Today we’d like to introduce you to John Hendry
Hi John, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
As a child I was intelligent enough but pretty incorrigible so after multiple disciplinary issues and an arrest or two, I dropped out of school and began life as a mechanic at 16. It was around this same time that I picked up a guitar and began playing in bands with friends. I worked at a couple garages, a parts store and even a junkyard for the next 5 years or so until I moved into construction. This would be my main employment through my twenties and into my thirties. I wavered between plumbing and framing with roughly 10 years plumbing and 3 or 4 framing and I never put down the guitar. By my mid twenties music had become a way of life. I was playing a few nights a weeks in bars and venues either solo or in an acoustic duo and spent most of my free time either jamming with friends or writing.
Due to genetic issues, being incredibly hard on myself physically and several years of heavy drug use, my back began to give out and construction was becoming less and less a viable career. Then I was struck by lightning. While recovering from it, I quit using methamphetamine, my drug of choice at that time. Then I got my GED and, with the help of my first wife, went back to school. I studied sociology and philosophy at Wright State for 3 years until the death of a friend shifted my life back to music.
I had put music down for awhile as it had become an aspect of my drug use. When a very good friend that I had shared music with for years passed as a result of a heroin overdose, I felt compelled to make music a primary focus once again. Against the wishes of many and despite my own doubts and concerns, I quit school and got a job delivering pizzas for a local pizza place and very quickly found myself in several bands. My change in lifestyle put a strain on my marriage from which it would not recover but, it made me feel fulfilled perhaps for the first time in my life.
I wasn’t making much money and as my musical needs increased, I had to rely on myself for repairs and necessary modifications to my instruments. Bandmembers took notice and asked that I modify their instruments as well and eventually others started seeking me out to modify their instruments too. This led to Matt Stump, the owner of Sound City Music which had been Troy’s local music store for over 30 years and the first place I ever bought a set of strings, reaching out to me and asking if I would like a job as the store’s repair tech.
I took the opportunity part time and kept the pizza delivery job. I had met the woman that would become my current wife and true soul-mate and life felt easy. She encouraged and supported everything I did musically. I was playing in 4 or 5 bands several times a week and was building my reputation as a competent guitar tech and musician and a common face in many of the local music scenes around the greater Dayton area.
After Thanksgiving 2017, Matt Stump received the news that the landlord had sold the building in which Sound City had been located and we would need to be out by the first of the year. Not looking forward to moving the store for what would have been the sixth time in its lifetime, Matt decided he was moving on from the music industry. I found myself in an incredibly fortunate position. My stepfather owned a building in downtown Troy, the second floor of which had been vacant for several years and he was willing to give me a chance. I worked out a deal with Matt for some of the inventory and displays and the phone number from Sound City. I talked to Chris Aldridge, a friend and fellow employee and guitar instructor at Sound City about making the move with me. I also talked with the other instructors. Everyone said yes and we began the plans to open Trojan City Music.
The space needed a lot of work. I again found myself fortunate not only to have experience in construction but also to have an incredibly capable brother and several friends as well. The next 5 weeks were an exhausting flurry of repairs and remodeling. With financial backing from my parents, we completed the renovations and began ordering inventory.
We welcomed our first students through the door on Jan. 3rd 2017. We spent the next couple months getting the store prepared and had our official grand opening on Mar. 12th 2017.
After 8 years, we seem to be going strong (someone please knock on the proverbial wood). I feel like we have a very solid reputation for honesty, customer service and quality products. We have plans to build additional lesson studio space as well as expanding our sales floor in the future and hope to, by the spring of this year, open a space for bands and musicians to play to live audiences too.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
There have definitely been some bumps in the road but smooth roads are boring.
Perhaps the greatest struggle we’ve dealt with was COVID. It hit 3 years after we opened. At that point we felt like we had just started to get our feet under us but that left us reeling temporarily. Luckily, because of our lessons which we had setup to take place over Zoom during the shut-down, we were deemed essential. I was able to temporarily lay-off our employees so they could receive unemployment compensation and I opened the store 3 hours a day, 3 days a week for lesson payments, repairs and minor sales. It was a struggle but we all managed through it.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We have strived to be a one stop local music shop since day one.
We want everyone to feel welcome and perhaps more importantly, wanted. We try to have enough variety in our inventory that any musician that stops in should find something of interest and we try to foster an environment conducive to artistic expression. We want people to feel welcome to come in and jam around. We welcome players that want to know what the neck feels like on the new Jackson guitar model or are interested in plugging into an Orange amp or MXR pedal and checking out the tone. Would you like to know how good the keys feel on that Yamaha digital piano or maybe the mesh heads on NU-X’s digital drumkit compared to the acoustic Mapex sets? Stop by and check ’em out.
We also take a lot of pride in our music lessons and teaching staff. We have 8 instructors here and offer instruction on a wide variety of instruments. We have roughly 200 students on our roster with skill levels ranging from pure beginners to seasoned players. We also work with Kincaid’s Music in Springfield in order to offer rentals for the local school’s band/orchestra students as well. In addition, we offer repairs on most instruments. Almost all stringed instruments are repaired in house but we also have outside technicians for band and orchestra instruments.
We like to think that if you have a musical need that we can’t fulfill, we can certainly get you pointed in the correct direction to get it fulfilled.
And perhaps most importantly, as a music store in an area with a very talented and diverse music scene, we try to support local musicians as much as we possibly can. From playing only local music in the store, to offering sales on merchandise from local bands and giving working musicians a 10% discount on almost all items in the store, we take a lot of pride in our local music scene and look forward to continuing to promote and support local artists.
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
It’s hard to tell. We are at a point in the music industry where change is the only real constant and the gear and processes one musician uses can vary to the point of being hardly recognizable to another. With the technological advances being made, many items that have been staples in a musicians inventory are no longer necessary and the equipment used to produce music both live and in the studio has shifted drastically. What used to fill the back of a van can, and many times does fit very conveniently into a laptop or tablet these days. Add to that, that with music as with any art medium it’s hard to tell what changes may occur in what makes a thing desirable to listeners and players alike and it can be nearly impossible to know what to stock for Christmas!
The best plan that a store like ours can have is not much of one. Essentially, we just try to keep our ears to the ground and not become locked in a rut.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://trojancitymusic.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/trojancitymusic/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/trojancitymusic
