went to work with Alan Douches at
West Side Music mastering records,
but soon realized he wanted to be
his own boss. He began working
on music promotion with music
videos and putting out compilation
records under the name Artist Am-
plification - a series that gave many
artists like Val Emmich and Matt
Witte their first recordings.
But getting the labels on board
as clients was a difficult task.
“It’s the catch-22,” said Gesner.
“How do you get anyone to hire
you until you’ve worked with
someone? But how do you work
with someone cool if no one is go-
ing to hire you?”
Eventually he fell in with Elektra
Records and began doing some
work for them. And then 9/11
happened. He didn’t get hired
again until the summer of 2002,
but he never stopped trying. He
convinced Subpop to give him a
shot and worked with videos for
The Shins and Iron & Wine when
they were just starting out. His ef-
forts finally paid off when Cash’s
“Hurt” fell into his lap.
Watch a video for “Hurt” by Johnny Cash
NJ STAGE - ISSUE 45
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