Brady Lahr

Kufala Recordings, President

"Brady Lahr is one of those rare individuals who understands that all genres of music are viable, artistic, and capable of making money. I truly appreciate his open mindedness." - Brian Haas, Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey.

From banging on pots and pans at 10 months, to learning the drums at 10, to discovering his first U2 bootleg-Brady Lahr has always been an avid music fan. Eager to jump into the music business, at just 14 years old Brady enrolled in an audio engineering course at the University of Oregon. Once out of High School, his future position in the music industry began to take shape in January 1994, at the height of the 'grunge era', when Brady entered the Music and Video Program at the Art Institute of Seattle.

Brady credits two main factors as the reason for his initial step into the music business as an indie concert promoter. First off, was the massive frustration of being underage in a city dominated by music. There were bands playing everywhere, but being under 21, Brady had no access to them. The second factor, was witnessing many of the music program graduates failing to get engineering jobs because the market was so saturated. As Brady remembers, "At that time, everyone moved to Seattle to record bands or to be in one." Concerned with his future, Brady shifted his focus to a double major in Audio Engineering and Promotion. The latter being responsible for Brady's breakthrough into the world of music.

In 1995, Brady landed a job with independent concert promoter, Laurie Lafavor, who put on Punk and Rock shows for all ages. Easier said than done, however, as Seattle had a city ordinance in the mid-90's that prohibited more than 150 people under the age of 21 to gather at a venue where music was being performed. A seemingly ridiculous law which Brady helped fight full on. Seeing Brady's ambition and passion for the music industry, Laurie made him her right hand man for day of show production, and ultimately placed him in charge of all Street Promotion.

It was Brady's marketing creativity and massive success in street promotions that brought him one step closer to the musicians he aspired to work with. Word quickly spread about Brady's promoting abilities and soon every major concert promoter in Seattle, including Bill Graham Presents, Universal Concerts, and Double Tee Productions had Brady promoting their shows. As a result, Brady was granted access to all the shows and eventually met most of the bands. One step led to the next and "hello" turned to driving musicians around and bringing bands like Korn and Radiohead to local guitar shops.