There’s a missing niche in our society. A thought that came to Queen Creek resident David Brewer, founder and CEO of Band Toogether, back in 2019 while he was at his local community center playing basketball.
Why isn’t there a place where the community can come together to play music like there is for just about any other sport or interest? Unless you’re planning on going pro or taking music lessons, the second you finish school, there’s no place where you can simply just go to play.
Taking an entrepreneur class for his MBA, Brewer had his mind set that this was a problem that needed to be solved. Fast forward, and now we can anticipate Band Toogether’s grand opening later this month.
You’ll get to come check it out for free, meet other like minded people, and play some music.
“I’m hoping people realize that now, here in Queen Creek, there’s this place where they can go to enjoy, create and share while being a part of something that's bigger than themselves,” Brewer said. “You think about why people go play basketball at the gym or play golf on the golf course, it's because there's some kind of infrastructure there, the bare bones infrastructure.” In this case, their bare bones infrastructure is a drum set, keyboard, PA system, guitar amps, guitar pedals and mics, which are available for anyone to use.
Join them for their grand opening next Thursday, March 16. There will be free drinks, snacks, stickers and a raffle for a chance to win free sessions. Located in the Queen Creek Real Estate Team office, at 21408 S. Ellsworth Road, Band Toogether will be open Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6 to 8 p.m.
Why music?
“My grandpa actually played in tons of bands. Even in World War II he was the band director. So, for as early as I can remember and in seeing all the pictures, I had headphones on, a Muppet babies drum set, and they’d have me sitting at a piano playing music with my grandpa,” Brewer said. “My mom says I wrote my first song at two years old… music has always been in my life.”
In fifth grade he started playing basketball and trumpet in his school’s band, but once he got to high school the coach and band director made him pick one or the other. He gave up music to pursue his dream of one day being in the NBA, and although that didn’t end up happening, Brewer never lost his love for music. Basketball and music have always been some of the most important things in his life.
As he’s gotten older, Brewer’s begun to realize that basketball can’t hold as big of a part of his life as it used to.
“We were at an open gym one night playing basketball and all these young kids were continuing to run while all us old people were tired. The insight was why doesn’t something like this exist for music? Why can’t there be an ‘open gym’ for musicians?” Brewer said. “It just really feels like a design flaw… you go to the Musical Instrument Museum up in Phoenix and you see how important music has been for forever to all these different countries, tribes and people. It just seems like there should be more opportunities to do it.”
It wasn’t until 1999 when he went to see the Dave Matthews Band in Chicago that Brewer fell in love with the guitar. The very next day he bought one and started learning how to play.
“Watching the people up on the stage having the time of their lives brings me so much joy, I don’t know how else to explain it… seeing them have so much fun in doing exactly what it is that they were born to do,” Brewer said. “Everyone in the crowd is so engaged, you’re just all in it together. You’re there, you’re loving it, you forget all those worries, the angst and the strife, and you really just feel like ‘wow, people can really make such a positive impact on the world.’”
Music brings people together in a way that not many things can. Whether that’s meeting someone at a concert or figuring out you have a shared music interest with a coworker. Music removes barriers.
There’s a wonderful community of music people, however, it’s all based on teaching, performing or equipment.
“I feel like a lot of people, myself included, end up opting out of music as a passion or something that they really pursue because they feel they're not good enough. It’s not about being perfect… and I feel people opt out of music, not because they don’t want to do it, but because there isn’t somewhere to do it,” Brewer said. “I can guarantee you that no one came to watch us play basketball Wednesday nights at the community center, and nobody was paying us, but we still showed up every week because that’s what we love to do. The comradery, the playing… it takes five people to make a team and you can end up doing some stuff that really just blows your mind when you really play together.”
What’s the goal?
Brewer, Shom Bandopadhaya, his advisor, and his interns, Emma and Lia Hong, have been discussing the details of how this business is going to work. The short-term goal is to be able to have this place in Queen Creek where people can connect and play music without the pressure of being perfect or performing.
“Sing your heart out, whatever it is that you enjoy doing, and just be yourself in that moment with each other,” Brewer said.
The long-term goal is to fulfill their mission and vision of unifying humankind through the joy and kinship of music by providing people access to play music with others no matter where they are in the world.
Right now, they’re seeing how people respond to it on a smaller scale. If enough people are interested and support it, there’s two directions they see Band Toogether going. They’d either like to open up their own space outside of the real estate office or go into building an online marketplace where people can list their own spaces.
Imagine a marketplace like Airbnb, that’s all over the world. Rather than people renting the space out like an Airbnb to stay the night, they’re renting it to bring their friends together to play music.
It’s a no judgment zone.
“I think it’s that mindset of opting out because ‘I'm not good enough.’ You're good enough. Just come, you'll learn, you'll meet people, you'll get encouragement and you’ll find a place that just lets you be you and come as you are,” Brewer said.
There can be a million reasons not to do something, but as Brewer says, you have to just find that one reason to keep going.
For more information, visit Band Toogether’s website or get involved at their Instagram, Facebook and YouTube pages.
