Hi Mr. Nick Bogardus. My name's Walter. U were Thrice's manager for quite some time and i just wanted to say you guys as a whole really changed my life and helped me to become a well founded Christian. Thrice has been used to challenge me to see life accurately. I'm grateful for your existence. Anyways.

I was just wondering,since you worked with music for 10 years if there were any good little indie labels (besides hopeless/sub city) that help with charities and take positive and valuable social actions that i might be able to look into. I've been given the heart to really want to help others think about meaningful issues through music, or to at least help others to be aware. Thank you for your time.

I know you have a family and you might not be interested in replying back. If that's the case i understand. Thank you for putting this "ask me a question thing up" i'm glad i got to communicate with you.

Respectfully,

Walter Cabal

Hi Walter,

Thanks for the kind words, man! I’m grateful that God used Thrice to encourage your faith. He did the same for me so we have that in common.

As to your question about labels, it has been a few years since I worked in music but I think it is safe to say that most labels, and probably bands, are casually involved in some way with charities. As for labels that build into their business model and contracts partnership with charities, SubCity is the only one I can think of.

Thanks for reading and writing.

Nick

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Soundtrack For A More Intimate Revolution

My good friend, Dustin from Thrice, recently did a Wordle word cloud for his lyrics from the past ten years.  I thought it was revealing (in an awesome way).

Even though I’m hardly…

About Me

My wife, Kim, and I live in Seattle by way of California and Mongolia. I’m currently the Director of PR/Media Relations at Mars Hill Church and Kim volunteers and loves everyone lucky enough to know her. She’s also pretty handy with a camera.

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We spent our first year and a half of marriage living and serving in Mongolia. I taught English to the doctors and nurses at the Central Hospital in our aimag, or state.  I also co-taught a Bible study at our church for the small group leaders every Tuesday night.  What we taught them on Tuesdays was disseminated and taught in all of the small groups in their weekly Bible studies.  Every Friday night Kim and I taught an English conversation hour at the only coffee shop in town.  I also preached a few times in the Sunday morning service at church and in the youth church service on Saturday night.

Thanks to Crossway books, I was able to coordinate a gift of 40lbs of new books for the library at the missions center here.  And, thanks to the generosity of Rockharbor Church and St. John’s Lutheran Church (both in Orange County), we were able to buy a lot of new Bibles, childrens Bibles, and teaching resources for the churches in our city.

Lastly, Kim and I produced a short TV series for Eagle Television, the largest cable news channel in Mongolia.  The episodes aired in September 2009.

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From 2000-2008 I owned and operated New Noise Management. What started in my bedroom at my parents house with a cell phone and a hotmail account grew into a team of five managers and a diverse roster of bands. Together we managed the careers of Thrice, Cold War Kids, Matt Costa, Dustin Kensrue, Delta Spirit, Rufio, Vedera, and the Colour. Under New Noise our artists sold over 1.2 million records and were featured in every major media outlet from Rolling Stone to the LA Times, KROQ LA to K-Rock NY, MTV to FUSE, and David Letterman to Conan O’Brien. They also toured extensively, drawing thousands in major cities around the world and selling out concerts from LA to London to Tokyo. Additionally, I co-produced and co-directed Thrice’s full-length biographical DVD, If We Could Only See Us Now, which was certified Gold in its first week of release. New Noise disbanded when I left in early 2008 to get married and move to Mongolia with my wife.  Here is an interview I did for the OC Weekly and another I did for Absolutepunk.  More than anything else, I’m most proud of the fact that we worked with all of our bands from before they ever left their hometowns and because of that, we all grew together and developed bonds that felt more like family than business, and formed relationships that were marked by shared struggles and authenticity instead of what you might normally expect from the entertainment industry.

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I was also an adjunct professor at Biola University during the 2006-2007 school year, creating and teaching a music management class in the Mass Comm department. In addition, I was a keynote speaker for their 2007 Journalism Conference. Here is an article that a local paper did on the class.

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From 1999-2000 I was the assistant to the publicist and radio promotions staff at Time Bomb/Rebel Waltz, and independant label and major management company. Time Bomb had such artists as Social Distortion, Sunny Day Real Estate, and No Knife and Rebel Waltz managed the careers of bands like No Doubt, the Offspring, and Social Distortion.

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I have also written for Transworld Skateboarding Magazine, Alternative Press, and Meanstreet Magazine.