Recorded on May 11th, 8:30 p.m. in Anna Erickson’s bedroom
Chicago, Illinois
Anna Erickson is a recent graduate of Columbia College Chicago. She is currently managing the artist, Cellar Door, and has been putting on house shows in the backyard of her apartment building since 2018. She works with the Columbia College record label, AEMMP Records, in the event department and A&R (Artists and Repertoire). Erickson also created the music blog, punk monk, on Instagram in 2019. This page posts music from national and international underground artists.
WHO ARE YOU AND WHERE ARE YOU FROM?
Anna Erickson, from Minneapolis, Minnesota. I am a recent alum of Columbia where I studied music business. I got into this major because I am passionate and curious about the world of music. I’ve been obsessed with music since high school and wanted to discover everything I could about music.
TELL ME ABOUT PUNK MONK?
It’s a blog playlist that I came up with last year when I was… ok so like, I’d always find artists and tell my friends about them and then they’d blow up and shit. So I was like… hmmm… I’m gonna start making playlists of all the artists I find. Then, I was like, I’m gonna start a platform of all the artists I find to share with people and make another, single platform instead of using my personal account. It was mainly to help Bobby gain a new audience for Cellar Door and then, I realized, I kinda like doing this. It started with me finding music alone and stemming from that. It’s cool to see the progress of the artists that I’ve been finding for the past year. I’ve met some pretty cool people, like DMing people, the artists I’ve put on the platform, put on punk monk.
YOU’VE DM’D THE ARTISTS?
Yea, I’ve had direct conversations with them, or vice versa, they talk to me. That’s how Venus Twins got to play in the backyard.
YOU MENTIONED BOBBY, WHO GOES BY CELLAR DOOR, THE ARTIST YOU MANAGE. HOW DID YOU AND CELLAR DOOR START WORKING TOGETHER AND WHEN?
Last February. It was for a talent management class at Columbia. We had to manage an artist and he was my friend at the time, I liked his music and him as a person. So, I was like, ‘do you want to work together?’ And he was like, ‘yea’, so I started managing him and it worked out really well so we continued. We’ve been working together about a year and a few months.
WHAT ARE YOU PLANNING WITH CELLAR DOOR FOR THE FUTURE? WHAT ARE SOME GOALS YOU’VE BEEN WORKING ON?
We want to do international collaborations because he’s more of a producer. We were thinking about doing a support tour, but we’re holding off on that because of the situation that we’re in, that everybody’s in, really. Bobby really wants to get on COLORS, that music video showcase. To do that, we’re trying to sell t-shirts to budget a music video because you need a video for submission. And, like, go from there. Budgeting for a music video and collaborations in the states and around the world.
WHO ARE SOME ARTISTS YOU’VE WANTED TO SUPPORT ON TOUR OR WORK INTERNATIONALLY WITH?
Honestly, anyone. Whoever would pick us up. Someone probably more in the pop world, Bobby’s a low-fi pop artist. Billy Lemos would be cool, he’s a Chicago artist. That’d be sick, but I don’t think he’s planning a tour.
HOW DID YOU GET INVOLVED WITH PUTTING ON HOUSE SHOWS?
It stemmed from my roommate, Andy, who had his high school homies, Dirty and the Dishes, play here in August of 2018. During the wintertime, I was thinking about putting on house shows. Not necessarily house shows, I didn’t think it would turn into that. It was mainly a platform for my friends and people I’m passionate about to like, share their voice. Bobby, Cellar Door, had never performed so it was originally to get him to perform. Then it became Joe’s band, Hillcrest.Ave, and it kinda blew up more into me wanting to have other artists who I didn’t know, but wanted to support and share their voice with another audience. It worked out, a bunch of artists were down to play.
OTHER THAN THE HOUSE SHOW THAT YOU HOST, WHAT ARE SOME OTHER VENUES THAT CELLAR DOOR PERFORMED AT?
Shuga Records and The Silver Room, both in Wicker Park. Uncommon Ground was his first legit, paid venue. That was really cool, that was probably his best performance honestly. It was a really interesting setting. It’s a sit-down diner setting in Wrigleyville, Lakeview. Then he performed at Valparaiso Popcorn Festival in Indiana. That was all last summer, we were working on building his performance. Now, he doesn’t want to perform as often he wants more work with people so now we’re just trying to do collaborations. He’s been working with people at AEMMP Records (Columbia College’s student-run record label), that’s been really cool to be a part of.
WHO ARE SOME OTHER ARTISTS YOU’VE PUT ON HOUSE SHOWS WITH AND HOW DID YOU CONNECT WITH THEM?
I met Hillcrest.Ave, through my homie, Erin. It’s been really cool, he’s played two house shows with us. He played the second one in the summer of 2019. He played with Dori Valentine and Cellar Door. He did a solo show then came back in October and played with a whole band. That was really cool to see him grow. Dori Valentine played also, I know her through Natali, who was her manager. I met Natali in class, we connected pretty quickly and have been friends since. Bum Chic, Cellar Door’s good homies with them, they came to play. Moise is a Minneapolis artist and I came across his song, Wildflower, on Soundcloud in my dorm room in 2017. I didn’t know anything about him, messaged him on Soundcloud and was like, “Yo man I like this song, where you from?”, and we just struck up a conversation. We have mutual friends because he’s from Minnesota also. We were just talking back and forth, we’d catch up with each other. He was coming to Chicago to do a show and I wanted to do a house show with him, but couldn’t do it at my house because it was wintertime. So, he had a show at Elbo Room during the winter of 2018/2019. We did a show with just him and his band in our living room afterwards. We maintained a relationship and I asked him to do a house show with me in the summertime. He came out and did a set with Bum Chic and Cellar Door. Venus Twins are a bass and drum duo. One of the guys, Jake, is in the band Mommy’s Little Boy, that I found just doing my lonely night sessions thing. We started talking on Instagram. I was like “That’d be cool if you guys want to do a show out here if you’re ever coming to Chicago”. They’re from Texas and then moved to Brooklyn, New York. So, fast forward a few months and he reached out to me and was like, “Yo we’re coming to Chicago.” I was supposed to help them with a DIY show, instead they came to my backyard. They played with Joe’s band (Hillcrest.Ave). DeadstockV1 and Kennyflowers did a show, I met them through Bobby. I was working with DeadstockV1 at the time with the label (AEMMP). I was on the events department so I had to put together shows. We couldn’t book a show so I was like, let’s just do it in my backyard. They put on a rap show on Halloween, that was the last one. Oh, and Ryan Hoffman, he’s played too. I know him through our friends who went to high school with him. He does solo stuff but plays in a lot of different bands and travels the world doing that. He’s based in Los Angeles. So I’ve had Los Angeles, New York, Minnesota, Tennessee- with Dori, and Chicago (artists).
ONCE YOU CONNECT WITH THESE ARTISTS, WHAT ELSE GOES INTO THE PROCESS OF PUTTING ON A HOUSE SHOW?
I live in the Wrigleyville, Lakeview area. I put shows on in my backyard, it’s shitty, but it’s got a lot of character. There’s this little porch that fits a five person band. There’s a garage, we’re not allowed inside so we go on top of the roof and climb a fence to get on. There’s a patch of grass that can fit 50 people. Normally it gets to 50, capped. It’s really cool and it’s all word-of-mouth. Marketing a week to two weeks ahead of time, on IG (Instagram).
DO YOU MARKET ON YOUR PERSONAL INSTAGRAM, PUNK MONK, OR BOTH?
Not really punk monk. Mainly, my personal one because it has more followers from Chicago on it. The other one is followed by other artists from around the world who wouldn’t have access to come here.
HOW HAVE YOU BOOKED THE ARTISTS THAT HAVE PERFORMED IN YOUR BACKYARD?
It’s mostly emailing, DMing, or texting. I would get their numbers through a human; through Bobby, who has a relationship with them. Or that I’ve met through other people and have since built a relationship with them, by hanging out with them.
DO YOU NEED TO GET APPROVED FROM THE CITY TO PUT THESE SHOWS ON OR A LICENSE OF SOME KIND? HOW DO YOU NOTIFY THE NEIGHBORS THAT YOU’RE PUTTING ON A SHOW, BECAUSE IT IS OUTSIDE?
I write my neighbors a little note and I tape it onto their door. It’s the two neighbors directly next to me. Then I’ll give them my phone number to text me if we’re too loud. By law we have to shut it down by 10 (p.m.) because of the ordinance, and it’s outside. It’s all DIY. I just let the neighbors know and I end at 10. The police have come twice. Technically, once. That was the first one. That was cause we ended a little after 10. The second time was on Halloween, the neighbors called, they texted me to shut it down and I didn’t shut it down. But, they didn’t come to the backyard. They came pretty late and parked in the alley and just left because we cleaned up. But yea, people gotta pay five bucks.
$5 DONATION?
Yea, five dollar donation and I give 100% to the artists. I split everything evenly between the artists. They play like, a 20 minute set.
SO YOU MAKE ABOUT, IF AROUND 50 PEOPLE ARE COMING AND VENMO YOU $5, YOU’RE MAKING $250 A SHOW?
Yea, yea. Bobby’s funds for shows have been saved for equipment. Obviously, he has to pay for rent, but he just got new speakers.
SO YOU MENTIONED THAT YOU GO TO COLUMBIA COLLEGE CHICAGO, WHAT IS THE MUSIC SCENE LIKE THERE? WHO ARE SOME ARTISTS THAT YOU’VE MET AND WORKED WITH FROM COLUMBIA?
The music scene there is tight. Everyone that I met from my experience and that I associate with, everyone’s tryna network and work with each other and support and build each other, which is really cool. Especially in class, everyone’s networking. I’ll go to the bathroom and I’ll meet someone, it’s really cool. It seems intimidating to approach people at Columbia, but it’s not. Everyone’s there to make friends and build relationships. Being a part of Columbia’s student-run record label for a year I’ve gotten to work with a lot of cool people, DeadstockV1, Piwa, Mugen! The Human, Post N Jimi, Cellar Door, Mike Kota, Mohit, Bum Chic, Finger Beats, and Hillcrest.Ave.
WHO ARE SOME ARTISTS YOU’D LIKE TO HOST IN THE FUTURE?
Knife Wife, I was supposed to hang out with them at SXSW. Kinda just started talking with them on Instagram, just following them and then they commented on some shit that I posted recently. Mike Kota was gonna play here, if COVID didn’t happen. Matt (Family Restaurant). Bum Chic was gonna play again. I really wanted Cold Beaches, I was in talks with them but that didn’t happen. Pity Party was possibly gonna play here, they were coming to Chicago this summer to do a tour- but COVID. A bunch of random, small artists that I post on lonely night sessions who aren’t from Chicago but would play if they had the funds to come here. That’s pretty much it.
BEING IN THE MUSIC/MANAGEMENT WORLD, HOW HAVE YOU DEALT WITH COVID SHUTTING EVERYTHING DOWN? WHAT ARE SOME WAYS THAT YOU OR OTHER ARTISTS YOU KNOW HAVE DEALT WITH THIS SITUATION?
Right now, I hate building relationships online, but it’s really important to do that in this industry. I’ve met a lot of people online. Mainly on Instagram, that’s how I network. Doing online events, be it Zoom or IG with the target audience and building that up through networking with other artists in Chicago. But I’m better with real-life energy, meeting people like that.
ARE YOU PLANNING ON PUTTING ON SHOWS OVER ZOOM?
We’re doing a show on IG (Instagram) live, AEMMP is doing a Q&A with the artists. We’re having them play unreleased or released music, whatever they want, and still trying to connect with people online. It’s all the people that are on the compilation album with AEMMP.
WHAT ELSE, RELATED TO MUSIC, HAVE YOU BEEN DOING DURING THE PANDEMIC?
Exploring my own hobbies. Keep finding new music for lonely night sessions and myself because it makes me happy. Playing guitar, which is very fun and satisfying and skating when it’s nice out.
WHO ARE SOME ARTISTS YOU’VE BEEN LISTENING TO LATELY?
You’re hearing Hey Cowboy! currently, they’re a cute indie girl band. They’re cool, they’re from Austin. Current Joys, I’m always listening to Current Joys. Van Morrison. The smaller, indie artists who I listen to; The Leanover, Dancing Tongues, always Ty Segall, gal pal, IDLES, and Freckle Face.
You can find Anna Erickson’s personal Instagram: @anna__erickson
Her music blog lonely night sessions page: @punkmonk_.
You can also contact her email at erickson.anna12@gmail.com.
*This interview has been edited for clarity and to fit article size
Interviewed and Transcribed by Lauren Neher
Edited by G.G. AAkre
Edit 01/10/21: Erickson's blog name, lonely night sessions, has been changed to punk monk
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