Backstage With Brandon Apeles

As a teenager, Brandon Apeles had a foolproof way for sneaking into clubs and bars to watch bands play: Offer to help the drummer carry their gear.

“If you’re carrying the drum,” Apeles says, “you’re in.”

It worked, and the underage Apeles was going to performances at venues throughout town.

“It was just to (hear) the music,” he explains. “I just wanted to be around music all the time.”

In that regard, not much has changed for the now-33-year-old Apeles — he still wants to be around music all the time. And he can still be found behind-the-scenes during shows — only now, it’s as a manager.

Apeles has become a prolific music manager within the local scene, taking on some of the island’s biggest acts. Over the years, Bran Apeles Management has worked with Guy Cruz, Fiji, Anuhea and Kings of Spade. More recently, his client list includes singer-songwriter Erika Elona and folk rock duo Sing The Body. Plus, he also is in the midst of producing an album with Foreseeable Futures, a second album with Elona, and an album with rapper Illis It. A bass player himself, Apeles also gigs with Elona, and has played with Erin Smith.

But for all of his success, Apeles has a decidedly laissez-faire attitude in the way he goes about discovering new acts to work with: He’ll only partner with artists he enjoys listening to, musicians he truly believes in.

“I hate the word ‘genre,’ I hate it. I listen to everything. If it’s good, it’s good,” he says. “As long as they are playing from their heart, that’s it. Because if you’re great musicians but you’re going through the motions, I don’t feel it at all.”

He isn’t officially their manager — lead guitarist/big sister Shelby Benson handles a chunk of that — but since seeing them perform two years ago at Star 101.9’s Battle of the Bands, Apeles has become something of a mentor, and, more than anything, a friend.

“He has done so much for us,” Shelby says. “The thing about Brandon is that he does everything for the love of music — and for us, that is big.”

Apeles grew up around music. His dad was a drummer and had a bunch of instruments around the house that Apeles would play. But it wasn’t something he took all that seriously until he saw The Eagles in concert when he was in eighth grade. He was mesmerized by their musicianship, their songwriting and the crowd.

“It was just insane,” he recalls. “From that moment, I knew I needed to be a part of music.”

It was after that show that Apeles approached music with a newfound enthusiasm — learning to play bass, and later, sneaking into shows. But his delinquency was really more of a form of networking — and it was through one of these backstage coups that Apeles met Guy Cruz, his first client. When Cruz mentioned offhand that he didn’t like the business aspects of being a musician — like scheduling, pricing and all the organizational facets that come with the job — Apeles offered to handle that for him.

His work with Cruz led to other partnerships. But it wasn’t always the easy path to take. He often had to weigh following his passion against making a living — and when things were slow, he would sometimes give up on his musical aspirations for a more steady job as a sales rep at T-Mobile.

He re-dedicated himself to music, though, in 2009, when his mother passed away. She was a vocal cheerleader of Apeles, encouraging him to pursue his dreams, even if it meant less money.

“After that, I was like, I will die trying to make it in music,” Apeles recalls. “Every time I want to give up, I will think of that.”

Since then, pretty much everything in his life has become about music. In 2010, he picked up Erika Elona and Sing the Body as clients. He even landed a dream day job as the music programmer at Honolulu Museum of Art’s Doris Duke Theatre, where he oversees all music-related events and has brought in big names like Colin Hay from the band Men at Work and Reggie Watts, the band leader on the The Late Late Show with James Corden.

For all of the acts Apeles works with, he handles the day-to-day details that go into playing a gig or producing an album, while keeping the artist’s overall picture in mind — booking bigger shows, introducing them to others in the scene.

“A lot of people look at me and hate me, but I am just protecting (the artist), you know?” he says.

Prior to meeting Apeles, Zack Shimizu of Sing the Body says he didn’t know anyone in the industry, or how to land a gig. He credits Apeles with being the one to make that all happen.

“We just make the music, and he will take care of the rest,” Shimizu says.

A lot of artists Apeles has worked with have made big strides. In 2013, Sing the Body won a Na Hoku award for Alternative Album of the Year. Aidan James recently was nominated for a Na Hoku for an EP that included a song Apeles produced. Crimson Apple, which recently opened for All Time Low at The Republik, is finishing up their first album, the aptly titled Hello, set to be released next month. (To help produce the album, the band is running a Kickstarter campaign that wraps Aug. 27. For more on that and to donate, search Crimson Apple at kickstarter. com.)

Elona says that Apeles has been “crazy helpful” in her career, ever since he stumbled on a performance of hers a few years ago. At the time, Elona was filling in the lull at a comedy club. Now, five years later, she has released an album — with a second one in the works — and has opened for the likes of Matchbox 20 and Iron & Wine.

But through all that, Elona says, she and Apeles have a relationship that is founded on a friendship, rather than a typical manager-musician dynamic.

“There is a lot of trust and a lot of respect between us — I think it wouldn’t work any other way,” Elona says. “We were friends first, and we always keep that in mind when dealing with each other — he is one of my best friends.”