We had the good fortune of connecting with Daniel Arnold and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Daniel, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
My original thought process in starting Bad Times was to promote art and music that I felt was genuine and maybe under appreciated.

I grew up playing in and out of bands as a guitarist and the local musics scenes have always been extremely rich with culture and creativity. Bad Times was originally my attempt to showcase that local talent. From there it evolved into more.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
When Bad Times started to get some footing, my goal was to immerse myself in this side of the music industry. As someone who decided to start booking bands without any prior experience or mentorship, I had a million questions about industry standards that took a decent amount of time for me to learn. Every decision I made in the first two years was basically me throwing stuff against a wall and seeing what sticks.

But that process forced me to develop thick skin and a grit that you need in this business. And now I have less questions and tend to be less stressed.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Okay. First we’re getting breakfast/brunch at the Kings Hawaiian Restaurant in Torrance, CA. It feels like you’re in Hawaii, it’s great. From there we’re taking a short drive to RAT beach. I know what you’re thinking, “wow that sounds really nice and clean” well it actually is. Way more low key than Venice, Manhattan, and Santa Monica.

Next we’re driving over to Culver City to top tier dive bar the Back Stage. They have happy hour till 8pm everyday and make the best Mac n cheese I’ve ever had.

After hanging there for a bit we’re then going to trek up to Hollywood because we have tickets to one of the best venues in LA, The Roxy. Jimi Hendrix came back from the dead and decided for some reason to play a 500 cap on the Sunset Strip!

After the show we’re taking a short drive down the street to The Comedy Store. Where they have comics performing till 2am and the hang is always fun. Once the store closes we head back home because I am tired from just writing this.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Shoutout to my good friends Michael Austin and Kyle Jaynes. Bad Times spawned from art events that Michael and Kyle were putting on under the name NeatSpeak. I joined the team with the attempt to bring a musical element to the art shows.

The first event I worked on, which was titled “NeatSpeak Presents: Bad Times Fest” did so well that we decided to put a bigger focus on music and re-branded the shows under the name Bad Times Presents moving forward.

The three of us still work on shows from time to time. They will forever be my favorite people to collab and get creative with.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/badtimespresents/

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutLA is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.