| Written By NEIL SHUMATE |
| Native of Columbus continues success in music business, working in California as artist manager |
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Westerville native and The Artery Foundation's Thomas Gutches stands with now Artery-signed The Crimson Armada of Columbus. Photos submitted.
He started out in 2004 selling merch for local bands and eventually began to organize shows at many
venues in Columbus with PromoWest Productions and Down Front Entertainment as a booking agent and
production manager. He also found his way traveling as part of the Vans Warped Tour, among other tours,
and later became tour manager for national bands including Attack Attack! and Silverstein.
As of late 2010, Westerville native Thomas Gutches moved to California for work as an artist manager at
one of the music industry’s largest management companies: The Artery Foundation. The company has
more than 50 bands on its roster, has a downtown Sacremento music venue called Ace of Spades and is
also part of Artery Recordings, a joint record label with Razor & Tie.
During a winter visit to his home state of Ohio, Gutches spoke to me about his move to California, how he
became associated with The Artery Foundation, the musical unity of Columbus and he gave advice for
how local artists can get noticed by national record labels in this age of online social networking.
Neil (OOTB): Last time we talked you were working with the Warped Tour. Then from there you
worked with Silverstein. How did everything come together for that?
Thomas: Not exactly, I went on several other tours besides Warped Tour, I continued to work with
Hopeless Records and went on some of their annual tours such as the Take Action! Tour for a couple
years, we had Every Time I Die in 2008 and Cute Is What We What For in 2009. In between those tours I
worked their booth at the Bamboozle Festival in New Jersey. After that, I went on to become a tour
manager for Attack Attack! I resigned from them during Christmas of 2009, took a long break from touring
to kind of get myself back on track and then got an incredible offer to run a new summer festival known as
the “Scream It Like You Mean It” tour, which Silverstein was headlining, I got the offer to tour manage
Silverstein as well about a month before the tour started, so I pulled double duty.
Neil (OOTB): Was that like a dream come true?
Thomas: I wouldn't say “it was a dream come true.” Ever since I was younger I had always wanted to be
involved in music. Didn't really want to be in a band, I loved the behind the scenes aspect of it. It was
everything from putting the shows together to figuring out who were the people behind the band. I got
involved with tour managing after my experiences with running local shows at all the venues in Columbus
(which I have to thank PromoWest Productions and Down Front Entertainment for helping me out in that).
It kind of just adapted from that, but in a different city every night with a certain group instead of a
company.
Neil (OOTB): After the Silverstein tour how did you become involved with The Artery Foundation?
Thomas: Eric Rushing (CEO of the company) and I had developed a really strong working relationship
during my time with Attack Attack! We were always there for each other when we each needed a helping
hand in something. I remember calling him super early in the morning the day I resigned with Attack
Attack! and told him I was moving on and you could just hear it in his voice he was super bummed out.
There was one point where I just shut myself off from the entire music industry due to exhaustion. But him
and I always kept in touch, even when I wanted to have the time off, he would always send an offer to me
to go out with one of his bands, but I declined each offer. I originally did the “Scream It Like You Mean It”
tour and was going to make it my last, but after a week into it, I decided I had to stay involved with it. Few
days later on a off day/drive day to California, I woke up to an email he sent to me requesting a guest list
spot for a show for one of his colleagues and the email ended with, “I think it's time you come to
Sacramento and work in the offices.” After replying back and forth, we had a meeting set up the day the
tour went to Sacramento, and man was that day interesting.
venues in Columbus with PromoWest Productions and Down Front Entertainment as a booking agent and
production manager. He also found his way traveling as part of the Vans Warped Tour, among other tours,
and later became tour manager for national bands including Attack Attack! and Silverstein.
As of late 2010, Westerville native Thomas Gutches moved to California for work as an artist manager at
one of the music industry’s largest management companies: The Artery Foundation. The company has
more than 50 bands on its roster, has a downtown Sacremento music venue called Ace of Spades and is
also part of Artery Recordings, a joint record label with Razor & Tie.
During a winter visit to his home state of Ohio, Gutches spoke to me about his move to California, how he
became associated with The Artery Foundation, the musical unity of Columbus and he gave advice for
how local artists can get noticed by national record labels in this age of online social networking.
Neil (OOTB): Last time we talked you were working with the Warped Tour. Then from there you
worked with Silverstein. How did everything come together for that?
Thomas: Not exactly, I went on several other tours besides Warped Tour, I continued to work with
Hopeless Records and went on some of their annual tours such as the Take Action! Tour for a couple
years, we had Every Time I Die in 2008 and Cute Is What We What For in 2009. In between those tours I
worked their booth at the Bamboozle Festival in New Jersey. After that, I went on to become a tour
manager for Attack Attack! I resigned from them during Christmas of 2009, took a long break from touring
to kind of get myself back on track and then got an incredible offer to run a new summer festival known as
the “Scream It Like You Mean It” tour, which Silverstein was headlining, I got the offer to tour manage
Silverstein as well about a month before the tour started, so I pulled double duty.
Neil (OOTB): Was that like a dream come true?
Thomas: I wouldn't say “it was a dream come true.” Ever since I was younger I had always wanted to be
involved in music. Didn't really want to be in a band, I loved the behind the scenes aspect of it. It was
everything from putting the shows together to figuring out who were the people behind the band. I got
involved with tour managing after my experiences with running local shows at all the venues in Columbus
(which I have to thank PromoWest Productions and Down Front Entertainment for helping me out in that).
It kind of just adapted from that, but in a different city every night with a certain group instead of a
company.
Neil (OOTB): After the Silverstein tour how did you become involved with The Artery Foundation?
Thomas: Eric Rushing (CEO of the company) and I had developed a really strong working relationship
during my time with Attack Attack! We were always there for each other when we each needed a helping
hand in something. I remember calling him super early in the morning the day I resigned with Attack
Attack! and told him I was moving on and you could just hear it in his voice he was super bummed out.
There was one point where I just shut myself off from the entire music industry due to exhaustion. But him
and I always kept in touch, even when I wanted to have the time off, he would always send an offer to me
to go out with one of his bands, but I declined each offer. I originally did the “Scream It Like You Mean It”
tour and was going to make it my last, but after a week into it, I decided I had to stay involved with it. Few
days later on a off day/drive day to California, I woke up to an email he sent to me requesting a guest list
spot for a show for one of his colleagues and the email ended with, “I think it's time you come to
Sacramento and work in the offices.” After replying back and forth, we had a meeting set up the day the
tour went to Sacramento, and man was that day interesting.
Neil (OOTB): How was that day interesting?
Thomas: Eric is also a promoter for all the bigger shows in
Sacramento, he was also the promoter for that one show in
particular. He wanted to have a lunch meeting with me, but I
knew it was going to be hard considering I was running a festival
tour with 10 bands, the crew and all the sponsors, as well as
handling Silverstein on a personal level and our load-in's were 11
a.m. every morning. So after getting our bands loaded in and his
staffed checked in, we actually bailed on the show and went and
had the meeting! One of the worst things you can do, leave a
venue when both of the people in charge are out. People of the
tour though understood the situation and my very good friend
Thomas: Eric is also a promoter for all the bigger shows in
Sacramento, he was also the promoter for that one show in
particular. He wanted to have a lunch meeting with me, but I
knew it was going to be hard considering I was running a festival
tour with 10 bands, the crew and all the sponsors, as well as
handling Silverstein on a personal level and our load-in's were 11
a.m. every morning. So after getting our bands loaded in and his
staffed checked in, we actually bailed on the show and went and
had the meeting! One of the worst things you can do, leave a
venue when both of the people in charge are out. People of the
tour though understood the situation and my very good friend
Justin, who tour managed We Came As Romans, watched out for everything for me. Eric drove me
around the city, showed me the beautiful sights of California and we had our meeting at Chipotle—my
favorite spot of all places! We sat down for a solid couple hours just discussing everything and on the way
back to venue he said, “I want you to go home when this tour is over, sit back and really think about this,
we are here for you, you come when you are ready.”
Neil (OOTB): Is it a relief to work in an office rather than constantly be out on the road?
Thomas: It really is. Moving from Columbus to Sacramento was definitely a welcoming change. Being on
the road is super fun and exciting every day. But it got to the point where after a few years, the excitement
was starting to fizzle considering I was going to the same venues every season. Part of the excitement is
seeing new things every day and once I started knowing other cities as well as my own, I knew it had run
it's course. I also always feed off the environment I am involved in. It's really nice to be involved with people
who share your aspects, views, work ethics and you can actually come together to help out other people
in the end in their careers and making their dreams reality.
Neil (OOTB): What are some of the challenges you faced while moving and kind of starting over.
Thomas: One of the craziest and stressful weeks of my life! I am really close to my family and my mother
and I have a really strong relationship after going from tour to tour and not going to college. She still
supported me in everything I have ever done and I still had a roof over my head and so this was also my
first being out on my own. I literally had to start over super fast. Everything from getting a new car, finding
a place to stay, getting a California driver license, learning the layout of the city, transferring all my bank
accounts over to other banks, on top of discovering bands for work and just in general being a goldfish
swimming in the ocean I guess you could say.
Neil (OOTB): Are you adjusting well now? Do you see yourself with Artery or in some form of band
management for long term?
Thomas: I am adjusting very well now. I am super OCD and I tend to go all out on things as they happen,
so I literally forced myself to get all those things done by Day 3 of living there and being settled by Day 7. I
do see myself with the company for a very long time. I actually never intended on being a manager, it just
happened. I would always help out all the young local bands anytime they needed advice on things or just
needed a form of motivation—basically doing the duties a manager would do for his artists. I actually hated
having the title of a “local band manager” because I thought it sounded so cheesy. But in the end, it ended
up being one of my strongest traits.
around the city, showed me the beautiful sights of California and we had our meeting at Chipotle—my
favorite spot of all places! We sat down for a solid couple hours just discussing everything and on the way
back to venue he said, “I want you to go home when this tour is over, sit back and really think about this,
we are here for you, you come when you are ready.”
Neil (OOTB): Is it a relief to work in an office rather than constantly be out on the road?
Thomas: It really is. Moving from Columbus to Sacramento was definitely a welcoming change. Being on
the road is super fun and exciting every day. But it got to the point where after a few years, the excitement
was starting to fizzle considering I was going to the same venues every season. Part of the excitement is
seeing new things every day and once I started knowing other cities as well as my own, I knew it had run
it's course. I also always feed off the environment I am involved in. It's really nice to be involved with people
who share your aspects, views, work ethics and you can actually come together to help out other people
in the end in their careers and making their dreams reality.
Neil (OOTB): What are some of the challenges you faced while moving and kind of starting over.
Thomas: One of the craziest and stressful weeks of my life! I am really close to my family and my mother
and I have a really strong relationship after going from tour to tour and not going to college. She still
supported me in everything I have ever done and I still had a roof over my head and so this was also my
first being out on my own. I literally had to start over super fast. Everything from getting a new car, finding
a place to stay, getting a California driver license, learning the layout of the city, transferring all my bank
accounts over to other banks, on top of discovering bands for work and just in general being a goldfish
swimming in the ocean I guess you could say.
Neil (OOTB): Are you adjusting well now? Do you see yourself with Artery or in some form of band
management for long term?
Thomas: I am adjusting very well now. I am super OCD and I tend to go all out on things as they happen,
so I literally forced myself to get all those things done by Day 3 of living there and being settled by Day 7. I
do see myself with the company for a very long time. I actually never intended on being a manager, it just
happened. I would always help out all the young local bands anytime they needed advice on things or just
needed a form of motivation—basically doing the duties a manager would do for his artists. I actually hated
having the title of a “local band manager” because I thought it sounded so cheesy. But in the end, it ended
up being one of my strongest traits.
Neil (OOTB): What’s your opinion of Ohio artists and bands
putting “Ohio on the map”?
Thomas: There are so many talented bands in this state. Signed and
unsigned. I really think bands like The Devil Wears Prada, Hit The
Lights, Foxy Shazam, even Lil' Bow Wow and OAR have already put
Ohio on the map—that's why you see so many bands coming up and
getting signed to record deals. Columbus also has one of the strongest
local scenes in the entire country. You can't find that anywhere, in a time
where most communities thrive on friction and pretty much try to outdo
each other, Columbus is definitely one of the most unified cities
putting “Ohio on the map”?
Thomas: There are so many talented bands in this state. Signed and
unsigned. I really think bands like The Devil Wears Prada, Hit The
Lights, Foxy Shazam, even Lil' Bow Wow and OAR have already put
Ohio on the map—that's why you see so many bands coming up and
getting signed to record deals. Columbus also has one of the strongest
local scenes in the entire country. You can't find that anywhere, in a time
where most communities thrive on friction and pretty much try to outdo
each other, Columbus is definitely one of the most unified cities
musically. I always tell people: “Seattle had grunge, Hollywood had hair metal, Nashville had country,
Columbus has everything.”
Neil (OOTB): I agree with you there. It seems like everyone is a strong supporter of each other’s
band. And if one band happens to “make it” over another band, there doesn’t seem to be many
hard feelings.
Thomas: I remember back in 2008, a lot of us involved with the local community would get together once a
week, go to a gym and have a late night kick ball game. All who participated were members of Attack
Attack!, The Crimson Armada, City Lights, Like Moths To Flames, Before We Forget and we would all
meet up once a week and I remember sitting in that gym and going, “This is beautiful.”
Neil (OOTB): What do you think is the most important thing for a local band to focus on to get
noticed? I’ve talked to a number of musicians that almost say, “give up on that record deal, times
have changed.” Is there hope for bands to be signed if they desire and what can they do to make
it that far?
Thomas: That's the worst thing you can do is give up. Some people don't realize all that it takes to be a
fully successful band. The best way to get your music out to the masses is by allowing those record labels
to get your records in stores and by allowing the publicists to get your music played in TV spots and video
games. Once your band is signed, other people can reach out and help you such as booking agents and
obviously managers. The MP3 age has been the only drastic change in the industry and it has been around
since the late 90s and with social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook, being the primary
spots to discover a band and listen to their music, there has yet been a band that has made their band a
definite success by being unsigned and sitting at home. There are still pieces that need to be together in a
full puzzle, you can't just try and finish by tossing a few aside. People are still buying records. Prime
example, the new A Day To Remember record is already at 180,000 copies sold and it's been out for a
couple of months. That is actually pretty impressive for a band on an independent record label. There is
just so much more that can be done. One of the biggest things labels look for is obviously talent within the
band. Touring experience too is also a definite bonus because it shows the band is willing to go out there
and work on making their band a household name, even if they aren't making any money and doing really
long drives late at night, they still believe.
Neil (OOTB): Do you think bands have to work twice as hard now considering the introduction of
social networking, making the industry more competitive?
Thomas: It's actually a little bit easier considering what bands had to do in the past. Back in the day, bands
had to actually make full fledged press kits and mail them out to all the record labels and management
companies and hopefully expect a call back, getting your band name out there was pretty much one of the
hardest things ever. MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, lastFM, YouTube and PureVolume actually have made
the music industry bigger by allowing the world to discover new music and not sit and watch MTV, VH1,
Fuse or BET to see what was new. Now when you have artists like Justin Bieber who was discovered on
YouTube covering other group’s songs. It's so different now. One of the unique things we do in terms of
accepting unsolicited material, we only accept a link to your music, a simple email with a link to your
MySpace is all we need, we'll do the rest in terms of figuring stuff out.
Neil (OOTB): Anything else you’d like to add?
Thomas: I manage The Crimson Armada, City Lights, Chunk! No Captain Chunk and I assist in co-
managing Burn Halo and The Amity Affliction and a few others I can’t announce yet. I also oversee
everything at our new 900 capacity venue in downtown Sacramento. Final words? Go check out all of our
bands, they all have some super amazing stuff coming up and we have some newer artists in that we
can’t wait for the world to hear! Our next big breakout band is Asking Alexandria from London. They will be
performing on the first day of Rock On The Range.
Columbus has everything.”
Neil (OOTB): I agree with you there. It seems like everyone is a strong supporter of each other’s
band. And if one band happens to “make it” over another band, there doesn’t seem to be many
hard feelings.
Thomas: I remember back in 2008, a lot of us involved with the local community would get together once a
week, go to a gym and have a late night kick ball game. All who participated were members of Attack
Attack!, The Crimson Armada, City Lights, Like Moths To Flames, Before We Forget and we would all
meet up once a week and I remember sitting in that gym and going, “This is beautiful.”
Neil (OOTB): What do you think is the most important thing for a local band to focus on to get
noticed? I’ve talked to a number of musicians that almost say, “give up on that record deal, times
have changed.” Is there hope for bands to be signed if they desire and what can they do to make
it that far?
Thomas: That's the worst thing you can do is give up. Some people don't realize all that it takes to be a
fully successful band. The best way to get your music out to the masses is by allowing those record labels
to get your records in stores and by allowing the publicists to get your music played in TV spots and video
games. Once your band is signed, other people can reach out and help you such as booking agents and
obviously managers. The MP3 age has been the only drastic change in the industry and it has been around
since the late 90s and with social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook, being the primary
spots to discover a band and listen to their music, there has yet been a band that has made their band a
definite success by being unsigned and sitting at home. There are still pieces that need to be together in a
full puzzle, you can't just try and finish by tossing a few aside. People are still buying records. Prime
example, the new A Day To Remember record is already at 180,000 copies sold and it's been out for a
couple of months. That is actually pretty impressive for a band on an independent record label. There is
just so much more that can be done. One of the biggest things labels look for is obviously talent within the
band. Touring experience too is also a definite bonus because it shows the band is willing to go out there
and work on making their band a household name, even if they aren't making any money and doing really
long drives late at night, they still believe.
Neil (OOTB): Do you think bands have to work twice as hard now considering the introduction of
social networking, making the industry more competitive?
Thomas: It's actually a little bit easier considering what bands had to do in the past. Back in the day, bands
had to actually make full fledged press kits and mail them out to all the record labels and management
companies and hopefully expect a call back, getting your band name out there was pretty much one of the
hardest things ever. MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, lastFM, YouTube and PureVolume actually have made
the music industry bigger by allowing the world to discover new music and not sit and watch MTV, VH1,
Fuse or BET to see what was new. Now when you have artists like Justin Bieber who was discovered on
YouTube covering other group’s songs. It's so different now. One of the unique things we do in terms of
accepting unsolicited material, we only accept a link to your music, a simple email with a link to your
MySpace is all we need, we'll do the rest in terms of figuring stuff out.
Neil (OOTB): Anything else you’d like to add?
Thomas: I manage The Crimson Armada, City Lights, Chunk! No Captain Chunk and I assist in co-
managing Burn Halo and The Amity Affliction and a few others I can’t announce yet. I also oversee
everything at our new 900 capacity venue in downtown Sacramento. Final words? Go check out all of our
bands, they all have some super amazing stuff coming up and we have some newer artists in that we
can’t wait for the world to hear! Our next big breakout band is Asking Alexandria from London. They will be
performing on the first day of Rock On The Range.
