Voices From The Trenches: Scott Leslie

Scott Leslie is co-owner of the 600-capacity Majestic Theatre in Madison, Wis., but that’s not nearly his whole story. Truth is, he and his longtime friend and co-owner Matt Gerding have been adopted family of Pollstar for nearly 15 years, which is one reason why it took a while for us to feel comfortable about featuring them.  To us, Leslie is the guy we hang out with after the Pollstar Awards, wherever there is a piano, while he plays Bruce Springsteen songs and we try to sing along.  He’s crashed on our couches and ate our tri-tip, and we’ve crashed at Leslie’s and Gerding’s apartment in Los Angeles.

But Leslie had a secret. One that only recently was revealed. Nearly this whole time he had a secret identity as the “Promoter” in a popular Tumblr blog called Agent vs. Promoter. A recent technical glitch revealed his identity and that of the Agent – Joe Atamian of Paradigm.

– Scott Leslie

That was the excuse we needed to give Leslie the love he’s always deserved.  We started by asking him to tell us his story (see below) but it actually didn’t go into who he is so, when we asked for more clarification, this is what we got:

Scott didn’t know what to say here so he asked Majestic Live’s Marketing Director, Lauren Toler to write one for him.  This is what she came up with.

At the age of six years old, Scott Leslie’s mother called him a Bruce Springsteen-loving little shit, and it was at this moment that Leslie realized he was destined to be a concert promoter.

Leslie went on to play keyboards in a band who you’ve probably never heard of, yada yada yada… Leslie teamed up with then-roommate Matt Gerding to open the Majestic Theatre in downtown Madison, Wis. Seven years later, the couple welcomed two more clubs into their lives: The Blue Note and Rose Music Hall in Columbia, Mo.

Leslie currently spends his days calling agents, quoting “Seinfeld” and terrorizing his staff with Nerf guns. He likes to spend his downtime playing with his one-year-old daughter Maya and building offers.

FYI, Gerding’s nickname is Gerding! (must be shouted, while shaking a fist)

OK, Scott. Pretend we don’t know each other. What’s your story, starting from childhood.

Music has been a huge part of my life from the get go.  My Dad was a musician and I started playing piano when I was six years old.  I started playing in bands early on, but was always just as fascinated by the process that took place to put our shows on.  I was always the one arranging for a PA system, and was obsessed with “ticket counts” for things like Homecoming dances that we would play. 

I went to college at University of Iowa, joined SCOPE Productions my Freshman year and was soon skipping class and just working on shows.  I was getting ready to graduate and was talking to a bunch of folks about going to work for them, and then a band I had met asked me to go on tour with them as their keyboard player.  It took me about three shows before I also took over road management duties from the sound engineer.  I did that for four years and then my buddy Matt and I had an idea….

What exactly are you all involved in currently.  Where does Gerding! stand in all of this?  What’s your next venture?

We are just finishing our merger with Frank Productions, and I am really excited to see what this combined company can achieve.  What is going to make it cool is that we mostly occupy different areas of the concert business, but we approach our work with the same attitude.  It’s been a long process, but within that we’ve worked together a lot.  That’s led to both of our staffs being really excited about combining as well. 

I’m really focused on The Sylvee, the new venue we will be opening next fall in Madison.  I’m really excited to start booking that.  At the same time, our venues in Columbia, MO have really taken off so there are also some conversations about what else is possible long term in that market.

Now that the cat’s out of the bag, how did Agent vs Promoter get started, and what was it like keeping anonymity?

It just started with Joe and I needling each other about confirmation points on a show.  Once it started, we immediately decided to stay anonymous, and to be honest it was almost more fun hearing people try to guess than it was doing the thing to begin with.  Now that we’re outed, it’s a little different, but I think we both like poking fun at ourselves and each other. 

We work in a bizarre business sometimes and I think that is why it continues to resonate.  I’m honestly really surprised that more people didn’t think it was the two of us.  I mean, half of my emails are just Seinfeld references.

You have three shout outs

1)  My wife.  Because we all know this isn’t an easy business to be married to and she still sort of likes me after all these years. 

2)  Matt. Because I’m not the easiest guy to be business partners with and he still sort of likes me after all these years.

3)  Gerry Barad.  Because he was the first person I met in this business who didn’t have to be nice to me, but chose to be, It’s a lesson I keep with me to this day. 

What are your pet peeves with agents / agencies?  What can they do to improve relations?  (I know this can be vast. Hoping it can be boiled down to its essence).

Terms and Conditions man, Terms and Conditions.  

This is a trap right?  Honestly outside of a few very specific examples, I’ve had really great relationships with most agents.  If I had to gripe about the business as a whole, it would just be that sometimes it feels like everyone forgets that our interests are supposed to be aligned.  We both need each other way more than the other side likes to let on.  I try to be fair and not be dug in on a position without justification.  All I can really ask of agents is to be the same way.

Three memorable concerts and why.

How can I choose only three Bruce Springsteen concerts? 

What can the industry do better as a whole?

No more album bundles. 

For that matter, or instead, what advice can you drop for the readership, as an employer, venue owner or promoter? Or as someone balancing a family life?

This is a really demanding industry.  In general, we need to do a better job of knowing when something has to be dealt with immediately or can wait. We’ve all become a little bit of the boy who cried wolf with, “I need this ASAP.”  I don’t need to be called on my cell phone at 8PM for a ticket count.  That can wait.  Same thing as an employer, if I email one of my employees asking them to do something at 10:00 PM, it really better need to be done at 10PM. 

What expense, in your experience, was found to be unnecessary?  What unnecessary expense do you keep on the budget because there is some intangible value to it?

Catering. 

Kidding!  Anyway, this is kind of a trick question… If there’s intangible benefit to the expense, than it’s not unnecessary. 

What can an artist do to ensure they’re never invited back?

Probably the same things that will make a band not want to go back to the venue or work with a promoter again.  It boils down to being respectful.  We’re all in this together and no one wants to put up with BS.  If a venue, promoter or artist, makes a habit of being disrespectful, they’re not going to be around for a long time anyway.  Most of the artists that we’ve been fortunate enough to work with have been great.  Of course there are exceptions, but it’s been few and far between. 

I think the fact that our venues are nice and we’re responsive helps.  Artists walk into our venues and know instantly that it’s a place that cares.  And having been on the other side of the coin a long time ago, I could tell the second I walked into a venue if they gave a crap or not. It’s tough when you are on tour walking into a place that doesn’t care that you are there.  At the same time, that doesn’t give you license to be a jackass.