91裸聊视频

Skip to content

Inspired People with Musician Calvin Lechner

Moving from music to marketing in the Okanagan
13671781_web1_Calvin-2
Calvin Lechner, still playing music in Kelowna. Darren Hull photography

- Story by David Wylie Photography by Darren Hull

Story courtesy of , a Black Press Media publication
Like Boulevard Magazine on and follow them on

Search the web for Calvin Lechner and you91裸聊视频檒l find two distinct results: one is playing the drums on stage with jet-black shaggy hair, sunglasses and a leather jacket; the other smiles professionally at the camera, clean cut and looking spiffy in a suit and tie. You could be forgiven for thinking they are two different people.

91裸聊视频淲hen I was applying for jobs, the question always came up in interviews 91裸聊视频 91裸聊视频榃as this you?91裸聊视频91裸聊视频 says Calvin in his Kelowna home studio. 91裸聊视频淲ell, it was at one point.91裸聊视频

Calvin is currently the sales and marketing director for Kelowna91裸聊视频檚 . But before that, he was the drummer for Juno-nominated band .

91裸聊视频淲hen I look back on it, it was a very strange time in my life,91裸聊视频 he says. 91裸聊视频淚t91裸聊视频檚 not that I would ever want to get rid of that side of my life. It91裸聊视频檚 just funny when they run into each other.91裸聊视频

Calvin, who grew up in Kitimat, started playing music when he was five years old. He took guitar lessons until he was 12 91裸聊视频 that was the year his older brother got a drum kit for Christmas.

91裸聊视频淚 was obsessed with drums,91裸聊视频 he says.

Calvin played in his first band, Anything August, while at Mount Elizabeth secondary school in Kitimat, and the group soon met music video producer Stephano Barberis, who has received at least 35 Director of the Year awards over his career so far. Though they met in Kelowna, they were excited about their 91裸聊视频淜itimat connection,91裸聊视频 and Barberis landed a $25,000 grant in 2005 to produce a video for Anything August that received airtime on MuchMusic.

91裸聊视频淭hat91裸聊视频檚 what gave us our first push as kids,91裸聊视频 says Calvin. 91裸聊视频淲e were only about 16 or 17 when we started touring and didn91裸聊视频檛 focus on much else for the next six or seven years. We just really focussed on making a go of it. It was a crazy experience. We had no idea what we were doing. We were just rolling with the punches.91裸聊视频

The band moved to Kelowna where the music scene was blowing up, and a few of the bigger bands at the time had come from the Okanagan.

Calvin was drawn to the marketing aspects of growing a band, and Anything August soon became 91裸聊视频淜ings of MySpace91裸聊视频 and networked with everyone they could.

91裸聊视频淲e were trying to get clever with how to get bigger shows, how to get on bigger bills,91裸聊视频 he says.

Calvin started to promote concerts and paid bands to come to town so that Anything August could open for them.

Calvin Lechner, moving from music to marketing in Kelowna. Darren Hull photography

When he met Dave Faber, the lead singer of Faber Drive, everything changed. Faber eventually called him, needing a new drummer.

91裸聊视频淭hat call imploded our band Anything August. It was an opportunity for me to go exactly where I saw my own career going. As much as I loved the guys I was playing with, it was something that I felt I had to do.91裸聊视频

The move changed Calvin91裸聊视频檚 life. He toured with Faber Drive, playing songs from the debut album, Seven Second Surgery, in front of big crowds. He also helped write Faber91裸聊视频檚 second album, Can91裸聊视频檛 Keep A Secret, which was nominated as Pop Album of the Year at the 2011 Juno Awards.

91裸聊视频淚t was a totally different game. We had management, we had booking agents, we had tour managers and stage managers. I wasn91裸聊视频檛 setting up my own drums anymore. We were signing autographs,91裸聊视频 he says.

Despite the taste of music fame, being a part of Faber Drive wasn91裸聊视频檛 bringing Calvin joy in his life. He missed the business side of music. And looking back, he says, the band became too calculated, too formulaic.

91裸聊视频淚t took the magic out of it,91裸聊视频 he says.

He left Faber Drive and moved back to Kitimat with his parents to recalibrate, deciding to pursue a future in marketing. Calvin says he made music to create a connection with others, and saw similarities between the two careers.

91裸聊视频淭hat91裸聊视频檚 what I do today through marketing. Although it91裸聊视频檚 a completely different job, my approach is the same. There are a lot of parallels,91裸聊视频 he says.

After leaving Faber Drive, he stopped playing music, and his drums gathered dust in a closet. Calvin was asked to join other bands, including well-known Canadian singer Carly Rae Jepson, but he told them he just couldn91裸聊视频檛 do it.

After a break, he started to dabble again, working alongside local Kelowna artists including award-winning winemaker Jason Parkes in the band Proper Man.

91裸聊视频淢y favourite thing to do as a musician is the session work.

I don91裸聊视频檛 like to be the centre of attention, so I really like being able to add that little something that can really help elevate an already-great artist,91裸聊视频 he says. 91裸聊视频淭he goal is to make your music and have as many people hear it as possible. If you can accomplish that, I think that91裸聊视频檚 the dream 91裸聊视频 doing what you love to do and finding a way to be able to make that a bigger part of your life.91裸聊视频

Calvin is currently in a cover band called The Feels, playing an atypical selection, including songs by the Backstreet Boys, New Kids on the Block, Beatles and Hall & Oates.

Their website is

To see more of Darren Hull91裸聊视频檚 photography check out his .



About the Author: Black Press Media Staff

Read more



(or

91裸聊视频

) document.head.appendChild(flippScript); window.flippxp = window.flippxp || {run: []}; window.flippxp.run.push(function() { window.flippxp.registerSlot("#flipp-ux-slot-ssdaw212", "Black Press Media Standard", 1281409, [312035]); }); }