Meet jaime Contreras | Event Coordinator/Promoter
We had the good fortune of connecting with jaime Contreras and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi jaime, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I live in a small town just out of Los Angeles called the antelope valley. Growing up there was a great local scene and small events almost weekly for a kid in HS. I started throwing lil house parties which was the thing to do in the late 90s. But when i got older there was less and less going on. Also we never really had a consistent flow of national artist if any. Until the industry theater where my good friend Tully owned. I learned a lot during that time never being involved in any show that had more than 100 people in attendance. So when I first started out it wasn’t to make this a business it something I just enjoyed. I started out doing free shows or 3-4$ entry at times. When i transition to actually wanting to turn this into a business my goal was to help make my town a music town for live events. A place where artist would want to come play. For the longest the AV was just overlooked and tours would just skip us consistently. Well jump forward to now where the AV has multiple venues and diy shows and our scene has became thriving. Just about every weekend you can find some sort of shows in the AV. Now our primary goal is to have shows of all different genres in many different markets throughout California and further. We don’t want to ,limit ourselves to any one town or music genre. Our business model is to be as diverse as we can from punk rock, metal, hip hop to cumbia and more and to throw events professionally.
What should our readers know about your business?
People always ask me how to get into this industry. Well its not easy. We spent and lost so much money for so many years it was difficult but it was what was needed to break thru. When covid happened it was very difficult almost to the point i had to decide whether to keep doing this or not. We had so much money out on deposits for artist and it was just in limbo for 2 years. Post covid I made the decision to go full force and never looked back. What I want our brand to represent is when people see our name or see our logo in their city they get excited about what we are bringing. Is it Cumbia? Is it a classic hip hop artist? Is it UK punk band? Its a good felling. That is what I feel sets us apart. Its our diverse range of music people never what show we have planned next. Our goal is to never be classified as a punk promoter or hip hop or metal we want to be known as a company who just loves music and strives to put on great shows for people to enjoy.
Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
This is a tuff one since i can name so many people. Lets start off with my business partner Robert Huerta who has pushed for our company to be where it is today. To my friends and POSE crew brothers. To my partner Tully Huffaker who has great insight and is one of the most interesting people I know and is well versed in the industry. To Keontay my security for always going above and beyond. To my friend Louie for helping out consistently. To one of our newest members of the team Profound. . Also my Mom Jackie Contreras for always making me strive for more and to my dad Jesus who always had a go getter attitude who is one of the strongest people I know. To my older sister Crystal and cousin Yvonne for always having such a diverse taste in music which allowed me to love all different types. To my sister Julie for being a reference at times with certain genres im not familiar with. Finally my 4 kids Gabriel, Sofia, Hector and Natalia for always looking up to me and for them always asking me the question “when’s the next show and whos coming out and where”. Last but no least to my Beautiful wife Christol who has had my back from day one and who has always believed in me that i could actually make this a successful business and for being my rock to lifting me up when things get hard and to just being my best friend. Also need to shout out my pups Devin the Dog, Mooshy, Gary Lee Garrison Ford and my cat sasuke and especially to all the people i have meet along the way what a great journey this has been.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/suckapunch_events/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/suckapunchproductions
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