Music company brings talent

Dillon Gross said over the years he began to feel as if Bloomington was losing its reputation as a stomping ground for big artists and musicians.

So, he and Kevin Long form Groove Productions in 2012, a music production company that brings “high quality” music back to Bloomington, Gross said.

“We wanted to make Bloomington a high-quality music spot like it was in the ’80s and ’90s,” Gross said. “We mainly bring blue grass, rock and roll, jam bands, reggae and funk to the Bluebird, but mostly jam and funk bands.”

Since its conception, Groove Productions has produced artists such as the Bloomington band Elephant Quiz, which the company helps promote around town, Groove Productions employee Wes Ogden said.

“We mostly host shows,” Ogden said. “We just try to bring good tunes to
Bloomington.”

Andrew Pickle, lead singer of Elephant Quiz, said he and his band have been with Groove Productions from the beginning.

“We were good friends with Kevin Long when we were all students at IU,” Pickle said. “We needed extra help, so he became our unofficial manager. He started getting really good at it and started up Groove Productions.

“After he got things rolling, we became one of his many bands, and he helped us network with festivals and make connections. I think we were really a stepping stone for Groove.”

This year Groove Productions is bringing shows such as Papadosio, Ultraviolet Hippopotamus, Hot Buttered Rum, Communion and many more to the Bluebird Nightclub. Gross said he hopes they can build the company’s reputation and bring bigger shows to Bloomington.

“We want to instill in people that when they see Groove Productions in an ad, they know a really talented artist will be playing, even if they don’t know the artist,” Gross said. “We want people to know if we had something to do with it, the show must be worth seeing.”

Gross said the overall mission of Groove Productions is to bring “real talent” to Bloomington, namely artists who sound particularly good live as opposed disc jockeys who often come through town.

“We just really want to get people to listen to feel-good music,” Gross said. “We work to get kids away from mindless wasted raging and get a meaningful experience at one of our concerts that leaves them with something other than a hangover.”

Follow local music reporter Janica Kaneshiro on Twitter @janicakaneshiro.