MY STORY

My story starts in 1972. I was born Bryan Daniel Utech and grew up in a middle-sized town in Central Wisconsin. I spent my early years skateboarding, listening to heavy metal, and playing Dungeons and Dragons with my brother. I dreamed of someday moving to California and experiencing the skate and surf culture, that, up to that point, I had only read about in the pages of Thrasher magazine. Little did I know, I would end up spending much of my adult life on the west coast.

After graduating from college in 1996, I packed up my bags and moved to New York City to pursue a career in the music industry. College sure didn’t prepare me for the real world and for the challenge of finding a job with little to no experience. I worked short stints at a recording studio and at a booking agency, but nothing really seemed to fit. I was struggling to make ends meet and with little to no money left, I hopped on a plane and headed back to the Midwest. This time I landed up on a friend’s couch in Milwaukee. My dream of working in the music industry was still alive, but now I just needed to figure out a way to make it happen, while living in Wisconsin. I worked odd jobs until I had enough money to move off that couch and into a place of my own. During the hours I was not working, I started what would be my first business venture, Curve Factory Entertainment, a booking agency. I mostly booked regional tours for my friend’s bands. It really got me involved with live music and I loved that.

It was about a year after CFE got off the ground that I was asked to join CAST management, the management company that housed Milwaukee’s local heroes, Citizen King and Chicago’s super group, the Cupcakes. I was happy to say yes. During my time with CAST, I had the opportunity to visit Citizen King on the road as they played shows throughout Ohio. I found nothing more exciting than to be in a new city every day and to be a part of bringing live music to people every night. That was the day that I knew road life was for me. I now just needed to figure out how to get out there.

My break came in 2000 when Signatures Network offered me the chance to tour with Kid Rock. I dropped everything and caught the next flight out. Over the next four years, I would travel the world, honing my skills, tour managing and running merchandise sales for some of the biggest names in the business, such as Linkin Park, The Strokes and Nickelback.

In 2003, after returning home from a summer tour with Linkin Park, I was offered a job with BandMerch in Los Angeles. I thought to myself, “finally my chance to move out west.” Good bye snow! Good bye cold! Hello sunshine! It was an opportunity I could not turn down. I quickly put all my belongings in storage, hopped into my Rav4 and headed out west. At this point, I had visited Los Angeles many times, but now I was finally going to get to live in the sun and surf I use to read about as a kid.

I enjoyed my desk job at BandMerch, but the lure of being back on the road was just too strong. I ended up leaving BandMerch and, soon after, found myself once again spending days and nights on the road. In 2004, I was asked to sell merchandise on “The Quannum World Tour.” It was on this tour that I would cross paths with DJ Shadow. Shortly after the tour had ended, I was approached by DJ Shadow to move to San Francisco and become part of the DJ Shadow team. San Francisco was one of my favorite cities and, by this time, I was looking for a place to settle in. How could I say “No“ so, without a second thought, I once again packed up my Rav4 and headed north.

It didn’t take me long to get to work. Settling in as the e-Commerce Manager of ShopDJShadow.com, I immediately contacted renowned street artist Shepard Fairey and together with DJ Shadow we created the “Public Works” line of products. The line featured a limited edition box set including Shepard Fairey’s book “Post No Bills,” five collaborative t-shirts, a CD of new music from DJ Shadow and various stickers and buttons. The line was later expanded with prints, track jackets and additional t-shirt designs.

Also during my time with DJ Shadow I worked closely with LRG Clothing to produce exclusive DJ Shadow collaborative items for Shadow’s “Outsider” tour. It was through these experiences that I developed a love for street art and streetwear. Later that year, Adidas contacted me about organizing a large event to celebrate the opening of their new heritage store in Berkeley, CA. It was exciting to host an event that brought live music, urban art, and streetwear together.

In the fall of 2006, I would part ways with DJ Shadow and return to the company where it all began for me, Signatures Network. There I worked as an e-commerce manager overseeing over forty artist’s on-line stores, working with the likes of The Beatles, Velvet Revolver, Slash, and Tommy Lee.

The next couple of years brought with it some major changes in my personal life. It was during this time I married my lovely wife, Michelle, bought a house in Oakland, and adopted two Chihuahua mixes, Pickle and Peanut. Plus Michelle and I would also start a family adding baby Neko to our household. It was also during this period, that I made the decision to leave the music industry. The industry was changing and so were my interests.

Over the years, I have reflected a lot on my experience working with Shepard Fairey and that experience has really peak my interest and motivated me to learn as much as possible about urban/street art. After reading stacks of magazines, piles of books and countless hours on the internet, I knew somehow I wanted to get involved again. Ubran Art excited me like live music did 10 years ago.

That brings us to 2011 and the launch of my website urbanART Videos, a video blog centered around urban art. The goal at Urban Art Videos.com is simple, to bring our followers the best Urban Art Videos from around the globe. We post new videos daily. I also have a couple other projects on the horizon… so stay tuned.