If you’ve seen any live music in the area that’s remotely in the vicinity of the punk, hardcore, ska, or indie rock genres in recent years, there’s a decent chance JJ Kaiser had something to do with booking and/or promoting that concert. The 28-year-old Franklin, Wisconsin resident—who plays in Twisted Truth and Suffer No Fools—turned his years of basement booking prowess into a full-time gig as a Talent Buyer for X-Ray Arcade in 2022. Beyond his work with the Cudahy-based venue, Kaiser has also expanded his live entertainment output of late to bring shows to a variety of other local venues like Cactus Club, Club Garibaldi, and Promises under the “Basement Collective” umbrella.
On Tuesday, July 23, Kaiser’s biggest show yet will take place at Turner Hall when Misery Signals return to Wisconsin one last time to play a farewell concert. In advance of next week’s momentous Misery Signals performance, Milwaukee Record reached out to Kaiser to ask about his path from booking basements to bringing bands to ballrooms, to learn about some memorable shows in his nearly 10 years of talent buying, and to see how he feels about the current state of all-ages music in the Milwaukee area.
Milwaukee Record: How long have you been booking shows, and how did you get your start in booking?
JJ Kaiser: I’ve been booking shows for close to nine years. I started around late 2015, when a new band of mine was looking for a room to book our first show in. We were in a weird spot for all-ages venues in the city at the time. I spent a day driving around with a few of my friends to a bunch of different VFW halls and community centers asking if they’d be willing to host our show, and nobody was interested in doing it. I also can’t imagine I had the best pitch as a 19-year-old. We were out of options, so we chose to do the show in my basement. The show happened and went well, and it just kind of snowballed from there. Shows started to get moved to my basement and I met a lot of people, and then I accidentally became a promoter.
MR: When did you get hired on with X-Ray Arcade? How’d that happen, and how has the experience been so far?
JK: I formally started at X-Ray as a part-time employee in February of 2022. Coming out of the lockdown portion of the pandemic, I was working with Justin—my now boss—on a lot of stuff at X-Ray. They were getting offered shows that were definitely in my lane and asked me to help with booking support for those shows. One of those days we had a conversation about how they needed help in the booking department and I offered to just start working for them. We were already talking every day and working on shows together for months at that point, so it only made sense to make it an official thing. In May of 2023, I quit my job and started working for them full-time. I’m glad I did, because we only got busier and I can’t imagine balancing another job plus talent buying at this point in my life.
MR: Is it sometimes tough balancing events you’ve booked at your house, X-Ray, and other venues around town—sometimes even on the same night—when you’re only able to be in one place at any given time?
JK: It definitely can be. I am very fortunate to have a capable team of people at X-Ray that are able to run shows when I’m not there, which definitely helps take a weight off my shoulders when I’m out of town or have other things going on. I’ve also definitely employed friends in the past to run production on stuff outside of X-Ray. Like any business, your team is what keeps things running. They’re the best and I appreciate them a lot.
MR: How many shows did you personally book last year? And how many are you on pace to book by the end of 2024?
JK: This is a tough question to answer because I probably help facilitate just as many things as I personally put my name on. I just went and looked and I had 62 shows that I personally promoted under The Basement Collective in 2023. Like 95% of “X-Ray Arcade presents” shows are booked by me, but I don’t really have the capacity to personally post about 150-plus shows a year, if that makes sense. I personally promote stuff that’s in my lane and that I know I can properly promote to the right crowd. I would love to only book stuff that I personally listen to, but that’s not how you keep a calendar full. I’m on pace to do at least 60-70 with The Basement Collective in 2024, and easily another 100 on top of that with other X-Ray Presents shows.
MR: When you think about your body of work, are there some standout shows that you’re still amazed you were able to help bring to the Milwaukee area? And have there been any bands that have broken out since you first booked them?
JK: The Drug Church, Prince Daddy [& The Hyena], Anxious, and Webbed Wing show from last year is still a wild one to me. I remember getting that email and being like “holy fucking shit.” I think it was the first show I booked at X-Ray that sold out the day it went on sale. I also had a SeeYouSpaceCowboy, Static Dress, Unity TX show last year that was insane. There have been a lot of bands that played in my basement that went on to do crazy things: Hot Mulligan, Mom Jeans, Kublai Khan, Bilmuri, Jesus Piece, Origami Angel, Prince Daddy & The Hyena—playing to five people—and Arm’s Length, to name a few.
MR: This Misery Signals farewell show at Turner Hall is a huge milestone, I’m sure, but what are some of your other dream bookings you’d really love to make happen?
JK: I’ve had the opportunity to book a lot of my favorite bands in the past few years—Misery Signals being at the top of that list—so this is a light list. I’d really love to make another Gleemer show happen in Milwaukee. It’s been since 2017 at this point and they’re still a band I listen to all the time. Sincere Engineer is another big one. They’ll happen some day.
MR: Now that you’ve been doing this for a few years, what keeps you excited about booking? Like, what are some of your favorite things about the process of bringing musicians to this area to perform? Beyond the financial aspect, what makes all the work you do worthwhile?
JK: We are just as much in the business of creating memories as we are booking shows. Doing this might pay my bills now, but bringing people together in a positive way will always be the most exciting and fulfilling part of this job. I could go on for hours about all of the ways that being a part of local music has changed my life, but the biggest part is and always has been meeting and connecting with people. It’s one thing to book cool shows, but it’s another thing to book cool shows while also fostering a community that genuinely cares about each other, the spaces shows happen, and the bands that come through. That’s the kind of thing that people will talk about for the rest of their lives. There’s nothing better than that.
Jesus Piece. Photo by Meredith Rice
MR: What are some words of wisdom you’d like to impart or any booking-related misconceptions or pet peeves you’d like to use this platform to clear up?
JK: As a promoter, there are a lot of things that are out of our control. Sometimes there are shows that don’t get a local opener because the band’s team has decided they don’t want one. Sometimes your favorite band is playing your city on a Tuesday night because that’s just how it worked out best in their routing. Sometimes a show needs to be in a 21-plus room because all of the all-ages venues in the city are booked up that night, and we still want to make the show happen. Maybe none of these things are ideal, but the show has got to go on either way.
MR: Having toured in your own bands and likely hearing feedback from acts you work with, do you think Milwaukee and its surrounding suburbs are in a good place in terms of all-ages music? What are some ways the region is succeeding? And what are some things we can collectively improve upon?
JK: I have been around for a long time, and this is easily the best it’s ever been in terms of options for all-ages shows and attendance at shows in general. This new generation of local bands has a lot of new and different people excited about coming to shows, which is a great thing. I’d love to see more people starting bands and doing the same thing over the next few years, and I’d love to see more bands from different pockets of the music scene playing more shows together. A music scene flourishes when you bring a lot of different people together, put them in the same room, and expose them to different bands.
MR: Are there any other bookers you’d like to shout out? Either talent buyers you think are doing a great job or folks who’ve helped you along the way?
JK: There’s a lot, and I have no problem listing them all because they’ve all helped, and continue to help, in a lot of ways. Kelsey and Ellee from Cactus Club, John and Eric from Kickstand Productions, Tom and Michael from Milwaukee Hardcore Shows, Shane from Empire Productions, Marc and the Riot Fest team, Jane from Underground/Zhora Darling in Minneapolis. Thanks for all you’ve done and continue to do.
MR: If bands want to play X-Ray or work with you in general, what should they do? How would you like them to reach out, what should they include, and what should they avoid?
JK: This response is mostly geared towards local bands. I think the key points are: always send an email, always include a link to your music and socials—the amount of people that don’t do this is kind of shocking—and always have an idea of what you want and what makes sense for your band. Don’t send a venue a list of 100 dates that you’re available this year. Nobody likes that. Having specific dates and specific bands you want to play with in mind shows that you’re serious, and willing to put thought and work into the show just as much as the promoter is. If you are willing to play on a weekday, I think it makes it a lot more possible to book your band than if you’re only willing to play or able to play on weekends. Those dates fill up fast at any venue that’s in demand. The other plus side to this is if you’re able to draw a solid crowd on a Wednesday, it makes it a lot more possible to make a Friday or Saturday happen in the future.
MR: Outside of Misery Signals, what are some other JJ productions people should be on the lookout for this summer and fall?
JK: My first show at Sugar Maple is August 23 with Prize Horse, Sleepwalk, Lockstep, Shamewave, and Okay Omen. It’s a small room that I’m excited to start doing shows at, and that’s one hell of a bill. Some other things I’m excited about: Big Deal and Suffer No Fools at Cactus Club on August 18, Gel at X-Ray on September 19, and We Are The Union and Big D & The Kids Table at X-Ray on November 13, plus some other unannounced things that I can’t talk about yet. It’s going to be a good rest of the year, for sure.
MR: Anything else you’d like to share?
JK: Thanks to all of you for all the continued support of X-Ray and all of my other endeavors over the years. I’m excited to continue to expand our range of artists and venues that we work with, and to do a lot of cool things in 2025 and beyond. I’ll see y’all out there.
