about me!

My name is Spencer. I am an 18 year old from New Jersey, but currently live in Texas. It is my dream to be a touring makeup artist and photographer for different bands around the rock and metal scene. I want to start using my SpaceHey as a place to document my concert experiences over 2024. I am currently a senior in high school, I would actually already be graduated but I am enrolled in an incredible cosmetology program so I'm not really complaining too much. My entire personality revolves around the different bands/music I listen to. Since I was a little kid I've been dressing alternative and I definitely get that from my parents.

My mom was goth in the 90s or as she likes to say "emo before emo existed" she spent her teenage years DJing at different music clubs and going to any show that she possibly could. Of course my grandparents never agreed with that and I can imagine their excitement when their grandchild turned out the same exact way as her. My mom's most sacred place growing up was Asbury Park (she even named me after it!), which in the 90s was pretty much desolate and totally rotting away, but to her it was the most beautiful thing. As a kid I didn't appreciate it as much but now as they're modernizing it and completely changing it up, I definitely wish I took advantage of how cool it was back then. My favorite music venue is in Asbury too, it's called The Stone Pony. I've seen so many shows there that I've lost count. It's a historic venue, actually hitting its 50th anniversary in two days from writing this (its on Feb 8th)! My parents have been going there since before I was alive, meeting there and eventually having their wedding reception there in 2006. 

My dad has worked in radio basically his entire life, originally going to school for law and then totally changing his path once he found his college radio station. He spent time working for Serius (now Siriusxm) then moving to HardDrive Radio right before I was born. Because of my dad me and my older brother have had some of the most incredible experiences that most kids never have. Standing side stage at concerts, meeting bands, being backstage, you name it and there's a likely chance that it's been able to happen. It's important to note that those things don't happen alll that often but when they do it is truly the most amazing shit ever. When we lived near the city, we would go with him to his office, and we'd get to meet the different bands that came in to interview with the station. My most memorable experiences being meeting Alice Cooper at age 5 and talking his ear off about The Muppets because the episode he was in was my favorite thing to watch on repeat. it was that day that Alice Cooper himself told me to call him "Uncle Alice" and since then that's always his nickname in my house. I also met a very young Halestorm, instantly became buddies with them and favoring AreJay because it was my dream at the time to be a drummer. (Fun fact at a Halestorm show at The Stone Pony around the same year that I met them, I pointed to Arejay and said to my dad "that's gonna be me one day". I have since then given up drumming but never gave up my love for music.) Over the years as I've seen Halestorm it has always been a joy. They have given me some incredible experiences over the years. I think my favorite was during their tour with Alice Cooper, I had drawn their logo and Joe, their guitarist grabbed it from me and the whole band signed it for me as they were about to leave stage. 

To get back on track a bit, I have been going to concerts since I can remember. Concerts are the only place I truly feel alive and at home. I never knew what unity could feel like until I started going to them, especially shows for my favorite bands. I was heavily bullied as a kid, and didn't really have many friends as a result so concerts became my safe haven. At concerts if people give you a look for being obsessed with the band thats on stage then theyre just a fuckin idiot that needs to realize where they are. Going as many shows as I have is an incredible privilege that I think growing up I kind of took for granted, but now as I get older, every show I go to I make the absolute most of. I've made some of my bestest friends at concerts and they're people I still keep in touch with almost every day. It is crazy to me that there is quite a few bands that I saw opening up for others, having zero idea who they were, that either became huge names in the industry, or one of my favorite bands. In 2017 I saw a nobody Greta Van Fleet opening up at Freakers Ball, and now they sell out shows bigger than the venue I saw them first open in. Another example ironically also from Freakers Ball but 2018 this time, Badflower was an opener. I had zero idea who they were and now they are one of my favorite bands, placing number 7 in my 2023 spotify wrapped. I also saw Sleep token playing the main stage at Rocklahoma in 2022 in the first few hours of the day with a very small crowd. I was on barricade for them, waiting to see the band that played after them, Palaye Royale. Not understanding what I was seeing I looked up their spotify to see their (at the time) 80K listeners and took out my phone to record them. I am to this day so thankful that I did that because they are now also one of my most streamed bands, placing number 6 in my 2023 spotify wrapped, and also selling out shows worldwide. As a general rule of thumb I like to record at least one song from every band I see, and if I had that same mindset from all the years I went to Warped Tour I would be set. 

Continuing my love for music, I've been working at younger me's dream job, Hot Topic for just under two years now. I was a temp key for the holidays, and while I'm back to an associate level I am still treated as and respected as a manager. I truly have an incredible team there and I wouldn't trade them for the world. I get to do a lot of cool shit at my store to make us stand out, like a monthly concert board that's gotten me recognized by the CEO and VP of Hot Topic!! I also work on our store's Instagram, and have full control over our music wall and where different bands go. I'm extremely lucky to have a manager that fully believes in me and accepts that everyone is human. I hope that once I graduate high school I can make it to an official management position. (Only like 3 months to go!!!)

As I get closer to needing to actually figure out my adult life, I have a lot of considerations on my mind. I'll be taking at minimum a gap year before trying to figure out schooling so I can see where I am in life. To say that moving back to NJ isn't a thought at the forefront of my mind would be a lie. I've had several family members offer me a place to stay as well as my parents still owning my childhood home that has an upstairs apartment should I want to move there too. I want to go to makeup school for special FX, my dream school is Tom Savinis in PA, but I've also considered MUD in New York as well. My hope is to get my leg into the music industry as soon as possible so that I can start making a name for myself. I'm practicing more photography every day so that in April I can shoot the Not My Weekend concert that their singer Patrick invited me to. I also am going to be starting to post makeup content on TikTok, to challenge myself to expand my comfort zone with makeup. I also have a silent dream that I really would do anything to get to do stage makeup for Motionless in White one day. Describing my life in one part is incredibly difficult and I feel like I've only just scratched the surface of everything. I will hopefully be uploading a recap of my concerts from 2023 as well as my first two shows of 2024 soon. CYA!