It’s 7 a.m. at Iowa State and class is about to begin. Sam Summers (’06 economic, marketing) is locked into his laptop – but he’s not taking notes on today’s econ lesson. Rather, doing the math on how much money the concert he is organizing in Des Moines that night is going to make.
“While my friends were in bands, I was figuring out how to book bands,” Summers says.
As a student, Summers started First Fleet Concerts, promoting shows in small clubs like House of Bricks in Des Moines and the Maintenance Shop on campus.
“At that time, I had no idea that's what my career was going to be,” Summers says. “I'm a big music fan and fairly introverted. I naturally like to be behind the scenes.”
In the early 2000s, Summers formed a relationship with a little-known band at the time named Fall Out Boy.
“That's when that whole [pop punk] scene was kind of blowing up” Summers says. “Every step of the way I kind of built with them. And then they would take out other bands and we would book those bands on their next tours. It just kind of spread from there.”
Growing the Music Scene in Des Moines
After graduating from Iowa State, Summers made First Fleet Concerts his focus. At that time, the venue space was limited for the live music scene in central Iowa.
“We would go to shows in Iowa City or Minneapolis and get home at 6 a.m.,” Summers recalls. “I finally was like, ‘I’ve got to start booking stuff here in Des Moines.’”
In 2012, Summers opened Wooly’s in Des Moines’ east village, bringing in a diverse lineup of bands and more variety of live music to the capital city. More than 10 years later, the venue has hosted hundreds of concerts featuring artists of all genres.
Coining a New Concept
The venue space was a hit. So much so, Summers opened Up-Down, an arcade bar in the building’s basement to move people into after shows.
“It did really well for us,” Summers says.
The “barcade” concept features arcade games, pinball, skee-ball, and a wide selection of craft beer and cocktails.
“We started scaling [Up-Down] and we opened it in Kansas City, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Saint Louis, Nashville, Oklahoma City, and we're doing Birmingham later this year as well.”
Festival on the Farm
With the growing success of First Fleet Concerts, Summers had his sights on something bigger than just single shows. In 2015, music fans flocked to the small Iowa town of St. Charles for the first Hinterland Music Festival.
“It was just a way to put some of the bands together that we were booking, and I felt like they were complementary,” Summers says.
Nine years later, Hinterland draws more than 14,000 people for the three-day festival that now features art, craft vendors, and camping.
“It's become this tastemaker festival where some of these bands like to play this because it's a good look for their brand,” says Summers. “That's not something we thought would happen, but we certainly embraced that.
Hinterland’s success has helped First Fleet grow as well, not only building connections with new music fans in Iowa but building relationships with more bands they can bring back to the state throughout the year.
“It's really helped the overall music economy here.”
Fresh Air
As an Iowa native, Summers understands the rich musical history that’s part of the state. It’s why he recently purchased the historic Val Air Ballroom – a 2,500 capacity venue in West Des Moines. What once housed names like Frank Sinatra, The Beach Boys, and Duke Ellington – the 84-year-old ballroom had fallen into a state of disrepair.
“The opportunity came up – the sellers wanted to get out of it,” Summers says. “And we made a deal happen. We knew it was going to be a big project. There's a lot of things that needed attention there, but it's all coming together.”
Renovation is currently underway with hopes of opening the refurbished space in early 2024.
“It was needed for a bunch of reasons,” Summers says. “A lot of the modern touring needs upgraded. They need the ability to bring their production in and Val Air was lacking in a few of those places. But bands love playing these kind of rooms. Sometimes artists will pick the room that has the history over the room that has all the bells and whistles.”
An Office of Cyclones
Summers holds his Iowa State degrees close.
“I think it was important to me because I barely got myself into college,” Summers says. “To be able to have the resources to push through, get my degrees, and then do what I wanted – that has a special place in me.”
He isn’t kidding. “Actually, all of my employees are from Iowa State,” Summers jokes. “Everybody in my office.”