Associate Hollingsworth

Associate Hollingsworth of Elektro Grave Entertainment joins with the Signal for a chat about music, scenes, promotion, and creating community.

Visit https://elektrograve.com/ for more info about Elektro Grave.

Transcript

Hello again, and welcome to Void Signal. I am your host Brian Prime and this week is a chat with promoter for Elektro Grave Entertainment, DJ, and crew for Mechanismus Festival, along with my friend and associate, Ryan Hollingsworth. Ryan has helped grow the scene in Spokane and has worked to lure bands and tours into the eastern part of Washington. I met Ryan three years ago at Mechanismus 2022 and we were fast friends. You can catch myself and Hollingsworth at Dark Force Fest this year, he'll be joining a random team to play trivia for Void Signal LIVE and you'll want him on yours. You can also catch Hollingsworth and myself at Mechanimus Festival this year, we'll be performing opening night with Skull Cultist, and you can catch Void Signal Live happening again at Mechanimus in May in Seattle. Although Hollingsworth will not be there, you can catch ME at Glomfest in SF in September, or Wasteland Weekend end of September.
Before we get to the chat with Hollingsworth, I wanted to once again talk to you about Void Signal.
Void Signal is ad-free and powered by people, please consider visiting voidsignal.net or patreon.com/voidsignal to support the void signal project for as little as two dollars and get hours of content in exchange. Every little bit helps, thank you for your consideration.
Void Signal theme song remix for this episode by Processor, thanks as always to Johan for giving Void Signal a soundtrack.

Okay, our time is at an end again. Enjoy the chat with Hollingsworth and I'll be back very soon for more chats, conversations, and so on. Stay safe, stay loud. 


hollingsworth-cut-cleaned
===

Brian Prime: [00:00:00] Okay. Uh, are you ready or do you need a second to pee or get a drink? 

Hollingsworth: Nope. Done all that. Ready to rock and roll. 

Brian Prime: Okay. Both 

Hollingsworth: full and empty. 

Brian Prime: All right. Uh, here we go then. Cool. Welcome to Void Signal. I'm your host, Brian Prime. Oh, you just fucked it up. I'm running your mouth playing that now I'm fucking with you.

Uh, welcome to Void Signal. I'm your host, Brian Prime. I'm joined for this episode by my associate Ryan Hollingsworth. You are a dj, you work as a promoter in Spokane, Washington. Beyond that, uh, how, well, how long have you been doing that and what led you to want to do it? 

Hollingsworth: Ooh, great question. Uh, it's been over 11 years now.

Uh, at least for the dj, half of it. Mm-hmm. The promoter half started a couple years after that. Uh, it really came from a space of, and I feel like this is the case for a lot of promoters that start, especially in not super big cities. It's if we want shows, somebody's gotta bring 'em here. And if you don't know that [00:01:00] somebody, then you might have to become that somebody.

And that was my story really. It was just a matter of if we wanted this to extend beyond having just like a DJ night or a club night, or. Maybe some sort of co costumed themed night that made it feel a little bit less of just the same old than how do we, how do we extend this? And Spokane doesn't have a, you know, a huge scene for local bands.

So it came, it really came down to, I. Where do we begin with getting some bands to come in from like Seattle, Portland, you know, p and w area, that some, that there was enough recognition for names that people would come out or if nothing else, just to come to a live industrial show because that's a thing that didn't exactly pop through town very often, even on, even from touring bands.

So, 

Brian Prime: mm-hmm. And, uh, uh, so born from a need of, I, I want this thing, so I'm just gonna take it upon myself to do it, 

Hollingsworth: pretty much. And I was getting, uh, you know, tired of driving over to Seattle for all, all of the shows to go see. And these [00:02:00] weren't huge shows. These were, you know, smaller industrial bands, but enough to pull, you know, 80 to a hundred people.

And, you know, I, it would start to be a little costly for the. The gas and the trip and the time. Many a time I would drive over for a show in the evening, drive back afterwards, power nap, go to work. Like that was just, that was, it's a grind and it was worth it. But, you know, once I started to dabble in this stuff, it was like, you know, why not?

Sure Why not? See what we can do? And it's, it's been a really, it's been a long process to get to the point where we are now, which is still definitely not even close to the top of the mountain, but. We're at a spot now where at least grinding for the last decade has put us in a situation where I feel like we can handle booking shows and we can get bands to come through here, and people are starting to recognize Spokane as a place to stop on tours.

Mm-hmm. And that makes me, that makes my wall heart happy. 

Brian Prime: Yeah. Uh, mine too. I'm glad for that because I admire people who like you, who take the initiative [00:03:00] to build a thing that is not there, and especially to build a thing that is not there in the middle of nowhere. I. For other sort of disparate souls to find, um, you know, shout out to anybody holding it down in, you know, the deep south somewhere with like a goth night somewhere, you know?

Um, so, uh, awesome. I'm glad that you decided to pursue that. And after 10 years, um, of doing it, um, what would you, uh, do, would you, do you have any advice or what have you found to be. Effective about, or let me ask if you have tried this, maybe I, let me tap your expertise here. Um, but getting in non scene people into scene events or concerts.

Hollingsworth: Yeah, so that's actually a big important thing for me is because we don't have. I mean, Spokane isn't large enough to have a, a, a huge, a [00:04:00] massive, heavy scene crowd that is going to fill up the dance floor every single time we do an event. It's, it, it's just not, I. We don't have the volume. Sure. And so a huge portion of of us trying to, uh, expand that horizon out has been doing club nights at a a, a specific bar in town that is more of an alternative bar, but it's at a very inclusive bar.

So we end up getting a lot of folks who come in there. And check out our nights specifically because it is something that's like adjacent to things that they think they might be interested in but have never been exposed to it. Sure. And we've had some of the, some of the most fun just events we've had there have just resulted in people wandering by this bar at 1130 night and hearing some music they've never heard and are like, what, five bucks?

Sure. Okay, I'll check it out. They walk in and it's dark and it's foggy. And it's like, it's like walking into like a wear, like a dark vampire warehouse rave in their opinion. 'cause they have nothing else to compare it to. Right. [00:05:00] And they're just like, they, they get on the dance phone, they start losing their mind and that's really cool because they don't care about anything related to, you know, the, the scene or the, the bands or just any of that.

They just are enjoying the vibe. And as long as they're being respectful, that's all we care about. And you know, I don't believe in any sort of gatekeeping. I mean, everybody ended up in this weird bucket at some point somehow was, was either found their way in or was let in or was, you know, however you wanna word that 

Brian Prime: Rifted their way in.

It's fine. 

Hollingsworth: Yeah. But no matter what, somebody we, everybody started. Like somewhere there was a door that led them to this world at some point. And everybody's story's a little different. And the last thing I wanna do is to close that door for somebody who may, this might alter the course of the, the things that they enjoy in their life.

I know that sounds. Big and dramatic, but it's, that's how I feel and I just feel like the more people that can be, that can respect what we're doing and appreciate it and enjoy parts of it, they don't have to like every single thing, but if they find some joy in it, then that brings me joy. 

Brian Prime: [00:06:00] Sure. I agree with you.

I like that sort of romantic sentiment myself of, you know, maybe this is the thing someone needs. Uh, or maybe this helps someone feel seen or like they belong or mm-hmm. Uh, they find a sense of community that, or, you know, because they went and tried this thing that was new to them and someone was friendly.

They found a chosen family later, years later or something like that. Um, yep. You just never know. It starts with these small interactions and uh, yeah. Yeah. I'm a big fan of that sort of romanticizing the idiosyncrasies of social interactions at times. 

Hollingsworth: Yep. 

Brian Prime: I'm with you there. Uh. I admire you for that sort of overly romantic shit, um, because I, I too love it.

Mm-hmm. Um, okay, so, but have you, have you, um, I guess a more pointed question, um, excellent answer, but, uh, I guess a more pointed version of that would just be like, what have you found to [00:07:00] be effective for, like, have you done anything promotion wise to sort of step outside like, oh, for this. We're gonna do a theme night and we're gonna advertise it to a different crowd, or we're gonna maybe try running flyers at this place or for this thing, like can you speak to anything you might have tried in that sort of respect?

Hollingsworth: Yeah. I, I will say that I, ironically, as a promoter, one of the, the weakest points for me specifically is, is the actual act of, of the, of promoting. The event in specific places and specific ways, like, let's print some posters. Okay. I can design a poster, I can print a poster, but I'm like, where's the best place for the poster?

I don't, that's, that's where my, that's where I'm just like, it's, it's like fish in a barrel at that point. I have no idea what I'm doing half the time. Um, but one thing, and this is, this is very specific, so I don't know if this is like replicatable, but we have a, there's a. Convention that comes that they started a couple years ago in Spokane.

It's a Halloween convention. Mm-hmm. [00:08:00] And once I had heard about this event, I immediately like contacted the the organizer and said, Hey, I got a thing that you might be interested in. What if you had us, you know, spooky music, DJs. Playing music throughout the weekend to make it seem like this is more of like a, like a party type thing.

Like we're gonna kind of be in the background and we're not gonna distract people from it, but we wanna create a different vibe that you're not gonna get from like just throwing on spooky hits on Spotify. Mm-hmm. And he was all about it. And so we've got a relationship now, and this is a, the person who organized this actually puts on multiple conventions in town.

So it's a good person to know for, for other big events. But this one in particular has allowed us to, to play. Kind of our kind of music in a, in a much broader form where people's, you know, like-mindedness comes from their enjoy of things. Spooky and horror related and halloweenish. And that's, you know, it's pretty close to one foot into what we're doing anyway most of the time.

Mm-hmm. So that's really been cool to talk to people that just had no idea that. [00:09:00] Either what the type of music was that we were playing, but knew that they liked it 'cause it was scratching an itch. Or people that did like what we did, but don't go out to events and, and like do things that, that we put on.

Sure. And so, because they didn't know about us. Mm-hmm. And so it allows us to get to people so they can discover who we are. But then for the other folks who might not necessarily care about the events, but are just like, who's this band? Like, that's my favorite question. Mm-hmm. Especially if it's one, if it's a band that like is relatively well known within the scene, so it's like if you go to the industrial club all the time, you probably know that this is.

XB band or Y band. But when somebody doesn't know, it tells me two things. You like it enough to ask me and you care. And also you're not from this world. And that, like I said earlier, that I enjoy that because that's widening that circle. 

Brian Prime: Sure. And so anyway, go on. 

Hollingsworth: So I was just gonna say that that's, that's a sidebar to what you asked me.

But you know, as far as other promotions to reach out and try to get in front of folks who kind of aren't from the [00:10:00] same. Still I am, I don't have a good bit of advice there because I'm really bad at it. Uh, I do a lot of stuff on social media. I try to, I, I, I join a lot of local groups for, you know, that are throwing like EDM type events or punk events, things that I think are adjacent enough where if somebody was like, I like dance music.

Cool. How about this weird dark dance music? Or I kinda like weird, noisy music. How about this weird, noisy music? Like there's enough crossover there to where I feel like. Somebody would, at least people need to check out a link or a, a post of some kind. But, but that's about the extent of the, the circle stretching I've done.

Mm-hmm. But I will say that for the folks that we have kind of reached that way mm-hmm. One of the things that I've started to notice is that we do a lot of attempts get them to bring people to these events in the future. And that's, that's another big one. I mean, that's kind of that marketing 1 0 1 is like, the best kind of sale is a referral, right?

Mm-hmm. So. That's because you already have the trust for them. This other person's done all the work for you. They're like, come to this cool club [00:11:00] night. Probably not something you're into, but you don't know until you try it, so let's go. Right. Yeah. I don't have to do all that it, that's the message I'm trying to send, but I don't have to do the work if I make an impact on enough people by what I am doing.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. But I mean, every year I sit down and. I kind of reevaluate how we're doing things as, as a business. Mm-hmm. Because once I actually turned this whole operation into a business, it switched my brain a little bit into think being more serious about like, Hey, don't just agree to the terms of this show, you know, is gonna lose money.

Or don't just put a thing on Facebook and hope for the best. Like maybe you should try to. Make your business profitable. 

Brian Prime: Wild idea. 

Hollingsworth: What a, what A novel idea. Exactly. Crazy. So that's been a thing that's helped shift me mentally and to carry more about that. And I've been making notes. All throughout the year of like, what worked, what didn't work?

Mm-hmm. What could I do differently? Have I tapped enough resources? I mean, I've, I know quite a few promoters, but they're all in the Pacific Northwest and they all have different challenges in their area and [00:12:00] different successes because of where they are and have been at it for varying lengths of time.

I'm like, why stop there? There's gotta be towns out there the same, a similar size as Spokane that are doing a thing. What are they doing? Because that's gonna teach me more about what, what, what's gonna be relevant to the things that are gonna make sense in this town. Mm-hmm. Rather than asking what Seattle's up to, what Portland's up to.

Like, I'm not gonna get what they do. There is not gonna work for me here other than some broad, basic things. You know, I just need to be better at using what resources are out there. And, you know, the internet has made the world very small mm-hmm. In the sense of like being able to contact these people directly.

And so it's part of my. 2025 action plan. 

Brian Prime: Yeah. Okay. Uh, on this, you got me curious, um, in your talking about Spokane and its, um, size and population. So, uh, I looked it up on Wikipedia here. Um, let's see. Um. According to the [00:13:00] 2010 census, that's eight. I don't know that I really care about that, but anyway, it says Spokane had a population of 208,000 most populous city in Washington, 97th, most populous city in the United States.

At the 2020 census Spokane's population was 228,000 and a 2023 estimate. That's the population of a metropolitan area at 600,292. Um, okay, so we'll just say a little over half a million, right? Like, mm-hmm. Maybe, let's see, that was 2023. Uh, I don't know. People are getting, relocated will be generous and we'll say 750 k roughly, right?

Like maybe, yeah. Um, so, uh, and like I'm looking just at the map as well and like, do you, I don't know how close or far away anything is, but do you. What are, do you feel like it's just your sort of geographic location that prevents a lot of tours from coming through or, 

Hollingsworth: yeah. Yeah. I definitely think that, that, at least from, from a lot of the bands I've talked to who finally did make it out this [00:14:00] way, I.

I, the, the handful of that I've asked, it just hasn't made sense for the routing of the tour because we are, we're about, we're 250 plus miles from Seattle. We're over 300 from Portland. We're like 400 from Boise or some crazy it, I don't know if that's, how far is, it Feels like Boise feels like it's. On Mars, it's 

Brian Prime: right.

Yeah. I mean, I'm looking around at the map and I mean, honestly, it just seems like, uh, there is, you know, not much, uh, out this way to pull from. 

Hollingsworth: No. So no, and that is, that is the challenge for sure. 

Brian Prime: Mm-hmm. Um. What, uh, what strategies do you think, uh, the, this isn't a, I don't know why I'm gonna ask you this.

Nevermind. I don't want to ask you this. This is like, this is, this is turning into like, you know, a test or something. Let me change gears here. Uh, this is, you know, anyway, uh, enough about that shit. Uh, you, I just bought a DJ controller off you and you are also a DJ when you are not, [00:15:00] um, doing, promoting and all that kinda shit.

Um, what's your favorite thing about DJing and how long have you been, you've been DJing, uh, a long time, I presume, but how long exactly? 

Hollingsworth: Uh, ex probably 12 years. 

Brian Prime: Okay. 

Hollingsworth: That's, I, 'cause I, I, I, I started, I got into doing it in the club pretty quickly after w way before I was ready, but pretty quickly after I'd bought my controller.

I went to a show, um, actually I went to a show that was being booked by the folks who used to run the industrial scene here. It was actually caustic, which was cool. 'cause that's, I'm like, who else knows who Caustic is? Mm-hmm. And I saw this tour date. I'm like, okay, I'm going. Mm-hmm. So I showed up and I met the crew that was like, kind of running the show at the time.

And they had the, they were DJing in between the bands. And I like kind of just poked my head up and looked at, at the little booth area and saw what they were using and they were using like the, the big boy version of the controller I had just bought and I had just played with a handful of times at home.[00:16:00] 

Mm-hmm. So now I'm like, oh this. I'm like, I could do this. They're literally doing the thing that I bought the thing to do. And so I just got all star eyed and I'm like, just asked them what was up and kind of hung out and they kind of showed me what they were doing and. I'm like, well, I'm just, I have the, the, the S two version of the controller, and I'm like, oh, you dj.

I'm like, oh, is this the point where I say yes? Because I don't know what happens next when I agree to this. I said Yes, and they're like, do you want a DJ for us? I'm like, uhoh, here it is. So yeah. Anyway, that's how I got into it, basically, just kind of stumbled over it and, but once I figured out the mechanics of it, then what I started to really enjoy mm-hmm.

Is just the, first of all, the way I consume music is very like a DD, like, I don't really sit down with like a full album and have an experience. I'm just too, like busy all the time moving around doing stuff. And so I always consume, I've, I've always consumed music by the bite. And so DJing gave me a way to like, let that part of my brain be in charge.

'cause I'm not trying to create this like super, you know, like long-winded narrative [00:17:00] experience with this like song craft or album craft. I'm just trying to go from one to the next in the best way that makes sense for what I'm trying to do in the moment. And so that's what I really enjoy is like being able to show somebody new music, see how they react to it, if they don't react to it, mental note, try something else, see if they react to it, and just kind of ebb and flow with the crowd.

And then once you get 'em all in your hand and everybody's just dancing and you're having a good time, then it's like, okay, now I'm in charge. Now I could try weird stuff and you're gonna, you're gonna love it. And this is the time that I subject you to this super weird, deep cut that you've probably never heard before.

You know, that kind of thing. So it's really just, it kinda goes back to what I was saying about opening up that circle. 'cause I really want to, the reason I got into this whole thing is the music specifically. And I'm like, I like this weird stuff. Other people that like this weird stuff are cool. Let's enjoy this weird thing together.

And so when I dj, I get to be the projector of the weird thing. And I get to touch as many people whose ears are within [00:18:00] earshot. 

Brian Prime: Mm-hmm. I think that is what's kind 

Hollingsworth: of an attention whore 

Brian Prime: you. It's true. You are, I have to say that about you. Um, whether it's, that's secondary because when you're not, you know, raising your voice and shouting and being.

You know, Hollingsworth, um, you're just looking so fashionable and like you're strutting around and you're posing on furniture and things and leaning over cars, and you're just, you just always look ready for a fashion shoot every single time I look at you. Um, I just 

Hollingsworth: always assume someone's watching. 

Brian Prime: I mean, it works for you.

Like it's, uh, you just always look so ready and fashionable. So I, I, you've inspired me to step up my game. Um. But, uh, I, I'm intrigued and interested in doing DJing for similar reasons. I think I like the idea of sort of like exposing people to things and having, you know, helping people have a good time and, and dance and enjoy themselves.

Uh, there, I feel like there's a lot of power to helping people [00:19:00] just kind of be free in a moment. Uh, you know, listening to a song they like. So absolutely agree. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Um, you mentioned a, excuse me. Uh, you mentioned a love of the music. Uh, I too have a love of the music. Um, so my next question will be somewhat adjacent to the music.

Um, what, um. What's something that you love about this scene and what is something that you hate about this scene? 

Hollingsworth: You know, they're kind of the same thing. Um, the thing that I, okay, let me, let me reframe this answer in my head because I almost said something that I didn't mean right away. So let me just collect my thought here.

Sure. But, um, I'll start with the thing I don't like because I think that's gonna bleed into where I was going with this. Okay. Uh. I don't like gatekeeping and I don't like this whole, I don't like when scenes feel like some sort of elitist club. I understand that at a certain point that, you know, a lot of subsections of this scene may have [00:20:00] felt like this is a safe space.

It's created as a safe space, and that means we don't let just any old Yahoo into the space. I can understand and I can respect that. The space I'm trying to create is not that space. And while people have the right to do things however they wanna do them, I don't love that that exists in enough areas to where there's a lot of, you know, discourse about it beyond just, you know, like my familiarity with it in certain areas that I've been involved with.

Mm-hmm. Um, it's kind of a, it's enough of a topic to where it's still being talked about. And the def, you know, and this isn't just, this isn't just related to like. The scenes themselves or like clubs or exclusivity behind clubs or you know, people that don't feel comfortable going to shows because they don't feel like they belong with the scene or whatever.

That's the type of thing I don't want to create. But then there's also the idea of like what is or isn't considered to be like dark on industrial music or what isn't. Like, I don't love the genre like gatekeeping [00:21:00] either. Like if something sounds cool and it fits the vibe, like from a DJ perspective, I'm, I've snuck some of the most random nonsense in my DJ just to prove a point because it's not about that.

It's just, it's about what you enjoy. And again, that's really the whole spirit behind what I do. If other people take it, take it, you know, as a different, like they're in it for different reasons and they may involve it being more of an exclusive club or more of a tight, a tighter circle without a, you know, with a little bit more of a barrier of entry to each their own.

But I don't love it. And so being that, you know, I kind of have my finger on the pulse of what happens, at least in my town. I get the benefit of not like having to adhere to that. Mm-hmm. Um, I guess so leading into, the thing I do love about it though, is when an environment like that is created, I do feel like the open-mindedness is there to where a lot of the folks are so inclusive and not just with like, you know, other people that are in other odd things that like, Hey, [00:22:00] I embrace your oddness, you embrace my oddness.

We're odd together, but. Also the idea of of being open to others, appreciating the thing that they appreciate. Without the gatekeeping us, you, I feel like you can't, the reason why I was struggling with my answer is I feel like you can't have one without the other. If you create an environment that kind of supports gatekeeping, then you won't have the inclusivity.

Of seeing somebody maybe just take a sample or two of this weird thing that they like because somebody opened the door up and let them have it. They don't have to dress the part, they don't have to necessarily go buy all the, the whole SITD backlog because they like LeMans born or whatever. Like just it, the little bits of joy because it's all we have, right?

Brian Prime: Yeah. It is. 

Hollingsworth: So, so that's, that's what I do enjoy, and this is all I recognize that my answer is also very based in my bubble that I've tried to build. I. But when I do see it outside of my bubble, I, it makes me jolly because I, I see that there's other people who have the same idea and do this for similar reasons that I do.

Mm-hmm. [00:23:00] You know, for, for a love of, of the music and the joy it brings others. Mm-hmm. 

Brian Prime: Good answer. Um, I applaud, um, you know, great answer. Uh, agree. Um, okay, I will, uh, let's move on. I'll ask you a different question now. Um, do, are you gonna go to Wasteland weekend next year? I. Can I, can you either be there?

It is my 

Hollingsworth: plan. 

Brian Prime: Okay, great. Um, wonderful. Um, I figured right in the middle of an interview was the best time to ambush you with that and just put you on the spot so that you would, 

Hollingsworth: part of me thought it was coming anyway, so 

Brian Prime: Yeah. You got it right? Yeah. Oh yeah. Uh, uh, uh, anyway, so, um, what, uh. What comes next for you?

What else do you want to add to the repertoire of Hollingsworth? You have created this, this space in Spokane, uh, your, the lighthouse for, for [00:24:00] weirdos sort of out in the mm-hmm. The, the East of Washington. And, uh, but, uh, what would you, what do you, what do you want to see it become or what, what comes next for you?

Hollingsworth: Well, I think I might steal lighthouse for weirdos and put it on another, on a sticker. 

Brian Prime: Yeah. By means, uh, that's what you're doing out there. 

Hollingsworth: Yeah. Yeah. That's, I love that. Mm-hmm. Um, so I, I truly think it's, it's, it's now it's about, it's about fine tuning and improving. I do finally think I've got to a spot where enough people know that Spokane's a real place.

Enough, uh, you know, bands and, and what's great about, you know, industrial music and the, and the musicians behind it is, you know, if you, if you know a three or four people, they're in six or seven other bands and they know, and the 12 people in those bands with them are also in six or seven other bands.

So you only really need to know, like 30 people to know pretty much everybody, which is, uh, which is a really awesome thing when it comes down to like getting your word [00:25:00] out there quicker. Mm-hmm. So. You know, there's enough people, and I've done enough networking by getting out of Spokane, going to Mechanisms, dark Force, uh, Odent Fest in, uh, Vancouver, bc you know, just getting outside and representing Electro grave, you know, along with myself.

At the same time, I. I'm trying to create that name recognition for Electro Grave in Spokane, associated with the, the, the, you know, with the scene. I'm the person you talk to, you wanna do shows and all that. But then the reputation side of it, which is when people come up and visit Spokane and when they come to do a show, I wanna be sure they have a good time.

I wanna be sure the crowd has a good time. I want them to leave with positive vibes because then. If there's a chance for them to come back through, or maybe they're part of a tour and they're putting dates together with another band, and this other band has never heard of Spokane, but they're like, Hey, it was rad.

You should add 'em to the bill, and then we get added. Then I get a random email that's saying, Hey, would you be interested in this leg of this tour on this date? I'm like, I. How did this person get my message? Like, how do they know who I am? Mm-hmm. But that's part of that, [00:26:00] like making an impact and then having that reputation follow you.

That's worked really well to get us to this point. So I wanna continue that. And I think, like I mentioned earlier, there's a lot of business elements to this that this is dipping into when it was kind of just a, it was a hobby, then it became an expensive hobby. Mm-hmm. And then it became a business and now it's, I want it to become a profitable business because it hasn't been a profitable business.

So. It's figuring out some of those holes in my game. When it comes to promotions, like you'd mentioned earlier, like where, where are we putting this in front of whose eyes are seeing what we're doing? If it's the same eyes that keep seeing it, cool. You did your job already. They don't need to see it anymore, you've already got them.

Mm-hmm. How do you, how do you get in front of people that don't know who you are? They haven't seen what you do, they have no idea what this is. Right. Working on that, you know, being I, we did more live shows in 2024 than. We've ever done. And that's, I dreamed to get to this point where I was doing just as many like live shows as I was club nights.

Mm-hmm. Because that to me [00:27:00] was where I always wanted to take this. Mm-hmm. And so, and I, we've got great relationships with. Two venues, specifically working on a third and a fourth. And that was another big concern post covid, was we had the perfect venue for any type of event or show. It could, it had the perfect capacity for a big show.

It had a second stage for a little show. It was, it was exactly what we needed it to be and we had a great deal going with the owners Pandemic hit that was that. Mm-hmm. And we've, we've been trying to rebuild ever since and we've finally got to a spot where I think that I don't have to worry about.

Finding a place to do a show is, is a barrier of doing shows. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. That was my big goal this year, finally feel like I got there. And now for 2025, it's really about tightening up the marketing. Mm. You know, actually having a plan. I'm not really good at, uh, setting goals or setting plans. I'm good at executing things mm-hmm.

When they need to be done. But when it comes to like making decisions now to affect the future. I'm bad at that. [00:28:00] Sure. So, because I know I'm bad at that, I need to really like, have. Have an executable plan that I can do. Otherwise I'll end up in the same boat where I'm like, you know, how did we lose 1200 bucks on all the shows this year?

I dunno how that happened. Like, who else is gonna know? It's, I'm the, I'm the one who runs the books, man. I'm the only one that's gonna know. Right. So I, so that's, that's really my plan. It's like we've, I've really feel like we've hit a spot where I love what we're doing. I think everything is going really well.

We've got, we've got that good reputation, we've got name recognition. I've got a, a great team of folks who represent Electro Grave really well. They're always out, you know, like doing things and talking about what we're doing and making connections and dropping off business cards. And I'm just trying to keep the machine humming along so we can continue to grow and, you know, get some more, get some more of these big tour dates coming through here and make it worth their time to cut, to route it through this way.

Mm-hmm. Because that is, like we were talking earlier, that's really just the challenge of being so remote is. Why, why would we route it out there if we don't know there's a thing there? Well, once that part of it is addressed, [00:29:00] like, okay, well, you know, we exist. Mm-hmm. We're out here now I gotta make it worth your time.

Mm-hmm. And so once I do that, then it just becomes kind of like, you know, a part of a part of what we're talking about. And like we have, we have pig coming to town, uh, this Friday. Mm-hmm. And so between. All the members of Pig, you know, Chris Mackey, Unicode Machine, these are all bands that I'm, you know, either I've met at other shows or I've, I know them from working, you know, with like mechanisms and whatnot.

Mm-hmm. If they have a good experience in Spokane, that's like eight or nine centers of influence that can speak to Spokane if they're ever in a conversation involving. A tour with another band or they're in another band that's planning to tour and that's how the machine keeps rolling. 

Brian Prime: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. 

Hollingsworth: So, 

Brian Prime: gotcha.

Hollingsworth: Do more, do better. 

Brian Prime: Basically do. Yeah. Um, it sounds like, uh, executing it correctly the first time is, uh, gets you repeat [00:30:00] customers and, uh, word of mouth reputation goes far, is what it sounds like. I'm hearing you say 

Hollingsworth: a hundred percent. That's something I've stood on since. The moment I started working with anybody outside of just like the club I was asked to DJ at, and this goes down to club owners, promoters at that club, the sound guy, the light tech, all the bands, the whole crew, my whole crew.

Mm-hmm. You know, everybody, everybody gets fla. Just the top shelf treatment when they work with us, because that's how I, that's how I operate in my life and I'm extending that within, into, into what I'm doing. I'm a. You know, by day I'm, I have a very professional job and so I can translate that pretty easily to what I do in this world.

Sure. And it's, I don't have to, I don't have to try. This is something I had to learn. This is something I'm good at naturally. So, you know, being able to leverage a lot of those skills and strengths that I have into this and having them bleed into it now that I can actually, electro is actually a spot where I can.

Use these things in a way [00:31:00] that feels productive. Mm-hmm. Because we are growing, because it's operating more like a business. And so yeah. It's, it's, it's cool to get to the spot with that, that we are where I feel like we're not trying to build the car, we're just trying to make it faster. That makes sense.

Brian Prime: Sure. Yeah, that makes sense. 

Hollingsworth: Like minor tweaks. Switch this part here. Mm-hmm. You know? Twist the snob there. I dunno how cars work. 

Brian Prime: Yeah. Um, I don't, yeah, I, I dunno enough either to correct you, but, um, I take your meeting, um, the metaphor works. I will, I don't wanna keep you too long. Uh, great answer. I will put the last question of the podcast to you.

What is something that you have been enjoying recently? And your answer can be. Anything, book, movie, TV show. Just want something that you're jazzed about. 

Hollingsworth: Oh, I, so since this medical nonsense, I haven't quite had the, uh, the energy to be as physical and to do stuff, but mm-hmm. What that did do is that got me back into video games, and so I've been absolutely grinding [00:32:00] on the legend of Zelda, tears of the Kingdom.

Mm-hmm. Um, I've always been a huge Zelda dork, but I have not had the time. To start that game despite buying it like pretty much Right when it got cheaper after it came out. Mm-hmm. I didn't play it for like a year after I bought it because I just knew that if I cracked it open, I'd have to be in the right spot with the right amount of free time and the permission to use that free time for something other than grinding on some other hobby or nonsense.

Sure. And with, with this medical stuff, sucking for the most part. That is an upside that came from that as I just kind of rekindled my joy for, for the Legend of Zelda verse. And that game is, uh, scratches a lot of itches. So I'm mm-hmm. Greatly enjoying that and. I, I actually, it's helping me look forward to my recovery Yeah.

From surgery, because I won't really have, uh, I'll have even less energy to do stuff while I'm going through that, and so I expect to grind it out, probably beat it at some point within the next month [00:33:00] or so when I'm laid up. 

Brian Prime: Yeah. Yeah. Um, I can appreciate that. I was, um, excuse me, uh, post my surgery. I was playing Texas Chance on Massacre, uh, last year.

And, um, it was, uh, I. You know, I had spur surgery on my spine and stuff, so I, I was, mm-hmm. I, I was on a lot of drugs, like pain meds and I didn't have, I wasn't on team chat 'cause I couldn't wear my headset, so I just was the perfect leather face, just like roaming room to room, like trying to menace people with my, you know, noise.

The Cka murder machine. Um mm-hmm. And, uh, so yeah, video game is, uh, therapy healing. When you're, uh, when you're feeling kind of under the weather, it can really scratch the itch. 

Hollingsworth: It, and for me, somebody who's like, I'm a perpetual, busy body, so I, I have a, I have a hard time watching a lot of TV or movies despite loving.

[00:34:00] You know, a lot of stuff. Mm-hmm. I just, it's a, i, there's gotta be a very like, specific window where I'm in the right frame of mind to enjoy it and also have the physical time to do so, and those don't cross over super often. So video games are a perfect in between where I want to relax, but I'm still doing stuff, you know, I'm still, yeah.

Collecting mushrooms or final stupid Clorox or whatever, like I am busy. Even though I'm doing fuck all, basically. 

Brian Prime: Yeah. Yeah. It gives that sort of satisfaction to it. Yeah, I agree. Um, thing I've been enjoying recently. Um. I am getting this DJ controller and hooking it up, and, uh, I have done, excuse me, uh, I've done nothing with it really.

I got it working and, uh, made play spin, you know, turned some knobs and. Move some levers and some dials and stuff. And then I [00:35:00] was like, okay, now that I have this, I need to think about, uh, a music collection to use with it. And so I've sort of been going into, um, my hard drive of, of music that I have, um, some of which is stuff from like, uh, um, uh, 20 years ago or more, you know?

Mm-hmm. Like bands that released. Uh, EP and or a tape and that was it. And like just one off kind of stuff. Um, so it's been kind of cool to like dive back through 'cause I've like meticulously taken care of, like my music collection of, uh, of MP threes. So it's been kind of cool to dive back into that. And here's some stuff that I hadn't heard in a long time.

Um, you know, you mentioned Pig. Um. I have, uh, a friend, fan of the show, fan of the show who has just discovered Pig. And, um, you know, it was cool to be able to share like a, oh, well here, I've got this [00:36:00] one-off EP that, you know, I got the VIP uh, bag and it had this CD single and it had this song on it. And here I, you know, there's no other way to get it, but I'll share it with you kind of a thing.

Um. It's been cool to sort of rediscover like music in that way of like, oh, I have this already, this file is hanging out, or I've got this song that's not up to stream anywhere. Or I've got a, you know, uh, somebody ripped a vinyl or recorded a vinyl into an MP three, and so I've got, you know, the copy of that or whatever.

Um, so just That's 

Hollingsworth: awesome. No, 

Brian Prime: I, 

Hollingsworth: that's, I, I love hearing that 'cause that kind of. It reminds me when I got started I had a similar situation with just this weird library of music that I had just acquired and then I finally had a new purpose for it. Mm-hmm. You know, listening to it again and feeling like, what would this sound like at the club because this is not a song people listen to anymore, but I don't know if it's song gonna even knows [00:37:00] exists anymore.

And there's like that line of like. Hidden treats with, you know, that aren't something that's played out. It's not, you know, chrome to the, to 17000000th time.

Brian Prime: Don't you wanna play dead stars, Hollingsworth? Oh, 

Hollingsworth: they, they're still burning 

Brian Prime: for, they are still, they still burn. That is what I've heard. They 

Hollingsworth: still burn. 

Brian Prime: Yeah. Um, 

Hollingsworth: dead still. 

Brian Prime: Yeah. Yeah. Um, I've heard that. Why 

Hollingsworth: were we even asking that question anyway? 

Brian Prime: Why are we even asking? 

Hollingsworth: I've answered it several times.

Brian Prime: Um, okay. Um, and a joke for 

Hollingsworth: you off the record after this, by the way. Okay. 

Brian Prime: Okay. I will put a, the, uh, one last question I will put to you and then we'll wrap this, wrap this up. Um, as a DJ in this scene, um, are there, can you name three songs just off the top of your head that you're like, I, I, if I could.

Grant you this wish of like you never have to play [00:38:00] these three songs again. Do you have an answer? 

Hollingsworth: Yeah. Okay. It actually leads into the joke now. Great. 

Brian Prime: Okay. Excellent. 

Hollingsworth: Um, the. This corrosion. 

Brian Prime: Okay. 

Hollingsworth: The Sister's of Mercy. Like it's it, and I called it, uh, well, what did I call it? I called it goth. Don't Stop Believing the other day because it's like the quintessential like, this night is over.

I'm gonna play this 10 minute song that everybody's heard a trillion times. That's just played out so, so much. Mm-hmm. Like, it's a perfect example of like, if you love it, just listen to it at home, please. Don't request it. It's too long, first of all, and it's not set up in a way where there's a good place to just end it other than just ending it.

And as a dj, just from a mechanical perspective, like. I don't want the awkward transition to get out of this. There's nothing you can do after it. Mm-hmm. So I'm not a huge fan of the song, and I've heard it [00:39:00] 16,000 times. I didn't come into this from the goth adjacent side. I was more the industrial adjacent side.

So I don't have that deep appreciation for this old goth rock stuff. Mm-hmm. I can appreciate, but it's not deep. And so I don't have any spiritual attachment to this corrosion. So it's just. I'm just like, I never wanna play it because it's like I'll, I've dropped a couple of covers of it that hurry up and get the business done and move along.

Um, but yeah, that's the, that's the big one. Um, oh gosh.

You know, it's this one. Is that one I is a very relevant conversation because mm-hmm. We were just having a talk about this at the event I just did. So it's fresh of mind, but I will be honest. Um. Because I'm generally more of like a, not gonna dunk on anything anybody likes, because I want people to just enjoy their little nuggets of, you know, of joy.

Sure. It's hard for me to think of one off the top of my head, but I'm trying to [00:40:00] think about a song that maybe I've heard at my own club nights that I didn't play, but I walk inside. I'm just like, really? 

Brian Prime: Yes. And I don't wanna, I don't, again, I'm not trying to yuck anybody's yum. I like, oh no. Request what you wanna request and dance to what you wanna dance to.

Um, just, you know, this is shop talk, like it's nice to like, yeah. Uh, you know, pull the, you know, pull the, the hood back for a minute and just be like, Hey, I'm sick of hearing this. Um, so, um, one that I will add is that, um, and this is a band that I love. Uh, I went to go see them, uh, when they played Sacramento.

Like I, I know them personally. I've interviewed them twice for, you know, uh, region back in the day. Uh, nightclub is a fantastic band. Um, I, there it, when every DJ set has at least one nightclub track begins to be a little much in, you know, uh, noticeable in a night of like, Hey, another [00:41:00] nightclub song. Um, and they're, they're good.

Like this one's gonna be just as good as the one that was played an hour ago, but a little, you know, some variety, some awareness, like there's other stuff maybe. 

Hollingsworth: Yes. 

Brian Prime: Okay. 

Hollingsworth: That's, you know, I, I like that pick. Um, 'cause I do agree. Um, there was a couple, honestly, I could live the rest of my life and never hear closer in a club again.

Um, I know why people go back to the well, but personally I'm just like, it's at this point. Nine inch nails is about as mainstream as you can get when it comes to. What that, what, what Trent Resner has done as a musician and what nine-Ish Nails has accomplished as a band. Mm-hmm. And like, it just doesn't have the edge it used to.

Especially the track by itself. I'm not saying any, I'm not gonna talk any smack about the downward spiral as an [00:42:00] album. Mm-hmm. But I consume music in two columns, like I mentioned earlier. And from the purely like this song at the club, I never have to hear it again. Mm-hmm. It doesn't get me going. Um, I ruined it purposely.

To make sure nobody ever plays it at the club ever again, because I'm, I created a mashup with Britney Spears to hit, uh, hit Me Baby one more time, and I play that instead. So everybody associates closer with my bullshit. 

Brian Prime: Hmm, I see. But yeah, 

Hollingsworth: that's the thing I did. That's the kind of stuff that I'm talking about when it comes to like, Hey, you know what, that puts people on the floor that puts all those people on the floor that are there, that have no care in the world about the scene.

But I'm still. Sticking to my own rule where I'm like, I'm not just gonna low hanging fruit this to play closer. 

Brian Prime: Mm-hmm. Okay. 

Hollingsworth: That's one. Um, 

Brian Prime: okay. Can you hit gimme one more that you're just like, yes, fuck this song.

Hollingsworth: There's a handful of bands now that are obviously kind of questionable [00:43:00] that if somebody sneaks one and I'm just like, Hey, aren't you, are you paying attention to what's going on? Right. I just in general, but I, let me, 

Brian Prime: let me interrupt you really quick. I'm gonna shout one out real quick. Um, fucking, and one, like, if I like millets, don't play military fucking fashion show like it is a I was thinking that one.

It is a fucking neo-Nazi dog whistle. Um, we don't want it in our clubs. Like we don't want to risk a situation where one of those people feels safe or seen. Well, no thanks. 

Hollingsworth: I was actually thinking that song too. I was trying to feel like if there was a one that I had been thinking about recently and because they announced those tour dates I was thinking about, uh, like how overplayed that one was for a minute.

I think most people, at least in the clubs I've been in, have gotten the message and I haven't heard that one in a minute. To the point to where. I, um, yeah, I've heard it. You probably need to address it, 

Brian Prime: but I've heard it a couple times now and I am, I have been loud about it in an effort to [00:44:00] sort of, in an effort to sort of make people aware, right?

Like, I'm not going to crucify somebody for a thing they don't know, right? Like if ignorant of it. That's fine. Like I will educate you like that is, you know, I will give you information and then you may do with it as you will, but if you continue then mm-hmm. I may, I may have something to say, um, that you might not like.

Um, but I'm going to hold you accountable for your actions and I might. Mention your name as a person who plays this shit. Mm-hmm. I mean, you did it. I mean, I'm, I didn't force you. Uh, but yeah, I don't know. That shit matters to me like a lot, like the, you know. 

Hollingsworth: Well, and at a certain point, like you said, you know, you may not know what you're doing.

Mm-hmm. But when you do know what you're doing and you've been informed, the choice is now yours to make, and now the choice has consequences. It had, it was ignorance before and now it's now it's intentional. And like you said, that deserves to be acknowledged. [00:45:00] 

Brian Prime: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. 

Hollingsworth: Um. So I thought of my third one.

Yes, I mentioned it earlier. IV and V's. Chrome. I mean, good thing, it's arguably not a bad song. I'm just over it and it's a good turn. And I will tell you, I will tell you just, and this, this is probably more personal, I don't hate it at all. Mm-hmm. But when I hear it, it reminds me of like my second or third time DJing when I just low hanging, fruited, the whole thing.

Mm-hmm. And looking back, I just felt like I wasted. My opportunity up there to share stuff that people haven't heard a thousand times. And so I think it's more of a trigger for me when I hear it. I just think about how you just wasted five minutes to play Chrome instead of literally anything else. I.

Somebody possibly hasn't heard. And I do know that there's an art, obviously as a dj, I'm not out there just trying to push my whole agenda of all this bullshit that I like. Like, Hey, listen to my playlist. Listen to my playlist. Now that you paid money to be in this [00:46:00] club, you're gonna listen to my playlist.

Like, no, sometimes I gotta hook somebody in with something they're familiar with. Mm-hmm. And then when she got, I'm like, oh, okay, I, I know this song. Hook 'em with something like, I don't know this song, but I like how it sounds with that song. And then, mm-hmm. Now I've got you interested and now I'm wavy on a Spotify algorithm.

I'm a human being that's picking up on the pulse of what's happening here. And that was a thing that I never used to be good at. And I think Chrome just reminds me of when I was really just trying to get people on the floor with something they were familiar with. So subjectively, while the song, you know, like it's a good song, yeah, I could listen to it in any other context, but in the club on the dance floor, it just reminds me of a, of a time when I feel like I was ignorant.

Brian Prime: Okay. 

Hollingsworth: So, 

Brian Prime: wow. That's a deep meaning for that. 

Hollingsworth: I know, right? Wow. Took it farther than I, than I had anticipated. I, 

Brian Prime: no, I It is in, uh, on brand for you. In character, I would say bill. Dramatic, [00:47:00] overly romantic, fucking, uh, answers. That's cool. That's why I keep you around. Like it's, uh, that's the reason. Uh, okay.

That is it. We will. Wrap it here. I'm going to, um, press stop in a moment. But before I do, um, just thank you again for coming on and, uh, having a chat. 

Hollingsworth: Thanks for chatting with me. It's always, always a pleasure. 

Brian Prime: Yeah.