American University students are hitting the D.C. music scene in a big way.
Founded and run entirely by AU students and graduates, Tram 17 is a production company that specializes in live music events and documentary style backstage content.
Jonathan Gaynes, CEO and a junior in the Kogod School of Business and the School of Communication; Eli Susser, chief editor and recent SOC graduate; and Ari Jacobson, developer and a junior in SOC, founded the group. The three conceived the idea to film dubstep shows and other local concerts while studying abroad in Prague. The group’s name even comes from the public transportation line they took to school every day in Prague.
“We wanted to take our experiences to the next level,” Jacobson said. “So when we got back to D.C. we were thinking of making webisodes for artists, so we got the idea from there. We never realized we would make a company around it.”
From there, Tram 17 got their start working with the artist Vaski. The company worked with Vaski to create a highlight video for the three-year anniversary of the dubstep event “Dub Nation.”
Through working with Vaski, Tram 17 received the rights to use the artist’s unreleased track, “The Island,” in their video and, since then, the concert recap has reached over 19,000 views on YouTube.
After releasing the video, Tram 17 started communicating with artists, management, promoters and local D.C. venues in order to get the rights to film shows. The company has since filmed and released concert recaps for shows such as Big Gigantic, Dieselboy and Steve Aoki.
“Dubstep is really surprisingly a deep culture,” said Susser. “Part of filming these concerts for me is just seeing how many people have just developed a culture around it.”
But Tram 17 is also looking to expand beyond concert recaps.
In the future, they hope to become involved in more documentary-style work. Their next release is expected to focus more on the artist than past videos, which mainly display the atmosphere of each show.
“People really enjoy videos that show the lives of these DJs and they like to see that their favorite artists are real people,” Gaynes said.
Beyond their videos, Tram 17 also hopes to become involved in collaborative work across different mediums, especially within the AU community.
“There’s a lot of talented people at AU who are in the same boat as us,” said Matt DiVencenzo, business operator and a sophomore in Kogod. “Students should be looking to us in a way like we are looking to them for support.”
Although Tram 17 has recently gotten its start, the company is already expanding beyond production to include management. The company has started managing local Baltimore DJ Kidd Kurrupt.
Tram 17 will also collaborate with George Washington University-based group I’m Shmacked, which travels to universities across the nation to document student party life.
Together, the companies are hosting “I’m Shmacked DC,” which will feature students from AU, GW, Georgetown University, University of Maryland and Catholic University. The event will be held at Ultrabar on March 29 and will include music from some local DJs such as AU’s own Oscar Jacob or DJ OJ.
The production company has also begun preliminary work talking to those behind Dayglow, a paint party held in over 50 cities worldwide, and hopes to gain the rights to film their D.C. event.
As for other future plans, the members of Tram 17 are not quite sure where the company will take them, but they are excited to see what is ahead.
“We didn’t really know exactly what we were doing but we just went for it,” Gaynes said. “If you put stuff out onto the Internet, there are always going to be people to watch it. If you promote your video in the right way there could be a ton of people who are interested in seeing what you are doing and support what you are going to do in the future.”
