick City Records is intended to expand the reach of Athens artists to surrounding cities, something Cardone said she believes has never been done before at the label.

“Shout out to everyone at Midnight because they’re amazing and they’re getting into basically being a functioning label right now … they’re helping us put together the Columbus show, financially and production-wise, and we’re going in on it half-and-half to connect the Athens and Columbus scene,” said Devon Hartless, a senior studying music production and recording industry, and the Director of Production Operations at Brick City Records.

Hartless’ responsibilities are to oversee the production of the four albums, which involves hands-on collaboration with the different teams that handle the recording, mixing and mastering process of each album.

“I help each team navigate through that and act as quality control between artists and teams to make sure artists are getting what they want,” he said.

Other leaders at Brick City Records are Myles Brooks, a senior studying music production and recording industry, and Zachary Knoblauch, a recently graduated Ohio University alum and the Assistant Director of Production. Brooks fulfills the remaining quality control needs as the Assistant Director of A&R (Artists & Repertoire), while Knoblauch acts as a support system for Hartless.

“We have an agreement that if one of us … emotionally or schedule-wise (is) going through difficulties, that person can take a step back and the other person can step forward,” Knoblauch said.

“Our goal is definitely to elevate the artist and put them on the forefront of wherever they want to be... So we really try to listen to their goals and where they want to be, and then help them create a way for them to feasibly get there.”-Myles Brooks

Brick City Records recently celebrated its 10-year anniversary and has represented some of the most iconic bands and performers to walk the streets of Athens. While the mission to support artists on their journeys has remained the same, Hartless believes this year has come with some changes to the organization.

“Over the years it has mainly been … a collaboration between artists and students where students have the ability to learn while we provide artists opportunities, but this year we’ve taken a bit of a pivot and I wouldn’t refer to us as a student label anymore,” he said. “I think we’re an independent label and we’re actively trying to get as many opportunities as possible for these artists to really make sure we set them up for proper careers.”

Setting artists up for their futures often means acting as a bridge on their path to achieving long-term goals, said Brooks.

“Our goal is definitely to elevate the artist and put them on the forefront of wherever they want to be,” Brooks said. “So we really try to listen to their goals and where they want to be, and then help them create a way for them to feasibly get there.”

Similarly, Midnight Music hopes to act as a way for artists to further their goals while providing a source of electric entertainment for Athens residents.

“What I envision (Midnight Music) to become is the place artists go before they become mainstream and … popular, and people will realize that and come to us and want to get on stage and rock shows out,” Calder said. “That’s what we’re here to do — put on live events, get the best out of our artists and create an awesome atmosphere for the people that come to see our shows.”

In addition to original performers, Midnight Music also hosts events featuring a rotating roster of DJs in order to highlight the EDM scene in Athens. According to Calder, DJ shows are made possible by staff members and friends of the company who are willing to hop into the booth.

One of the biggest entertainment companies in Athens, Brick Life, also puts heavy emphasis on its DJs. The company provides entertainment for many of the local bars, primarily Red Brick Tavern, 14 N. Court St., and Pawpurr’s Bar, 37 N. Court St.

“The whole point of having a DJ at your function is to amp up the crowd and keep the music going constantly … when you have DJs who can read the crowd and notice how they’re reacting to a certain song … it just keeps that party entertainment going,” said Vince Debeljak, a sophomore studying music production and recording industry and this year's head of Brick Life.

Brick Life has been around since 2017 and “serves to help OU retain that No. 1 party school spot,” according to Debeljak. For eight months a year, the company puts on four shows a day from Wednesday through Saturday. They also play a huge role in special events like Santa Fest, Halloween and Fest Season.

“As DJs, we can find little creative ways to transition into different things... It’s a fun, experimental and creative aspect for us, and then it’s also a way to keep our guests and clients energized, excited and guessing the whole night.”-Vince Debeljak

A company with such an intense list of responsibilities requires a leader who can balance everything from social media management to client communication to weekly scheduling, a role Debeljak has spent years unknowingly preparing for.

“The whole reason I was elected was … because of my previous experience in entertainment … I’ve been running a business since I was in sophomore year of high school,” Debeljak said. “So, given the fact that I literally run another business that’s exactly like what we’re doing here at Brick Life, they decided that I would be the best fit, especially with how passionate I am about stuff like this.”

The focal point of Brick Life is enhancing events, so the entertainment provided by the company primarily serves to further the interest of the event and its host, rather than that of the DJ or performer. However, the structure of Brick Life allows DJs to exercise their creativity in different ways.

“As DJs, we can find little creative ways to transition into different things,” Debeljak said. “It’s a fun, experimental and creative aspect for us, and then it’s also a way to keep our guests and clients energized, excited and guessing the whole night.”

Meanwhile, Brick City Records centers its entire year around the artists signed to the label. This year, its list of signed artists is split down the middle when it comes to genre; Huey Slims and Young King Noah both fit within the rap/hip-hop genre, while The HouseGuest and Top’d Off represent the indie band scene of Athens. Although figuring out how to promote such differing styles of music has come with its challenges, Cardone believes the variety of sounds is a positive thing for the label.

“I think because we have those contrasting music types that it really does fit in with the style of Athens because … there are a lot of rap music fans here,” she said. “At the same time, there are so many people that love going to Casa or The Union and seeing those bands perform.”

Knoblauch is also satisfied with the artist distribution this year because even within the two overall genres, the four artists have so many differing traits to offer. For example, Huey Slims is described as a more chill, poetic rapper, whereas Young King Noah produces more aggressive rap content.

“I think all of (our) artists are going to go as far as they want to, but I really see the absolute highest of peaks for both Huey and Noah,” Brooks said.

Hartless also noticed a difference between the two bands that stems from the varying places they are in their careers.

“We picked up (The HouseGuest) right when they started developing their own brand,” Hartless said. “It’s just awesome to have the opportunity to see them blossom into the artists they want to be … On the flip side of that, we have Top’d Off who is ending their project because they’re all going separate ways after graduation, and that’s also a uniquely beautiful project to view.”

All three of these companies hope to eventually expand their brands outside of Athens.

“There’s talk of taking what we’ve built and bringing it to L.A. because we know a lot of that local artist and performance need is very sought after, especially out there, and I feel like we could really succeed if we do the same thing we’ve been doing,” Thompson said about the future of Midnight Music.

For Brick City Records, expanding into Columbus alongside Midnight Music is a huge first step for the label and for the future of the artists they represent.

“It means a lot to spread out and to have a base that is larger than what Athens is,” Brooks said. “We’re trying to expand out of that and give these artists as big of a platform as we really can.”

Through the extensive OU alumni network and demand for high-quality entertainment in college towns, Debeljak hopes to bring Brick Life to other colleges across the state.

“If we can get some guys and establish a Brick Life in Columbus … anything to get the name out there and help us become recognized as the Ohio College DJ Collective, that would be really cool,” he said.

Each member of these organizations finds motivation in different areas. For Knoblauch, it has been helping artists achieve their goals as well as fulfilling his creative needs and putting his ideas into production. Thompson finds rewarding moments in many different aspects of the company.

“Some people think we’re just doing this for fun, and part of that is true … we (also) take this very seriously because that gives us leverage in terms of industry positions,” he said. “We’ve already met so many fantastic connections through doing this, and if we didn’t do this we would not be in the position that we’re in now, so I just can’t thank people enough for being a part of it.”