So what is Jive Hive Live?

- So Jive Hive Live is a state-of-the-art recording studio and broadcast studio in Albany, New York.

We specialize in live performances.

So basically a band comes in, they do a live set.

We have five cameras around the room that are all hooked up to, you know, remote control and switchers in the back.

32 track recording studio.

Bands leave with every, like all the feeds from each of the cameras and then all the stems from the recording in addition to a live cut video and the live mix audio.

And we do that all for free.

- You do it for free?

- Mm-hmm.

- Why free?

- Well, I think Tom's original vision is for it to be kind of art for art's sake.

Tom being the owner, founder and fearless leader of the Jive Hive, Tom O'Connor, member of the NoLaNauts and all around jivey guy.

- Yeah, absolutely.

- Tom, I should let the audience know, we offered to interview Tom, but Tom said, oh, I have to have you interview my assistants that help out at Jive Hive Live.

And you are gonna be hearing Tom's band the NoLaNauts in a little bit.

But first I want to ask you guys if you have a little bit of information about why Tom started this and how it came to be.

- So it first started as a place for his bands to rehearse, you know?

And then I think during the pandemic he saw all this live streaming stuff going on.

He said, well that's, you know, that's the future.

We can, you know, we're not gonna be playing shows at Lark Hall, you know, but we maybe can play a show at the Jive Hive and anyone in the world can watch it.

- Yeah.

- And he's just so like, very like a philanthropic spirit and he just like really gives himself to others.

And I think like that, this kind of idea and something along these lines to allow him to kind of put himself out there and welcome so many people.

It's just like a very, it's very much Tom.

- And you guys got hooked and you're still there?

- I mean, yeah.

- You walk in and you almost can't walk out.

- Yeah.

- Kind of thing.

- Because there's a lot going on there and Tom knows how to do everything there.

Lights, sound, video, whatever it might be.

But he needed people to help, you know, do the other stuff.

- Can't be in two places at once.

- Yeah, exactly.

- Right, right.

- So I came in, I helped with the website, social media, booking.

I do some video as well.

And then we've also been able to bring people in to help us.

- So it's a recording studio, a video live streaming.

Why is this needed?

What advantage does this give to artists in the area?

- Going back to the free, why is it free art for art's sake kind of thing?

Like bands in this area, and I think Tom's original vision of it was for it to be kind of an incubation place for up and coming bands, his own band to, obviously his own band to rehearse and whatnot.

But he wanted it to be like a growing platform for bands, for bands to A, be able to afford it, so check.

And B, for it to be like a really great professional space that's free of like the kind of professional expectations of, you know, time and professionalism.

Not that we aren't professional in our own way, but that was kind of like this, you know, this idea of just like, let's make art.

Let's not put any pressure on people.

Let's have them come in, do whatever the heck they want.

Because while we are, you know, we have the video and the audio, but we don't make them do a live performance.

We don't make them live stream.

We don't really make them do anything.

They come in with an idea of kind of what they wanna do with their night at the Jive Hive.

And sometimes it gets wild.

We do green screen stuff sometimes, some people take the video aspect of it really seriously.

Some people do like a really tight closed session, more formal recording session.

And just the idea of it being attainable I think, for any band that wants to do it whether they're new or not so new.

- Anyone who approaches us really.

If you're, if you're, you know- - If you make noise, we'll let you in.

- Yeah, yeah.

- And you have to be cool, that's also (indistinct).

- Have to be cool, okay.

- Cool, yeah.

- You guys have your own bands that you're in, you have day jobs.

How often are you guys at the Jive Hive and why do you keep on coming back?

- Well, so we do about a show a week.

Occasionally we'll do more if there's something special going on.

And we usually keep those to Monday and Tuesday nights.

That's because we are in bands, we have other things going on.

We don't wanna miss a paying gig.

We don't want the band to miss a paying gig.

Everybody's doing it for free.

We're working for free, they're working for free.

Why I come back, I really like, I love having those established acts come in, you know, Reese Fulmer's come in and he put some of the stuff on his new live album is from the Jive Hive.

Or like, you know, we have Girl Blue who's gonna be coming in later in the fall.

- Angelina.

- Angelina Valente.

- Just there.

- Yeah, she was, yeah, incredible, world class.

But I really, I really get the fulfillment from like those up and coming bands.

There was a band early on called Boss Crowley that came in and they released a live EP from there.

And who knows when Boss Crowley would've been able to get into a studio and put out something but now they have stuff and people are requesting "Duck on a Rock" at the end of their set, you know?

And it's just awesome to be a part of that.

That's what keeps me coming back for sure.

- Awesome, what about you?

- I think it would be kind of like meeting all these new people, like making all these new friends.

Like I didn't know Mikey two years ago.

I didn't know Tom two years ago and now they're like two of my best friends.

And depending on who you ask, I might spend too much time there, but it's like I said, it's hard to leave sometimes.

It's hard to walk away and you always like, when am I coming back?

- Yeah, yeah.

- Awesome.

Well, I understand that there might be an upcoming event or two or three or four?

- [Mike] Yeah.

- I think you guys are gonna be breaking outta the Hive?

- Yeah, the Jive Hive comes alive.

We're gonna be going to Cohoes Music Hall.

Tom had a meeting with the Music Hall.

He wanted to rent it out and do a Jive Hive show there.

And when they found out, you know, what was going on at the Hive, they said, ah, I love it.

And they said that they wanted to partner on a series for a year long series.

So we're doing four shows starting October 7th at Cohoes Music Hall featuring, they're all different styles of music.

The first one is The Great Swarm and that's got the NoLaNauts.

- All acts that have been at the Hive before.

Or I think one or two might have like have acts booked and by the time the show is at Cohoes, they will have been at the Hive, so it's like- - Yeah, I think actually all of them are, all of them are, yeah.

So like bringing Arc Network elsewhere and you know, it's not just about your exposure at The Hive and what you can do at the Hive, but we can, you know, the community of the Hive can continue to give and support local music in different ways in different places.

- And we're also bringing the whole video set up.

- Yeah, we're gonna- - So the whole video you'll get, and so you'll get the whole audio and video set up at the live show, hopefully a packed Cohoes Music Hall, you know?

- Awesome.

That sounds great.

We are out of time.

Please check out those concerts coming up.

Thank you very much for joining me on AHA!

- No problem.

Thank you.

- Thank you.