Abby, an Arts Management MA student, released an EP titled Gloom Scroll, Pt. 1 with her band Flowerbomb this January. Abby discusses her creative process and how arts management helped her throughout the release.
Abby Rasheed, a current AMGT graduate student, is from the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and moved to the DC area to attend Mason. She studied Business Management and Music Technology as an undergraduate and is now in her last semester of the Arts Management graduate program.
"In my Arts Management career, I would like to be involved with organizations that help people who want to start playing music find performance and music education opportunities. AMGT has helped me build skills I can use to do this and grow my management confidence. AMGT also inspired me to volunteer with music nonprofits like Girls Rock DC and This Could Go Boom. I love the missions of both of these organizations and hope to continue to work with them after I graduate." - Abby R.
Abby spends most of her weekends writing, practicing, recording, and performing with her band, Flowerbomb. She plays bass and sings background vocals. She attends concerts almost every week, which helps inspire her creatively.
Flowerbomb is an indie/bubblegrunge/shoegaze band based in the Washington, D.C. area. Some of the bands that inspire them are Ratboys, Alvvays, and Wednesday. Flowerbomb just released an EP called Gloom Scroll, Vol. 1 on January 19 and played a sold-out show that night to celebrate the release.
When asked how her time in the arts management program has impacted how she plans for new releases with Flowerbomb, she said, "Planning our rehearsal, recording, and release schedules can be difficult, but before beginning our Gloom Scroll releases, we had several meetings as a band to talk about our timeline. We check in with each other regularly to make sure we are following the schedule on the calendar we created. We get really excited about writing and playing new songs together, and that helps keep us motivated to record the new songs as soon as we can." The Gloom Scroll, Vol. 2 EP is planned to be released in late spring.
Flowerbomb has several shows in the next few months including a show at Ottobar in Baltimore on March 2 and a show at Pie Shop DC on May 16.