Five Minutes With

JAMES ‘JC’ CURLEIGH

CEO, Gibson Brands Inc.

By Brian Berk

Whether it was its acquisition of Mesa/Boogie, collaborations with Gene Simmons and Nancy Wilson, or one of the many other developments underway, Gibson Brands Inc. has made plenty of news recently. We ask Gibson CEO James “JC” Curleigh about these topics, plus get his thoughts on NAMM’s virtual Believe in Music Week event and plenty more.

The Music & Sound Retailer: Let’s start with NAMM’s Believe in Music Week in January. Did you enjoy the virtual show, and did you set any goals as a company there?

“JC” Curleigh: Of course, we would love to be there with live concerts and 100,000 of our closest friends at NAMM to talk about the past, present and future of music. That was not the case this year. But what I will say is that NAMM was clear and decisive months ago, saying, “It’s not going to happen [in person].” By the way, that was 100 percent the right call. They did not wait. They did not put businesses in limbo. They said to us, “We are going to try this virtual NAMM. We would like you to participate. We need you to bring some content to light. Let’s try this. Let’s all work together.” The way NAMM organized and planned with our team in advance and communicated in advance [was excellent]. And then, when it started to unfold, I thought it was a great experience. [NAMM president and CEO] Joe [Lamond] was very clear. It was not about replicating a live NAMM Show. It was about bringing information, inspiration and some concrete new product ideas to a market that otherwise would not have existed if we did not do this. We would have had to go dealer by dealer, the old, old-fashioned way of connecting all the dots for the dealers. Believe in Music Week was a way to connect all those dots. It really worked for us. We will see how that communication gets traction regarding the ideas and announcements. But if nothing else, it was a concentrated period of time at the beginning of the year when people were thirsty for information and industry insight. It was a great way to learn to literally set the stage this year. NAMM did it. I think they pulled it off.

The Retailer: No question that NAMM had no choice but to have a virtual show. It is amazing the difference a year makes regarding Gibson’s impressive booth at the 2020 NAMM Show. But you still had plenty of announcements regarding acquisitions, partnerships and new products. Can you fill us in on some of the important announcements you made for the MI industry?

Curleigh: Think about the change a year made. We had lots of food at our booth [in 2020]. We had Slash and friends at The Grove [in Anaheim]. Thankfully, after the challenges we faced a few years ago, we have gotten ourselves into a position now where last year, we felt we could not be stronger. Gibson was clearly on the right path. We relaunched Epiphone for every stage with Epiphone Originals and Epiphone Inspired by Gibson. We even put energy behind Kramer and KRK, our studio monitors [brand]. We had this great momentum, and then April [2020] came where manufacturers were shut down and dealers’ doors were shut. But all of a sudden, all this creativity was sparked. We did all the right things regarding COVID protocols and adjusted our business accordingly. More importantly, we are setting our business up for the future and preparing for opportunities. We announced the Peter Frampton Phoenix and the Nancy Wilson Epiphone Fanatic, which is going to be awesome. But we are also working with people I call emerging, like Marcus King, and are even working with some guitarists who people know but maybe not their names. And The Roots guitarist Kirk Douglas, Captain Kirk — we have a signature guitar with him.

Also, in addition to all the new guitars we are launching, Epiphone Inspired by Gibson is something we are going to put some attention on, including made-in-the-USA Epiphones. And Kramer continues to grow. When I think about vintage, I usually think of the ‘50s and '60s. But I was talking to my son and he said vintage is “really on. I love the ‘80s.” I said

“JC” Curleigh (right) with Gibson brand president Cesar Gueikian (left) and Mesa/Boogie's Randy Smith

Gibson Brands has put a lot of effort into boosting the brands of KRK (above) and Epiphone (below left)

“What?” [laughs]. Kramer is perfectly positioned for that next-generation ‘80s kid. We were talking before this interview about how people stay connected when they don’t have a physical connection. What I have seen and learned is that putting the Gibson experience in the palm of your hand is critical, so we launched the Gibson app. There are lots of apps out there that are good and are continuing to provide information and insights. That is awesome. But we realized beginner, intermeTom Petty SJ-200 Wildflower signature model diate and expert players have to connect their own dots. They may want a tuner. I can be entertained by this, but I also want to take my guitar playing to the next level and connect to the brands I love. The Gibson app has a tuner. It also has an amazing augmented reality platform. It has Gibson TV embedded and it connects to Gibson.com. We also announced we are launching the Gibson Garage in Nashville. It was about two and a half years in the making. Going around the world, I have seen Gibson presented in different ways. Sometimes, you wish it was more energizing and exciting. Some dealers, quite frankly, do an amazing job of presenting Gibson. But to the left and right of that, there are a few other brands there. So, I thought about what the ultimate Gibson experience would look like. We are going to build it here in Nashville. It will open soon. It will have a livestream stage. People will have the ability to look at the custom shop. Epiphone, Kramer and Gibson acoustic will all be represented. It will also be our artist relations showroom. But it will be open to the public and someone can come in and learn about the story of Gibson and the guitars, but also, try them, play them and buy them if they want.

The Retailer: The COVID-19 pandemic has of course been horrible, but there have been some benefits for the MI industry. We have seen more people want to play guitars for example. How do we keep the people who joined the industry because of the pandemic involved?

Curleigh: I think that is the big question we face. One thing I have learned as a leader is none of us can guarantee success in the future. But we should guarantee we set better conditions for success. I think the MI industry has done that. The simple question for me would be, and I have been asking a lot of people this: At what point does an individual declare themselves a guitarist? When you are a beginner, you play a little bit. Then, you play some more and learn a few chords of a song. At what point are they comfortable saying, “Yes, I play a guitar. I am a guitarist?” I fundamentally believe that in the last 12 months, more guitarists have been born than probably the previous 12 years. So, how do we take advantage of this? What we know is that when someone preservers to the point where their fingers are ready to play, they know how to play three to five chords and they have a few favorite songs that they are comfortable and confident playing, whether for themselves or others, they tend to stay as a guitarist for the rest of their life. That kid who saw Angus Young on an AC/DC cover with the SG says, “Hey I want to get one of those.” And then, 10 years later, they work their way up to a Gibson. All of a sudden, 20 years later, they are staring down the Gibson SG Custom Shop. We know that once we get people on a guitar journey, they tend to stay with it for a long, long time. From the COVID chaos and crisis, we have creativity and opportunity happening. It is up to us harness that. There has never been a better time for people to have a passion, spend a little time, persevere to get their skill level up, but also, there have never been better learning applications. There are great YouTube videos. There

are the apps we talked about to help people learn and give them the confidence. There is an ability to go online, get good service and good-quality products, and have the confidence to go online and buy products.

The conditions are set. It is up to us to provide inspiration, energy and ideas to guitarists to keep them in it. I feel very confident we can do that. Other industries have done it. I think we can do the same.

The Retailer: Let’s switch topics to the Mesa/Boogie acquisition. Can you tell us the reasoning behind it and how it will help you grow?

Curleigh: Gibson used to make amps, but we don’t today. Our electric guitars do nothing without being connected to an amp. It was not a question of if we should get back into it, but when and how and what would that look like? That was the starting point.

We have had a longstanding conversation with Mesa/ Boogie. Randy [Smith], Jim [Aschow], Doug [West] and Steve [Mueller] there are great guys. We were thinking about some collaborations and were wondering if they could do something with us and some of our artists. All of a sudden, the conversation went to a really interesting place. We looked at not only the future of the amp world, but the future of Mesa/ Boogie. Randy is an awesome guy and a living iconic legend in the industry. But he talked about his legacy. He said he was leaving 50 years behind of this amazing brand, but he also wanted a brighter future, and he made the call to bring [Mesa/ Boogie] into the Gibson family.

For us, it is really well positioned as a brand. It is authentic. It is innovative. It’s original. It is made in the USA. I think it is a perfect fit. I have spent time in Petaluma, [Calif.,] with the [Mesa/Boogie] team and would like to think they are equally energized about this deal. Some of the things folks don’t see is everything we have done at Gibson and Epiphone over the past two and a half years. That is attention to quality, attention to our artists and attention to the industry. I think it is going to be a great deal.

Exciting times are ahead for us. We will integrate them where it is obvious and leave them alone as a standalone brand where it makes sense. What some people don’t see is our reach, locally. A lot of guitarists in Europe still cannot get access to Mesa/ Boogie, as well as parts of Japan, Australia, Canada and Latin America. Gibson is a global company. We operate in every one of those regions. The ability to scale and bring Mesa/Boogie to more guitarists is a win in itself. [The Mesa/Boogie deal] is a big move. It proves, as a lot of people have told us, that we are true to our strategy, we are ahead of where we thought we would be, and we are into the mode of bringing brands into our family. It is a vote of confidence for what we have been doing.

The Retailer: On July 14, you began one of the biggestever treasure hunts in the MI industry, searching for missing shipping ledgers from 1959-1960, which disappeared decades ago from Gibson’s archives. You even offered a $59,000 prize for the person who finds the missing ledgers and returns them to Gibson. Were you able to recover the ledgers?

Curleigh: No. I think we are going to have to call in my doppelgänger, Nicolas Cage [of (contined on page 53)

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