A Guide to Brooklyn, by Bands, For Everyone

Interview with Sam Sumpter

If you know the Brooklyn, New York indie music scene then you know the name Sam Sumpter; Sam is a well-known blogger, MC, podcast host, artist manager, promoter, talent buyer, and now author of the book Bands Do BK: A Guide to Brooklyn, By Bands, For Everyone.

Sam goes in depth with Reckless about the road leading up to the book being published, a new journey of being an artist manager, and her love for the Brooklyn Indie Rock scene.

Brooklyn, USA

You are gearing up for the release of your book, Bands do BK: A Guide to Brooklyn, by Bands, for Everyone. What is this book about?

Please forgive me while I just come in hot with some taglines, but it’s probably the best way to explain it! The Bands do BK book is…

A guide to Brooklyn—by bands, for everyone.

A guidebook meets oral history meets music-fan memoir—a snapshot of the current BK music scene and the faces and places that define it.

A love letter to Brooklyn by bands, and a love letter to Brooklyn bands by me.

For something a little more in-depth, probably easiest to read the summary here. :)

Why is publishing this important to you?

Simply put, this music scene is the most important thing to me. There are so many creative and kind people making killer music, collaborating on cool projects and, at the same time, doing so much good in this community. I honestly get a little emotional thinking and talking and apparently (*smears tears off keyboard*) writing about it.

I feel incredibly lucky to live in Brooklyn and to do what I do—to work with these musicians every day. To soak up their art and witness their performances and celebrate their wins and watch them grow. It’s a huge privilege to be surrounded by so much talent, and I’m just thrilled for the opportunity to document this time and the people and places I love and admire so much.

It’s also worth mentioning that while I may have been the person to put it all together, in many ways this book is a huge group effort—the result of contributions from hundreds of artists who shared their recommendations, stories and ideas over the last four years. In this sense, it’s not a book by me, but by all of us, and while we’ll always have our Instagram archives, I’m really stoked to release something physical that’s dedicated to this era in our sweet little world.

For those of us in the community, hopefully the book serves as a scrapbook or yearbook or time capsule of sorts. For others, I’m excited to offer an inside look/listen at the Brooklyn music scene and hopefully help them meet their new favorite band or discover their new favorite venue or bar.

Bands do BK started out as a music blog in 2018. What inspired you to start the blog?

My degree and background is in journalism, and when I was living in Austin, I was doing a lot of freelance writing, which gave me some really rad opportunities to interview bands I loved plus some built-in platforms to share and promote the music I was obsessed with. (The free cocktail/kale chip situation in the festival media tents back then was pretty sick, too.)

That said, while it was an awesome situation and Austin was a great place to be, I’ve just always wanted to live in NYC, for as long as I can remember, and I was dying (!!!) to get here. When I finally made it to Brooklyn in 2016, I was thrilled… but also totally directionless. I didn’t have a platform, I didn’t have a purpose. In this city, you meet so many people doing and making cool things every day, and it was really uncomfortable to not have a good answer to the What do you do? question in bars. I wasn’t contributing in any way, just consuming. I wasn’t giving, just taking. And that wasn’t fulfilling. I wasn’t happy.

Fortunately, a friend introduced me to Sofar Sounds about six months after moving here, and I immediately applied and started volunteering as an MC, hosting shows and interviewing and introducing artists. That was my first introduction to the local scene and some of the incredible musicians in this city. It was a super fun and rewarding thing to be a part of, but rather than totally satisfy me, it just sparked more of an interest, more of a desire. I wanted to see more music and meet more artists and get even more involved. I wanted to immerse myself more in the scene and do more and help more. And writing is what I’ve always come back to, so a blog was a natural fit.

I’m not sure how Bands do BK, the name/concept itself, came to be—I’m a bit partial to the creativity theory that ideas are flying around looking for human homes—but it popped into my head at some point and wouldn’t get out. I crafted emails to a dozen or so local artists requesting interviews, and then, once I hit send, I was officially accountable.

(On that note, huge shoutout and major thanks to every individual who took time out of their schedule back in the day to be interviewed for a blog that at that point did not even technically exist yet.)

How did the blog grow and evolve over the years?

I’m not sure whether it’s a blessing or a curse, but I have a big urge to do EVERYTHING, and it’s ended up resulting in what’s essentially a little ecosystem. Bands do BK is a blog, free classified ads to connect local artists, a radio show on Radio Free Brooklyn, a weekly newsletter, live shows and streams annnnd, for better or for worse, my entire personality, haha. I’ve also had the opportunity to collaborate with dozens of artists over the years to raise thousands of dollars for various charities, which I’m particularly proud of.

And now—ah!—BdBK is a book. Which is pretty surreal, to be honest.

Not sure where to go from here, but ugh, it probably involves TikTok or something. (Any Gen-Z readers interested in interning, please apply within.)

What was the journey of getting published like?

I always kind of envisioned Bands do BK as a book—the idea lends itself well to that format—but it was always a vague, maybe-somewhere-down-the-road type of thing. Then I met Ben Taylor of Lit Riot Press. We connected totally by chance at a Radio Free Brooklyn event, and he asked if I ever thought about writing a book. We had a lot of calls during which he was supportive and encouraging and somehow convinced me I could do it, and I ended up signing a contract in June 2020.

As for the process, I will say that the rumors are true! Writing a book is not easy. It takes a lot of time and a lot of love and a lot of mental and emotional energy. On some level, I feel like this process has helped me better understand what artists go through while making an album. I’ve never worked on a project for so long or put more of myself into anything. And being vulnerable is hard! I’m not good at it! That’s why I go to therapy!

That said, the interviews were a joy (I would hang with Gustaf, Amelia Bushell, Venus Twins or Max Pain and the Groovies every day for the rest of my life if given the option), the ~research~ (aka going to even more shows) was obviously a blast, and while it def made me sound like a little bit of an asshole, when someone asked me to do something, it was still pretty fun to say, Wish I could, but I have to go work on my book :(

I guess, to sum it all up, the realest quote out there is one that the internet tells me might be from Dorothy Parker: “I hate writing; I love having written.” It’s kind of like this hiking trip I went on a few years ago where it rained or hailed like 99% of the time: It kinda sucked in the moment, but in retrospect it was an undeniably incredible experience, and all in all, I can look back on the journey fondly. I’m not sure how I did it, but I did. And to be honest, once this is out in the world and I’ve moved on, I don’t know exactly what I’m going to do with myself. Maybe start another one? Masochism, baby!

You have recently started a journey of being an artist manager for the punk band Mary Shelley - how did this happen?

Oh, boy—I’d actually love to hear them tell this story.

So I wasn’t familiar with the band until last summer, when I was going to see a few other bands I know and have worked with (Hot Knives, Deep Wimp) at Berlin. It’s super embarrassing—and I swear I read!—but I was apparently the only person in the universe who didn’t know that Mary Shelley is the name of the author of Frankenstein. I saw their name on the bill, and for some reason, I was like, Oh, this is probably a female folk singer or something. Cool. (Again, VERY EMBARRASSING.)

Anyway, they were not the acoustic opener I had imagined, but a headlining punk band, and they just blew me away. The genre hopping, the instrument swapping… the songs are so clever and unique, they’re all incredible performers and the crowd was out of control. I was just hooked, and in what turned out to be major foreshadowing—since I’ve done it at probably a dozen Mary Shelley shows since—I found myself standing precariously on a chair in the corner and woo-ing every five seconds while recording basically the entire set on my phone.

It probably goes without saying that I go to a lot of shows, and I love a lot of bands, but with Mary Shelley, I just had an immediate feeling that this was something different… something special. I’d never managed a band, or even thought about it, but I just had this intense, instinctual urge. Like, I want to get involved, I need to help, I have to do what I can to get them in front of everyone I know.

So I approached them after the show, like OMG THAT WAS SO GOOD WHO ARE YOU WHAT’S HAPPENING WHAT’S NEXT DO YOU HAVE A MANAGER?! Then I proceeded to buy a how-to book on band management off Amazon while waiting for the train to go home that night, and the rest is history!

What have you been learning as an artist manager?

Mannnnn, a lot! I think in some ways, it’s similar to everything I do with Bands do BK, as in it’s all about working with musicians and trying to get them exposure. But it’s a far more concentrated case—this is the longest and the closest relationship I’ve had with a band, and I’m learning a lot about the difficulties that come along with being in one. Like, whoa, booking a tour is complicated! Juggling schedules is hard! Making a record is expensive as shit! It’s been a huge eye-opener for me and some valuable insight into the challenges that independent artists have to deal with all the time. And I’m not present for or involved in any part of the creative process, so I can’t even speak to the struggles that I’m sure come along with that.

On less of a professional and more of a personal note, it’s also been more rewarding than anything I’ve ever done. I jokingly refer to them as my sons (they’re 25-year-old men, for the record), and I recognize it’s absurd, but that’s the only way I know how to explain it. I care about them so much! I can’t even imagine how people with real kids feel! It’s probably annoying to actual parents that I’m comparing it to that, but I can’t help myself. My friends keep having babies, and I’m like, Ok, cool, but can your kid play the guitar?!

You are also a talent buyer for the Manhattan based venue Arlene's Grocery - how has that been?

I’m still getting my feet wet for sure, but the best part so far is being part of an actual team and having a home of sorts, especially at such an iconic venue. With Bands do BK, I’m so used to running things by myself, so it’s great to be working with really cool people and to have someone to reach out to when I have a question or an idea or a problem.

It’s also amazing to have a really rad space to offer up to artists. To be able to be like, Hey, you need a place to throw a show, to share your art, let’s make it happen. That feels really good. I feel extremely fortunate to have found my passion—I truly just want to help artists and, on top of that, to facilitate a good time—and this is just another extension of that mission. I’m so thankful for the opportunity and the experience so far.

What's next for you? What is next for Band do BK?

Depending on the reaction to the book, maybe fleeing the country?!

But really, in the immediate future: SHOWS!

I’m super stoked to be celebrating the book with a release-day event presented by WORD Bookstores on September 6th at Saint Vitus! Then I’ve got a massive 13-band Book-Release Bash at Our Wicked Lady on September 17th, a TBA show at East Williamsburg Econo Lodge (the Brooklyn DIY space, not the motel) on October 8th and a TBA event with Sofar Sounds.

Beyond that… god, I honestly have no idea. Despite my ~200 spreadsheets, I have no 6-month, 1-year, 5-year, 10-year plan. I just keep going with what feels good and trying to do cool shit and work with artists I love. I’m a big believer that if you put yourself out there and have good intentions, the right things and the right people will find you. So while I’m not sure exactly what’s next, I’m already pretty stoked on it.