The mission of indie N Productions is to bring a larger Native American contemporary presence within music and film. Providing services in artist management and booking, this allows artists to have a higher profile representation in the modern world because the music is music and not Native music. indie N Productions is looking to represent every scope of music whether it is hip hop, punk, funk, or rock and build a family to network with.Currently representing Julian B. aka Suga Loaf Watson. To hear some tracks visit his myspace at www.myspace.com/julianbmusic. Be sure to add him and make sure and let him know I sent ya!! For booking information send me some mail and I will expedite a press kit.My name is Darren Gordy founder of indie N Productions. I am Dine' (Navajo) and grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Always fascinated with music I took up the saxophone at the age of ten. I was living on the reservation in northern Arizona at the time and borrowed the instrument through some school program. When I moved back to the city of Albuquerque I found that I had to rent or purchase my instrument. I decided to take choir since there were no cost involved in taking this class and I still could fulfill my craving for music. This started my journey within music and I continuously was fueling my passion for music through voice.
In high school I did all kinds of singing involving a performing show choir and various musicals. Continuing to study voice I delved into opera at the University of New Mexico. Being a student and trying to continue my desire to be in music I was invited to join a band that was touring at the time. This opportunity would jump start my career within the music industry.
Robby Bee and the Boyz from the Rez was the name of the group. Signed to a native owned and operated Sound of America Records we would bring the music to native people on reservations across the country. With interest growing, we received invitations to perform overseas at a World Music Festival in Helsinki, Finland. With difficulties keeping the group together the Boyz from the Rez disbanded.
From this I was given the opportunity to work for Sound of America Records. I worked closely with Tom Bee who used to write and produce for Motown in the late 60's to early 70's. His rock and roll group XIT (produced 2 records with Motown's Rare Earth label) had always been and still is an inspiration to me, so it was an honor to be taught the industry "old school." This label also served as distribution arm for some high profile best selling titles such as "The Native Americans" by Robbie Robertson on Capital Records and "Sacred Spirit" by Virgin Records. I found myself in every single role within a recording label. From music buyer to warehouse manager to director of sales and marketing I took everything in and was witnessing the music business first hand.
In this time I continued to pursue my musical career by taking on a band by the name of Red Earth. At the time it was an extension of Boyz from the Rez, however finding my true roots in punk, rockabilly, and alternative I opted to steer away from hip hop altogether. The band Red Earth lived on for several years however I only managed to perform a handful of dates and in the beginning and penned one song paying tribute to an local idiot column writer by the name of Captain "O." It was mostly about ignorance and arrogance.
During my tenure at SOAR I developed a relationship with many of the artists and found myself believing in a new artist at the time, Brule'. Having seen his debut recording "We the People" done at SOAR studios I felt moved and sold his record aggressively once it was released. Within this relationship developed a new found opportunity. Brule' and Robby Bee had just released a Christmas record "One Holy Night" and they called themselves Red Nativity. In an attempt to produce a Christmas tour Brule' asked if I would be interested in helping produce his first tour within theatric venues. I had already made the decision to leave SOAR at the time so it was an easy decision to make. I found myself providing road management services, coordinating regional press in the cities toured, designing ads and organizing performances consisting up to 15-20 people. It was a successful tour and I found myself in Albuquerque by Feb of 1998.
The following month in that year I found myself in New York City. Through the years I had developed a friendship with Ellen Bello who was managing a group at the time by the name of Ulali. She told me of her new passion at hand and I gladly accepted an invitation to work on her vision, The Native American Music Awards. During this time I worked side by side to establish an awards show essentially from scratch. I could tell that Ellen had this in her heart for some time and I was honored that I could work within the template she had created. My experience with working and having extensive knowledge about native music, traditional and contemporary, proved fruitful during my stay in New York. I found myself in the forefront of marketing in major and niche markets such as Billboard Magazine, CMJ, Howard Stern, Native Peoples Magazine and Indian Country Today.
This proved to be a great experience for me, however, NYC was very demanding and I served my time and I was off to Arizona to new ventures. I continued to work with native artists and I eventually took a break from everything. In 2000 I helped produced the Navajo Code Talker segment for the Nammys and I found it a great honor to interact with such elders.
It would be only two years later that my dedications among many others in the native music industry would pay off. The Grammys announced they would be adding a category for native music! Ever since I started with Tom at SOAR I found myself a catalyst for this challenge. Part of the reason for my dedication in New York was for this cause! Once I found this out, I packed my bags and I was off to see the Grammys at Staple Center. I found myself backstage among performers such as Sisqo, U2, Madonna, Kid Rock and B.B. King. Not only was the category added but it was to be broadcast on television! That evening the Gathering of Nations took home a Grammy for the first ever Best Native Music Recording. I found it very fitting that Tom Bee achieve this great honor. To this day Tom continues to be an inspiration to me.
Currently, I have just wrapped up two short films and am currently working on a record to be released late this year. The three films you are about to watch was produced by indie N Productions with my teammates that we co-wrote and co-directed. Their names are Evan O'Hare and John Cavanaugh. The first one you will see is Seriously Funny and was done for Howard Sterns Film Festival to promote him being on Sirius radio. This was a fun time and there are talks of creating a series of shorts tentatively called The adventures of Chee! The second one is called agape and was done for the Almost Famous Film Festival in a mere 48 hours. This short film I feel humanizes native people. If you like seeing places like the Esplanade, Town and Country, Indian Steele Park or Rosie McCaffery's you will probably enjoy this short film. The last one "Love at LoLoma" was done for Urban Affair. This is my general idea of urban living in 30 seconds. I wanted to portray a couple, one of Mexican heritage and one of Native heritage living in a modern world.The music is a clip from Brule's "Spirit Feather." All this has also launched my production company which is to promote a native voice within music and film. Be on the lookout for collaborations with various native artists in the future
In between all this I am an extra in several indie films. In the Wild Seven I am the bartender to be released in September 2006. I just got done shooting a film called Yesterdays Tomorrow as a criminal that gets chased by the main character. Look directly down below and you will see a teaser for this film and make sure and look for the vato!!! This wont be released until 2007.
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Check out right above some native hip hop by my friend Julian B!!!Come check out Blackfire at the Warped Tour here in Phoenix!!!!!!!
