A little while back, I had the good fortune of playing with Scoopski in a show that was part of the Key Concert Series at the Fuge in Warminster, Pennsylvania, just outside of Philadelphia. The venue itself was pretty cool: its main room was, at one time, a human centrifuge for the US Navy. Even cooler was a guy I got to talking before the show, John Simons, the organizer of the series. Given how busy he was with sorting out last minute details before the show, we only chatted briefly, but I was sure to follow up via email with some additional questions I had about the series, building and maintaining a healthy music scene, and his own past experience with indie music promotion.

What inspired the Key Concert Series, and how long have you been doing it?

The key concert series was inspired from a longing and desire by a small group of people who came together as a community to help contribute however we could, to see the original music scene rebuilt in the Philadelphia area and the surrounding suburbs. 

For the last 20 years or so, venues have only been booking cover bands and tribute bands. You could literally go into five different bars the same night and hear the same song played by five different bands. For me that becomes tiring. There are a lot of amazing, original artist and bands out there that need to be heard.

Original bands have had very few places to perform for a long time now, except from the opportunities that great organizations such as The Future Star shows and The Yo Show podcast have been giving these artists and bands. The unfortunate thing is they have no real venue to play and are either performing at a bar in the middle of the day at an all ages show, a local festival or they wind up going to the underground music scene, which for younger bands is not the safest place to be. 20 plus years ago you could go to a venue and perform on a Friday or Saturday night and didn’t necessarily need to be 21. There were battle of the bands and showcases everywhere you looked. Local radio stations were promoting original music. That’s really not the case anymore and I personally do not feel comfortable with young bands performing in the underground type of environment and I know I’m not the only one that feels this way.

Since February 2024, One Saturday night every month SRR Promotions, The Yo Show and other supporting parents have joined forces with The Key Concert Series LLC to bring an original music night To the Fuge. 

It’s a cool name for a series. What does “Key” signify for you?

So when the entire group sat down around the table to discuss this, one of the topics was, what do we call it. One of the names that was put on the table was Keystone concert series. This represented Pennsylvania. We felt keystone was too long and we are not working in the central and western Pa areas as of now, so we decided to call it The Key Concert Series. Derived from keystone we also liked the fact that the word “Key” indicates that this is the Key-spot to see live, original music in the local areas of Philly and the surrounding suburbs and communities.

You host your shows at the Fuge in Warminster, Pennsylvania. How did you decide that was the right venue? What are some things you like about it?

So SRR promotions had done a few shows prior to the key concert series at a few VFW’s and banquet halls. We felt that those venues really didnt display the concert style atmosphere we were looking for. We wanted somewhere that really made you feel like you were in a concert and not a bar or VFW style room. We actually were looking to purchase a place if possible but the funding had not been there. I heard about The Fuge in Warminster and did some research about the kind of events they held there. Original music was not something they really had done. Jeff from The Yo Show podcast and I had set up an appointment with the director of events and met with him one evening and discussed our idea. We weren’t just coming in with bands. We were coming in with bands, sound equipment, the understanding of how the operate the event and basically a whole platform of ideas. We also explained to him that the original music scene has been dead for a long time and we wanted The Fuge to be “The location” to come see original bands in the area. He told us that he had just sat down with the rest of the committee board a week prior to our meeting, to discuss doing music in the room called the studio which wasn’t being used for that type of thing often. The Director of Events stated he saw an opportunity not only to rebuild the original music scene with us, and certainly liked the idea of The Fuge being the “Key” location, but also be able to bring money in to cover the cost of a room that wasn’t being used very often.

 We all were able to agree on a plan and format for how this would look moving forward, and with a lot of prayer and consideration, the rest is history. 

What kinds of difficulties or issues have you run into, and how did you overcome them? Along similar lines, what should anyone who’s thinking about starting a similar concert series be aware of?

With any small business starting off, it takes a long time to get established and have your name out there. It cost a lot of money to purchase the equipment you need, and pay for insurance for the events, as well as being able to pay the venue and bands. If your business breaks even the first year you’re lucky. 

When you’re running a production show like we do you need to have all hands-on deck helping set up equipment and break down at the end of the night. If your lucky, they will volunteer there time.

If we owned our own venue then the equipment would just stay set up which would save a lot of time and energy, but because we don’t we have to constantly move the equipment the day of the event. We also have to store the equipment somewhere. Currently we are looking for a trailer that we can just keep the equipment in and transport when needed. 

With that being said, trying to rebuild the original music scene which has been dead for over 25 years is very difficult. It’s like training an old dog new tricks so to speak.  People are used to seeing cover bands and tribute bands everywhere. Even your local radio stations don’t really promote original music and it’s nearly impossible to get your music played on the station. People aren’t even aware or seem to care about original music anymore. It takes a lot of promotion online, one on one and face to face. It takes a community of people to come out and show support for every band and every event and invite their friends. It takes people to stick around for the entire night and support all the bands performing. As the community grows the idea will grow. We like to use the statement from the movie Field of Dreams, “if you build it they will come”

What was your involvement in music before the Key Concert Series? Had you done any concert promotions or been in any bands?

I have played in bands my whole life starting at age 13 on Lead guitar. In the 90’s I was in several bands but one of them happened to be The original Grimjacks. We had performed many shows in Philadelphia and New Jersey and even had an opportunity to play at the original J.C. Dobbs, The Trocadero, The Valley Forge Convention Center and we’re offered an opportunity to go to Japan for a month to perform. At that time Japan was really big on American music that was punk and grunge, and of course The Beatles…lol

Unfortunately the band broke up due to some family tragedies in some of the members families. We never had reformed but I still thought the music would be relevant today. I had joined other bands, Performing as their drummer or bass player but primarily Lead guitar has been my instrument. Uncle Chester’s Fever was one of the bands I played lead guitar in. We formed a production company called Brownwater productions which went into different bars with several bands and several DJ’s, and provided a whole night of entertainment. Around this time the original music scene started to die off and we started competing more with cover bands and DJ’s/ karaoke in venues. Forming Brownwater Productions was our attempt to stay relevant. We had played Philly and the surrounding scene up until 2006 doing original music. 

In 2006, I then joined a cover band called No Excuses, and we played the Philadelphia and the surrounding suburbs. We were doing very well but I wasn’t Complet happy playing other people’s music. I had left No Xcuses at the end of 2008 due to some personal things happening in my household. In 2009 when things calmed down a little, my brother and I formed a Christian rock band called Romans Road. We’ve been playing ever since doing different events up and down the east coast. In 2014 we became a non-profit called the Coalition to save lives and I oversaw The Save A life Tour, a.k.a. S.A.L.T. up until COVID hit: http://www.coalitiontosavelives.org/what-is-save-a-life-tour/

We did a few more events during COVID but things started to die out. We were going to inner cities and working with the homeless providing them food, clothing, live music and connecting them with self-help organizations as well as connecting them to churches in the surrounding area we were working, and most importantly displaying the love of Christ. Once COVID hit I started managing my son’s band called The Grimjacks, which I owned all the music for. Both my son’s showed interest in the music and wanted to reform the band so they did. I stepped up as their manager with a few other fathers, including  Stu Rambo who is the father of one of the original members and confounder of The Grimjacks, Kris Garwood.

Myself, my wife Kim, Malcome Rowley and Stu Rambo are the management team SRR promotions. I’m still performing with Romans Road as their song writer/ lead guitar player and also play drums for the Eric Rap Band.

Who are some bands that have participated in the series? 

We have had some amazing bands perform. Bands such as The Grimjacks, Arckist, Dark Fly, Intoxication, Iron Core Banned, The Jaspers, Who In The Room, Sour Station, Swing and A Miss, Sacred Monsters, Scoopski, Coal, The Age Of Ore, Desecration, Up 24, White Wolf, Fragmented Romans Road, Deep Seeded, Eric Rap Band and Phoenix Hip Hop

We will be having the international band Whitecross perform as well 10/10/24 in The Fuge.

Tickets are available at www.whitecrossband.com.

What’s the response been? 

We have had a great response not only from the venue but also from the people who have come out to see the bands. 

Every band that has performed at The Key Concert Series events has had a great time and said they want to come back. They have said that they felt it was ran very professionally and they really like the venue that they performed.

It’s a really cool environment. Your not competing with a TV or pool table. You’re able to watch four bands in a really nice place that looks cool and has a lot of history. You can dance and even mosh, of your into that. The food and the beverage are excellent and all ages can attend. It’s a family friendly style event where you can just feel comfortable and relax and enjoy hearing some quality music. It also is a positive atmosphere that everybody can relate to.

Do any specific memories stand out? 

One of the first shows that we had there was a 5-year-old boy who took to the dance floor. All the teenagers and adults gathered around him as he rocked out to the band that was on stage. The video was posted on Instagram and TikTok. One of the most amazing things to see. That all ages can come together in one location and really enjoy themselves.

Another amazing memory was when The Grimjacks had asked me to come up on stage and play two songs that I had written in the band when the original Grimjacks were performing. I hadn’t been on stage in a little while because I had dedicated my time to doing inner city mission work with Romans Road and running the sound while overseeing The Key Concert Series event. It felt great and was a awesome experience.

Any thoughts on what indie bands can do to support each other?

Bands should follow each other and buy each other’s merch and wear it. They should come out to concerts and support each other. Share each other’s events.

It’s not a competition. It’s about rebuilding the scene and doing it together as community. One of the reasons why we chose the Fuge as the location is so that it’s a place that everyone knows they can come to and do these very things at. I know it’s a concept that has to be learned and practiced, but if all these bands want to be able to play for a community of original music lovers, this is how it’s going to start. I truly believe that you’ll see other venues starting to book original music again because there will now be a community that wants it. 

What are your plans for the future of the series? 

To continue to grow the Series and provide original bands the opportunity to play in a concert environment and showcase themselves and grow their fan base with an audience that is there for the entire evening. Bands that are experienced and seasoned or bands that are just starting off can come together and support each other, learn from each other and fellowship together. If we can find other venues that’ll do this then we will definitely pursue doing more than one a month. We do ask for support by sharing our events and page with your friends and if you believe in what we are doing and want to help out financially, we accept donations that are used to offset the cost of running these events: www.keyconcertseries.com.

And we also ask for volunteers who might want to be a part of set up and breakdown of the equipment. This is also a good opportunity for apprenticeship work. To learn sound and equipment set up and mixing. 

If you’re interested in being a part of what we’re doing please contact me at srrpromotionsofficial@gmail.com or send us a message on Facebook or Instagram.

See you at the next event!