Ryan Wines

Ryan Wines is the founder and Director of Strategy for Pet Marmoset PR + Digital Strategy, a boutique agency that works with independent artists, labels, and businesses to help position them for success amidst today’s digital landscape. Based in the middle of Portland, Oregon’s burgeoning indie music community, Ryan makes it his goal to see at least two live shows a week.

Born three weeks overdue and weighing in at nearly 10lbs at birth, Ryan made a big impact early on, giving his poor mother nearly 24 hours of intense labor. Since then, Ryan has worked hard to maintain that kind of intensity in most all that he does.

In the business arena, Ryan has “toiled away” as a marketing and public relations pro in various capacities for several years, until realizing that music marketing strategy is where his powers truly manifest. Ryan’s diverse experience spans the product marketing world, where he landed multi-million dollar contracts with the likes of Boeing, Northrop Grumman, and The United States Missle Defense Agency…to working as a Development Director for a Northwest-based non-profit… to more recently managing Public Relations and Online Marketing for one of the largest independent advertising agencies in the country, R2C Group.

As a publicist, Ryan has landed features and stories in publications such as The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, USA Today, The Oregonian, NPR, SPIN Magazine, Advertising Age, Magnet Magazine, Under the Radar, OPB, MTV.com, CNN.com, Forbes.com, Largeheartedboy.com, Pampelmoose.com, and many more.

In addition to running Pet Marmoset, Ryan is the Label Manager and Digital Strategy Consultant for Beat The World Records – The Dandy Warhols’ Portland, Oregon-based indie label. He also recently launched his own boutique record label, Timber Carnival Records, and is on the Board of Directors at MetroEast Community Media, the sponsoring organization for KZME – Portland, Oregon’s new start-up independent music focused radio station. The man almost never sleeps.

Ryan is an avid blogger and social media guru, sharing his thoughts, ideas and innovations on his blog at petmarmoset.com/blog. He has worked closely with digital music companies including Topspin Media, CD Baby, iTunes, EMI and Caroline Music Distribution, IODA, and many others.

Ryan’s favorite records include Tom Petty’s Wildflowers, The Beatles’ The White Album, Miles Davis’ Sketches of Spain, John Coltrane’s Love Supreme, Al Green’s Greatest Hits, A Tribe Called Quest’s Low End Theory, Dolorean’s Violence in the Snowy Fields, Iron and Wine’s The Shephard’s Dog, Spoon’s Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, Fleet Foxes (Self Titled), and Delta Spirit’s Ode To Sunshine.

Joe Solis

Known to his family as Joseph J. Solis, Joe grew up under the moniker of “Double J”. Born and raised in the sleepy little California town of Lodi, Joe quickly found that he wanted more out of life than what the farms and fields of Lodi had to offer, so he transplanted to the burgeoning music scene of Portland, Oregon. A musician for more than twenty years and a lover of the arts, Joe appreciates the simple things in life.

At Pet Marmoset, Joe wears many hats and heads-up general operations and virtually all things that happen behind the scenes. Much like a chameleon, he’s highly adaptable and regularly adapts to the changing environment of the music business, no matter what challenges it presents.

In his spare time, he likes to breathe in the crisp, fresh Pacific Northwest air while bicycling around town, and equally enjoys breathing in the smokey bliss of good barbecue with friends and family. His true joy lies with his wife Kim and their beautiful little girl, Mira. Favorite albums include… Prince (self titled), Pearl Jam’s Ten, Spoon’s Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, Stone Temple Pilot’s Core, Run DMC’s King of Rock, LL Cool J’s Radio, The Decemberists Hazards of Love, David Bowie’s Changes, and Beck’s Odelay.

Kelly Masigat

Kelly Masigat is a product of opposites and extremes. Having a military man for a father, and a hippie – “San Francisco Sound”- loving mother, Kelly inherited a world of juxtapositions from her parents. Though he’s rigid, her father is also kind. Her mother’s flower-wreathed pacifism led to strength. Kelly had to learn a very important lesson very fast: things are not always as they seem.

Always an excruciatingly shy little girl, she mostly kept to herself and spent the majority of her childhood with headphones on, reading the liner notes of her favorite albums. Her first loves: Ray Charles and mariachi (supplied to her by her father and her grandmother Nancy, respectively). At age six, she finally found The Beatles after listening to her older brothers discuss John Lennon over their morning Cheerios. Things as she knew them changed. The list has continued to steadily increase over the years, and is “eclectic” to say the least; spanning from classical to New Wave,1960’s soul to the current, almost-all encompassing, “indie-rock,” and from her beloved Louis Armstrong’s singular voice to Joanna Newsom. From her earliest youth, Kelly colored her world by creating her own soundtrack, and has since made it a goal to have music be one of the most influencing and mobilizing forces in her life.

Ms. Masigat also thoroughly enjoys a good book, tennis, spaghetti and the Marx Brothers. She currently plays mandolin for Portland’s, The Dimes.

Jacob Magers

Jacob Magers came into the world in the bitter cold of a Minnesota winter. Nine months later he made the drive with his family to Portland, where he would live out the rest of his childhood.

His first furlough into music came at the age of 11 when he began playing the flute in his middle school band. He progressed remarkably quickly, and by the time he was thirteen, he was playing in the Metropolitan Youth Symphony, where he would go on to perform in Portland’s Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall on a number of occasions. He also delved into writing during this time, and penned two symphonies and a number of other pieces.

Frustrated by the politics of the classical world and wanting to devote more energy to writing, Jacob abandoned the world of large ensembles and picked up the guitar. He also began exercising his singing chops. He fronted a band in high school and to date has released one solo album entitled “Pendulums.”

His involvement with Pet Marmoset began back in 2007 when he started working the merch table for The Dimes. Jacob currently dedicates most of his time and talent at Pet Marmoset managing publicity campaigns, web strategy and development, and coordinating digital sales projects.

Jacob’s favorite records include The Decemberists’ Picaresque, Sufjan Stevens’ Illinoise, Andrew Bird’s Armchair Apocrypha, Iron and Wine’s Shepherd’s Dog, and Coldplay’s Viva La Vida.

Veronica Medici

Born on the East side ten days before Christmas, Veronica has been a Portlander from the start. She and her brother Anthony were raised on seriously good food and music by their artist and restaurateur parents, exposing them to such diverse musical styles as: Mozart, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Elvis Costello, The Velvet Underground, Duke Ellington, Yes, Jethro Tull, and The Bonzo Dog Band, to name a few. Veronica’s study of classical piano for 13 years also adds to her understanding and interest in many different genres of music. Having this kind of upbringing and exposure has made her sensitive to the incredible impact of real music, and the need to preserve it’s future.

Although a total fan of Portland, she fled the city for the bright lights of New York to attend the Fashion Institute of Technology. While in NYC she was fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with several music companies including independent labels ATO, Astralwerks, and Blackheart Records, as well as music management and PR companies, 10th Street Entertainment and P&F Communications. These opportunities taught her how to interact with the various branches of the contemporary music industry as well as teaching the organizational skills it takes to run an office and business.

Aside from all that, she enjoys live music, British comedies from the 70s, concept albums, food carts, her artistic friends and has a serious love affair with Pink Floyd and tomatoes. Veronica works on a wide variety of things at Pet Marmoset, including publicity, commercial opportunities, and digital media management. She can also be found frequently roaming the aisles of Music Millennium in Portland.

Veronica’s favorite records include The Beatles’ Revolver, Pink Floyd’s The Wall & Dark Side of the Moon, The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds, David Bowie’s The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders from Mars, Carole King’s Tapestry, Yes’ Close To The Edge, Michael Jackson’s Thriller, Talking Heads’ More Songs About Buildings & Food, and The Who Who’s Next.

JP Pederson

Born and raised in Las Vegas in the lobby of The Hard Rock Cafe, JP has roots that extend throughout Oregon including Bend, Eugene, and Portland. He spent some time as Duck in Eugene, where he landed his Business Administration degree from University of Oregon. JP’s experience is pretty diverse and includes managing warehouses, managing retail, bartending, modeling, acting, and he even served food on a Western-themed train while wearing chaps…where old women were regularly caught grabbing him.

JP first started to explore the Northwest music scene with NW Noise in 2005. NW Noise was one of the first music podcasts and blogs, which he contributed to with two of his best friends Tim Germer and Jason “Gears” Gerhart. He is also an accomplished singer and songwriter, although he hasn’t performed much in the past few years. In his free time, JP enjoys playing guitar, golf, hiking, rafting, happy hour in Portland with friends, eating nachos with Wines.

For Pet Marmoset, JP helps launch publicity campaigns, scouts out clients and potential clients at shows, helps with show logistics, and pitches in virtually wherever he is needed. He also maintains a blog where he explores topics of music, life, and woodland creatures.

His favorite records include Radiohead’s OK Computer, Pete Yorn’s Musicforthemorningafter,
The Cure’s Disintegration, Ryan Adams Love Is Hell, and Prince’s Purple Rain

Cody White

Cody spent most of his life in sunny San Luis Obispo, California before moving to colder, wetter…yet much better pastures in Portland, Oregon. Fascingated by music from an early age and raised on a wide variety of sounds, spanning James Taylor to Frank Zappa, Cody picked up a guitar as a teenager and has been writing, performing, and recording music ever since. A self-proclaimed “tone freak”, Cody is a vinyl enthusiast and sincerely enjoys the fading (yet suddenly trendy) medium. It’s from that perspective that he enjoys dovetailing classic mediums, such as vinyl, with modern technologies, as he excels in the music industry.  Cody is currently working on new material for his band/project, Dead Flowers.

Cody’s favorite records include The Beatles White Album, Bob Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde, Radiohead’s OK Computer, David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust and the Spider’s from Mars, The Velvet Underground’s The Velvet Underground and Nico, Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Neil Young’s Harvest, The Rolling Stones’ Exile on Mainstreet, REM’s Monster, and Led Zeplin’s Houses of the Holy.

Mathias Ailstock

Born eleven weeks premature and weighing only two and half pounds, Mathias spent the first several weeks of his life inside of an incubator, fighting for oxygen. Miraculously, he’s grown up to become a healthy young man and is well on his way to living a interesting and very colorful life.

An Oregon native, Mathias has come to find a love for this beautiful lush green state, which fuels his love for the outdoors and inspires him to want to see as much as the rest of the world has to offer. Being a visual person and a hands on learner, Mathias has a passion for photography.

A self taught photographer, he picked up his first camera at the age of 13 and has come a long way since then. He’s had photos published in a wide variety of newspapers, magazines and blogs across the country, including landing a photo in Spin Magazine at the age of 17. Mathias is not only passionate for photography, but also enjoys traveling, music, and food… which he is often able to combine with photography. Being a self-proclaimed photography nerd, he is always down to try new things and experiment, venturing outside the box to help push his own creative vision, and that of the people he photographs.

In his free time he enjoys going to concerts, trying new foods, watching and creating films, and the simple things in life, like family and friends. Mathias is one of Pet Marmoset’s two primary photographers and has shot several Pet Marmoset clients, both for promo use and of live performances.

Mathias’ favorite records include Catherine’s Inside/Out, The Colour’s Between the Earth & Sky, Delta Spirit’s Ode to Sunshine, The Dear Hunter’s ACT II: The Meaning Of And All Things Regarding Ms. Leading, Kings of Leon’s Because Of The Times, The Snake The Cross The Crown’s Cotton Teeth, Portugal The Man’s Church Mouth, Motion City Soundtrack’s Commit This To Memory, The Album Leaf’s Into the Blue Again, The Killer’s Hot Fuss, and Sum 41’s Chuck.

Scott Carver

Before going to college Scott had never been to a real live concert.That’s what happens in small towns like Monmouth Oregon, where he camefrom. Everything changed in a hurry though when this underprivileged classic rock loving farm-boy was dropped in the middle of a Jurassic 5 concert his first week of college. Pretty soon he was fiending forindie music, publishing a student entertainment magazine called “The Oregon Voice,” and getting on the guest list at the WOW Hall to cover shows.

With a Journalism degree and a hobo-sack full of tenacity and multimedia design skills, he moved to Portland and began working as a web developer in the Advertising industry, and in his free time, as a independent video producer. The podcast that he started in 2008 with a group of friends, The Penny Jam, is one of the most celebrated podcasts in Portland, providing free publicity to dozens of bands.

Scott continues to film and produce the Penny Jam and has increasingly taken on more freelance web development and music video projects. A student of internet peculiarities, he’s always on the lookout for the best way to utilize audio, video and analytics…so he can roll the best of them into new projects.

Doug Blair

Growing up in the mean streets of Salem, Oregon under the shadow of the state capitol building, Doug Blair vowed to get out of his middle class surroundings and make a different life for himself. Art was his way out. Unfortunately there was a flaw in his logic; He realized the streets of Salem weren’t so mean. He did have his art though. Doug decided to move to Portland at the turn of the century to study animation and graphic design. Since then he has donned a Peter Parker like lifestyle, pill counter by day…. freelance artist by night. He has settled into the Portland area with his beautiful wife Stephanie, though halfway to the coast as Ryan describes it.

Doug has been involved with Pet Marmoset from the start. Though not gifted enough in the music area, Doug gained a real appreciation for music learning to play guitar with the help of his father, a bluegrass and folk aficionado. Merging his artistic viewpoint and love of music, he has helped create the look of Pet Marmoset. He developed the first incarnations of Pet Marmoset on the web, worked on logos, poster design and album artwork.

Doug’s favorite albums include Ben Fold’s The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner, The Shins’ Chutes Too Narrow, U2’s The Unforgettable Fire, REM’s Automatic for the People, Phish’s A live One and The Clientele’s God Save the Clientele.

Adam Guggenheim

Since there was no music scene in Sisters, Oregon (population 820) in the 1990s, Adam and his friends spent much of their teenage years trying their damndest to bring the Portland scene to them. In exchange for steak dinners and lodging at the local Best Western, pop-punk acts like The Automatics and Tales from the Birdbath often found themselves playing in the garages, barns, and High School cafeterias of Central Oregon.

Alas, the life of a concert promoter in a town known almost exclusively for its rodeo and quilt show was not for Adam. So at age eighteen he fled Sisters for the thrum and bustle of the sprawling metropolis of Los Angeles. In LA, Adam enjoyed success directing music videos for The Eyeliners (featuring AFI bassist Hunter Burgan), assisting Xzibit, working production on MTV’s Pimp My Ride, and directing the pilot episode of reality series, Hot Rod Hell.

In 2006, Adam relocated to Portland where he landed a job at LAIKA (House) coordinating the production of animated commercials for clients including M&M’s and Frosted Mini-Wheats. On nights and weekends Adam can be found shooting experimental short films, music videos, and promotional content for bands and organizations he respects. For Pet Marmoset, Adam lends his video and production talent in a variety of ways, working to create dynamic digital content for artists and clients.

Adam’s favorite records include Bob Dylan’s The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, Sam Cooke’s Hits of the 50’s, Buddy Holly’s Buddy Holly, Ramones’ Ramones, The Clash’s London Calling, Stiff Little Fingers’ Nobody’s Heroes, Bad Religion’s Recipe for Hate, A Tribe Called Quest’s People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm, Deltron 3030’s Deltron 3030, and Blondie’s Parallel Lines.

Inger Klekacz

Although born in San Francisco, Inger Klekacz has called Portland her home for most of her life. She owns a 1914 Craftsman in North Portland – the house in which she, in fact, grew up. In addition to an ongoing study of photographic and film making arts, Inger is trained in urban search and rescue techniques and first aid, and has 12 years’ experience in PHP and ColdFusion programming and SQL database development.

Photography is not really something Inger considers a choice; for her, it’s something she can’t not do. Being almost entirely self-taught, she continually informs her own creative process by studying the work of masters and trusting the imagery of her dreams, as well as embarking upon exploratory collaborations with artists of other media. Her relationships with music and photography are inextricably intertwined – as often as not, when she hears a song, she finds herself imagining a movie scene where it would fit, or a photograph that would represent the feeling of the song. She thrives on making photographs that are simultaneously complex and simple.

At last count, Inger has 1745 albums on hand, rsnging from: ABBA’s The Very Best Of, and The Beastie Boys’ Licensed To Ill, to Wilco’s Summerteeth, XTC’s Oranges & Lemons, and The Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Fever To Tell.

Matt Knapp

Matt Knapp is no good at condensing his life into a few paragraphs. But he’s great at talking about movies, talking about making movies, and, also, making movies (and videos and other moving picture type stuff). He took a lot of creative writing classes at the University of Oregon before going off to get a film school MFA in Pre-Katrina New Orleans. After moving to Portland in 2004, Matt formed a video production company, Grammar School Pictures, which has produced 4 shorts, 1 digital feature, and lots of on-line content for Portland-based musicians (including The Dimes, Ravishers, The Builders & The Butchers, Laura Gibson, Jonah, and Parks & Recreation).

Matt lives with his wife, Alicia (a scientist), and son, Charlie (a superhero aficionado). Matt brings a cinematic aesthetic to Pet Marmoset. He dreams exclusively in cinemascope and is never more excited than when music and image mergeto create a living moment.

Pet Marmoset Alumni

Saxon Baird

The last few years have been a rather adventurous ride for Saxon and frankly, he wouldn’t have it any other way. After graduating from Portland State, he has worked and traveled in Cyprus, Cairo, New York City, Los Angeles and Washington DC. Some of his more notable endeavors have included interviewing M83, Ralph Nader, Laura Veirs, Ian MacKaye, A.A. Bondy and Rick Sanchez from CNN. He has served apple juice to Beyonce and shown Anne Hatheway to the bathroom.

Lately, he’s been operating as freelance writer under the disguise of a part-time server. His writing has previously been published in the Willamette Week, Campus Progress Magazine and on TeenVogue.com, Fanbolt.com, All Our Noise and Pushback.com. He has also served as an editorial intern for OPB Music, Center for American Progress, Zink Magazine and Vogue. Currently, he writes about music for Pop Matters. He also spent a good portion of 2009 writing for the Pet Marmoset blog, reviewing music, news, and Northwest culture.

When not holed up in his studio apartment with headphones on and a large cup of coffee in his hand, Saxon can most likely be found munching on a burrito at any of his favorite hole-in-the-wall taquerias. Either that or he’s probably watching, talking, writing, or reading about baseball.

If stranded on a deserted island with an endless supply of batteries and suntan lotion, the following albums would undoubtedly want to be included unscathed amongst the wreckage. The Beatles’ Abbey Road, De La Soul’s Del La Soul is Dead, Curtis Mayfield’s Curtis, The Replacements’ Tim, The Velvet Underground’s The Velvet Underground, Q And Not U’s No Kill No Beep Beep, Wolf Parade’s Apologies to Queen Mary, The Dead Kennedys’ Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, and Tom Petty’s Damn the Torpedoes.

Trent Finlay

Trent was born in Portland, Oregon and adopted into the same family as his biological half-sister by pure coincidence.  Trent spent his formative years in Centralia, Washington learning to play a plethora of musical instruments and refining an ear for audio production.  After college, Trent moved back to Portland with his indie-rock band, Wester Daywick.

Trent jumped head-first into the nonprofit world of fundraising, event planning, and currently manages the social media for KZME Radio and p:ear.  When not utilizing his skills in graphic design, audio/video production and happen-making to raise excitement and awareness for his projects, Trent enjoys encouraging his girlfriend’s kids to pick up after themselves and is a die-hard fan of kittens.

Trent worked for a short time with Pet Marmoset helping launch publicity campaigns and helping out at shows with logistics.

Trent’s favorite records include The Arcade Fire’s Funeral, The Flaming Lips’ Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Beck’s Mutations, Robert Johnson’s Complete Recordings, Outkast’s Speakerboxxx, The Faint’s Danse Macabre, The Mars Volta’s De-Loused in the Comatorium, David Bowie’s Hunky Dory, Supergrass’ self titled album and the Elvis Christmas Album.