Uncle Lucius is a fitting name for a Texas fivesome who carry enough industry wisdom to educate a younger generation of musicians. In March of 2014, the band found a way out of a nasty 360 deal with EntertainmentOne. Never looking back, the Austin natives began seeking a new deal that would preserve creative control, and the ability to make business decisions going forward.
Avoiding the majors this time, frontman Kevin Galloway and company found solace in Thirty Tigers. “I knew that I wanted to work with them and just started a conversation with [president] David Macias,” explains Galloway. And while the seed of a possible partnership was quickly planted, it wouldn’t bloom into an actual contract for almost a year.
The final deal with Thirty Tigers included help with distribution, radio play and industry networking. Once a publicity team was arranged, the manager hunt began. “When we were looking for a manager, a gentleman out of Austin called David, [who then] made the introduction.”
“That experience you get doing it [yourself], you can’t trade it for anything.”
With a team now in place, Uncle Lucius took to crowd funding for their fourth release. “I suggest to everyone who looks into crowd funding to really do your research. ... There are people out there now who are crowd funding consultants. They have all the analytics. We talked to a consultant and could have hired [him] for a fee. In hindsight, I would do that the next time. But we did well because we have such a great core of fans.”
When asked if Galloway had any advice for upcoming musicians in general, he chuckled with irony. “Definitely check out Music Connection magazine. When I knew about this interview last week, I didn’t know about Music Connection and I can’t believe I didn’t. I looked into it and I thought, ‘Man, I wish I would have known about this nine years ago.’
“Having said that,” Galloway continues, “our band has [grown] organically. In the first four years, I booked the band. We did everything on our own and learned so much from that. That experience you get doing it [yourself], you can’t trade it for anything.”
The Light was released in June.
– Andy Mesecher
