The Come Up: How Gaston McGary Excels at PR, Music Managing, and Photography
- Text Emma Fecko
Welcome to The Come Up, Day One Perspective’s series interviewing our staff about how they got their start—and what inspires their creativity.
Associate Director of Communications and resident D1A DJ, Gaston McGary exemplifies the phrase “wears many hats.” As a PR professional, music manager, and photographer, Gaston is guided by his creativity, charisma, and connections.
Let's start with college: what was that experience like for you? Where did you see yourself going after you graduated?
I thought I wanted to be a lawyer. But then I started working closely in music—me and my friends started an EDM blog. This was before people started covering dance music more publicly. Before Rolling Stone and Billboard were covering artists like that, we were covering them.
It started this whole thing where I was meeting artists, going to shows, and being able to interview folks, which I realized worked out from a career perspective, especially as I learned more about PR, and realized I could marry the two.
And you’ve basically done that!
Yeah, I’ve loved music forever. It’s obviously been something I’m passionate about as D1A’s DJ, and in my personal life, there’s a ton of artists who have become really good friends of mine, especially in the dance music space—guys like Disclosure and SG Lewis. It’s always been in my wheelhouse. And even though I’m not musically trained or talented at all, I can manage the process.
A lot of it too was just finding out a career path in this space is even possible. My parents always envisioned me going to grad school and becoming a lawyer. Even when I told them I was passionate about PR and marketing and working with artists, they had no idea what I was talking about, but they were happy seeing me happy. Once I started getting jobs in the space, they realized I wasn’t just making this nonsense up. But the root of it was definitely always finding a way I could work in the industry without being a musician myself.
That’s so cool that you can take one of your greatest passions in life and make a career out of it.
That’s the biggest thing for me. I’ve always been the type of person who loves what I do and it’s been really fun [at Day One] bringing in random connections or friends that I have as talent recommendations and seeing how we can fit them into a marketing strategy.
What’s it like to manage James Juke on top of your job at Day One?
Having an artist that I can manage just feels like the most hands-on thing I can do in the music space. Of course, managing includes marketing and PR, but it’s great to really be able to shape every aspect. It’s definitely helped me uplevel what I’m doing across the board and helped me shift from just being a music superfan, to leaving my footprint on how we’re shaping music culture, especially dance music.
If I’m sleeping a little bit less or grinding a little bit more, it’s all for the future, so it just keeps me motivated and positive.
You’re also a photographer right?
I think I just have way too many jobs [laughs]. But I picked up photography years ago because one of my old roommates was a male model and he needed some new shots. I had disposable income at this point, so I bought a camera and I never looked back. It kind of kicked off this love and passion of creative storytelling—I never took a class, I never watched YouTube lessons, but I got to play around and learn so many new things.
And it’s been really cool to marry photography with music. One of my friends, Channel Tres, was at my house, and I have this thing where my friends know I’m a photographer, but I need them to know I’m a photographer, so I shot some pictures for him, and they eventually ended up in Mixmag.
Moments like that are super fun because I get to bring in this love and passion for music while also working with my friends. I think my main thing is trying to find all the things I love to do and just mush them into one and see if it turns into something cool and creative. It seems like it's slowly working out, so I'm not mad at it.
What else outside of work helps to inform your creativity?
Definitely scrolling, but with music, everyone’s in constant conversations, so whether I’m talking to a manager or a booking agent or a promoter, I’m learning insights about how the business side works or what marketing strategy we should be putting together.
I like to be the dumbest person in the room. I love looking up to my friends who are great managers, so I’m always on a random call. If a friend’s like, “Yo, you have five minutes?” I’m like, “I have 20 minutes.” I think just keeping your ear to the street and talking to people is really the best thing possible.
What advice would you give to young people looking to pursue a lot of different passions or industries?
First off: do it, don’t hesitate. I think also managing your time is the best thing possible. It’s something I’m still working on and learning to this day, but it’s important to focus on what you need to get done while also taking your free time to go all out and express yourself and find ways to tap into your creative passions.
